Student Research

History graduate students have multiple opportunities to undertake original, primary source research in our program. Whether in research seminars, public history classes, internships, or during the process of writing a thesis, students develop techniques for finding and evaluating archival sources, analyzing their findings, and presenting them in a variety of formats. Verbal presentations, poster displays, exhibit proposals, digital projects, and research papers are just some of the ways our students share their research in professional settings: whether in the classroom or at a VCU Graduate School forum, to local museum boards, or at professional conferences. Students who choose the thesis track will develop an approximately 100-page thesis based on original research that they write during their final year of study under the direction of a faculty advisor. With so many avenues for research, our students have produced a wide range of superior scholarship.