This description applies to all students admitted for Fall 2008 or later. Students in residence as of Spring 2008 have the option of following this description or the earlier one (see below).

I. Schedule of Ph.D. Program

II. Satisfactory Progress

III. Residence and Course Requirements

IV. Graduate Research Assistantships

V. Language Requirements

VI. TATTO Teaching Program

VII. General Examination

1. The Fields and Examination Committee
2. Schedule for Specifying Fields and Examination
      Committees
3. The Examination
4. Evaluation of Examination
5. Schedule of General Examination

VIII. Dissertation Prospectus and Dissertation

1. The Prospectus Committee and the Prospectus
2. The Dissertation Committee and the Dissertation

IX. Transfer Credit for Students entering with an M.A. degree

X. Exceptions

The Ph.D. program offered by the History Department encompasses course work, examinations (including examinations demonstrating language facility), and the research and writing of a doctoral dissertation.

Normally, students will take course work for two academic years, the General Examination in the Fall of the third year, and, upon passing this examination, proceed to the dissertation. A Dissertation Prospectus must be submitted and approved by the end of the semester following satisfactory completion of the General Examination.

At the end of the first two semesters of graduate work students making satisfactory progress are promoted to Advanced Standing. Upon passing the General Examination and approval of the Prospectus students are eligible to apply for admission to Ph.D. candidacy. The master's degree is earned on the basis of Ph.D. candidacy. The Graduate School requires that students take no more than eight years following promotion to Advanced Standing to complete their dissertations. To satisfy departmental language requirements (see Section IV below), students must demonstrate competency in one foreign language by the end of their first academic year. Competency in further foreign languages must be demonstrated by the end of the second academic year

Students are expected to proceed through the program making satisfactory grades and at a satisfactory pace. Satisfactory grades are defined as receiving at least as many A's and A-'s as B+'s, B's and B-'s in any given year. Satisfactory pace is defined as avoiding incompletes and keeping to the schedule outlined in Section I above. The department reviews the records of all students annually. Students failing to make satisfactory progress may be refused permission to take the General Examination. Funded students failing to make satisfactory progress may lose financial assistance.

Incompletes are granted by permission of the course instructor. Although Graduate School regulations permit students one academic year to complete incomplete work, students should understand that a grade of Incomplete formally constitutes unsatisfactory progress. Moreover, students will be placed on probation the term following receipt of a grade of F in any course or more than one Incomplete in any academic term. Students will become ineligible for financial aid unless the failed course is retaken or all Incompletes are removed.

The Graduate Committee reviews students’ records each semester. Students judged not to be making satisfactory progress on the basis of these reviews will be issued a warning. Subsequent failure by a warned student to achieve sufficient improvement may result in a recommendation to the Graduate School to issue a notice of probation. (The Graduate School will automatically place any student on probation falling below its own standards of acceptable progress, as described in the Graduate School Handbook.) Students on probation for two consecutive semesters, and facing the prospect of a third term in this situation, confront the possibility they will lose financial aid and/or be terminated from the graduate program.

The minimal residence requirement is three academic years. The first of these years may be taken at another institution (see VIII below), but one of the two remaining years must normally be spent in continuous residence at Emory University. All or part of the final year, if circumstances make it advisable, may be spent in thesis research in libraries and manuscript repositories elsewhere. Tuition must nevertheless be paid to Emory for four semesters beyond the first academic year of graduate work.

The normal course load is three courses per semester for four semesters. Of these twelve courses, not more than two may be taken as Directed Reading (History 597r) and not more than two may be taken as supplemented undergraduate courses (History 596r, Special Studies). Students may not take more than three courses (including Directed Reading courses) with the same instructor and not more than three courses from instructors outside the department. Not more than two semesters of credit may be transferred from another institution (see Section VIII below).

Students entering the doctoral program will normally be required to enroll in History 583, Introduction to Advanced Historical Study, in the fall of their first year. Some fields may also require students to take a historiographical course specific to the field.

Students will write two seminar papers by the end of their second year. These papers are normally written in the "P" course (P suffix to basic course number) offered in the semester following the basic seminar. Both seminar papers (in “P” courses) will normally be written in courses offered by members or associated members of the History Department. In exceptional cases, permission to write a seminar paper under the direction of a member of another department may be granted by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Students in their second year are asked to serve the Department as Graduate Assistants (GA).  To that end, students will be assigned to members of the Department to help with faculty research.  It is understood the work will not exceed five hours per week for one semester.  It is expected that faculty will make every effort to invest assigned tasks with significant pedagogical value.

