Students who major in history should select an advisor in the department. This person will be best prepared to assist students in meeting major requirements and assessing the relationship between their work in history and their future life and career goals. The department requires 36 hours (or nine courses) distributed to ensure both breadth and depth in the major. The major requirements are discussed in greater detail below and must be fulfilled as follows:

Two Required Courses: Two courses in the history major are specifically required:

• HIST-290: Doing History 290 is a methods course which should be taken upon declaring a history major, preferably in the sophomore year and no later than the first semester of the junior year.
• Senior Experience: This is fulfilled in the senior year by taking either: HIST 430 Senior Seminar or HIST 451/452 Two-semester Senior Research.

Three Area Requirements: To ensure that students engage diverse fields of history, the department requires that each major complete one introductory course at the 100 or 200 level (excluding Hist-290) in three of the six following geographic areas:

• Europe
• United States
• Africa
• Middle East
• East Asia
• Latin America

One of these courses must focus on history prior to 1800 (pre-modern) and one of these courses must cover Europe or the United States.

Three Upper-Level Seminars: Majors are required to take three advanced courses at the 300 level, one of which must be a research seminar. Research seminars will be indicated by special notation at the time of course registration. The upper division course with the research component must be completed prior to enrolling in History 430: Senior Seminar or conducting senior or honors research in history.

One Elective in History

Advanced Placement history courses for which the student has earned a 4 or 5 may not be used to meet the requirements of the major, but do count as credits towards graduation from Denison.

A working knowledge of a foreign language is desirable for all majors; those planning on graduate work in history should start a second language if possible. (Graduate schools usually require a reading knowledge of at least two languages. Requirements vary depending upon the area of study and research interests of the candidate. Suitable language choices should be made in consultation with your history advisor.)

The department requires a minimum of 24 hours (or six courses) of work in history for a minor. Students must complete three area requirements as defined for the major, History 290-Doing History, and one 300 level course.