Graduate School from Start to Finish

Admissions & Acceptance

Application and Decision Process, updated by Elise S. Lipkowitz, chair of the AHA’s Committee for Graduate Students, November 2006

“Navigating the Graduate Admissions Process” by Michael H. Creswell (Perspectives on History, December 2009)

Foreign Language Study

Guide to Foreign Language Study for Graduate Students, prepared by Erica Heisen for the AHA Graduate and Early Career Committee, February 2017

Master’s Degree

Retrieving the Master’s Degree from the Dustbin of History, prepared by Philip M. Katz for the AHA’s Committee on Committee on the Master’s Degree in History

Issues in Graduate Education: What is the Meaning of the Master’s Degree? (Perspectives on History, April 2007)

• “Function of the Master’s Degree in Teaching History“ by Helen Grady
• “The MA and a Career in Historic Preservation“ by Daniel Vivian
• “Public History Master’s at the University of South Carolina” by Thomas Brown

Funding/Grant Writing

Guide to Preparing Fellowship Applications by Aaron Hale-Dorrell and Jennifer Schaefer; approved by GECC September 21, 2016

Calls for Opportunities

AHA Research Grants

• Beveridge Family Research Grant in Western hemisphere history
• Michael Kraus Research Grant in colonial American history
• LGBTQ History Research Grant
• Littleton-Griswold Grant in U.S. legal history and the field of law and society
• Bernadotte Schmitt Grant in the history of Europe, Asia, and Africa

Conceptualizing a Dissertation

Searchable database of Doctoral History Dissertations at Canadian and U.S. History Programs

Conducting Research

Guide to Archival Research approved by GECC September 21, 2016; adapted by Elizabeth Lundeen and Adam J. Pratt

Organizing and Writing a Dissertation

From Notes to Narrative: The Art of Crafting a Dissertation or Monograph (Perspectives on History, January 2009)

• • • “Managing the Terror” by Brad S. Gregory
    • “On Taking Notes” by Judith Walkowitz
    • “Finding the Story” by Deborah E. Harkness

Statement on Policies Regarding the Option to Embargo Completed History PhD Dissertations (2013)

Guidelines for Advising the Doctoral Dissertation Process (2016; revised 2023)

Networking

AHA Annual Meeting

Conference Rules by Linda Kerber

• • • Conference Rules: Everything you need to know about presenting a scholarly paper in public
    • Conference Rules 2: Everything you need to know about introducing speakers and running a panel discussion
    • Conference Rules 3: Everything you need to know about your role as a commentator or member of the audience

Mentoring

Forum on Mentoring (Perspectives on History, January 2009)

• • Learning the Craft: The Role of Graduate Mentors by John D. French
  • Graduate Student Mentoring by Ronald Walters
  • Teaching Assistants and Other Issues by Terry L. Seip