HIST40160: Dissertation in History

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• to enable students to apply the skills and methods acquired in Historical Research Methods to an extended piece of work
• to acquire an advanced knowledge and understanding of a specialist area of history using extensive secondary and some primary source material

• The dissertation enables the student to develop and execute an extended piece of research on a specialised topic. Normally the student will have begun to explore the methods, ideas and literature for this work as part of Themes, Readings and Sources. The topic will be approved by the Programme Director, and during the period of study the supervisor will offer expert guidance on the student's developing research and writing. Guidelines (for students) on the dissertation will be provided in the course handbook where full information on the format and procedures for the production of the dissertation will be found.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Familiarity with common schemes for categorising sources
• Understanding of the historiography relevant to the historical period and field of study
• Understanding of the chosen historical sources

Subject-specific Skills:

• Ability to critically interpret primary historical sources
• Facility with theories, themes, and methods relevant to the study of chosen field of historical inquiry
• Ability to use primary sources to make a targeted intervention in a scholarly discourse

Key Skills:

• Independent research skills, using a wide range of search tools and historical sources
• Advanced ability to synthesise complex material from a wide range of sources
• Ability to formulate complex arguments in articulate and well-structured English, observing the conventions of academic writing, conforming to high academic standards
• Effective written communication
• Facility drawing together disparate forms of historical evidence
• Ability to demonstrate professional conduct through observation of professional and academic standards, including correct editorial referencing of sources
• Personal organisational skills, including time management

• Individual supervision provides a forum in which ongoing work can be discussed in a focused manner with a subject expert, and in which the student is able to acquire and enhance their knowledge and understanding of a specialised field. Students will be directed to an existing body of literature relevant to the subject under study, and advised on the potential primary sources that may be consulted. Regular meetings between student and supervisor will take place during the course of planning, research and writing.
• Assessment is by means of a dissertation of 15,000 words (including footnotes but excluding bibliography). The dissertation is an extended piece of work which requires students to develop and execute independent research, use primary and secondary sources in an advanced and sophisticated fashion, and pose and test a set of hypotheses appropriate to the chosen specialism. Dissertations must be presented in clearly written and structured form, and with appropriate apparatus.

Discussion of work in progress, on the basis of either oral reports or drafts of written work as agreed between supervisor and student. A formative dissertation proposal of 2000 words due end of Term 1.

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