UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA
BARBARA
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
SPECIALIZATION IN ARCHAEOLOGY
MA/PHD PROGRAM GUIDELINES
PROGRAM IN ANTHROPOLOGY
SPECIALIZATION IN ARCHAEOLOGY
PROGRAM GUIDELINES
Effective Fall 2005
The
MA/PhD program in archaeology at the University of California at Santa Barbara
is designed to provide each student with:
(1) a comprehensive knowledge of general anthropology, including
ethnology, archaeology, and physical anthropology; (2) a solid grounding in
archaeological theory and research design, (3) professional objectives, (4) the
practical skills necessary for archaeological fieldwork, laboratory work, and
data analysis; (5) oral and writing skills necessary for professional
communication.
At
the time each student enters the program, he or she is assigned a temporary
faculty advisor to act until the MA Committee is formed at the end of winter
quarter of the first year. A
required series of core courses provides basic training in general
anthropology, archaeological theory, research design and analytical
skills. Through a written
contract, the student and the Committee formalize an individual program of
study through which the student gains the special expertise necessary to
accomplish his or her professional goals.
This contract generally includes course work, directed reading, and
independent study.
Courses
are normally taken for two years with a student taking three courses per
academic quarter (the third course will be the TA Practicum, Anth 501, if the
student is serving as a Teaching Assistant). A total of three core courses are required for the MA
degree; remaining courses are specified in the individual contracts. In the spring quarter of the second
year of study, the student takes a qualifying comprehensive examination that
focuses on general prehistory and method and theory in archaeology. A satisfactory performance in the above
requirements is necessary to attain the MA degree.
A
research paper is due in fall quarter of the third year. Upon completion of all of the
requirements for the MA degree, the research paper, and one additional core
course, the student writes the dissertation proposal. Once this proposal has been approved by the PhD committee
the student is advanced to candidacy.
Once
candidacy is achieved, the student begins work on the dissertation which, when
completed, must be approved by the PhD committee. The dissertation research is presented in a public
colloquium. After the dissertation
is approved and the colloquium presented the student is awarded the PhD degree.
I. THE MASTER OF ARTS (MA) PROGRAM
The graduate program in
Anthropology is a combined MA/PhD program, with the PhD degree as the ultimate
objective. Most students entering
the department will work first towards their MA degree in Anthropology. Students who already have an MA degree
in Anthropology will work out with their advisory Committee a specific program
for advancement towards PhD candidacy.
A terminal MA with a specialization in North American Archaeology is
also available.
The requirements for the MA
degree are as follows:
1) Formation
of an MA Advisory Committee, regular discussion of progress with Committee
members, and submission of a contract specifying the student's program of study
and research leading to the PhD.
2)
At least 36 units of course work. (It is not unusual for students to take as many as 72 units
in the course of the MA program.)
· Of these 36 units, there is a minimum of 24 graduate
units (excluding such courses as Anth 501, 597, 598, and 599.
· A maximum of 4 units of 596 (directed reading and
research) may be counted as part of the 24 graduate units.
· Students may take upper division undergraduate
courses. Units from lower
division undergraduate courses will NOT count towards degree.
· Students are required to take three core courses,
plus the faculty proseminar (Anth 250FP) and spring quarter proseminar (Anth 232).
· Students are strongly encouraged to develop good
breadth in other subfields of Anthropology by taking courses in those areas.
3) In
the spring quarter of the second year, students must pass a comprehensive
examination. Failure to comply
with this or any other requirement set forth in these guidelines may result in
the student being asked to leave the program. Requests to defer or delay requirements due to extraordinary
circumstances must be submitted in writing to the department for consideration.
4) The
student must clear up any incomplete grades before the MA can be awarded.
5)
Students must be
registered the quarter they receive the MA.
6)
Students admitted to
the terminal MA program follow the same requirements with the following
exceptions:
a)
32 units minimum of
coursework are required.
b)
A thesis is written and
submitted to Graduate Division after it has been approved by the MA Committee.
The MA program in
Archaeology is divided into two years.
The requirements for these two years are as follows:
During the first year the
student must:
1)
Form an MA
committee. This should consist of
three faculty members from the Department of Anthropology; the chair should
belong to the archaeology subfield, but faculty from other subfields may be
members of the committee if they are appropriate to the student's interests.
