Directed Reading and Research (I) (P01927)

? Credit Points : 40 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : HCA-P-DirectRR1

Students should meet at regular intervals (normally a minimum of five times per semester) with their supervisor(s), in order to undertake a course of directed reading and research in their chosen area of research. Under the direction of his/her supervisor(s) the student will read the major works in their chosen field of study. The student should familiarise himself/herself with the secondary literature in his/her chosen field. This course is assessed by means of a 6,000 word essay, normally addressing a major historiographical problem, question or issue in their field.

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 1 (Blocks 1-2)

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

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this course should:

- Familiarise themselves with the library resources in their chosen field available at the University in particular and Edinburgh more generally.

- Acquaint themselves with various finding aids - electronic, printed, and human - which will allow them to make the best possible use of library resources.

- Be able to engage in historiographical debates - both orally and in writing

- Understand the interaction between historical sources and explanation.

- Appreciate the historical and historiographical context of their individual area of research

- Be able to analyse, assimilate and deploy critically a range of secondary literature relevant and essential to the student's individual research subject.

- Be able to locate a specific thesis within its broader historiography.

- Be able to formulate hypotheses relating to their research subject and to test them by marshalling a range of primary and secondary evidence.

- Be able to reflect critically on the processes and methods which they utilise in both their research and their writing.