Phi Alpha Theta

FAQ

Undergraduate History Honors Society

University of California, Berkeley

Voicing Undergraduate Concerns

Written by Cindy Lau, Nina Milosevic, Rachel Ponce, and Shirley Ye

3 May 2001

Over the last couple of months History Honors’ Society has held a series of meetings under the rubric of Voicing Undergraduate Concerns.  At these meetings we have intensively and extensively discussed ways in which the learning experience for undergraduates studying history at U.C. Berkeley can be bettered: including graduate student instruction, topic offerings for 101s and 103s, and the structure of the honors' program.

This series of meetings was inspired by a discussion led by J.P. Daughton and Justin Suran called The Craft of Historical Research.  At this seminar, Suran and Daughton reviewed practical research techniques, ranging from how to formulate a research question to how to locate and effectively use archives. The discussion generated after the seminar among the students in attendance revealed a disturbingly widespread confusion and anxiety over how to write History (for example, the Thesis and Honors' Thesis).

One concrete outcome of the Voicing Undergraduate Concerns Series was the History Undergraduate Student Survey.  This survey attempts to sample students' response and experience of the curriculum and thesis experience.  The survey has been widely distributed to 101, 103 and 102 seminars, posted on the Phi Alpha Theta web site, and has been made available in the History department office.

Though the survey is far from perfect in addressing the full range of concerns among undergraduate students, we feel it is a solid beginning to establishing stronger communication among teachers and students.  Following are some of the prevalent issues students have articulated within the survey and at our meetings.

1. Topic Offerings

Many students indicated a desire to see more topics on East Asia, in particular Japan and China.  Course offerings on Women's history and Military history were also felt to be lacking.

There was some desire expressed for 103 seminars focused around thematic and comparative themes rather than geography – this would alleviate some student dissatisfaction with the topics taught.

2. Course Enhancements

Many students want on-line message boards for courses and optional discussion sections for upper division classes to further an intellectual community with classmates and instructor.

3. 101 and 103 Seminar Logistics

Because the theses written are frequently determined by the kind of 103 seminars the student participates in, many students felt that there needed to be a stronger bridge between these two classes.  For example, some students expressed a desire to write a 101 or 195 on China or Japan, but because there was not an adequate selection of 103 topics offered on these regions, these students wrote their theses on an American or European topic instead. 

There is also an overriding desire to have Professors lead these seminars for their experience.  Because these specialized seminars are often considered as the culmination of an undergraduate's career at Berkeley, many students were disappointed to have graduate student instructors teaching these courses.

The registration for the 103 and 101 topics should correspond more closely with the Registration of regular classes. Especially with the fall semester, students are unable to contemplate and register for these seminars in relation to their other coursework because 101 and 103 sign-up's occur one week before instruction begins.

4. Theses and Honor's Thesis Structure

Both in the surveys and in the Voicing Undergraduate Concerns meetings, students generally agreed that the 195 were isolating and research methodologies need to be incorporated in the 101.
We propose a restructuring of the thesis writing process.   We are unsure what shape the thesis writing process and honors’ designation should take.  There were conflicting responses in the surveys concerning whether there should be a separate methodology course prefacing the 101, though all agreed that methodology should be incorporated in the thesis-writing process. 

·        The first semester would consist of a literature review focused on the student's particular field.  This course would incorporate historiography and research method. The primary goal would be to have the student gather sources the thesis and write a concrete prospectus.

·        The second semester would be devoted to the writing of the thesis in conjunction with a thesis writing class and an individual faculty advisor.  The topics of the thesis writing class would need to correspond with the kind of prospectuses generated from the first semester.

5. End-of-the-Year Conference

The thesis is often considered the magnus opus of the history student's tenure at U.C. Berkeley because of all of the efforts that go into its production.  An end-of-the-year conference for student theses would showcase undergraduate student research, broadcast historical research possibilities to under-class students, generate feedback for presenters/writers, and nurture an intellectual community among students and teachers.