The Curriculum in History
One of the largest departments on campus, the History Department offers a wide variety of courses at all levels with varying sizes of enrollments. Striving to provide a balanced and diverse curriculum, our courses cover a multitude of topics. As a dynamic department, our course offerings often change; faculty develop new courses and older courses sometimes disappear. For a complete listing and description of current history courses, students should consult the most current Bulletin of Duke University, which reflects a department-wide review of the curriculum that was undertaken in 1999. For a listing of the courses offered in any given semester, students should consult the Official Schedule of Courses for that semester (SISS). Visit the website at http://www.siss.duke.edu/Schedule/.
00 - Courses
Given numbers below 100 and without prerequisite, these courses are specifically designed for students seeking a broad introduction to a given area of study for non-specialists. Introductory survey courses are not required. These courses may count toward distribution and pre-1800 requirement.
100-Level Courses
Students can expect to find enrollments of 20 to 40 in 100-level courses, although in a few cases enrollments reach about 50. The main exception to these medium-sized classes is the 100-level seminar. The numbers assigned to 100-level courses do not reflect the difficulty of the course; that is, History 154 is not necessarily more difficult than History 104. Some 100-level courses have prerequisites; most do not. In those cases where instructors feel that special preparation is necessary to do well in their course, they indicate this by listing prerequisites in the Official Schedule of Courses each term. Any student who has a question about the content, size, or difficulty of a course should feel welcome to contact the instructor.
In planning their program of study, students should take special care to choose upper-level courses that will build cumulative knowledge in their primary field, through a mix of classes that offer both coverage and depth. In addition, students are encouraged to develop methodological and thematic expertise across geographic area by selecting courses that can be integrated with what they have already learned in the courses they have taken to date.
200-Level Courses
Designed for seniors and graduate students, 200-level courses are more demanding than lower-level courses. Students are encouraged to contact the professor about the expectations for the course. Courses at the 200-level also fill the junior-senior seminar requirement for the History Major.
Undergraduate Seminars
The History Department provides seminars for students at all levels, from freshmen to seniors. All seminars possess two characteristics: a close focus on a specific topic and enrollments of less than 20 students, enabling close discussion of reading with an emphasis on writing.
History 20S: Studies in Special Topics
Intended for freshmen, but open to other students with little or no background in the seminar topic, these seminars emphasize student writing. These courses may be counted toward the geographical distribution requirement but do not count as introductory surveys for the major.
History 49S: First-Year Seminar
These seminars belong to a University-wide program of First-Year Seminars, intended to enhance the freshman year at Duke. Enrollment is thus limited to freshman. These courses may be counted toward the geographical distribution requirement but do not count as introductory surveys for the major.
History 105S: Special Topics in FOCUS
This series of seminars are offered only to first-year students. For the current list of courses see the FOCUS Program Brochure or the FOCUS program’s website at http://pmac-www.aas.duke.edu/focus. Offered fall semester only.
History 106S: Seminars in Selected Topics
This series of seminars is open to students at all levels, however, in some cases instructors may require prerequisites
History 195S/196S: Junior-Senior Seminars
There are opportunities for juniors and seniors to research and write about a specific historical question. Topics are numerous and vary each semester. Most seminars are offered for one semester and carry one course credit; some seminars are offered for yearlong study and carry two course credits. If students wish to enroll in only one semester of a yearlong seminar, they must obtain permission from the instructor. Both history majors and non-majors may enroll in the seminars during their junior or senior years. Students are urged to enroll in their junior year if they expect to apply for the Senior Honors Seminars (History 197S-198S) or to practice-teach in their senior year.