By the end of reading period in the spring term of the junior year, students choose whether they will work toward a yearlong or a one-term senior project. Yearlong senior projects are completed in HSHM 490, 491; one-term projects are completed in HSHM 492. Students who choose a one-term project must take an additional HSHM-listed course to complete the major. Distinction in the Major is awarded only to students who complete a yearlong senior project.
For both the one-term and yearlong senior projects, students must select a project adviser, propose a tentative topic and title, and submit a proposal to the Senior Project Director early in the fall term of their senior year. See the handbook for more details.
The senior project may be a written essay or an alternative project such as a film, exhibition, catalog, atlas, or historical data reconstruction. In the case of an alternative project, the student must identify a second reader in addition to the adviser before the project is approved by the senior project director. Either the adviser or the second reader must be a member of the faculty in History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health. Alternative projects will include a written component that explains the sources used and the intellectual significance of the project.
For more details about requirements and deadlines, please see the HSHM Senior Project Handbook.
>> Click HERE to download the 2023–2024 Senior Project Handbook <<
Please also see recent titles and prize-winning projects.
Questions?
The HSHM Senior Project Director is Megann Licskai. For questions, please contact either Professor Licskai (megann.licskai@yale.edu) or the Undergraduate Registrar, Erica Lee (erica.lee@yale.edu).