Graduate Student Handbook

The most important of these relate to your academic programme and form the rough shape of your academic year. These are guidelines and departmental deadlines, not, for the most part, university deadlines.

Master's students (one year)

Courses in bold and italics are offered in 2024-2025.  Please note that we are currently updating the course offerings.  Incoming students will not register (other than HIST 9000 and HIST 5800) before consulting with their supervisor and the Graduate Coordinator.     

NOTE: All MA students will enroll in HIST 5800: The Master's Seminar and two of the following classes. In special circumstances, directed readings may be arranged.

MA classes

• HIST 5000  or 5001- Directed Readings
  
• HIST 5004 - Nature and Romanticism
• HIST 5007 - The European Enlightenment  -
  
• HIST 5045 - The French Revolution -
  
• HIST 5056 - Fascist and National Socialist Movements in Europe 1900-1945
• HIST 5060 - Topics in the Civilization of Baroque Italy
• HIST 5061 - Prelates, Peasants and Primates: From Italian History to the Behavioural Sciences
• 5088 - Modern Russian and the West
  
• HIST 5090 - Twentieth-Century Russian History through Literature Winter 2019 - Dr. Denis Kozlov
  
• HIST 5091 - Soviet History Seminar  - Winter 2019 Dr. Denis Kozlov
  
• HIST 5104 - Punishment, Crime and the Course in Early Modern England c. 1550-1850
• HIST 5105 - The English Civil War: Society, Religion and Politics 1603-1660
• HIST 5106 - Topics in Early Modern English History -
  
• HIST 5110 - Rome and the East
• HIST 5117 - Winston Churchill
  
• HIST 5160 - Advanced Seminar in Baroque Culture
• HIST 5222 - Topics in Canadian Social History
  
• HIST 5250 - Popular Culture in the Atlantic World 1650 to 1800  -
  
• HIST 5255 - State and Society in Canadian History 
  
• HIST 5320 - Empowerment, Gender and Development
• HIST 5370 - North American Landscapes
• HIST 5400 - Topics in African History
• HIST 5401 - State Violence, Communal Conflict and Criminality in Modern South Africa
  
• HIST 5404 - Crime and Punishment in Modern Africa
• HIST 5430 - Making of Colonial Africa (1850-1930)
• HIST 5431 - Struggles in the City: Labour, Migration and Urban Life in Colonial Africa
• HIST 5435 - Rise and Fall of African Slavery
  
• HIST 5452 - South Africa Since 1860
  
• HIST 5470 - Wars and Revolutions in Nineteenth-Century Africa - Dr. Gary Kynoch
  
• HIST 5471 - Wars and Revolutions in Twentieth-Century Africa -
  
• HIST 5475 - African Intellectuals and the Modern Experience
• HIST 5500 - Topics in Modern History
  HIST 5503 - Sultans and Shahs -
  
• HIST 5510 - Topics in Islam and Middle East History -  Fall 2018 - Colin Mitchell
  
• HIST 5545 - Scripture and Statecraft: The History of Islamic Political Thought (7th-21st Centuries)
  
• HIST 5550 - Orientalism and Occidentalism
• HIST 5555 - Arab Intellectuals
  
• HIST 5600 - Topics in Late 19th and 20th-Century American and British History
• HIST 5610 - Women in North America
  
• HIST 5613 - Women's Suffrage from the French Revolution to  World War I 
  
• HIST 5701 - Medieval Civilization
  
• HIST 5702 - The Medieval Church
• HIST 5703 - Celtic Britain and Ireland to 1400
• HIST 5704 - Crime and Society in Post-Conquest England
• HIST 5701 - Material Culture.
  
• HIST 5800 - The Master's Seminar  Fall and Winter Terms -
  

Doctoral students

The most important of these relate to your academic programme and form the rough shape of your academic year. These are guidelines and departmental deadlines, not, for the most part, university deadlines.

Your first year has two main elements:

Exams

You must choose and define three fields of study (two major, one minor) in consultation with your thesis supervisor. Students are expected to read 80 books for each of the two major fields and 40 books for the minor, with no more than 200 books in total. Performance in each of the three fields will be evaluated by means of a written and an oral examination in September of the second year (also see options below). Performance will be assessed by two readers. To pass you must receive a grade of A- or better in the written and oral exams.

