History of Science
Questions about these requirements? See the contact info at the bottom of the page.
Master of Arts (AM)
Requirements
Eight four-unit courses or the equivalent, including:
- Historiography of the History of Science
- Research Methods in the History of Science
- four additional graduate seminars (2000-level) of which:
- three must be offered by the Department of the History of Science (DHS)
- one must be outside the department
(Graduate reading and independent study courses do not fulfill the graduate seminar requirement.)
- two additional history of science courses, designated either “for undergraduates and graduate students” (1000-level) or “primarily for graduate students” (2000-level).
History of science courses include:
- courses taught in other departments by members of DHS
- courses cross-listed under history of science in the online course catalog
- Graduate-level courses offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Science, Technology, and Society Program (a maximum of three courses may be taken at MIT).
All other courses count as outside the department.
AM Essay Guidelines:
The master’s essay may consist of a paper written for a course in the history of science—HISTSCI 3003b or another graduate seminar—taken during the AM year. Candidates for the AM must submit the AM Essay Topic Proposal form, available on the graduate program website, by March 1 of the AM year.
Essays written for spring seminars must be submitted to the course instructor, DGS, and Graduate Coordinator by the last day of the reading period. In cases in which the essay has not been written to fulfill course requirements, the DGS will designate a faculty member to grade the essay.
The essay will be assessed based on the following criteria:
- It must present an original argument based on research in primary sources.
- It must be accompanied by a complete bibliography of cited works and references in an appropriate scholarly format.
- It must be 7,500–10,500 words in length, exclusive of bibliography.
- It must receive a grade of B+ or higher.
Residence and progress:
Students must be in residence for one year of full-time study.
Eight courses must be completed with grades of B or higher.
All master’s students will meet with the DGS and, where applicable, their advisor at the start of each semester to review progress and approve plans of study.
Doctoral students who complete the doctoral course requirements (including submitting two research papers) are eligible to receive an AM degree in history of science with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies and the faculty.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)[1]
Requirements
Students must be in residence for a minimum of two years of full-time study. While in residence, students are expected to attend the department colloquia.
Years 1 & 2: Coursework and Research Papers
Course Requirements
Sixteen four-credit courses or the equivalent, plus a two-credit course, Colloquium on Teaching Practices, normally taken in the fall of the G3 year, including:
- two seminars: Historiography in History of Science (HISTSCI 3003A) and Research Methods in the History of Science (HISTSCI 3003B)
- six additional graduate seminars (HISTSCI 2000-level or seminars “primarily for graduate students” in other departments), of which:
- four must be offered by the department
- one must fulfill the pre-1800/post-1800 requirement (Students writing dissertations on post-1800 topics must take a pre-1800 course and vice-versa.)
- one must be outside the department
Note: Courses in the history of science include courses taught in other departments by members of the Department of the History of Science, courses cross-listed under the history of science, and graduate courses in science, technology, and society offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; of these, a maximum of three may be taken at MIT. All other courses count as outside the department. Graduate reading courses do not fulfill the graduate seminar requirement.
- Eight electives, of which up to five may be graduate-level reading courses in the history of science or other divisions, departments, or committees
- Colloquium on Teaching Practices (two credits) taken in the first year of employment as a Teaching Fellow (normally the G3 year)
Note: The department does not accept transfer credit. Students who matriculate into the doctoral program after receiving an AM degree in History of Science or who take graduate courses as Special Students in the department are eligible to transfer up to eight four-unit courses.
Research Papers
In the first two years of graduate study, students must write two research papers, at least one for a departmental course. Papers must be between 7500 and 10,000 words (exclusive of notes and bibliography); each must earn a grade of at least A-. One must display serious engagement with archival or other primary sources (which may include printed and/or digital materials and objects); the other may be based on fieldwork observation (e.g., ethnographic, participant-observer) or involve media production (e.g., interactive web, audio, video/photographic, museum exhibition).
The first paper is to be submitted by June 1 of the G1 year (ordinarily to be written in the context of the Research Methods course); the second by April 1 of the G2 year (to be written for a departmental or external graduate seminar). Students’ advisors should read and discuss at least one of the papers with the student, whether or not the paper was produced for the advisor’s course.
- Paper #1 must be submitted via email to the graduate program coordinator by June 1st of the G1 year, with the course instructor cc’d.
- Paper #2 must be submitted to the graduate program coordinator by April 1st of the G2 year, with the course instructor cc’d.
- One paper must be submitted to the student’s primary advisor for review by the end of the third semester of study, with the graduate coordinator cc’d. Both must be graded before the general exam.
Grades and Assessment
Eight four-credit courses must be passed at a grade level of B or above in the first year of study.
The grade of Incomplete (INC) is given only in extraordinary circumstances. The decision to give an Incomplete is at the discretion of each faculty member. Students with more than one INC on their record at the end of a semester will receive a letter of warning from the department and are at risk of being placed into “unsatisfactory status.”
