Module Directory

The dissertation is the centrepiece of your MA work. It gives you the opportunity to develop and to demonstrate your skills as an academic researcher and scholarly author, as you investigate and interpret a topic of your choosing. It allows you to demonstrate your understanding of that topic/question coupled with your ability to apply appropriately the knowledge and experience you have gained during the MA and your research. Much of the work is undertaken independently, but in consultation with your dissertation supervisor who will provide guidance and assistance. There are two options for the dissertation: an extended piece of writing or a public history route that combines a practice-centred output with a research report. Whichever form is chosen, a successful dissertation will be based upon primary sources (manuscript, archival, or printed) and be supported by secondary sources. It should represent an independent, in-depth piece of research.

The aims of this module are:

• To enable students to develop independent analysis and interpretation drawing on historical scholarship and primary source material.


• To develop and apply postgraduate level skills of independent research, analysis, judgement and evaluation, writing and presentation necessary for undertaking an historical, historiographical, or conceptual research project and presenting the findings of those investigations.


• To develop a critical and analytical approach to sources and methods.


• To develop an understanding of, and display an ability to apply, relevant historiographical debates, concepts, and approaches.


• To present a coherent written account of the research in accordance with professional conventions.


• To give students who are interested in public-facing history the option of working with an external partner on an MA placement.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Formulate an independent research project that demonstrates awareness of relevant debates in historical scholarship, and appropriate primary source materials for investigating this topic;


2. Display methodological rigour in the formulation of questions and hypotheses, the choice of methods appropriate to answering and evaluating those questions and hypotheses and the treatment of evidence;


3. Independently analyse and interpret both historical scholarship and primary source material;


4. Demonstrate applied insight into the ways in which history is written, including critical knowledge of historical concepts, theories, methods, and primary source materials;


5. Present, accurately, succinctly and lucidly, and in written form their arguments in accordance with appropriate scholarly conventions.


6. Students who opt to complete the placement will learn how to work with an external partner organisation and to reflect critically on the issue of how historical skills and research can be applied to public-facing history. 

Syllabus

Autumn term:

• Expectations, resources, skills, and challenges.


• Critical reading for argument


• Designing essay questions


• Writing effectively/effective referencing

Spring Term:

• Learning from feedback


• Planning ahead: dissertation or placement?


• Primary source possibilities/Presentations from placement providers.


• Preparing research proposals/placement inception reports.

Students’ reading will be determined by their specialist topic. The books below provide general information in researching and writing dissertations.

• Mary Abbott, History Skills: A Student’s Handbook (New York, 2009).


• Peter Levin, Excellent Dissertations (Maidenhead, 2011).


• Kate Williams, Planning Your Dissertation (Basingstoke, 2013).


• Ludmilla Jordanova, History in Practice (3^rd edition, Bloomsbury, 2017).

This module will be delivered via:

• Workshops: There will be four timetabled workshops, three in the spring term (weeks 17, 18 and 20) and one in the summer term (week 31). These will introduce students to the dissertation/placement options, make them aware of relevant research resources, and help them with preparation and planning.

Once students have decided on their MA topics, they will have at least  3 tutorials with an allocated supervisor.