This knowledge base is then used to analyze universal themes in human experience. Communication Skills Students are expected to develop an ability to construct narratives that clearly distinguish historical topics from historical thesis and present their work in competent written and oral forms. Problem-Solving Skills Students are expected to develop competencies in identifying historical sources, assessing the validity of evidence and extracting substantive generalizations from what they have discovered. A general curriculum restructure addressed both problems. Students advance to intermediate level courses that are time or place specific in two categories, i.e., United States or non-U.S. courses.
Further advancement moves students to topic specific courses.
Faculty will monitor written work to determine if students are measurably expanding their fundamental knowledge base. Intermediate level courses include more complex written assignments and oral presentations. Hist-401, required of all majors, is a senior capstone course that engages students directly in research, preparation of written reports, and oral presentations and critique that involve other students and the course professor. The most difficult task for history undergraduates is to draw supportable conclusions from an array of otherwise disconnected historical evidence and present these conclusions in a manner that distinguishes between analysis and chronology. This problem is addressed at every level of instruction culminating with the student directly engaged in the process of constructing a historical narrative in Hist-401.