First – Chicago Manual of Style
All writing for anything in history must conform to the Chicago Manual of Style – especially by having footnotes and bibliography.
The Graduate College website details the exact formatting for writing theses and dissertations. This format you must follow whatever you are writing for the history department and you must follow it to the letter. The Graduate College has someone read through your entire thesis to check if you have followed the proper style to the letter. Do not underestimate their abilities to find problems.
Thesis Track
The culminating project for the Thesis track is a Master’s Thesis.
A thesis is an original historical research study based heavily upon primary resources. The length shall be from 80-100 pages. Sections include:
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Historiography (may be in introduction)
- Main body (probably several sections)
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
Public History Track
The department expects the same level of rigor and quality in labor, research, and expertise of public history students as of students on other tracks.
The culminating project for the Public History track consists of two parts:
- The Public History Demonstration — this for example could be: the design for a museum exhibit, an oral history collection, the detailed plans for a walking tour, the development of an interactive website, a professional Youtube historical presentation. The possibilities are many and it may involve only the “design” or detailed professional plans because we know that a student may not be able to create an actual exhibit for display — but could if the ability to do so existed.
- The Portfolio of Scholarly Work — This portfolio consists of a packet of written work accumulated and revised from the student’s coursework plus one additional all new essay.  Overall this packet must demonstrate scholarly competence in writing, research, analysis, and historical documentation and will be from 80-100 pages.
The Portfolio of Scholarly Work typically consists of:
- Abstract
- Project description essay (All new) that not only describes the demonstration, but also places the demonstration into a scholarly context including the methodology and other best practices learned and explored.  [20-25 pages]
- Historiography Essay (A revised edition of the student’s History 500 paper with bibliography) [20-25 p.] NOTE: this essay is the actual paper the student wrote in the class and in rare circumstances may not be the subject of the Public History Demonstration.
- Analytical Research Paper (based upon primary sources) (A revised edition of the student’s History 501 paper with bibliography) [20-25 p.] NOTE: this paper is the actual paper the student wrote in the class and in rare circumstances may not be the subject of the Public History Demonstration.
- Public History Essay (A revised edition of the History 502 paper with bibliography) [20-25 p.]Â NOTE: this essay is the actual paper the student wrote in the class and in rare circumstances may not be the subject of the Public History Demonstration.
- Appendixes that include (if necessary and applicable) printed examples of social media or web content or project data etc…
Educator Track
The department expects the same level of rigor and quality in labor, research, and expertise of Educator history students as of students on other tracks.
The culminating project for the Educator track consists of a Portfolio of Historical Education
In the portfolio capstone class you will put together your formal portfolio demonstrating how the graduate experience has enhanced your teaching. This includes curriculum development, new activities, and revised essays from your graduate courses etc…and will have a total portfolio length of 80-100 pages.