Postgraduate Course: Developing Historical Research (PGHC11625)
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 | Building on the Semester 1 core course "Historical Methodology," this course will prepare MSc students for their final dissertation by addressing the various stages and considerations necessary to the planning of an independent research project, including reflections on sources, methods, ethics, and theoretical frameworks. Through a sequence of small group discussions and one-on-one meetings, students will identify an area of interest, develop a research question, and complete an oral presentation on an idea for a dissertation. Alongside these activities, students will complete a reflective portfolio containing reports on a pair of archive visits (one physical, one digital), attendance in a research seminar, reflection on transferable skills, and a review of a public history output. |
| Course description |
This course has two key goals: to ensure that students are better prepared as they move towards writing their dissertations, and to enable them to reflect broadly on the discipline of history including how studying it at an advanced level has developed transferable skills. Building on the Semester 1 core course "Historical Methodology," it will prepare MSc students for their final dissertation by addressing the various stages and considerations necessary to the planning of a research project. Topics for the course include proposal writing, research ethics, the retrieval of sources (in physical and digital collections), and the communication of historical research to non-academic audiences. In the context of these wider discussions, students will receive feedback from instructors and peers about their initial ideas for their dissertation projects. The course then culminates in an oral presentation of their dissertation project ideas which will inform the subsequent writing of their dissertation proposal under the guidance of their formal dissertation supervisor. Students will be assessed on the basis of this presentation and by a portfolio of writing.
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, the course organiser has outlined that the following topics may be discussed in this course, whether in class or through required or recommended primary and secondary sources: racial violence, sexual violence. While this list indicates sensitive topics students are likely to encounter, it is not exhaustive because course organisers cannot entirely predict the directions discussions may take in tutorials or 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 | Visiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 2,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Fieldwork Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
182 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
90 %,
Practical Exam
10 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
2500 word Research Portfolio (50%) (Seminar report, archive visit report, transferrable skills report)
2000 word Dissertation Proposal (40%)
Non-Written Skills:
Proposal Presentation (10%) |
| Feedback |
There will be individual meetings between students and pathway leaders during Weeks 6 & 7 to provide feedback on initial dissertation ideas and guidance on potential supervisors. Each student is required to attend a 30-minute meeting in one of these two weeks.
Students are expected to discuss their coursework with the Course Organiser at least once prior to submission, and are encouraged to do so more often. Meetings can take place with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. Students will also receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Reflect upon how to embark on a major research project, including the refinement and focusing of the topic, and the gathering of preliminary bibliographical material.
- Evaluate appropriate historical sources.
- Develop their ideas in discussion with peers and engage in critical constructive dialogue with their peers' ideas.
- Demonstrate the ability to deliver their dissertation proposal as an oral presentation, and to gather the above together into a written proposal.
- Demonstrate the ability to identify, reflect on and articulate transferrable skills acquired through their degree.
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Reading List
Michael Watts, "The Holy Grail: In Pursuit of the Dissertation Proposal," https://iis.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/general/inpursuitofphd.pdf.
University of Edinburgh Careers Services, "The Future of Work Skills", https://careers.ed.ac.uk/staff/curriculum-design-review/curriculum-toolkit/elements/skills-attributes/future-of-work-skills
HCA Framework for the Conduct of Ethical Research https://www.ed.ac.uk/history-classics-archaeology/research/ethics-procedures/principles
AHA Statement of Standards of Professional Conduct: https://www.historians.org/jobs-and-professional-development/statements-standards-and-guidelines-of-the-discipline/statement-on-standards-of-professional-conduct
Oral History Society, Is Your Oral History Legal and Ethical: Legal and Ethical main - Oral History Society (ohs.org.uk)
King, James Allison. "'Say Nothing": Silenced Records and the Boston College Subpoenas'. Archives and Records 35, no. 1 (2 January 2014): 28-42.
Smallwood, Stephanie E. 'The Politics of the Archive and History's Accountability to the Enslaved'. History of the Present 6, no. 2 (1 October 2016): 117-32.
Fogel, Curtis, Andrea Quinlan, Liz Quinlan, and Qianru She. 'Ethical Issues in Socio-Historical Archival Research: A Short Skit'. Research Ethics 6, no. 3 (1 September 2010): 91-94.
Antoinette M. Burton, ed., Archive Stories: Facts, Fictions, and the Writing of History (Durham, N.C: Duke University Press, 2005). Read Introduction (pp. 1-24) plus one chapter of your choice.
Lara Putnam, 'The Transnational and the Text-Searchable: Digitized Sources and the Shadows They Cast', The American Historical Review 121, no. 2 (April 2016): 377-402.
Hilda Kean, "People, Historians, and Public History: Demystifying the Process of History Making." The Public Historian 32, no. 3 (2010): 25-38.
Jerome De Groot, Consuming History: Historians and Heritage in Contemporary Popular Culture, Second edition (London New York: Routledge, 2016). [Ch. 12-13 on television adaptations and historical film] |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Strengthen personal & intellectual autonomy through individual research development
Improve communication skills through oral presentations and written proposals
Collaborative skills through peer feedback |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Michael Carr
Tel: (0131 6)50 2554
Email: Mike.Carr@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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