Two foreign languages are required of all Ph.D. candidates. A student's major adviser may stipulate the need of language facility beyond these requirements. Students in American History and in British History after 1789 may substitute for their second language a demonstrated facility in quantitative methods by either (a) taking History 582A and 582B: Social Science & Quantitative Techniques for Historians, OR (b) taking History 582A or 582B plus a P course in which the paper written makes use of quantitative methods in a satisfactory manner. Students in Latin American History must show facility in both Spanish and Portuguese.

Facility in a foreign language will be demonstrated either by passing a translation examination (with dictionary) administered each semester or by passing, with a minimum grade of B, an approved reading or translation course above the 100-level at Emory. Facility demonstrated by examinations from other schools or by the Princeton Examination will not be accepted. In each translation examination a student may choose either to translate passages from materials selected by the examiner or to translate passages selected by the examiner from a book of over 200 pages with no known English translation submitted by the student for the examiner's approval at least 30 days prior to the examination. One language may be waived for native speakers of a language other than English, provided that this language is deemed relevant to their proposed research area as determined by their faculty advisors and approval by the Graduate Committee.

All graduate students are required to participate in the Teaching Assistant and Teacher Training Opportunity (TATTO) program. TATTO is designed to provide a systematic introduction to college teaching. The TATTO program offers (1) a Graduate School three and one-half day summer course covering general topics of importance, taken immediately prior to the first teaching experience; (2) a department seminar (History 786A: Introduction to College Teaching) in the fall semester of the second year which addresses pedagogical issues and teaching strategies, (3) a teaching assistantship (History 786B) in the fall or spring semester of the second year in a course taught by a department faculty member, (4) a teaching associateship in the fourth year (or possibly in the third year), following successful completion of doctoral exams in which students have the sole responsibility for teaching an introductory-level survey course, with supervision of a faculty member, (5) Dean's Teaching Fellowships for fifth-year students, available competitively through the Graduate School.

Students will present three fields for their General Examination.  Field I will be defined chronologically and/or geographically; Field II will also be defined chronologically and/or geographically and will relate to or complement Field I; Field III will be thematic, topical, or theoretical.

Each field will be administered by at least two faculty; faculty may overlap across two fields but no faculty member may participate in all three fields.  Overall approval authority for the fields and the faculty administering them will be given to each student’s adviser.

Participation of non-Departmental faculty on Examination Committees is encouraged but restricted thus:

1. Permission to include non-University faculty must be received from the Graduate School.
2. Advisers and at least one member of each examination committee must be a member or associated member of the Department.

By the end of the first year of residence, and after appropriate discussion with faculty members, each student will complete a Field and Examination Committee Declaration Form indentifying his or her Examination Fields and specifying his or her Examination Committees, with signatures to indicate the examiners are willing to serve.  This form is to be returned to the Graduate Coordinator and placed in the student’s file.  Changes to either the Fields or Examination Committees must be indicated in amended Declaration Forms.

Each student will take a written and oral examination.

Students will take a written examination in each of the three fields they have prepared. To allow students both to construct thoughtful responses to the questions posed, and to allow time for reconsideration and revision, each written examination will be open-book and extend over 24 hours. The precise configuration of these examinations (exactly how many questions etc.) will be left to the examination committees – with the following provisos:

1. Each examination will include at least two sections, and each section will include a choice of at least two questions.
2. Although there will be no formal minimum or maximum number of pages students may submit, the expectation is that their aggregate response to each of the written examinations will be on the order of 15-20 double-spaced typed pages.

Students may schedule their three 24-hour stints of written examinations over a period not to exceed 10 workdays.

The oral examination will take no more than two hours, will be chaired by the student’s adviser, and will cover all three fields. The faculty present at the oral examination will include at least one representative from each of the student’s three fields.

A split (pass/fail) evaluation of a given written examination or a failure of a given written examination will normally prompt a new examination in that field.  In some cases faculty may determine that another examination is not appropriate and that the student should move to a terminal MA.  A split (pass/fail) vote or a failure of the oral examination will prompt a new oral examination.  In case  of a second failure in a given written examination and/or in the oral examination, a student will not be allowed to continue in the program unless a petition to that effect, supported by all members of that student’s examination committee, is approved by the Department.

