History Major

Requirements for the Major in History

The major in history requires a minimum of eleven history courses, distributed as follows:

1. Chosen field: Five courses in a chosen field, including the two core courses, from within the following department fields:
   1. Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean
   2. Europe Since the Renaissance
   3. United States
   4. African/African Diaspora, South Asia and the Middle East
   5. Asian
   6. Latin American and Caribbean
   7. Self-designed comparative, transregional, and/or thematic (CTT)
   8. Environmental History
2. Breadth: Three courses from at least two other departmental fields.
3. Elective: One additional history course in any field.

• The above nine courses must include a HIST 101 (research seminar) course. The department expects students will devise their major from a range of departmental offerings, diversified by region and time period. 

4. Senior Exercise: A two-semester, senior exercise culminating in either a senior thesis, senior essay or a senior tutorial, reflective of the field of specialization.
   1. By the end of the spring semester of the junior year, students submit a one-paragraph senior exercise proposal specifying a possible topic, potential sources and their preparation for the exercise.
   2. All majors must enroll in HIST190 PO - Senior Seminar  in the fall of senior year.
   3. In the spring of the senior year majors enroll in either HIST191 PO - Senior Thesis , HIST192 PO - Senior Essay , or HIST193 PO - Senior Tutorial .
   4. A senior thesis should make extensive use of primary sources and original research. It should normally be 50-100 pages long. A senior essay should be approximately 25-35 pages long. It may be primarily a research paper of an historiographical essay. It may use a combination of primary and other sources.
   5. Note: The Senior Exercise concludes undergraduate study in history and may only be taken during the senior year.

Additional information, rules, and requirements:

• All history majors must have a Pomona College history faculty advisor.
• History courses taken at other Claremont Colleges may count toward the major, unless they are cognates of courses available at Pomona.
• History courses not taken at the Claremont Colleges may count toward the major. Requests should be made to the chair.
• All courses must be taken for a letter grade to count toward the major.
• No more than two courses for the major in history may satisfy requirements for another major.
• Students who waive a core course in a field through placement examination or some other method approved by the department, must substitute another course from that field.
• Students opting to make self-designed comparative, transregional and/or thematic (CTT) the primary field must develop a proposal by the end of the first semester of the junior year in consultation with their advisor and subject to approval by the department.

• Students concentrating in Environmental History must take five environmental history courses and may opt to take an environment-related course in Anthropology, Environmental Analysis, Geology, Philosophy, Politics, etc., as their elective course. Selection of all coursework should be done in consultation with their major advisor.