Graduate Course and Thesis Advisement
Graduate Course Advisement / Graduate Thesis Advisement / Quick Advisement Links
Graduate Course Advisement
I serve as the coordinator of the Historical Archaeology specialization in the Anthropology Masters program at UWF, and help to coordinate the various facets of this degree track with students enrolled in the program at different stages of their graduate careers, particularly while they are still taking classes. As of Fall 2023, the overall departmental advisor is Dr. Ben Burgen (bburgen@uwf.edu), and he should be contacted to set up individual thesis hours or directed studies. Students enrolled in the Historical Archaeology track should plan to meet with me at least once a semester, prior to registration, for a quick review of their progress within the overall program. I can also advise graduate students in the Anthropology track as well.
The Comparison tables below show the exact requirements for each track, and there should be one 3-credit-hour course corresponding to each of the slots by the end of primary coursework period, for a total of 36 hours (not counting additional Thesis Research hours taken subsequently until thesis completion). The normal load is 9 hours, or 3 courses, for our graduate students, though some choose just 2 courses at first, or even as a routine, which is also fine, though it means you'll be taking courses for slightly longer (1.5 additional semesters of coursework). A comparison of the length of time needed in either option (3 or 2 courses per semester) is shown below. Note that thesis hours [th] are taken as a "placeholder" to maintain enrollment after normal coursework is completed, with hours ranging from the minimum 1 hour per Fall-Spring semester (plus graduation semester, if it is during a Summer semester) up to as many as are needed to maintain full-time student status (6 hours per semester for graduate students).
3-courses (9 hours) per Fall/Spring semester
| Academic Year | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | ||||||||
| Semester | Fall | Spr | Sum | Fall | Spr | Sum | Fall | Spr | Sum | Fall | Spr | Sum |
| Course 1 | 3 | 3 | [3]* | 3 | 3 | [3]* | [th] | [th] | [th] | [th] | ||
| Course 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| Course 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| Cumul. Hrs. | 9 | 18 | 18 [21] | 27 [30] | 33 [36] | 36 | ||||||
2-courses (6 hours) per Fall/Spring semester
| Academic Year | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | ||||||||
| Semester | Fall | Spr | Sum | Fall | Spr | Sum | Fall | Spr | Sum | Fall | Spr | Sum |
| Course 1 | 3 | 3 | [3]* | 3 | 3 | [3]* | 3 | 3 | [th] | [th] | ||
| Course 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Cumul. Hrs. | 6 | 12 | 12 [15] | 18 [21] |
24 [27] |
27 | 33 | 36 | ||||
*NOTE: The graduate-level field school is only taken after having taken a suitable undergraduate field school (e.g. underwater for maritime, terrestrial for terrestrial) of sufficient length and content to allow supervision of undergraduate students, and so it is typically taken either in the first or second summer, depending on whether an undergraduate field school at UWF is required as a foundational proficiency. See the diagram to the right for more detail.
For use in tracking individual progress and planning for advising sessions, students may cut and paste the tables below, or may also download and print a Historical Archaeology Program Planner or Anthropology Program Planner that I developed for this purpose. This planner can be used in concert with the Historical Archaeology Track Course Checklist I developed on a Word document that shows all graduate courses currently in existence as of 2021 for both the Departments of Anthropology and History, grouped by which ones are core courses and which ones are electives. Please remember that not all these courses are offered every semester, but this checklist provides a quick snapshot view of all possible courses that may be offered, and how they can fit into the Historical Archaeology master's track. As an additional guide, I also maintain a Planning Schedule showing when core courses in the Historical Archaeology track should be offered in future semesters and years (barring unforseen changes).
Starting in 2021, under Current Course Offerings each semester I am now posting a compilation of current semester graduate courses in Anthropology and all History subsections, which is current as of the date the PDF was created. Since changes can be made even during the registration window, use the Current Course Search below to see which a current and official listing of courses offered in any given semester, along with their registration status.
Comparison of Anthropology Graduate Course Tracks
Historical Archaeology M.A. |
General Anthropology M.A. |
| Core ____ ANG 6110: Advanced Method and Theory in Archaeology ____ ANG 5172: Historic Archaeology Seminar ____ ANG 5173: Historical Research Methods in Archaeology ____ ANG 6196: Pol., Pract., and Arch. in Hist. Preservation ____ ANG 6824: Advanced Archaeological Field Methods |
Core ____ ANG 6110: Advanced Method and Theory in Archaeology ____ ANG 6286: Contemporary Cultural Anth. Theory ____ ANG 6583: Evolutionary Theory in Biological Anth. ____ ANG 6093: Research Design in Anthropology ____ ANG 6002: Proseminar in Anthropology |
| Specialty Electives ____ History Elective 1/3 ____ History Elective 2/3 ____ History Elective 3/3 |
Specialty Electives ____ Specialty Elective 1/3 (Archaeology)* ____ Specialty Elective 2/3 (Biological Anthropology) ____ Specialty Elective 3/3 (Cultural Anthropology) |
| General Electives* ____ Unspecified Elective 1/3 ____ Unspecified Elective 2/3 ____ Unspecified Elective 3/3 |
General Electives* ____ Unspecified Elective 1/3 ____ Unspecified Elective 2/3 ____ Unspecified Elective 3/3 |
Thesis Hours |
Thesis Hours |
*Special Note: Maritime archaeology students in both tracks need to be careful not to use up all their unspecified elective slots before taking several popular and potentially important specialty courses in this area, none of which satisfy core requirements and which are therefore always electives. Three such courses are Nautical Archaeology Seminar (ANG 5137), Conservation of Archaeological Materials (ANT 4182C taken for graduate credit), and Ship Construction (presently ANG 5990). All students should likewise be aware of keeping careful track of their electives so as not to end up having to take a desired elective course that will not count directly toward the degree program (if all open electives in a particular category have already been taken up with other courses).