The General Examination will be regularly scheduled four times during the academic year: in September, November, January, and April.

Within one month of passing the general examination the student and adviser should identify a prospectus committee and schedule the presentation of the prospectus during the designated period in the following semester. The prospectus committee will normally consist of five members: the dissertation director, two anticipated readers of the dissertation (these three constituting the future dissertation committee), plus two additional faculty.

Participation of non-Departmental faculty on prospectus committees is encouraged but restricted thus:

1. Permission to include non-University faculty must be received from the Graduate School. Participation of non-University faculty on the thesis committee will be in addition to three faculty from Emory.
2. At least two of the three anticipated members of the dissertation committee must be members or associated members of the Department, and at least one member of the anticipated dissertation committee must be a full time or joint member of the Department.

Once the prospectus committee has been formed, the student is expected to work closely with its members in drawing up the prospectus. The prospectus is a brief explanation of the projected dissertation, outlining the proposed research, defining its validity as a dissertation subject, and suggesting the principal sources to be employed (maximum length of 10 pages plus bibliography). At least two weeks before the date of the prospectus meeting, the written document is to be turned in to the graduate coordinator for reproduction, along with a completed form certifying by their signatures that the three members of the dissertation committee consider the prospectus "ready to defend." Copies of the prospectus will then be made available in the History office.

The prospectus meeting is a public presentation and defense of the dissertation project, based on the written prospectus which has been distributed in advance. The candidate will introduce the subject briefly and then entertain questions from the committee and the audience. After a suitable length of time, the audience will be dismissed, including faculty members who are not on the prospectus committee, and the candidate will be asked to step out of the room while the prospectus committee confers. They will then invite the candidate to join them and discuss with the candidate any concerns they may have about the proposal.

In the event that a majority of the prospectus committee considers the proposal unacceptable in its present form, the committee will discuss the problem with the candidate and devise at that time a procedure for rectifying it. This procedure must be approved by a majority of the five prospectus committee members, including the dissertation director; the director is to take responsibility for implementing it. The committee might prescribe a further revision of the document or schedule future meetings. There will be no second public prospectus defense. The committee and the candidate should not adjourn until everyone has a clear understanding of the procedure to be followed.

When this entire process has been completed to the satisfaction of the majority of the prospectus committee including the dissertation director, the five members will sign a form signifying that the prospectus has been approved. The dissertation director will submit this form to the graduate coordinator.

Following approval of the prospectus, the student will undertake the final component of the Ph.D.: completion of the Ph.D. dissertation. In completing their dissertations, students will work with their dissertation committees. These committees will consist of the dissertation director (who, if not already the student’s adviser, will assume that responsibility) and two other faculty. (See above section VII.1.b for restrictions on membership of this committee). Changes in the composition of dissertation committees must be approved by the Departmental DGS and the Graduate School.

In the January, after six months have elapsed since the prospectus, and each January thereafter until the Ph.D. degree is completed, the student will submit a one-page report on the progress of the dissertation, using a form that will be sent out by the Department. This report will be returned to the graduate coordinator who will keep it on file and distribute it to the dissertation director and the two readers. If readers are from outside the department, it will be distributed at the discretion of the director. It is expected that this report will provide an occasion for the student to discuss the project with the director.

At any time after the student has completed a draft of the dissertation, but at the latest by the beginning of the semester when the student expects to graduate, a meeting will be scheduled between the student and the members of the dissertation committee. Its purpose is to provide helpful criticism before the final revisions are undertaken, not to approve or disapprove the dissertation. Should a common meeting not be feasible because of the absence of any of the participants from Atlanta, alternative arrangements will be worked out by the director in consultation with the student.

The final version will need to be read and approved by the readers in time to meet a series of deadlines established by the Graduate School. It is necessary to be formally registered during the semester of graduation. The student must file a degree application form in the Graduate School by a specified deadline which falls near the beginning of the semester of graduation. A degree clearance form signed by the members of the committee and the graduate director must be submitted to the Graduate School, along with the original and four copies of the dissertation, by another deadline which falls more than a month before the end of the semester. The Graduate School has established guidelines concerning page layout and style.

