Postgraduate Course: Historical Research: Skills and Sources (PGHC11334)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This core course is taken by all MSc History (Taught) graduate students as an introduction to the key skills and sources they need to build a research project, with the ultimate objectives being to enable students to complete both their written coursework, and their Masters dissertation. Through core lectures and a wide-ranging series of pathways with members of academic staff, students will develop a meaningful familiarity with the primary source analysis. Students will choose two four-week pathways, one of which will form the basis for the final course essay. |
| Course description |
This course will consist of three elements:
1. Core lectures, in weeks 1, 10 & 11.
2. Two pathways chosen by the student, running weeks 2-5 and 6-9.
3. Submission of a final research paper (5,000 words), worth 100% of the final course grade.
Students on the MSc in Medieval History MUST take the medieval pathways.
Content note: The study of History inevitably involves the study of difficult topics that we encourage students to approach in a respectful, scholarly, and sensitive manner. Nevertheless, we remain conscious that some students may wish to prepare themselves for the discussion of difficult topics. In particular, we recommend that students enrolled on this course check the pathway descriptions carefully when listing their preferences, where lecturers will outline any sensitive content likely to be discussed on their pathways. These pathway descriptions will be made available on the course Learn site by the beginning of the relevant semester.
While these pathway descriptions indicate sensitive topics students are likely to encounter, they will not be exhaustive because pathway organisers cannot entirely predict the directions discussions may take in seminars, or through the wider reading that students may conduct for the course.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 100 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| 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 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
4,000 word final research paper relating to the pathway chosen, the title of which is to be agreed with the pathway lecturer (100%) |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a detailed and critical command of the primary sources, and related secondary literature from the pathway that they have chosen
- Analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship concerning the specialised field of the pathway that they have chosen, its relevant primary source materials, and conceptual discussions about that field;
- Understand and apply specialised research or professional skills, techniques and practices considered in the specialised field of the pathway chosen;
- Develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in oral form within their pathways, and study group meetings by independently addressing study group and pathway questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course;
- Demonstrate originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of autonomy.
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Reading List
Zemon Davis, Natalie, Fiction in the Archives (Stanford, 1987)
Cannadine, David (ed.), What is History Now? (Basingstoke, 2004)
Elton, G.R. (ed.), What is History Now? (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002)
Evans, Richard J., In Defence of History (2nd edn. (London: Granta, 2000)
Tosh, Peter, The pursuit of history: aims, methods, and new directions in the study of modern history, 5th edn. (Harlow, 2010)
Budd, Adam, The modern historiography reader: Western sources pp.365-378 (London, 2009)
Claus, Peter and John Marriott, History: an Introduction to Theory, Method and Practice (London, 2012)
Dobson, M. and B. Ziemann, eds. Reading Primary Sources: The Interpretation of Texts from 19th and 20th Centuries (NY, 2009)
Barber, S. and C. M. Peniston-Bird, History Beyond the Text (London: Routledge 2009)
Weller, Toni, History in the Digital Age (Abingdon, Routledge, 2013)
Joyce, P., The State of Freedom: a Social History of the British State since 1800 (Cambridge, 2013)
Cultural and Social History, 11:3 (2014), debate forum on digital history
Tredinnick, Mark, Writing Well: the essential guide (Cambridge, 2008) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course will develop those transferable skills essential to conducting research and for disseminating research findings, including:
* Designing a research project at the MSc level;
* Experience with generating and presenting oral and written arguments in a range of professional academic settings (e.g. in seminars, conferences, online discussion with peers, submission of written work for assessment);
* "Hands-on" training in locating, describing, and making meaningful analytical use of primary historical documents;
* Effective use of interactive electronic materials and related technology, including bibliographical software and databases. |
| Keywords | Historical Research Skills Sources |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jeremy Dell
Tel: (0131 6)50 4476
Email: jeremy.dell@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr George Bottrell-Campbell
Tel: (0131 6)50 8349
Email: g.bottrell-campbell@ed.ac.uk |
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