GSAS policy requires that academic work must be completed, and the grade converted to a letter grade before the end of the next registration period (e.g. coursework for an incomplete received in the fall of 2022 must be completed before the first day of registration for the fall of 2023). A petition for an extension of time for incomplete work signed by the course instructor and director of graduate studies must be submitted to the GSAS Dean of Student Affairs Office for any course work completed after the end of the next registration period.
All courses must be graded before a student is permitted to teach. Students with outstanding course requirements (excluding the Teaching Colloquium normally taken in G3 year) are not permitted to sit for the general examination.
Students’ progress is reviewed each year by the department at a May faculty meeting in which a determination is made of students’ qualification for continuing graduate work in light of both departmental and GSAS requirements.
Advising and Course Planning
The director of graduate studies (DGS) serves as the primary advisor to first-year students. In addition, all first-year PhD candidates are assigned a continuing graduate student who acts as a peer mentor, helping new students acclimatize to departmental expectations and routines.
First and second-year students meet with the DGS at the start of each semester for the first two years to discuss their plan of study. Students also meet with the graduate program coordinator at this time and must submit to the coordinator a completed “History of Science Doctoral Degree Requirements Worksheet.” This is to ensure that students are fulfilling the necessary requirements.
Students should take seminars with faculty they might ask to serve on the general examination committee. The chair of the student’s general examination committee together with the DGS serves as primary advisors to second-year students.
Students are encouraged to start planning to fulfill their course distribution requirements, to meet the language requirement, and to define the three “fields of study” that they intend to submit for the general examination (see the section on the General Examination below) upon entering the program. Study programs, courses, seminars, and fields of study are selected in consultation with students’ advisors (as explained above).
Language Requirement
All students must demonstrate proficiency in at least one language other than English upon submission of the dissertation prospectus in November of the G3 year (see below). The language(s) in question should reflect students’ research interests and ordinarily will be agreed on in consultation with the DGS and intended dissertation director at the beginning of the first year of graduate study; the list may be revised as necessary to reflect students’ changing intellectual trajectories. Some students may enter with all the language preparation they will need for graduate study in their chosen fields. Others may have an elementary or intermediate knowledge of a language or languages and may improve on that knowledge by taking additional coursework, including first-, second-, or third-year language courses and/or the reading courses offered by some departments, whether during the regular academic year or in summer.
Students may demonstrate proficiency in one of the following ways: 1) completing two semesters of foreign-language coursework, and receiving a grade of A- or higher in the courses; 2) completing a summer Reading Knowledge or other summer language course approved in advance by the DGS and receiving a grade of A- or higher; 3) completing upper-level coursework in a language other than English; 4) making substantial use of non-English texts in one or more seminar papers or in the preparation of general examination fields and prospectuses, or 5) passing a language exam offered by the department. Proficiency is assumed in the case of native speakers and bilingual students, as long as they are skilled in both reading and speaking.
To document proficiency, students must email the graduate program coordinator, cc’ing the advisor and the faculty member who certifies the student’s language skills; students should list the language(s) and the means by which proficiency has been demonstrated. Students taking language reading courses at Harvard Summer School or in an external institution should have a transcript sent to the graduate program coordinator.
As students’ fields of study develop, they may find that they need to acquire new languages or further develop their skills in ones they already know. This should be discussed by students and their advisors on a regular basis as part of the advising process.
Year 2: The General Examination
The general examination is usually scheduled for the spring of the second year. Examination committees do not expect an encyclopedic command of detail but, rather, seek evidence of students’ understanding of the main intellectual developments within a field of science, familiarity with the chief historiographic traditions associated with a particular content area, and an ability to set a particular field of science or the science of a particular period within its institutional, political, and social contexts.
The general examination is oral. It includes three fields. The number and definition of these are determined by the student in consultation with the DGS and the student’s advisor. At least two fields should be in the history of science and directed by faculty in the department or faculty members otherwise designated by the department. All general examinations must include at least one field outside the department. Once the fields for the general examination have been set, the three faculty members who will be working with the student to prepare them for the examinations are consolidated into a formal general advising committee.
In November of the second year, students submit a general examination application and a completed “Doctoral Degree Requirements Worksheet” to the Graduate Program Coordinator, who forwards these to the DGS and the department faculty for review.
To pass the general examination, a passing mark must be earned in each field.
General examination applications from students with outstanding Incompletes or course requirements (excluding Teaching Colloquium) cannot be reviewed or approved by department faculty, and the students will not be permitted to sit for the examination. A rising third-year student who has not passed the general examination will be allowed one semester in which to complete any outstanding course and writing requirements as well as to sit for and pass the examination. The department may ask students who do not return to satisfactory standing and pass the examination to withdraw from candidacy.
Year 3 and Beyond: Teaching and the Dissertation
Teaching
All students are required by the department to participate as teaching fellows or course assistants in at least one course offered by department faculty. Students may not teach during the DCF year and so should plan accordingly. All students are required to complete the Colloquium on Teaching Practices (two credits) offered in the fall, with opportunities for additional sessions in the spring. (Note: This colloquium offers students the opportunity to build a teaching portfolio, including a teaching philosophy and sample syllabi.)