Students entering with an M.A. degree may, after one semester of satisfactory work and upon vote of the department, receive credit for one year's residence and are promoted to Advanced Standing effective the semester of entrance. Such students will normally take courses for three semesters and take their General Examination in their fourth semester. Such students may also petition the department to have any M.A. thesis they may have written accepted in lieu of one "P" paper.

Exceptions to these rules can be made for cause by the Chair in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies.

The Ph.D. program offered by the History Department encompasses course work, examinations (including examinations demonstrating language facility), and the research and writing of a doctoral dissertation.

Normally, students will take course work for two academic years, the General Examination in the Fall of the third year, and, upon passing this examination, proceed to the dissertation. A Dissertation Prospectus must be submitted and approved by the end of the semester following satisfactory completion of the General Examination.

At the end of the first two semesters of graduate work students making satisfactory progress are promoted to Advanced Standing. Upon passing the General Examination and approval of the Prospectus students are eligible to apply for admission to Ph.D. candidacy. The master's degree is earned on the basis of Ph.D. candidacy. The Graduate School requires that students take no more than eight years following promotion to Advanced Standing to complete their dissertations. To satisfy departmental language requirements (see Section IV below), students must demonstrate competency in one foreign language by the end of their first academic year. Competency in further foreign languages must be demonstrated by the end of the second academic year

Students are expected to proceed through the program making satisfactory grades and at a satisfactory pace. Satisfactory grades are defined as receiving at least as many A's and A-'s as B+'s, B's and B-'s in any given year. Satisfactory pace is defined as avoiding incompletes and keeping to the schedule outlined in Section I above. The department reviews the records of all students annually. Students failing to make satisfactory progress may be refused permission to take the General Examination. Funded students failing to make satisfactory progress may lose financial assistance.

Incompletes are granted by permission of the course instructor. Although Graduate School regulations permit students one academic year to complete incomplete work, students should understand that a grade of Incomplete formally constitutes unsatisfactory progress. Moreover, students will be placed on probation the term following receipt of a grade of F in any course or more than one Incomplete in any academic term. Students will become ineligible for financial aid unless the failed course is retaken or all Incompletes are removed.

The minimal residence requirement is three academic years. The first of these years may be taken at another institution (see VIII below), but one of the two remaining years must normally be spent in continuous residence at Emory University. All or part of the final year, if circumstances make it advisable, may be spent in thesis research in libraries and manuscript repositories elsewhere. Tuition must nevertheless be paid to Emory for four semesters beyond the first academic year of graduate work.

The normal course load is three courses per semester for four semesters. Of these twelve courses, not more than two may be taken as Directed Reading (History 597r) and not more than two may be taken as supplemented undergraduate courses (History 596r, Special Studies). Students may not take more than three courses (including Directed Reading courses) with the same instructor and not more than two courses from instructors outside the department. In addition to the major and minor field as described above, all students muct complete a "Coursework Field" by taking two courses in an area significantly different in theme or discipline from the major and minor fields that augments that student's program of study. These two courses may be taken either in History or in another program or department. There will be no exam outside the course requirements but the two courses must fit together in some coherent thematic or methodological way. Not more than two semesters of credit may be transferred from another institution (see Section VIII below).

All students entering the doctoral program will normally be required to take History 583 in the fall of their first year. This team-taught course seeks to introduce students to the influential paradigms that, while often rooted in earlier scholarship, continue to animate and shape historical studies today. Some fields may also ask students to take an historiographical course specific to the field.

Students will write two seminar papers by the end of their second year. These papers are normally written in the "P" course (P suffix to basic course number) offered in the semester following the basic seminar. Of these two papers, at least one must be in the student's major field (i.e., the numbered Examination Field encompassing the student's prospective dissertation research. See Section V below.). Both "P" papers will normally be written in courses offered by members of the History Department. In exceptional cases, permission to write a "P" paper under the direction of a member of another department may be granted by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Two foreign languages are required of all Ph.D. candidates. A student's major adviser may stipulate the need of language facility beyond these requirements. Students in American History and in British History after 1789 may substitute for their second language a demonstrated facility in quantitative methods by either (a) taking History 582A and 582B: Social Science & Quantitative Techniques for Historians, OR (b) taking History 582A or 582B plus a P course in which the paper written makes use of quantitative methods in a satisfactory manner. Students in Latin American History must show facility in both Spanish and Portuguese.

