Postgraduate Course: Historical Methodology (PGHC11335)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
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 | Postgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The first-semester course in Historical Research focuses on the technical skills that historians employ when conducting research with primary materials. This second-semester course provides first-year graduate students with the methodological training they require to orient their research strategies in an increasingly interdisciplinary field.
Through a wide-ranging series of seminars with members of academic staff, students will develop a meaningful familiarity with the interpretive strategies and secondary materials that define major approaches in current historical scholarship. Weekly online discussion of the assigned readings in advance of each seminar meeting, moderated by the course organiser, will support class cohesion. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
|
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
13/01/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
|
| Additional Notes |
|
| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| No Exam Information |
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
The final numerical grade for the course will be determined upon assessment of a 3000-word research paper that provides a critical study of the methodology (or methodologies) that distinguishes a particular "school" of historical scholarship. Individual topics will be chosen by the student and will be subject to approval by the course organiser.
Students will be expected to participate in all seminars, in the weekly online discussion, and at PhD Presentation Day. Posting of original research or similar material online will not be required and will not be assessed for credit.
|
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
This course will comprise four elements:
1. Weekly seminars led by an academic member of staff who will present the assigned readings and facilitate discussion;
2. Weekly online discussion, in advance of each meeting, with contributions from each member of the seminar;
3. Attendance at PhD Presentation Day, during Week 4, where MSc students will prepare written comments on two papers of his/her choice (Wed). Both the PhD-1 and MSc cohorts will reconvene to discuss the presentations (Friday);
4. Submission of a final research paper (3000 words) for numerical assessment.
1. Weekly seminars (maximum of 20 students each)
These seminars will address assigned readings; these will include theoretical essays addressing major developments in current historical methodology, as well as contextual examples of related historical scholarship.
Week Topic Instructors
1. Introduction to Studies in Historical Methodology AB
2. Space, Place, and Time
3. History from Below
4. PhD Presentation Day (all MSc students attend) AB
5. National Identity and Postcolonialism
6. Gender (ESH)
7. Historical Writing: "The Linguistic Turn" AB
8. Anthropology and Materiality (ESH)
9. History across Geography: Transatlanticism
10. History and Memory AB
11. Final remarks and discussion of MSc-T dissertation proposal AB
|
| Transferable skills |
2. Weekly online discussion
The online Graduate Research Network (see Historical Research: Sources and Skills) will host an online discussion forum for each of the seminars, which will enable structured yet reflective discussion on one of the readings assigned for each week. Moderated by the course organiser, each member of each seminar will post a 300-word thread two days in advance of each meeting. All postings are linked and archived according to each student's online profile - where they describe their research interests and have the ability to post examples of their research. The Network is encrypted and accessible by password.
3. Participation at PhD Presentation Day
This full-day event will take place on Wednesday of Week 4. Structured in panels of two presenters, with titles circulated in advance, each PhD-1 student will give a 15-minute paper on any aspect of his/her research interests; MSc students provide written feedback on the presentation and will reconvene on the Friday for follow-up discussion with the presenters.
|
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | HistMethod Historical Methodology |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anna Groundwater
Tel: 0131 (6)50 2553
Email: Anna.groundwater@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk |
|
© Copyright 2013 The University of Edinburgh - 13 January 2014 4:53 am
|
University Homepage