HIS6744 - History Dissertation

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Put into practice the skills of historical research attained at previous levels (ie presenting a hypothesis or identifying a problem; collecting and collating historical evidence; evaluating evidence; drawing conclusions and writing effectively).
Assess critically primary and secondary sources relevant to a self-prescribed historical research project and employ these sources to test a hypothesis.
Demonstrate the ability to work independently and professionally as an historical researcher, and to reflect effectively and critically on their personal development of such research skills.
Complete a sustained piece of research which is then written up in a coherent, logical, well argued manner and is presented with appropriate ancillary material and supported by full scholarly academic apparatus.

Content:

This module will develop further the skills required to plan and successfully complete an independent research project. This will reinforce research skills developed in other modules such as Research and Discovery, Making History and Problems in History.
The individual student will negotiate a research topic with the Dissertation supervisor allocated to them, the topic to be dependent on supervisory staff expertise and availability. The research will be based predominantly on primary sources. This might include: a body of oral history interviews that the student has conducted in a rigorous manner, visual & physical evidence such as paintings, artefacts or objects in a museum collection, buildings and landscape, literature and prose, a large body of data available in digital resources, historical texts or the evidence of a historical debate surrounding a topic when that debate has a long and detailed history. In addition, students will need to demonstrate a contextual e.g. historiographical knowledge of, and/or an understanding of theoretical or methodological approaches to the specific topic. This will be supported both by individual tutorials with the dissertation supervisor (to a total of 3 hours across the academic year), and group workshop sessions covering generic factors of producing a dissertation during the first semester.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The first semester will consist of both individual student tutorials with dissertation supervisors allocated at level 5 in HIS5672 Making History, and workshops for those taking this dissertation module and the History Research Report (HIS6732). These workshops will focus on briefing students on how to prepare each of the stages necessary for the production of their final dissertations (eg final version of their outline of dissertation project begun in HIS5672; accessing archival sources; aceessing digital resources and specialist search skills; writing up and the final presentation of the dissertation; producing the footnotes and bibliography). Students will present work-in-progress to their supervisor during semester one and early in semester two. They will have opportunity to submit the outline of their dissertation project, including a bibliography of both primary and secondary sources; the plan of their final dissertation and report of their research findings to their supervisor. In addition, students will have the opportunity to submit a draft version of the portfolio to the tutor, allowing for revision before final submission. The low level of group contact hours is to allow personalised guidance at this point for each student.

Workshops
Contact hours: 14
Intended group size: 17 + 10 (History Research Reports)

Tutorials
Contact hours: 3
Intended group size: 1

Guided independent study
Hours: 383

Assessment:

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Prof. Karen Sayer
Level - 6
Credit Value - 40
Pre-Requisites - MUST ACHIEVE AN OVERALL MARK OF 50% IN HIS5762
Semester(s) Offered -

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