Facility in a foreign language will be demonstrated either by passing a translation examination (with dictionary) administered each semester or by passing, with a minimum grade of B, an approved reading or translation course above the 100-level at Emory. Facility demonstrated by examinations from other schools or by the Princeton Examination will not be accepted. In each translation examination a student may choose either to translate passages from materials selected by the examiner or to translate passages selected by the examiner from a book of over 200 pages with no known English translation submitted by the student for the examiner's approval at least 30 days prior to the examination. One language may be waived for native speakers of a language other than English, provided that this language is deemed relevant to their proposed research area as determined by their faculty advisors and approval by the Graduate Committee.

All graduate students are required to participate in the Teaching Assistant and Teacher Training Opportunity (TATTO) program. TATTO is designed to provide a systematic introduction to college teaching. The TATTO program offers (1) a Graduate School three and one-half day summer course covering general topics of importance, taken immediately prior to the first teaching experience; (2) a department seminar (History 786A: Introduction to College Teaching) in the fall semester of the second year which addresses pedagogical issues and teaching strategies, (3) a teaching assistantship (History 786B) in the fall or spring semester of the second year in a course taught by a department faculty member, (4) a teaching associateship in the fourth year (or possibly in the third year), following successful completion of doctoral exams in which students have the sole responsibility for teaching an introductory-level survey course, with supervision of a faculty member, (5) Dean's Teaching Fellowships for fifth-year students, available competitively through the Graduate School.

An examination committee will be established for each student in the program. It is the responsibility of this committee to prepare and evaluate the student's General Examination.

The examination committee is to be declared by the end of the student's second semester of residence. This committee will be constituted after appropriate discussions between the student, the Director of Graduate Studies, and other members of the faculty. The committee normally will include those faculty members with whom the student expects to work most closely, and whose expertise coincides with the student's prospective examination fields.

The examination committee normally will consist of five members of the faculty. Three of these will represent the student's major field, and two the student's minor field. One of the former, normally the student's prospective dissertation director, will serve as chair of the examination committee.

By the end of the first year of residence and after having appropriate discussions with faculty members, each student will fill out a Major and Minor Field Declaration Form indicating his or her choice of fields and examiners, with signatures indicating that each examiner is willing to serve. This form is to be returned to the Graduate Secretary and placed in the student's file. If there are subsequent changes in the student's fields or examiners, a new form should be filed.

In the event that a member of the student's examination committee is on leave or otherwise unavailable at the time the student takes the General Examination, the remaining members of the committee may choose an alternate member to fill the vacancy. An alternate member of the committee will have precisely the same prerogatives and responsibilities as the other members.

The student's General Examination will encompass two broad fields of history: a major field and a minor field. Some of the major fields may include a sub-field in the student's area of concentration, that is, the area of his or her prospective dissertation. The faculty responsible for each major field will decide whether it does or does not include a sub-field.

The two examination fields (and sub-field, if any) will be determined by the student with the approval of the examination committee. Determination of fields should be accomplished by the end of the student's second semester of residence as indicated above.

Major Field: The student's major field, which is considered a research field, will be selected from those in which the department offers the Ph.D. The eight fields in which the department offers the Ph.D. are as follows:

• Medieval European History
• Early Modern European History
• Modern European History
• American History
• Colonial Latin American History
• Modern Latin American History
• African History
• Asian History

Minor Field: The student's minor field will be entirely distinct from the major field and will be considered a teaching field. Normally the student's minor field will be one of the department's Ph.D. fields other than the student's major field, or one of the department's eight non-Ph.D. fields. The non-Ph.D. fields are as follows:

• Ancient History
• Comparative Women's History
• East Asian History
• History of Science
• Middle Eastern History
• Modern Jewish History
• Comparative History of Labor, Industrialization, & Technology
• Comparative Slavery and Serfdom

With the approval of the student's minor field examiners, the student's minor field may be modified to emphasize a particular geographical area, time period, and/or theme.