The field exams are three hours long. Under exceptional circumstances, application may be made in writing to the Graduate Coordinator to allow four hours for an examination typed on computer. They are marked by your field supervisor and a second reader.

The oral examination follows as closely as possible upon the written exams (a typical pattern is Monday, Wednesday, Friday for the written exams, and then the following Monday for the oral). The oral is attended by the field supervisors and second readers in all fields, and will pertain to the field reading lists.

Comprehensive Fields and Examinations Options

With approval of the Graduate Studies Committee, on a case-by-case basis students can request from the following options:

·        Take-home exams can be arranged in lieu of written exams. Maximum length of take home for major area: 5000 words/20 pp. double-spaced; maximum length for minor area: 2,500 words/10 pp. double-spaced.

·        In lieu of a written exam, a student can request to submit a significant written assignment for a major/minor field. Specifically, developing and submitting a full-credit course proposal and syllabus with themed readings of primary and secondary sources. This syllabus, along with the assigned readings, would be discussed and defended during the oral exam. (Note: this option would not change the number of books being assigned for that field).

·        For the minor field, students can request to submit a series of formal historiography papers in lieu of a written exam. These papers would be graded and later defended during the oral exam. Total length of assignments: 30-40 pp. double-spaced.

·        Students can request to designate their minor field to be a fixed term (i.e. 12-weeks) work placement or internship at a local archive, museum, or heritage site. A 15-20 pp. (double-spaced) “field report” would be submitted at its conclusion and would be discussed/defended at the oral stage of the examinations.

Assignments

In addition to establishing a list of readings at the beginning of the year, the student and field supervisors will also establish a set of written assignments, the precise number and nature of which can vary, but should cumulatively amount to no less than 6,000 words and no more than 12,000 words. These written assignments should be designed to assist the student in preparing for the examinations and to provide timely feedback in case of difficulties.

These rules apply to both MA and PhD students.

If the thesis topic is in European history, Russian history, or Medieval history, the student must pass a test of reading proficiency in the relevant language. 

In Canadian history, the student must pass a test of reading French language proficiency, regardless of the language requirements of the thesis research. 

The reading proficiency test in any of these fields is a translation test, in which students may make use of a bilingual dictionary.

In any other geographic research area (e.g., American, African) the thesis supervisor may require the student to pass a specific language reading test if the supervisor deems special language skills to be relevant to the proposed thesis research. The reading proficiency test in any of these fields is a translation test, in which students may make use of a bilingual dictionary.

In both programs, the expectation is that the language requirement will be met at or before the thesis proposal stage. Please note that students are entitled to take language courses without any additional fee if the supervisor is willing to write a letter to FGS noting that the language in question is necessary to the research project.

Autumn is not only the time of falling leaves and mounting heating bills, it is also the season of applications. This is particularly relevant for one-year MA students who intend to pursue doctoral work the following year. Unfortunately, having begun one program, you must also begin considering the next step and the next program. The Faculty of Graduate Studies has up-to-date information such as addresses, application forms, deadlines, and brochures on graduate programmes within Canada and abroad, as well as fellowships and scholarships. 

SSHRC Scholarships

The main source of graduate scholarships for Canadian citizens is the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, generally known as the SSHRC (‘the shirk’).

SSHRC MA scholarships 

Students in the second year of their ‘one year’ MA program can apply for these scholarships. Details are available at www.sshrc.ca.  

SSHRC doctoral fellowships

The most important deadline in the fall is for the SSHRC doctoral fellowships. All PhD students not currently holding Killam or SSHRC fellowships who are Canadian citizens are REQUIRED by the university to apply for SSHRC doctoral fellowships. (You cannot be considered for a Killam scholarship unless you apply for a SSHRC.) Though the competition is intense, master’s students anticipating entering a doctoral program the following year should strongly consider applying. The application requires a rigorous program proposal and students must also arrange for up-to-date transcripts to be submitted with the application.  

For both the MA and PhD scholarships, the SSHRC process requires ranking of applications by the Department, ranking of applications within the university and then passing these applications on to the national competition. To rank these applications, the Graduate Committee requires submission of completed SSHRC applications a date in late November.

Other major scholarships

OGS (Ontario Graduate Scholarship)

For students considering Ontario universities, the deadline for Ontario graduate student applications is usually the end of October.

FCAR (Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l’Aide a la Recherche)

For residents of Quebec, the deadline is usually early October.