Planning Schedule
For planning purposes, the anticipated schedule of core course offerings for the Historical Archaeology track during the next five academic years are shown below. Please note that this is a proposed schedule only, and unexpected contingencies may necessitate some adjustments in this tentative plan. Nevertheless, the anthropology department always plans carefully to ensure that all required core courses are made available to all students at least once during their course of study at UWF.
| Academic Year | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | ||||||||
| Semester | Fall | Spr | Sum | Fall | Spr | Sum | Fall | Spr | Sum | Fall | Spr | Sum |
| ANG 6110 | x | x | x | x | ||||||||
| ANG 5172 | x | x | ||||||||||
| ANG 5173 | x | x | x | x | ||||||||
| ANG 6196 | x | x | ||||||||||
| ANG 6824 | x | x | x | x | ||||||||
Finally, students who are thinking of continuing their graduate education in historical archaeology might want to consult the SHA Guide to Higher Education, which has great descriptions of graduate programs (including those offering a Ph.D.).
Graduate Thesis Advisement
In addition to coursework (above), each graduate student in the anthropology department needs to complete an M.A. Thesis in order to graduate. Most students spend their first few semesters getting some familiarity with course content and faculty before starting the thesis process, but it should definitely be underway by the end of the last semester of classes. The steps involved are outlined below, and the corresponding forms can all be found in the PDF document Anthropology Thesis Committee Process Forms.
1. Identify a faculty member who might be willing to help you choose and develop the initial idea for a suitable topic and dataset, and submit the completed Thesis Advisor form.
2. With the help of your Thesis Advisor, identify other faculty members who might be suitable to serve on your Thesis Commitee, and contact them with the preliminary details of your thesis project idea in order to see if they would be willing to serve.
3. Submit the Thesis Committee form with the names of your committee chair (who is usually the same person who served as the Thesis Advisor) and other committee members, and then work with your committee to formalize a Thesis Prospectus, which is basically a formal plan that both you and your committee agree is a good starting point for your thesis research.
4. Submit the completed Thesis Prospectus along with the Thesis Prospectus Approval form, and then conduct your research in consultation with your chair and committee as needed. The Prospectus is only an initial plan, and the research project may evolve beyond this document once it is underway. There is no fixed format, but examples can be found in the following document: Anthropology Prospectus Outlines.
Things to keep in mind about a thesis project include the following:
1. What topical area or areas are of greatest interest to you within your subdisciplinary specialty? What kinds of research questions and ideas do you find most compelling? This project represents a major investment of time and effort, and choosing a project that you're actually interested in will get you through the drudgery and "dry spells" that plague any long-term research project.
2. What exactly do you want to do for your research? Are you more inclined toward the fieldwork or labwork end of the spectrum? Or is archival or library work more of interest? Since you will be spending a lot of time and effort in gathering and analyzing your data, you need to consider what your personal inclinations and preferences are.
3. What actual data will form the basis for your research and analysis, and do you have relatively easy access to those data? Will you use existing research collections (e.g. artifacts, skeletal materials, historical documents) that are in curation? Or will you need to generate new collections as part of your research? And if so, will this be part of ongoing research by faculty on your committee? Or are you hoping to initiate a new research project on your own? And if so, can you arrange for suitable faculty supervision and guidance?
4. What costs may be associated with either gathering your data or with any analytical procedures (ranging from simple laboratory processing to more advanced techniques requiring specialized and expensive equipment or supplies) And how will you manage to cover those costs? Are there grant programs, either internal or external, that you could apply for and obtain within the timetable for your research?
Finishing the thesis project will involve actually writing a thesis, and working with your committee members to review, revise, and ultimately approve the thesis document. Sometimes this process is initially done with the committee chair/thesis advisor, and then the chair-reviewed chapters are sent out for further review and revision based on feedbback from other committee members, while in other instances the chapters may be sent out individually to all committee members for a first review simultaneously, followed by additional review of any revisions made. This process should be carried out in consultation with your committee chair, and the final product must conform to the guidelines at the UWF Graduate School Academics & Research.
When the chair and committee agree that the completed thesis is ready, a thesis defense is scheduled, and the defense is advertised internally to other faculty, students, and staff. Once the public presentation part of the defense is finished (usually a 20-minute presentation with questions and answers), the committee meet privately with the student to assess and evaluate if it is ready for submission to the UWF Graduate School (usually there will be a few additional revisions that are agreed upon at the Defense). Once any final revisions are made and the student and committee chair are satisfied, the final product can be submitted online to ProQuest. Each semester there is a deadline date (see Thesis Submission Information) by which any thesis must be submitted for review if it is to count for graduation that semester, otherwise graduation would be for the following semester. Keep in mind, you must be registered for at least one hour in the semester you actually graduate.
Quick Advisement and Registration Links
IMPORTANT: Compilation of Current Semester Graduate Anthropology and History Courses (PDF)
Previous Semesters: Spring 2024 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2021
USEFUL: Historical Archaeology Track Course Checklist (Word version here)
Course Descriptions
Official UWF Course Descriptions
Semester Calendar
Thesis Process
Thesis Submission Information / UWF Graduate School Academics & Research
UWF Graduate Catalog
Printable Graduate Program Planners
Miscellaneous
UWF Anthropology Google Group (join to keep up with current departmental happenings and news)
UWF Graduate Anthropology Association (very important departmental organization all grad students should become part of)
UWF Archaeological Field Schools
UWF Tuition Rates / UWF Materials & Supplies and Equipment Fees
UWF Historic Preservation Certificate / Program Details
UWF Geographic Information Science (GIS) Graduate Certificate Programs