As an alternative to the standard minor fields, the student may design a minor field which focuses on an area of special interest that does not fit comfortably into any of the twelve instructional fields. Such a minor field 1) must be similar in scope to the standard minor fields, that is, constitute a recognizable teaching field, 2) may be comparative but must not be a subfield (i.e., must include a comparative or geographical dimension that makes it qualitatively different from a special emphasis within the major field), 3) must be approved, upon petition, by the department's Graduate Committee.

Students proposing a special minor field must proceed as follows: 1) by the end of their first year of study, identity two faculty members willing to direct the field, at least one of whom must be in the History Department. In cases where one examiner is from another department, the history department faculty member will act as director of the examination; 2) schedule at least one common meeting with the two faculty members at which there will be a full discussion of the definition and scope of the field and the work to be covered; 3) draw up a brief mission statement defining the purpose and scope of the field along with a proposed reading list approved by both committee members; 4) submit these documents to the Graduate Committee along with the signed approval of the examiners and obtain the Graduate Committee's approval.

• 1) a written examination in the major field (which may include a sub-field)
• 2) a written examination in the minor field
• 3) an oral examination in the major field.

The drafting of the two written examinations will be the responsibility of the student's examination committee. Committee members may solicit possible questions from all appropriate faculty members. The three members representing the major field will compose the written examination in that field, and the two members representing the minor field will compose the written examination in that field. When several students take written examinations for the same field at the same time, it is highly likely that most of the questions posed to these students will be identical. It is also likely (especially for major field examinations with a sub-field component and minor field examinations) that some questions posed to each student will be unique.

The written examination in the major field will consist of four sections, each normally including two questions. In major fields with a sub-field component, one of these sections will focus on the sub-field. The student will answer four questions, one from each section. The student will devote approximately one hour to the writing of each answer. The student will submit his or her answers not later than six hours after receiving the examination questions.

The written examination in the minor field will consist of three sections, each normally including two questions. The student will answer three questions, one from each section. The student will devote approximately one hour to the writing of each answer. The student will submit his or her answers not later than five hours after receiving the examination questions.

The oral examination in the major field will be conducted by the three committee members representing the student's major field. The oral examination will extend over at least sixty minutes, but no more than ninety minutes.

The two written examinations will be taken during a regularly-scheduled, one-week period. The oral examination--provided the student's performance on the written examination for the major field warrants--will be taken during the following week.

The General Examination period will be regularly scheduled four times during the academic year, early in the fall semester, late in the fall semester, early in the spring semester, and late in the spring semester.

Major Field:
The three members of the examination committee representing the major field will decide whether the student has passed or failed the examination for the major field. They will take both the student's written and oral answers into account. They may consult with other members of the faculty when such action is deemed appropriate, but the final decision remains theirs alone.

Minor Field:
The two members of the examination committee representing the minor field will normally decide whether the student has passed or failed the written examination for the minor field. When there is doubt about the written examination, the minor field examiners may schedule a follow-up oral examination to determine the result. When there is disagreement about the written examination, the committee will schedule a follow-up oral examination. Should this occur, the chair of the department will appoint another member of the faculty as an additional member of the committee. That additional member will read the written examination, participate in the oral examination, and share equally in the final decision.
 
In case of failure in a field, the student will be required to retake the appropriate examination at the next opportunity. In case of a second failure, the student will not be allowed to continue in the program unless a petition to that effect, supported by all members of the examination committee, is approved by the department.

Within one week of passing the general examination the student and the dissertation director should identity a prospectus committee and schedule the presentation of the prospectus during the designated period in the following semester. The prospectus committee will normally consist of five members: the dissertation director, two prospective readers of the dissertation (these three constituting the future dissertation committee), plus two additional faculty members from outside the student's major field. The student should immediately consult each committee member to ascertain his or her willingness to serve.

Once the committee has been formed, the student is expected to work closely with its members in drawing up the prospectus. The prospectus is a brief explanation of the projected dissertation, outlining the proposed research, defining its validity as a dissertation subject, and suggesting the principal sources to be employed (maximum length of 10 pages plus bibliography). At least two weeks before the date of the prospectus meeting, the written document is to be turned in to the graduate secretary for reproduction, along with a completed form certifying by their signatures that the three members of the dissertation committee consider the prospectus "ready to defend." Copies of the prospectus will then be made available in the history office.