File the department MA Committee Form with the
Graduate Program Assistant by the end of Winter
quarter (appendix page 25).
2) Draw
up a contract, in consultation with the committee, which is due at the end of
spring quarter of the first year.
3) Take
the Faculty Proseminar.
4) Take
the Spring quarter Proseminar
5) Take
the core courses.
During the second year the student must:
1) Take
the core courses.
2) Take
the comprehensive examination in the spring quarter.
3) Take
the Spring quarter Proseminar.
Spring Quarter Proseminar
This course is offered every year and is listed as Anth
232. Students need to register for
this variable unit class as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory. The department expects all first and
second year graduate students to enroll in this class in addition to your
regular course load. The aims are
to expose all of first and second year students to examples of current research in the different subfields of anthropology, to
provide opportunities to meet with eminent scholars from other institutions,
and to provide a forum for collegial interactions among faculty members and
graduate students. Students are required to complete the readings for each
lecturer and attend the Thursday afternoon roundtable discussion and the Friday
afternoon presentations.
Faculty Proseminar
This course is offered every fall quarter and is
listed as Anth 250FP. Students
need to register for the four unit class as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory. The department expects all first year
graduate students to enroll in this class in addition to your regular course
load. The purpose of the course is
to expose students to the theoretical interests and the current research being
conducted by our department faculty as well as affiliated faculty. Students are required to complete the
readings for each faculty lecture and attend each Friday afternoon presentation. The faculty proseminar is a requirement
for the MA degree in Archaeology.
Core Courses
Three core courses are to be
taken during the first two years; they must be taken for letter grades. These are the following:
·
Anth 201A. Classical Archaeological Theory
·
Anth 201B. Contemporary Archaeological Theory
·
Anth 245. Methods of Quantitative Analysis
At the end of the second
year the Archaeology faculty reviews each student, taking into account academic
performance, professional promise, and performance on the comprehensive
examination. The faculty then
recommends one of the following:
·
Award the MA with an
invitation to proceed to the PhD.
·
Award a terminal MA.
·
Not award the MA.
Comprehensive Examination
Format:
The comprehensive exam is
administered in spring quarter of your second year. Over atwo week period,
students will write two article-length papers. The paper topics are chosen by the faculty for each
individual student. Topics are
chosen from two of the three areas: 1) hunter-gatherer societies, 2) middle-range societies, and 3)
complex societies.
Grading:
Possible grades include the following:
·
fail
·
conditional MA pass
·
MA pass
·
conditional PhD pass
·
PhD pass
·
PhD high pass
Students receiving
"conditional" grades may be asked to complete additional work in
order to achieve a passing grade on the examination.
II. THE DOCTORAL
(PHD) PROGRAM
A student who has completed
the MA degree and is invited to continue on to the PhD program will form
his/her PhD Committee and work towards advancement to PhD candidacy. Students are expected to advance to
candidacy by the end of their third year in the graduate program.
The requirements for advancement to PhD candidacy
are as follows:
1)
Form the PhD Committee,
which may have a membership different from the MA committee. As in the case of the MA Committee,
three members must be Anthropology Department faculty, and the chair must be a
member of the archaeology subfield.
In addition, committee members may be included from other departments,
if the student's interests warrant; these members are in addition to the three
Anthropology faculty.
2) Take
the core course in professionalism, Anth 239A.
3) Complete
a research paper. This is an
article-length paper that demonstrates skills in problem formulation, data
analysis, and scientific argument, as well as literary competence. All members of the PhD Committee must
approve and sign the paper.
4)
Write a research
proposal, specifying the intended topic, theoretical framework, geographic area
of fieldwork, and methods of research leading to the PhD dissertation. The proposal should take the form of an
NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant to fund the studentıs dissertation
research. All members of the PhD
Committee must approve and sign the proposal.
After fulfilling all
specified requirements, the student is advanced to candidacy.
File the PhD Form II with the Graduate Division
(appendix page 41)
Requirements for the PhD
degree:
1) Fieldwork of at least three academic
quarters' duration.
2) A dissertation (normally based on
field research).
When the dissertation has
been completed and submitted, the student's Committee may either approve it or
suggest further revisions. When
all the members of the Committee have approved and signed the dissertation, the
PhD degree is awarded.
