THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2017/2018

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Postgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology)

Postgraduate Course: MSc Dissertation - American History (PGHC11193)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)
Course typeDissertation AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits60 ECTS Credits30
SummaryThe final stage of the programme, this Dissertation of 15,000 words serves as a forum for the candidate to demonstrate their progress in American History. All students will complete a dissertation proposal which will contribute 10% to the final mark for the dissertation. They will then undertake a 15,000 words dissertation on a topic agreed with the supervisor/s, to be submitted by a date specified in the University Regulations. The dissertation is an extended piece of scholarship in which a student is expected to formulate and sustain a substantive piece of research within the field of American History. The dissertation is expected to engage critically and analytically with the literature in the field, building upon relevant concepts and theory covered in the taught element of the degree and deploying a range of primary and secondary sources as well as appropriate data-analytic and bibliographic skills. Each student will be allocated two research supervisors from the start of the academic year.
Course description Not entered
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Block 5 (sem 2)
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 600 ( Dissertation/Project Supervision Hours 9, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 12, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 579 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Completion of a dissertation proposal, which will contribute 10% to the final mark for the dissertation, plus a 15,000 word dissertation.
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
The Dissertation exercise binds the different elements of the programme together while exploring candidates' abilities to undertake original research, and to make a sustained argument, in their chosen field of study.

The dissertation provides students with the ability:
- To formulate and implement a plan of research.
- To formulate hypotheses relating to the student's research subject and to test them by marshalling a range of primary and secondary evidence.
- To locate a specific thesis within its broader historiography.
- To reflect critically on the processes and methods involved in research and writing.
- To construct and pursue a coherent historical argument based on the hypotheses which have been formulated and tested by reference to primary and secondary source material.
- To locate an argument - whether verbal or written - within a broader intellectual context and to evaluate its implications from that more general perspective.
- To conceive and pursue to its conclusion a coherent argument founded on evidence provided by the sources at the student's disposal.
- To undertake a sustained independent research project, and to complete it within a strict time limit.
- To write clear, accurate, precise and concise prose.
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Fabian Hilfrich
Tel: (0131 6)51 3236
Email: Fabian.Hilfrich@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk
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