Undergraduate Course: Historical Skills and Methods I (HIST10426)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Being able to consult and discuss historiography on a given topic is a crucial skill for Honours level study in History. On this course, you will develop these skills by reading deeply, developing your understanding, and working with expert academics in their areas of research. |
| Course description |
This course enables students to gain greater familiarity with historiographical modes of writing and how historians frame and develop their investigations into the past. This semester long course is compulsory for single honours History students, and highly recommended for those on joint degrees. Students are allocated to pathways centred around particular historical topics, themes, and events, with exact options varying from year to year.
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 |
Students MUST have passed:
Introduction to Historiography (HIST08044)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students should only be enrolled on this course with approval from the History Honours Programme Administrator.
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 1,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6,
Dissertation/Project Supervision Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
187 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
1,500 word historiographical review of a key monograph (35%)
3,500 word historiographical essay (65%) |
| Feedback |
Students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate skills in locating secondary sources;
- identify key works done by historians on a topic and construct a bibliography;
- assess historiographical developments and trends;
- demonstrate practical experience of writing historiographically as a stepping-stone to the Dissertation.
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Reading List
| Students enrolled on this course are allocated to research pathways closely aligned with the research interests of a member of academic staff. As a result, expected texts are defined at pathway rather than course level. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Megan Hunt
Tel: (0131 6)50 9110
Email: Megan.Hunt@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Katherine Perry
Tel:
Email: kperry2@ed.ac.uk |
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