Professional Development

History majors may take one of their eleven required courses in the form of an internship. Internships are unpaid and cannot be used to fulfill one of the major's geographical distribution areas.

Work Hours and Research Paper

Interns work for up to ten hours per week at a history-related institution off campus, after which they write a report on their work (approx. 1000 words) and a research paper (approx. 3000 words). The latter must be a work of original research based on documents or artifacts from the institution.

It is usually written under the supervision of the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS), or a faculty member in the History Department with expertise in the appropriate area. It is due on the last day of the semester in which the internship has been done.

Internship Relevance

It is the student's responsibility to find the internship, to explain its historical relevance to the DUS, and to explain the Emory regulations to the institution. The DUS will usually discuss details with the institution to make sure that all relevant parties are in agreement about the requirements.

The DUS has discretion to decide whether the proposed internship is actually relevant to the study of history. Students cannot receive history credit retrospectively for internships undertaken earlier.

You are free to work with any other organization or business so long as the work makes a genuine contribution to your education in history. In recent years history majors have interned at the following places:

The History department encourages students to study abroad. Students should consult Emory College Education Abroad for information on programs, requirements, and application procedures. History courses taken abroad are given the Emory equivalent of History 385 for upper level courses and History 285 for lower level courses.

In general, upper level courses require a paper (of at least 3,000 words) using primary and secondary sources, while lower level courses require less (at least 2,000 words) and more informal writing. All students taking history courses abroad are required to show their written work to the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the History department for final approval of Emory credit.

The History department places no limit on the number of courses taken abroad that can be used towards the major. Students should be aware, however, that only three 200 level courses can count toward the major and should consult with their advisors and/or the Director of Undergraduate Studies about the suitability of their study abroad program.

The History department also supports student study abroad with its Cuttino scholarship program.