Rising G3 students must attend the fall Bok Center Teaching Retreat as well as the department teaching retreat held in late August/early September. The Bok Center offers numerous teaching workshops and resources to enable teaching fellows to hone their teaching skills.
Faculty course instructors hold weekly meetings with teaching fellows to guide them in leading discussion sections and grading assignments and exams. In addition, teaching fellows should consult faculty course heads about any undergraduate students who may be struggling with course material/assignments/personal issues.
Please consult the Department Teaching Manual for additional information.
The Dissertation Prospectus
Following successful completion of the general examination, students must attend a prospectus “study day,” held in late May/early June and led by the DGS and another faculty member. The study day serves to introduce students to the process of writing the dissertation prospectus. Faculty leaders will work with students to explore possible archival and other resources to explore during the summer months; departmental funding is available to facilitate archival summer research. At the start of the fall semester, the faculty and students will meet once again to discuss students’ summer progress and draft prospectuses.
At this point, students will constitute a dissertation prospectus committee in consultation with their general examination committee chair/primary advisor and the DGS, as necessary.
Over the course of the G3 year's fall semester, students are expected to discuss a draft of the prospectus with the dissertation prospectus committee, which will approve its submission to the department faculty as a whole. Prospectuses are to be submitted to the graduate program coordinator at least one week before the December history of science faculty meeting; that is, by the Thanksgiving break. The faculty will discuss prospectuses in depth at this meeting and vote on their approval.
After obtaining faculty approval, students present their prospectuses to the history of science community in a department seminar, usually in the spring of the G3 year.
Students are expected to submit their prospectuses in the fall of the G3 year; in all cases, however, approval must be obtained before the end of the G3 year.
Starting in the G3 year, students and advisors together complete an end-of-the-year progress report, which is submitted to the graduate coordinator by April 1.
A rising fourth-year student must have obtained the approval of a prospectus.
The Dissertation
Once the student’s dissertation prospectus has been vetted by the dissertation prospectus committee and approved by the department faculty, a dissertation committee will be set up. The chair of the prospectus committee often serves as the dissertation committee chair and the student’s primary advisor. The names of faculty members available for the direction of the PhD dissertation are listed in the course catalog under History of Science 300. The chair of the dissertation must be an eligible member of the department, as must at least one other member of the committee. Students in the history of science are encouraged to include junior faculty on their dissertation committees.
Starting in the G3 year, the student, in conjunction with their advisor, is required to submit a brief annual report on the progress of the dissertation. The annual report form is due by April 1, following a discussion among the student, the advisor, and, ordinarily, at least one other member of the committee. The Graduate Program Coordinator can assist with scheduling.
Timetable for submission of the dissertation: Students must submit a final, complete draft of the dissertation to their committees no later than six weeks prior to the “dissertations are due on” date specified by GSAS. All students must submit a pdf of the submitted dissertation with the signed dissertation acceptance certificate to the graduate coordinator.
Committees will read and comment on the dissertation draft, and ask for any revisions, no later than three weeks prior to the same date.
Students will make any necessary changes and submit the dissertation in its final form to the committee and to the department no later than one week prior to the “due on” date.
The dissertation should be an original contribution to knowledge. It must conform to the online description, Formatting your Dissertation, on the GSAS Policies website.
Dissertation Defense
The dissertation defense will ordinarily take place after the members of the dissertation committee have approved the dissertation. Although the dissertation defense is not required to receive the doctoral degree, students often find the forum useful as they further their research. The Graduate Program Coordinator will assist students in setting a defense date.
Duration of Study
Work for the degree should be completed within a total of six years. Students generally have an additional year to complete the dissertation after taking the dissertation completion fellowship. An extension beyond the one-year limit may be considered by the department and the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid in extraordinary circumstances.
Advising Summary
- 1st year – Director of Graduate Studies (DGS)
- 2nd year – DGS and Generals Committee Chair
- 3rd year and beyond– Prospectus Committee Chair; upon acceptance of prospectus, Dissertation Committee Chair
Students are encouraged to seek guidance from faculty whose research interests correspond to their own as they embark on their graduate studies. We hope students will become a part of the department’s community of scholars as well as seek out mentors in related Harvard departments and fields.
The DGS and the department chair are available at all times to provide additional support and advice at any stage of the graduate program. Students are encouraged to seek help from either or both of these individuals if any part of the advising process seems not to be working as it should.
[1] Requirements apply to all students entering the program AY 2016–17 and after; students who entered the doctoral program in the fall of 2015 may opt to follow a modified version of the AY 2016–17 course requirements; students who entered the program before 2015 are subject to the former course requirements. The Colloquium on Teaching Practices requirement applies to all students entering the program in AY 2022–23 and after. Students who entered in AY 2020–21 and 2021–22 are strongly encouraged to take the Colloquium. Teaching Colloquium requirement applies to all students entering the program in AY 2022–23 and after. Students who entered in AY 2020–21 and 2021–22 are strongly encouraged to take the Teaching Colloquium.
Contact Info
Linda Schneider
Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of the History of Science
Science Center 371
Cambridge, MA 02138
linda_schneider@harvard.edu
617-495-9978