Historical Methodology (P00509)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : HCA-P-P00509

This course aims to provide an overview of the methodologies and historiographic traditions characteristic of the discipline of history. Sessions will focus on the different types of sources, methodologies, categories of analysis, and fields of enquiry employed by historians as they study the past. Teaching is based on the close reading and discussion of pre-circulated research papers by members of the School of History and Classics. The members of the seminar will discuss the week's paper - paying particular attention to the use of sources and methodology - with its author. It is intended that exposure to the research of a wide range of members of the School of History and Classics will make students aware of the rich variety of methodological approaches that characterise the study of history.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate (School of History and Classics), (School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Schedule E)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 1 hour(s) 50 minutes per week for 11 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Wednesday	13:10	14:50	Central
Lecture	Wednesday	15:00	17:00	Central

? Additional Class Information : PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FIRST MEETINGS OF THE COURSE WILL TAKE PLACE ON WEDNESDAY JAN 9 2008.

GROUP 1 MEETS IN WRB 356 AT 1.10-3.00PM; GROUP 2 MEETS AT 3.10-5.00PM IN THE SEMINAR ROOM AT 17 BUCCLEUCH PLACE.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

The main aim of this course is to provide new MSc and first-year PhD history students from across the School of History and Classics with an introduction to sources, approaches and methodologies of historical study. In so doing, this course seeks to:
- Develop an awareness of historiographical issues and their importance for contextualizing research.
- Develop an awareness of the interaction between sources and historical interpretation.
- Develop an awareness of how different types of sources can be combined to address specific historiographical problems.
- Enhance candidates' ability to deal with some practical issues of historiography and historical research at a post-graduate level including problems of effective academic writing.
- Encourage a critical understanding of different historical methodologies and historiographic traditions.
-Enable students to engage with the wider debates of in the field of historical study.
- Encourage post-graduate students to seek a sound theoretical and epistemological foundation for their own work within the field.

Assessment Information

Students will be examined by means of a 3,000-word dissertation proposal to be submitted during the second semester. This should set out an intellectual agenda for the dissertation, including methodology and a critical dsiscussion of th eprincipal primary and secondary sources.