Research Methods in History (20)

Code

HIST4025

School

History

Level

4

Credits

20

Semesters

Autumn UK

Summary

The principal aim of this course is to enable students to undertake MA research at a high standard, capable of constructing theoretically-informed arguments and engaging critically with primary material; but it is also designed to provide solid foundations for those who wish to continue to PhD level, while simultaneously honing a set of transferable skills that will be useful in future employment.
 
This course has two purposes. The first is to ensure students are confident with the methods and approaches required for advanced research. These will include bibliographical searching, locating primary sources, using archives, writing research proposals, as well as other practical techniques necessary for historical research. Many students already have strong bases in such approaches, but this course is designed both to ensure complete confidence/competence and to help identify areas in which students might need to develop skills at a higher level.
 
The second purpose is to consider how historians engage with more theoretical and conceptual texts, and how they borrow from other disciplines. Students are given the opportunity to engage with a wide range of thinkers, including historians, art historians, economists, philosophers, cultural theorists, and political scientists, and to work out how they might frame their own research from a theoretical perspective.

Target Students

Compulsory for all MA History students, and students doing an MSSR with a specialisation in History.

Classes

• One 2-hour workshop each week for 5 weeks
• One 2-hour seminar each week for 11 weeks

Assessment

• 30% Coursework 1: 1 x 1000 word book review
• 70% Coursework 2: 1 x 3000 word essay

Assessed by end of autumn semester

Educational Aims

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding:

At the end of the module students should be able to:

A2 understand how theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches have shaped historical writing.
A3 understand the way in which theory interacts with historiography

Intellectual skills

B1 identify and evaluate key problems associated with a specific field of historical research
B3 devise research topics and develop appropriate methodologies
B4 reflect critically on the discipline and develop an awareness of it as a constantly changing  and evolving entity

Professional and practical skills

C1 articulate both knowledge and awareness of a chosen field orally and in writing
C3 develop and refine research skills required for historical research
C4 develop individual interpretations of historical writing within the broad framework of current historiography

Transferable skills

D2 take responsibility for their learning and continued professional development. 
D3 communicate their findings clearly and coherently within an advanced theoretical framework.
D4 carry out independent research and work as part of a team.

Conveners

• Dr Richard Bates