HIST47060: Dissertation in Global History

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• To enable students to apply the skills and methods of Global History, as taught through Foundations of Global History, to an extended piece of work;
• To acquire an advanced knowledge and understanding of a specialist topic in global 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 Foundations of Global History. The topic will be approved by the dissertation supervisor, selected in collaboration with the Programme Lead, and during the period of study the supervisor will offer expert guidance on the students 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:

• Advanced knowledge and understanding of a specialised area of global history, demonstrating the use of primary and secondary sources;
• Knowledge and understanding of the advanced historiography in the chosen area of specialism.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Familiarity of the histories of multiple regions across multiple time periods;
• In-depth knowledge of a particular multi-region history on the basis of the students independent research.

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 oral and written communication;
• Facility designing and managing an independent research project;
• 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.

• Student learning is facilitated by a combination of the following teaching methods;
• 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 10,000 words (excluding references and 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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