Hannah (History of Medicine)

For students considering doctoral work in the history of medicine, the deadline for Hannah scholarships is usually 1 November.

These are not the only scholarships and fellowships going, particularly in relation to American universities.  Students considering the United States must also arrange to write the GRE examinations and brush up on their trigonometry and sort out their logic: “You have seven oranges and three friends, one of whom is suspect. The car is moving at 90 kilometres per hour, with prevailing winds coming from the south east at 24 knots...”  

The History Department has the Peter Fraser and the Patricia Keene scholarships.  Application details will be provided in the Masters Seminar.

There are some minor scholarships that are designed to fund specific research areas or specific categories of student.  Once again, students are advised to consult with the Faculty of Graduate Studies for further information.

Tuition fees are set and administered by the university and the Faculty of Graduate Studies, not the department.  Master’s students should know, however, that after three terms (one full academic year) they are only liable to pay continuing fees (either part-time or full-time), which are a fraction of program fee. For students in financial need, particularly after the first academic year, the Faculty of Graduate Studies may offer some aid.

Students who need to interrupt their program of studies  are advised that they must apply for a leave of absence from the Faculty of Graduate Studies; such leaves are usually granted one term at a time for a maximum of 12 months.  There are specific deadlines for applications for a leave of absence as noted on the application form.

There are some other university scholarships.  The Department has the Peter Fraser and Patricia Keene scholarships.  Applications details will be provided in the Master's Seminar.

The advertising and appointment of Teaching Assistantships is governed by the terms of a collective agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Within those terms, the responsibility for the allocation of teaching assistantships lies with the Chair of the Department.

Teaching Assistant (TA) assignments are drawn up by professors based upon enrollments in their classes and anticipated needs. There are two types of single-term, half-class TA assignments: T90 (90 hours) and T130 (130 hours). Available assistantships are posted and advertised in the hallway outside the History office. Students are asked to fill in an application form (available in the office), giving their preferred choices of assignment, academic qualifications, teaching experience, etc.  Though the assignments are often very different in character — some may, for instance, be mostly marking, some may be running tutorial groups.   The workload standards have been set in the Collective Agreement.   

It should also be observed that, in years past, most current full-time students in the one-year master’s or first year doctoral programme who wished to do a teaching assistantship were assigned one. No guarantees can be offered, however; the terms of the collective agreement set the boundaries of what assignments are possible. Every effort is made to link professors’ preferences to those of the students. We cannot promise, however, that a student doing, let us say, modern British as their main research area, will be able to be a teaching assistant in a modern British course. The number of Teaching Assistantships depends on enrollment and budgets.

Doctoral students at the ‘all but dissertation’ (ABD) stage (in other words, students who have successfully completed their comprehensive examinations and the thesis proposal) who are interested in teaching a class, whether during the regular academic year or summer sessions, should make enquiries to the Chair of the Department and the Undergraduate Coordinator.  Students are reminded that financial resources are limited and that the CUPE collective agreement affects assignments. Thus no guarantees can be made about offering classes to doctoral students.

Workshops

Dalhousie’s Centre for Learning and Teaching will offer a workshop for TAs early in the Fall.  Consult their schedule at Centre for Learning and Teaching The Department strongly encourages all TAs to participate in this workshop.

In addition, the Department, with the collaboration of the Graduate History Society (GHS), may offer some specialised workshops. The Graduate Coordinator will meet with the GHS in September to make plans for the coming year. 

Stokes departmental seminars

Most Friday afternoons, beginning at 3:30 p.m., there is a seminar for the entire Department, meaning both faculty and students. Attendance at this seminar is required of History 5800 students and is expected of other graduate students.  This seminar offers an excellent opportunity to participate in something basic to historians’ lives. Usually an electronic version of the paper is circulated before the seminar, copies of which are available in the History Office, generally on the Wednesday before. Senior graduate students are encouraged to give papers at this seminar, under the advice of their supervisor.   

See Stokes Program for more information.

A significant part of most history seminars consist of discussion and debate by all the seminar participants; a successful graduate student in the historical discipline is someone who diligently prepares assigned readings in anticipation of a lively conversation with his/her peers. In the discipline of History, a successful seminar is judged by the ability of its participants to engage one another – on a weekly basis over the course of a semester – on a variety of relevant themes and topics.  The new understandings and appreciations for how we interpret history are necessarily connected with the free exchange of ideas and opinions in the context of seminars.  Graduate students at both the MA and PhD level must be prepared to enroll in such courses with these expectations in mind.

