What is HIS 687?
HIS 687: Culminating Experience provides a capstone experience for your graduate program in the history department. Unlike other courses, it functions more like an independent study than an actual class. As such, it does not meet. There is no classroom or class meeting times. However, it does have requirements and policies/procedures you need to know.
The Comprehensive Examination (HIS 687) is typically taken in your LAST SEMESTER of graduate coursework but you need to prepare during the prior semester. Pay careful attention to the schedules below. (Reminder: In order to enroll in HIS 687, you must have completed at least 24 credit hours, have earned a minimum of 3.0 GPA, and have no outstanding incomplete grades.)
The comprehensive exam is graded S/U (satisfactory/unsatisfactory). In the event that you do not pass HIS 687, you are required to enroll in HIS 697 and complete the work necessary to pass.
Comprehensive Examination Structure:
The “comp exam” provides you with the opportunity to think critically about some of the major issues in your field of study and clarify your thinking about those issues in written form. Typically, the exam comprises essay questions supplied by the faculty with whom you studied. These questions are often broadly interpretive and provide you with opportunities to integrate your reading and interpret evidence to make an argument. (Individual faculty members can clarify their approach to the comprehensive exam). The following table provides you with key mileposts you should follow as you prepare for HIS 687:
Semester Prior to Taking HIS 687
During Advisement
Discuss with Dr. Gathagan which faculty you will ask to write questions for your Comprehensive Exam. Dr. Gathagan must approve your list of faculty before you ask them.
M.A. students need TWO History Department faculty (full-time, tenure/tenure-track faculty).
By The End of the Semester:
Finalize agreements with approved faculty who will be writing questions for your comprehensive examination.
Semester You Are Enrolled in HIS 687
By the Second Week of Classes
You must meet with each of the faculty writing questions for your comprehensive examination. They will be able to discuss with you how best to prepare for their portion of the comprehensive exam.
During the Rest of the Semester:
Study!
During the Last Week of the Semester:
The schedule for the comp exam is posted after the first week of the semester. The Department secretary will email you the date and time of the exam and the place to go. Typically, comp exams are scheduled for the last Friday of the semester from 9:00 to 3:00 p.m. in one of the computer labs in Old Main.
Once the faculty have read and evaluated your comprehensive exam, the department will contact you with the results.