Table 4: History Major Portfolio Description | AHA

AHA Teaching & Learning Teaching Resources for Historians Resources for Tuning the History Discipline Four-Year Private Universities Saint Vincent College History Department Goals and Assessment Table 4: History Major Portfolio Description

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Table 4: History Major Portfolio Description

Institution: Saint Vincent College

Location: Latrobe, PA

Tuner: Tim Kelly

Year: 2014

Portfolio Component	Course	Year First Submitted	Description/Notes
Cover Letter	HI 300 Historian's Profession	Sophomore or Junior	Students write a cover letter that would accompany their application for a job. (Updated in the Junior Seminar)
Resume/ CV	HI 300 Historian's Profession	Sophomore or Junior	Students draft their resume to accompany their letter of application. Faculty give feedback on multiple drafts. (Updated formally in the Junior Seminar, and faculty urge students to update it further in the senior year.)
Article Review	HI 300 Historian's Profession HI 301 Junior Seminar	Sophomore Year Junior Year	Students write a review of an article in a professional historical journal, with an aim toward identifying and critiquing the central argument and sources.
Book Review	HI 300 Historian's Profession HI 301 Junior Seminar	Sophomore Year Junior Year (Spring)	Students write a review of a book written by a professional historian, with an aim toward identifying and critiquing the central argument and sources.
Historiographical Essay	HI 300 Historian's Profession HI 301 Junior Seminar HI 302 Senior Seminar	Sophomore Year Junior Year (Spring) Senior Year	Students write an historiographical essay in the Historian's Profession (usually taken in the sophomore year) that addresses at least six secondary sources, then write one in the Junior Seminar that addresses ten sources. Students then revise and expand their historiographical essay from the sophomore year as part of their senior thesis.
Prospectus	HI 301 Junior Seminar	Junior Year (Spring)	Plan for the senior thesis that includes: 1) a general introduction to the topic, 2) historiographical essay on subject, 3) Student's anticipated argument and plan of study
Senior Thesis	HI 302	Senior Year (Fall)	Students write a thesis on a subject of their choosing (25 page minimum) as the central component of their Senior Seminar.
Reflection Essay	HI 302	Senior Year (Fall)	Students reflect on their experience in the major, highlighting what they found most and least useful to them (at this point).