Schedule

Term 1

Week 1 (Sept. 2): Imagine Day (no class)

Week 2 (Sept. 9): Introduction/Taking Stock

Zachary M. Schrag, The Princeton Guide to Historical Research (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2021), chaps. 1–2.
[Recommended] American Historical Association, “Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct” (2023).
[Optional] American Historical Association, “Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education” (2025).

Week 3 (Sept. 16): What’s the Problem?

Schrag, Princeton Guide, chaps. 3–4.
[Recommended] Thomas S. Mullaney, and Christopher G. Rea, Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World) (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2022), Introduction, chaps. 1–2.

Preliminary proposal due September 22.

Week 4 (Sept. 23): Preliminary Proposal

Students will present their preliminary proposals.

[Optional] Funding application due September 26

Week 5 (Sept. 30): Consultation (no class)

Students should arrange (in advance) to meet with their thesis advisors this week to receive feedback on their preliminary proposals. A substantive entry in the Research Journal is expected.

Week 6 (Oct. 7): The World of Sources

Schrag, Princeton Guide, chaps. 5–7.
[Optional] Mullaney and Rea, Where Research Begins, chap. 3.

Week 7 (Oct. 14): Where in the World?

Schrag, Princeton Guide, chaps. 8–9.

Students will introduce some of the archives/databases they have come across in their research.

Week 8 (Oct. 21): Source Analysis

Schrag, Princeton Guide, chap. 10.

Students will present their source analyses.

Source analyses due October 24.

Week 9 (Oct. 28): The Genre (Part 1)

Selected recent honours theses (tbd)

Week 10 (Nov. 4): Problem Collectives

Mullaney and Rea, Where Research Begins, chaps. 4–5.

Students will prepare a preliminary annotated bibliography according to their individual “problem collective.”

Week 11 (Nov. 11): Consultation (no class)

Students should arrange (in advance) to meet with their thesis supervisors to receive feedback on their annotated bibliographies.

Week 12 (Nov. 18): The Genre (Part 2)

Sample research prospectuses (tbd)

Week 13 (Nov. 25): Thesis Prospectus (Part 1)

Students will present their draft thesis prospectuses.

Week 14 (Dec. 2): Thesis Prospectus (Part 2)

Students will present their draft thesis prospectuses

Thesis prospectuses due December 9.

Term 2

Week 1 (Jan. 6): Looking Ahead

Schrag, Princeton Guide, chap. 13.

Week 2 (Jan. 13): Writing Workshop

Schrag, Princeton Guide, chaps. 15.
Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), chap. 17 (if you have the fifth edition, it’s chap. 15, “Revising Style”).

Week 3 (Jan. 20): Chapters in Focus #1.1

Students will take turns presenting a draft section of their own thesis (1.1–1.4).

Week 4 (Jan. 27): Chapters in Focus #1.2

Week 5 (Feb. 3): Chapters in Focus #1.3

Week 6 (Feb. 10): Chapters in Focus #1.4

Week 7 (Feb. 24): Chapters in Focus #2.1

Students will take turns presenting a second section of their own thesis (2.1–2.4).