File the PhD Form IIIA, ³Waiver of the Final Exam² as well as other
forms required by the Graduate Division (appendix page 42)
1) It
is important to know the faculty, their work and their expertise. While the proseminar will introduce you
to the department faculty, it is the student's responsibility to meet
individually with each member of the faculty. Frequent interaction and consultation with committee members
is strongly advised. Participation
in departmental events, including lectures by visiting scholars and the
departmental brown bag series, is strongly encouraged.
2) An
advisor is assigned to each student when he/she begins the program. Students may change advisors and
committee members as their research interests dictate.
3) Students
must take a minimum of 12 units per quarter, which can include undergraduate
upper division courses numbered 100-199 and graduate courses, including courses
numbered 500-599.
4) Graduate
courses numbered 200-299 must be taken for letter grades, except for those
courses marked with an S/U grading option in the Schedule of Classes. Students must maintain a grade of B or
better in graduate courses; the department considers any grade lower than a B
to be inadequate performance for a graduate student. Students are required by the university to maintain a
minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0, or be subject to dismissal.
3)
Incompletes should be
taken only in emergencies.
6) Before
the end of spring quarter each year students not yet advanced to candidacy and
those requesting department support must submit an Annual Student Report,
discussing their academic performance, professional development, research,
teaching, service, and attainment of goals.
7) At
the end of each year the committee chairperson and student will meet to discuss
the studentıs Annual Report. The
chairperson signs the report and attaches his/her written comments to the form
before it is submitted to the Graduate Program Assistant. The completed form will be reviewed by
the faculty representatives of the Graduate Committee in determining
departmental financial support for the following year.
8)
In exceptional
circumstances, students may petition for modifications to graduate program
requirements. Students must
present, in writing, to their advisor or committee chair a well-reasoned case
for such exceptions. To waive a
core course, permission of the committee and the faculty member teaching the
course is required. To waive, the comprehensive
exam or the research paper permission of the committee is required. The research proposal cannot be waived. In each case, the appropriate form must
be filed with the Graduate Program Assistant.
9a) Deadlines
for advancing to candidacy:
Students are expected to be advanced to candidacy for the doctorate by
the end of the third year. The
university requires that students advance to candidacy for the doctorate no
later than four years from the time of admission. Students not advanced to candidacy by the end of the fourth
year may be subject to dismissal.
9b) The
University degree deadline for completion of the masterıs is four years. The
universityıs degree deadline for completion of the doctorate is seven years.
9c) Normative
time is the number of years considered to be reasonable by the faculty of an individual
department and the Graduate Division for completion of a doctorate by a
full-time student in that program. Normative time varies by department and is
measured from the time a student begins graduate study at any level at UCSB. Requests to extend normative time may
be made to Graduate Division in truly extraordinary circumstances.
10) It
is the responsibility of the student to be sure that all deadlines are met and
that the proper paperwork has been filed.
GUIDELINES FOR PREPARATION OF COMPETENCY CONTRACT
IN ARCHAEOLOGY
Your
contract should document your past and intended coursework and other academic
activities that contribute to providing adequate breadth in anthropology,
archaeology and your chosen research specialization. It may include courses taken as an undergraduate as well as
courses you have taken or intend to take as a graduate student, whether in this
or another department. It may also
include various kinds of experiences particularly relevant to your education,
such as a research experience that provides the chance to develop an expertise.
Your Contract should include the
following elements:
I.
ANTHROPOLOGY
BREADTH: A list of upper division
and graduate courses in anthropology and related disciplines (e.g., sociology,
biology, linguistics) that provide breadth of knowledge in branches of
anthropology other than archaeology.
These should be categorized as follows:
A. Cultural Anthropology
B. Biological Anthropology
C. Other anthropological subdisciplines such as
Linguistics
D. Other disciplines
II.
ARCHAEOLOGY
BREADTH: A list of upper division
and graduate archaeology courses that provide breadth of knowledge in the
subdiscipline. Core courses or
other courses or experiences that have exempted you from certain core courses
should also be listed. All should
be categorized as follows:
A. General method and theory, including history of the
discipline
B. Field and lab techniques, including collections
analytical approaches
C. Quantitative analysis
D. Area prehistory
III.