The prospectus meeting is a public presentation and defense of the dissertation project, based on the written prospectus which has been distributed in advance. The candidate will introduce the subject briefly and then entertain questions from the committee and the audience. After a suitable length of time, the audience will be dismissed, including faculty members who are not on the prospectus committee, and the candidate will be asked to step out of the room while the prospectus committee confers. They will then invite the candidate to join them and discuss with the candidate any concerns they may have about the proposal.

In the event that a majority of the prospectus committee considers the proposal unacceptable in its present form, the committee will discuss the problem with the candidate and devise on the spot a procedure for rectifying it. This procedure must be approved by a majority of the five prospectus committee members, including the dissertation director; the director is to take responsibility for implementing it. The committee might prescribe a further revision of the document or schedule future meetings. There will be no second public prospectus defense. The committee and the candidate should not adjourn until everyone has a clear understanding of the procedure to be followed.

When this entire process has been completed to the satisfaction of the majority of the prospectus committee including the dissertation director, the five members will sign a form signifying that the proposal has been approved. The dissertation director will submit this form to the graduate secretary.

Following approval of the prospectus, the student will work with the dissertation director in planning, researching, and writing the dissertation. The dissertation director and the second and third readers will have been listed on the completion of prospectus form. This dissertation committee may subsequently be modified, with the approval of the dissertation director, by notifying the graduate secretary of the change. With the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies, one member of the committee may be from outside the department faculty and, in some circumstances, outside the university faculty. As the project develops, it is important to ascertain in what manner the second and third readers would like to be consulted.

In the January after six months have elapsed since the prospectus, and each January thereafter until the Ph.D. degree is completed, the student will submit a one-page report on the progress of the dissertation, using a form that will be sent out by the Department. This report will be returned to the graduate secretary who will keep it on file and distribute it to the dissertation director and the two readers. If readers are from outside the department, it will be distributed at the discretion of the director. It is expected that this report will provide an occasion for the student to discuss the project with the director.

Defense of Dissertation Draft: At any time after the student has completed a draft of the dissertation, but at the latest by the beginning of the semester when the student expects to graduate, a meeting will be scheduled between the student and the members of the dissertation committee. Its purpose is to provide helpful criticism before the final revisions are undertaken, not to approve or disapprove the dissertation. Should a common meeting not be feasible because of the absence of any of the participants from Atlanta, alternative arrangements will be worked out by the director in consultation with the student.

The final version will need to be read and approved by the readers in time to meet a series of deadlines established by the Graduate School. It is necessary to be formally registered during the semester of graduation. The student must file a degree application form in the Graduate School by a specified deadline which falls near the beginning of the semester of graduation. A degree clearance form signed by the members of the committee and the graduate director must be submitted to the Graduate School, along with the original and four copies of the dissertation, by another deadline which falls more than a month before the end of the semester. The Graduate School has established guidelines concerning page layout and style.

Students entering with an M.A. degree may, after one semester of satisfactory work and upon vote of the department, receive credit for one year's residence and are promoted to Advanced Standing effective the semester of entrance. Such students will normally take courses for three semesters and take their General Examination in their fourth semester. Such students may also petition the department to have any M.A. thesis they may have written accepted in lieu of one "P" paper.

Unless excused because of prior teaching experience, students in their second year will serve as apprentice teachers to an instructor in the department (History 786). This apprenticeship will normally involve helping to organize the syllabus, attending the course meetings, presenting some lectures and/or running some discussion groups.

Funded students in their second year will be asked to undertake up to ten hours of work per week for the department. Such work usually consists of serving as research assistant to a member of the department or assisting in the library. Funded students in their fourth year may be asked to teach a section of one of the introductory survey courses or contribute other service to the department.

Exceptions to these rules can be made for cause by the Chair in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies.

Ph.D. Examination Fields (These are fields in which the Ph.D. dissertation may be written)

1. Medieval European History
2. Early Modern European History
3. Modern European History
4. American History
5. Colonial Latin American History
6. Modern Latin American History
7. African History
8. Asian History

Non-Ph.D. Examination Fields (These are fields in which Ph.D. dissertations may not be written but which Ph.D. candidates may present as part of the General Examination and which contain themes that can).

9. Ancient History
10. Comparative Women's History
11. East Asian History
12. History of Science
13. Middle Eastern History
14. Modern Jewish History
15. Comparative History of Labor, Industrialization, & Technology
16. Comparative Slavery and Serfdom