Postgraduate Course: Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences (SCIL11011)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Sociology |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This is a core course in documentary and archival research and is intended to be of particular benefit to those whose research work involves close analysis of archival material. The course is designed to provide for students wishing to work on documentary sources in a structured analytical way and to use these in carrying out a grounded piece of research. It emphasises the need to do such research in the context of theoretical ideas and issues which direct the practical focus and enable it to address core questions and ideas.
With its conceptual and practical focus, the course will provide a foundation for any postgraduate student wishing to work in-depth on documentary sources and gain hands-on skills in doing this in a small-scale but real-world archival research project, in an Edinburgh-based archive, to address key ideas and debates. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will:
1. have knowledge and understanding of some of the theoretical and conceptual debates and issues within historical analysis;
2. be able to demonstrate analytical approaches applied to documentary sources in archival settings;
3. understand how to critically investigate documentary sources in archives for their research;
4. be able to present, verbally and in writing, how archival research can be used to further support or challenge some of the theoretical ideas with which they have engaged during the course;
5. also be able to understand the contribution their research makes in relation to a broader academic literature regarding historical analysis. |
Assessment Information
| Students will be required to carry out and write-up a small-scale archive-based project around a pre-set group of questions designed to guide their investigation, analysis and reporting. The projects will be set up jointly by students and the course tutor to ensure that they are of an appropriate scale and level of feasibility. The paper is to be 3500 to 4000 words in length. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Semester week Focus of Session
PART I
1. Introductory Session: overview of the course, reading requirements and assessment details.
Historical Analysis 1: introduction to 'classical' historical analysis in the social sciences.
2. Historical Analysis 2: a look at some of the more recent developments in historical analysis.
Introduction to archives.
3. Historical Analysis 3: considers contemporary developments and different approaches. Documentary Analysis: overview of key approaches to working with documentary sources.
4. Archival Practice 1: focuses on archival strategies and techniques.
Workshop session in an archive.
5. Archival Practice 2: considers more conceptual aspects related to archival work.
Planning of student projects.
PART II
6. Independent archival research (individual tutorials will be arranged throughout the next 4 weeks)
7. Independent archival research.
8. Independent archival research.
9. Independent archival research.
10. Bringing it all together: student presentations and plenary discussion. |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Abrams, Philip (1982) Historical Sociology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Certeau, Michel de (1988) The Writing of History. New York: Columbia University Press.
Delanty, Gerald & Islin, Engin (eds) (2003) Handbook of Historical Sociology. London: Sage Publications.
Hill, Michael (1993) Archival Strategies and Techniques. London: Sage Publications.
Jordanova, Ludmilla (2006) History in Practice. London: Hodder Arnold.
Latour, Bruno (2005) Re-assembling the Social: an Introduction to Actor Network Theory. Oxford University Press.
Law, John & Hassard, John (1999) Actor Network Theory and After. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
McClintock, Anne (1995) Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest. London: Routledge.
Mahoney, James & Rueschemeyer, Dietrich (eds) (2003) Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Platt, Jennifer (1981a) 'Evidence and Proof in Documentary Research 1: Some Specific Problems of Documentary Research' in Sociological Review, 29 (1): 31-52.
Platt, Jennifer (1981b) 'Evidence and Proof in Documentary Research 2: Some Shared Problems of Documentary Research' in Sociological Review, 29 (1): 53-66.
Plummer, Kenneth (2001) Documents of Life 2: An Invitation to a Critical Humanism. London: Sage Publications.
Prior, Lindsay (2003) Using Documents in Social Research. London: Sage Publications.
Scott, John (1990) A Matter of Record. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Sheridan, Dorothy, Street, Brian and Bloome, David (2000) Writing Ourselves: Mass-Observation and Literacy Practices. New Jersey: Hampton Press.
Skocpol, Theda, (ed.) (1984) Vision and Method in Historical Sociology. Cambridge University Press.
Steedman, Carolyn (2001) Dust. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Tilly, Charles (1984) Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr James Kennedy
Tel: (0131 6)50 4250
Email: j.kennedy@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Gillian Macdonald
Tel: (0131 6)51 3244
Email: gillian.macdonald@ed.ac.uk |
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