The student is expected to achieve depth and breadth of scholarly sophistication and mastery in this field. The student is expected to show breadth and perspective in this field in order to set his or her specialty within its encompassing framework and to be able to teach survey courses. This requirement affords the student, for comparative purposes, a deep encounter with the history of a period or culture distinct from that studied in Fields 1 and 2 and also to enable him or her to offer survey courses in this field. A cognate field outside the discipline of history is chosen from within another academic department. This field should strengthen the student's grasp of Field l and be comparable in depth and richness to Fields 2 and 3.
Examples are Africa, Middle East, East Asia, and Latin America.
Alternatively, special topics may be chosen, such as environmental history, women's history, native American history, military history, and religious history. The department has added this option to maximize students' opportunities on the job market, where many institutions seek candidates who can teach non-Western or world history, or both. Doctoral students should select their four fields in consultation with their major professor during their first quarter of study. The three written examinations in history must all be completed within a period of one month from the date of the first examination. Each of these examinations will be of three hours' duration.