The area chosen will become the student's major field. Students who elect this option are required to pass written and oral examinations in their concentration area. The written examination will be three hours in length and may be taken no earlier than the second semester of graduate study. Within two weeks of the written examination, candidates receiving a passing grade from each member of their examining committee on the comprehensive will be examined orally, usually for two hours, over the concentration. Students will be responsible on the oral for a mastery of their field of study, including the reading list they have received during their first week in the program.
Candidates have one opportunity to retake a failed written or oral examination.
At least one full semester must elapse between the failure of the first examination and the re-examination. A failing grade on the second examination will eliminate the student from the master's degree program in history. The student must return the permit to the department office no later than the end of the sixth week of the semester in which the examination will be taken. At this time a specific date will be set by the department chair with the advice of the candidate's major professor and committee. The maximum credit that may be earned in HIST 622, Directed Studies, is six hours.