Comprehensive Exams in Military History
The Graduate Regulations of the History Department govern how all students take the comprehensive examinations and defend the dissertation prospectus. Students should consult those regulations, as well as the day-of-exam rules outlined on the form which they must submit in advance of the examination. As an addition to those general departmental rules, this document outlines the specific regulations of the Military History field.
Military history students normally take the PhD comprehensive examinations in the geographic, temporal, or topical major field in which their interests and research falls, under the rules of that major field (for example, U.S. or European), and then taking the "topical" exam for military history. However students may, with the approval of their faculty adviser, the convenor of the military history field, and the DGS, be examined in any four fields (one of which must be military history) of their choice.
In preparing for the military history comprehensive exam, there will be two reading lists. The first is a list of books and articles required of all students in the field, available from the field convenor. The second is a list tailored to a student's proposed geographic and chronological specialty, and determined by the student's advisor with significant student input. Students whose primary field is not military history, but who wish to offer military history as their topical field as part of specializing in European or American history (for instance), will be responsible for a shorter list, combining general military history and the military history of their geographic specialty.
Since most students will take comprehensives under the rules of one of the other major fields, they will follow the examination rules for that field. In general however, students have eight hours to complete each examination, and the length of each examination response should be 10-15 pages (typed and double-spaced). Students may consult a single sided page of notes while writing each exam. A student may take all four examinations in one semester or over two consecutive semesters. The student's adviser must approve the student's schedule of examinations early in the semester in which the first examination is taken. When constructing this schedule, a student must secure the approval of each participating faculty member regarding the time for his/her examination. A faculty member may ask a student to synchronize an examination with those of other students. Students who are combining fields across specialties will have to consult more closely with their advisor on exactly how to format and schedule their exams.
Faculty reading the comprehensive exams will assign graduate grades to each exam. In the event a student receives a grade of L or F on one exam, the student will receive a failing grade for that exam and he or she will be allowed to retake that exam within six months. A student receiving grades of L or F on two or more exams will receive a failing grade on those exams and will be allowed to retake the exams once no sooner than three months and no later than six months after having first taken the exams.