SPECIALIZATIONS: A list of courses and other academic
activities that provide training and experience in your specialization(s). In addition to courses taken in our
department, these might include specialized field schools, courses in other
disciplines such as geography or biology, and relevant research
experiences. These should be
listed under as many of the following categories as are applicable, and the
specialization(s) should be indicated under "Area of Emphasis":
A. Area specialization(s), e.g., Andean region
B. Topical specialization(s), e.g., complex societies
C. Technical specialization, e.g., human osteological
analysis
D. Language competency, e.g., Spanish for those working
in Spanish speaking
countries
IV.
TEACHING
EXPERIENCE: If you are, were, or
plan to be a TA, indicate TAship under the "Requirements Satisfied
By" column. Some of you may
obtain teaching experience by other means.
V.
RESEARCH PAPER: Give a tentative or actual title of the
paper in the "Met By" column.
VI.
DISSERTATION
TOPIC: Indicate at least a
tentative topic, even if you are still unsure of the direction of your
specialization.
SIGNATURES: The contract is a two page form in the
forms section at the end of this booklet.
It provides spaces for the signatures of you, your advisor, and two other
archaeology faculty you have selected to review your contract.
File the original Contract with the Graduate
Program Assistant and provide a copy for each committee member (appendix page 31).
ARCHAEOLOGY RESEARCH PAPER GUIDELINES
The
PhD program in archaeology requires completion of a substantial research paper
that reports the quantified analysis of a set of primary archaeological
data. The graduate student
research paper requirement is based on an American Antiquity publication model, and it is this model that is used
to dictate the form, content, and evaluation of the papers.
I. Purpose
of the Paper
A. To provide a context within which the
student can acquire experience in professional research and writing.
B. To foster a close working relationship
between the student and archaeology faculty members.
C. To stimulate and guide the student in
writing a carefully prepared paper that could potentially be published.
D. To permit the student to demonstrate
professional research abilities, including problem formulation, analysis, and
exposition.
II. Content
of the Paper
A. The paper must present a piece of
original research; it may not be mainly a survey of literature on a topic or a
critique of another analysis (although in treating the research topic, the
paper may include these elements).
B. This paper must take the form of a
report on an original analysis of archaeological materials that is directed to
the understanding of a specific research topic. The data used in the analysis should be in quantified form
and a quantitative argument should be presented.
1. These data may result from the
student's laboratory analysis of collections or the data may come from
published or unpublished sources (e.g., the data analyzed might be a spatial
distributions of sites in an area; or the frequencies of faunal remains from a
site).
2. The paper should be directly related to
the student's regional or theoretical/methodological interests, or both. The data should ideally come from the
student's region of interest, but this is not required. The student is not expected to have
participated in the fieldwork that collected the primary data.
C. If possible, a paper should be written
that could be submitted for publication in an anthropological journal.
1. Attention to this point is critical in
preparing the paper. An article,
not a thesis, is what is required.
Thus, the paper should achieve a balance of the different sections of
the paper (e.g., background information, problem statement, description of the
data, laboratory, and analytical procedures) that is appropriate to an article
presentation. This is in contrast
to a thesis presentation, where more detail in the background and descriptive
sections ordinarily would be expected.
2. There are many national and regional journals,
for instance, that might publish the research paper (for example, American
Antiquity, the Journal of Field
Archaeology, the Journal of
Anthropological Science, the North
American Archaeologist, the Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, The Kiva, or the Plains Anthropologist).
III. Selection
and Approval of the Research Topic and Preparation for the Paper
A. The identification of a problem and the
development of relevant data are among the most difficult jobs the student
faces in preparing the paper. The
student should seek advice from the faculty in this regard.
1. It is necessary to identify a research
topic that can be addressed in a paper of this scope, and to locate a data set
that can, with a reasonable investment of analytical effort, yield information
relevant to the topic.
2. In order to meet the deadlines set out,
it is expected that by the fourth quarter of residence, a student will begin to
work on identifying the paper topic and relevant data.
B. The student has considerable latitude
in selecting a paper topic; however, the student should develop the topic in
consultation with his or her committee.
C. Anthropology 245, Quantitative
Applications in Archaeology, will provide the analytical skills necessary for
the paper.
D. The student may enroll in up to eight
units of Anthropology 598 in order to finish writing the paper.