There is no one approach to teaching graduate-level seminars, and instructors will employ a wide array of methodologies and systems of evaluation. These can include oral presentations, short research papers, historiographical inquiries, primary source reports, bibliographic studies, written and oral examination, and lastly: participation and discussion.
 

Faculty of Graduate Studies Grade Scale

Letter Grade              Numeric (%) Equivalent

A+                             90-100

A                                85-89

A-                               80-84

B+                              77-79

B                                73-76

B-                               70-72

F                                  0-69

Presentations
 
Almost certainly, graduate students will be expected to make formal presentations during their course work.  Developing the skills to synthesize information and present it to an audience is a critical skill for graduate students and future scholars to develop; moreover, for those students developing and maintaining a career outside of academe, the ability to research, organize, and communicate large projects and proposals will be invaluable. 

Successful presentations in History seminars should include the following:

Strong research component; use of several sources
Reference to and use of primary sources
Ability to provide overall context (narrative, dates, ongoing issues) at the beginning of presentation
Identification of key issues regarding primary historiography
Identification of ongoing debates and differences of interpretation in the secondary historiography
Insights and analyses based on thorough reflection of the debates and issues
Clear and coherent presentation of the topic and supporting materials
Ability to engage audience with questions and debate
Enthusiasm and sense of purpose 
 
Helpful but not necessary:

Handout materials
Power-point presentation
Pre-circulated questions for audience to consult and consider during presentation 

Less-than-successful presentations in History seminars might include:

Use of minimal sources during research
Lack of reference to primary sources
Inability or unwillingness to engage with existing primary and secondary historiography
Absence of overall context
Incoherent structure, lack of organization
Inability or unwillingness to engage audience

Graduate matters within the Department are generally governed by an appointed Graduate Committee, chaired by the Graduate Coordinator, who is a faculty member appointed for a fixed term. 

There is one student representative on the Graduate Committee who is involved in its discussions with the exception of the following matters: SSHRC ranking; consideration of new applications; discussions of ranking for funding; consideration of master’s students’ thesis proposals; and discussions relating to faculty workload. The student representative is usually appointed by their peers, through the Graduate History Students’ Society.

Appeals of regulations or guidelines or any other difficulty should first be made to the Graduate Coordinator.

Office space

Because office space on campus is in short supply, office allocation for Doctoral students may be available; however, this cannot be guaranteed.  Further information will be available in mid-September.

Masters students normally have study carrels in the Killam Library.  Notification of the assigned study carrels will be sent to Masters students in mid-September.

Computing facilities

Students are expected  to use their “@dal.ca” email address as their active account, as many memoranda are sent electronically.  Detailed information about the university’s email services and other computer services may be found at Killam Library, Room G45. Call them at 902-494-2376902-494-2376 or Email: helpdesk@dal.ca  

All Dal students are assigned a NetID which gives them access to computers located around the campus. The closest of these public computers can be found in the stairwells, hallways, and labs in the McCain building. There is also a major Learning Commons in the Killam Library.  Wifi is also available throughout campus; your laptop MAC address must be registered for you to have access. Write support@dal.ca to make this arrangement

Other departmental facilities

Master’s and Doctoral students may use the Departmental photocopier/scanner and the fax machine. (902-494-3349). They will, of course, be charged for this use, through an account with the Department. For envelope aficionados, departmental stationery is also available.

The Graduate History Society usually organizes an introductory event or two at the beginning of September and a number of social events throughout the year following. 

It is through this group that the graduate students have representation, by the GHS President at most department meetings, and on some departmental committees, including the Graduate Committee.

This group also organizes an annual graduate students’ conference, an event that brings in MA and PhD students from other parts of North America, and sometimes even a few from overseas. The best paper presented at this conference, as decided by a panel of students and faculty members, wins the John Flint Prize.

Elections for the GHS Committee take place annually in early September.  All graduate students (incoming and current) are permitted to take part in the elections.

For general queries and further information, please email gradhist@dal.ca

Graduate Coordinator:
Dr. Jerry Bannister
Associate Professor
jerry.bannister@dal.ca

Or contact our faculty directly:

Search Department of History faculty by research area or name.