HR935-7-SP-CO:
Making History, Sharing History: Sources, Methods, and Audiences for Historical Research
2024/25
Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Monday 13 January 2025
Friday 21 March 2025
20
27 September 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
CER V10021 History,
MA V10012 History,
MA V100MO History,
MA V1E112 War, Culture and Society,
MA V10E12 History, Power, and Identity,
MHISV199 History,
MHISZV98 History (Including Placement Year),
MHISZV99 History (Including Year Abroad)
How does the history that we see all around us come into being? What choices do historians and others make in placing history before particular audiences in particular forms, and why do they make these decisions? This module explores how history is made using different types of sources and how it is shared in different forms.
Part I focuses on how historians encounter and engage with different types of sources, using case studies ranging across the early modern and modern periods.
Part II considers the many forms in which histories are made and shared, both with and for different audiences.
Both parts will host guest speakers from archives and other organisations. In providing opportunities for students to engage with different kind of source material and forms of history, this module helps to prepare students for independent historical research, and also fosters practical skills in communication that will be of benefit in multiple work environments
1. To ensure that students are familiar with a range of different types of historical evidence and forms of communicating history;
2. To enable students to critically assess and engage with diverse ways of `reading` and presenting historical evidence at an advanced level;
3. To support students in developing the appropriate skills to successfully analyse different types of historical evidence and to deploy them in different contexts;
4. To support students` development of critical understanding of many forms in which histories are made and shared, both with and for different audiences;
5. to enable students to compare different forms of evidence and means of communicating history across diverse contexts.
1. Students will be able to demonstrate in-depth understanding of the distinctive features of different types of historical evidence;
2. Students will be able to show insight into debates on the many forms in which histories are made and shared, both with and for different audiences, including critical knowledge of debates on public history;
3. Students will be able to critically examine the use of particular types of sources and methods in practical historical writing;
4. Students will be able to critically interrogate the relationship between different audiences for history and different means of communication;
5. Students will be able to show methodological rigour in the selection of particular sources, the choice of methods appropriate to evaluating those sources, and/or the choice of different means of communicating history to different audiences;
6. Students will be able to present, accurately, succinctly and lucidly, and in written or oral form their arguments in accordance with appropriate scholarly conventions
The module is divided into two parts: 'Sources and Methods' and 'Audiences and Contexts'. Because the module draws on research expertise across the Department, specific topics and case studies may change to reflect current debates and practices. An indicative syllabus is provided below.
Part I – Sources and Methods
I. Archives
II. Print Culture
III. Testimonies
IV. Visual Culture
V. Digital Resources
Part II – Audiences and Contexts
I. Sharing History Workshop
II. History in Museums
III. History on TV
IV. History in Schools
V. History in Activism
Seminars: 2 hours per week.
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Bingham, A. (2012) ‘IGNORING THE FIRST DRAFT OF HISTORY?’,
Media History, 18(3–4), pp. 311–326. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1080/13688804.2012.721644.
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Tinkler, P. (2014) ‘“Are You Really Living?” If Not, “Get With It!”’,
Cultural and Social History, 11(4), pp. 597–619. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.2752/147800414X14056862572186.
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Summerfield, P. (2018)
Histories of the self: personal narratives and historical practice. First edition. Boca Raton, FL: Routledge, an imprint of Taylor and Francis. Available at:
https://doi-org.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/10.4324/9780429487217.
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Hinton, J. and Mass-Observation (2010)
Nine wartime lives: mass-observation and the making of the modern self. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574667.001.0001.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Presentation |
|
40% |
| Coursework |
Context Study (1000 words) |
20/03/2025 |
20% |
| Coursework |
Sharing History Output |
15/05/2025 |
40% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Alison Rowlands, email: alisonc@essex.ac.uk.
PHAIS Postgraduate Queries
phaispg@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
Yes
Prof Rohan McWilliam
Anglia Ruskin University
professor of Modern Hritish History
Available via Moodle
Of 26 hours, 26 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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