Decide why you want to attend graduate school, and what you hope to do with your degree. If you are thinking of pursuing an MA, do you hope to continue on to a PhD? Do you hope to work in a museum or archive, or teach at the High School level?
Decide what basic area you would like to focus on in your studies. Generally, people come to a graduate program with some sense of where their interests are, geographically, thematically and temporally. You do not need to have a topic for a thesis or dissertation in mind, but you should be able to say something such as: “I am interested in the daily lives of factory workers in Ohio in the mid-20th century” or "I would like to research Thai nationalism in the twentieth century" or “I would like to work on tactics of woman suffragists in the progressive era”. These interests are not set in stone, and our graduate students often find that their interests change by the time they begin to write their thesis, but they will give you and us a sense of whether our program is likely a good fit for your interests.
If you are hoping to apply to our PhD program, you should decide which of our three areas of focus are the best fit for you: States of Violence, History of Everyday Life, or Rust Belt Studies. It is fine if more than one describes your interest, but if your area of interest does not relate to any of the three, this is a sign that our program may not be a good fit for you.