History can involve studying one people, culture, or country in particular, but it also often involves general overviews of broad trends. Students of history may be required to conduct research in a specific topic.

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the western most point of Eurasia, Europe is usually divided from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting the Black and Aegean Seas.

The PhD is a doctoral degree, specifically called a "doctor of philosophy" degree. This is misleading because PhD holders are not necessarily philosophers (unless they earned their degree in philosophy!). That said, PhD recipients are able to engage in thought experiments, reason about problems, and solve problems in sophisticated ways.