Every undergraduate taking the BA in Single Subject History must submit a thesis of no more than 12,000 words from original research as part of the fulfillment of their Final Examination. In the course of Trinity Term of the second year they meet with a college tutor and, where appropriate, specialist adviser in order to discuss a possible thesis topic.  Undergraduates taking joint degrees with Ancient History or Politics may chose which or their two schools to produce a thesis in.  Students studying joint History with English or Modern Languages may also, if they wish, submit an optional thesis.

The thesis is potentially a very exciting element of the Final Honour School. It offers you the opportunity to engage in primary research on a subject of your own choosing, and to arrive at conclusions which are entirely your own, not a synthesis of the conclusions of others. It enables you to work as a historical scholar in your own right and to get a taste of the kind of academic work undertaken professionally by your tutors. Some undergraduate theses are so good that they are ready to be published as they stand, and the Faculty does now publish the best BA theses submitted each year on its electronic publishing arm, Oxford History Online. Almost all theses however give their authors considerable personal satisfaction, and will be looked back on with pride long after the authors have left Oxford and, in most cases, the study of history.

The exercise is challenging, and intentionally so. For those who continue their education in Oxford or elsewhere as graduate historians, the thesis will represent a first opportunity to test their abilities as creative and independent researchers, able to define and explore a historical problem on a large scale. For others a successfully-accomplished thesis is a clear indication to employers and the outside world that they possess a capacity for organization, self-discipline and the ability to structure a substantial and complex piece of research very largely on their own initiative.