History at Coastal Carolina University

In their freshman and sophomore years, all students at Coastal Carolina University take the same core curriculum, described in the University Catalog, which includes two courses in history. History students complete an additional 10 history courses, eight on the advanced level. Of these you are free to select from a wide range of offerings, but we do insist that you not specialize as an undergraduate, so at least two of the upper level courses must be outside your area of concentration. Only one advanced course is absolutely required: the seminar on Philosophy and Methodology of History, in which you engage in primary research and write an original paper of article length. Particularly promising students are invited to submit a senior thesis.

Many students find the study of old newspapers especially intriguing, and in addition to its collection of local and state papers dating from the eighteenth century, the University also has full sets of the New York Times and the London Times. In addition, with the miracle of microfilm, students can acquire, on interlibrary loan, newspapers from their hometown or state and use them, for example, to study the impact of the Civil War on a particular area. Students more interested in non-American matters can focus on special topics by working on an independent study basis with a particular professor. Recently, for example, a student fascinated by the classical period translated ancient sources from their original languages. Over three semesters, he examined selections from a variety of historians, poets, and tragedians, with the war diary of Caesar, De Bello Gallico, receiving special attention.