IV. Relationship
to Graduate Course Papers
A. In many cases, the research paper may
originate as a paper prepared for a graduate course or directed reading course
under the sponsorship of a faculty member.
B. However, a paper that is sufficient for
a seminar may need expansion of scope or some other modification before it can
fulfill the requirement of the research paper.
C. The paper may also originate with work
begun before coming to UCSB.
VI.
Format of Papers
A.
While there is no
minimum or maximum page length, the scope of each paper should be such that its
length falls within the range of standard journal articles. (Usually less than 40 double spaced
pages of text, exclusive of figures, tables, and bibliography.)
B.
Final form for a paper
is defined to be the form in which a professional paper would be submitted to a
journal for review, i.e., it must be a complete, clean, double-spaced,
fully-edited typescript that includes an abstract, complete bibliography, and
final figures and tables.
1.
The format, including
that of the bibliography, should follow that used by American Antiquity.
(Consult the most recent style guide on the journalıs website.)
2.
The paper should be
carefully written, with special attention given to style as well as to
spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
Avoid the use of unnecessary jargon, but do not be afraid to use new
terminology if it is appropriate.
3.
The Chicago Manual
of Style should be used as a guide
in writing the paper.
VI.
Review of Paper Drafts
A.
A student may request
that one or more faculty members review a draft of the paper prior to any
deadline.
B.
The student should
allow at least two weeks for such a preliminary review.
C.
Students are strongly
urged to avail themselves of this opportunity for review of a draft.
D.
The student must not
use this preliminary faculty review of a paper as a substitute for careful
editing and proofreading. Faculty
members will return poorly edited or proofread papers without review.
VII.
Evaluation of Papers
A.
Papers must have a
content and organization appropriate for a journal article. They must be of
professional quality, of article length, and of course, must be in final form. Papers
that do not satisfy these criteria will be rejected. A paper that has been accepted for publication will not
necessarily be acceptable to the faculty review committee.
B.
The final version of
the research paper must be reviewed and accepted by all members of the studentıs
MA committee.
Teaching Assistant Guidelines
I. Responsibilities
A.
The teaching assistant
(TA) is required to attend the TA orientation program offered by Instructional
Development, to attend the orientation session and workshops offered by the
Department of Anthropology, and to be videotaped while teaching a section.
B.
The teaching assistant
must remain registered for a total of twelve units throughout the quarter, of
which 4 units can be Anthropology 501--TA Practicum.
C.
Teaching assistant
duties vary so widely from class to class that it is impossible to establish
universal guidelines.
Consequently, the teaching assistant should ask the course instructor or
the head teaching assistant about responsibilities when questions arise. The following is a general outline of
duties for most classes:
1.
The TA attends all
course lectures and has good command of the reading material.
2.
The TA attends weekly
TA meetings. These meetings are
generally run by the Head TA, and are for the purpose of planning the following
week's sections and other course-related activities.
3.
Papers are required in
some classes and are optional in others.
The TA usually helps students choose topics and locate source
materials. The TA also reads and
grades papers.
4.
The TA is not
responsible for assigning course grades to students--this authority rests
solely in the hands of the instructor.
However, the TA is expected to handle all of the administrative tasks
related to the assignment of course grades. These tasks include grading exams, adding scores, entering
course grades in computer files, and entering course grades on-line.
5.
The TA is responsible
for giving his or her grade records to the course instructor when the course is
finished. These should be handed
over to the Instructor or to the Head TA in an orderly fashion (i.e.,
alphabetically organized by section).
6.
Usually, a TA is
assigned three sections per week.
Each has about 30 students.
The purpose of sections is to give students the opportunity to discuss
both lecture and reading materials.
Rather than present material of his or her own, the job of the TA is to
clarify and integrate materials presented in the lectures and readings, and to
help students relate them to larger issues beyond the classroom. Occasionally, a TA will write and
administer quizzes in their sections.
The writing of these is generally coordinated by the Head TA, and takes
place in weekly TA meetings.
7. A TA is required to hold office hours
each week--one office hour for every section at the very least. Evening hours are discouraged. Before exams, this minimum should be
expanded. In addition, a TA has to
inform their students (preferably during the first section meeting) that they
are also available by appointment.
II. Prerogatives
A.
A TA is provided office
space within the department--normally three students in a small office or up to
10 in a large office.