AboutLaura Trauth Expertise PhD program in History. A more conservative Catholic institution, the school is also less self-contained. This means it has less of a sense of family and community, but also that it is connected with the nation`s capitol and all the academic, artistic, and social resources that DC provides. The History and Medieval Studies grad programs have a core faculty of dedicated and talented scholars who encourage students to pursue original research and analyse current scholarship.
Question I understand that in all PhD programmes, your supervisor will encourage you to do research and submit articles for publication in journals, workshops, etc.
I know that in computer science, like many sciences and engineering, in order to obtain a PhD, a candidate must publish at least 3 articles in refereed publications or workshops. These publications must be prestigious, like those sponsored by the ACM or IEEE, and have all articles reviewed and approved of worthy for publication by the journal/workshop board which consists of well-established academics and industry leaders.
The rationale for this is that during your thesis defence, if you can show that others, such as these referees, have reviewed your research and found it to be original and good enough for publication, they are unlikely to challenge your thesis. Thus, with 3+ papers published under your belt, the thesis examination is just a formality.
Because computer science is constantly evolving at a quick pace, publishing through books is viewed as too slow. By the time that you publish your findings in a book, it is well out-dated. Book publishing takes several years while journal articles take a few months. History, of course, might be a bit different - I know that book publication is taken as a serious indication of scholarly work.
A friend knows a friend who is doing her PhD in sociology. According to her, it is rare for a PhD student to publish a paper - if it is accepted for publication in a journal, it is quite rare. Thus, there is no requirement for publication for a PhD.
I was wondering what the criteria for a PhD in history is. I know that it varies from school to school and from supervisor to supervisor. However, is it the norm for requiring PhD students to have several publications before submitting their thesis? Or would a thesis normally be submitted without publications beforehand?
Thanks.
Answer Hi Rich,
History is more like Sociology than Computer science. I wouldn't say it's RARE for a PhD candidate to publish, but it's not a requirement either.
Most programs require original research seminars. CUA requires 4 if you don't have a master's thesis and 2 if you do. Each class requires you to produce a 20-40 page work that is not just a bibliographic essay, but also contains original primary source work -- analysis, or sometimes translation. I did one of each in addition to my thesis. Those works are expected to be publishable or reviewable in some way. You might get them accepted to a print journal, a peer-reviewed web journal, or a major conference.
Generally the chapters of your dissertation are treated the same way. You're expected to break it into smaller chunks and present them at major conferences or submit them for publication, etc. But as many of the major history journals, at least in Medieval Studies, come out from 4x/year to only 1x/year, your paper may still be under consideration months later while you are defending!
Again, this would vary -- probably more from historical specialty to specialty rather than from school to school. I've been encouraged to participate profesionally in the field at every school I've been to, and so have many of my grad student friends, but the # of journals and such are much higher in, say, American History than in a very narrow specialty like "the Baltic Middle Ages!" Some areas, like Medieval Studies, have compensated for this by developing journals, like Comitatus, expecially for graduate students. They have rigourous standards, but aren't as swamped with submissions!
I hope that answers your question!
Sincerely,
Laura Trauth
