BA in History

Year 1

The first year of the History degree offers you the opportunity to study a range of periods and approaches to history. Many of the modules cover quite large topics or long periods; these are intended to introduce you to subjects which may be unfamiliar and which pose new questions and new problems, showing you how wide the study of history really is.

You will take ‘Making History’ which will enable you to develop more advanced study skills through working in a small, intensive seminar requiring extensive reading, discussion, and writing about problems of historical approaches in connection with defined historical themes and primary sources. It is divided into different strands from which you will make your choice.

In addition, you will choose five further modules from a list of approximately 12. You must choose at least one Medieval, one Early Modern, and one Late Modern Module. Typically, you will have one weekly lecture and a small-group seminar every two or three weeks. For the seminar, you will be given reading to do in advance, and on the basis of this, you and the other students in your group will discuss particular issues. Students are expected to lead the discussion in seminars. Most modules are assessed by coursework essays and by a two-hour examination in May/June, in which you write answers to two essay-style questions.

The modules on offer change each year, as they reflect the research interests of staff; we cannot guarantee in advance that a particular module will be running in any particular year. This is a list of some of the modules available in 2016/17, to give you an idea of the range of different themes we cover in the first year:

• Modern Times: a Cultural History of Europe, c. 1860-1960
• Reformation Europe
• The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, 1607-1865
• The Birth of Western Society, 300-1050 AD
• The Making of Modern Africa: Change and Adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa.

Year 2

In the second year, you will study five modules. One of these, ‘Conversations with History’, is a student-led seminar-taught double module which develops your understanding of issues of historiography; it provides an introduction to the writing of more extended historical argument and prepares students for the final year Dissertation. This is an important feature of our course, and so all Single Honours students will take it. It is divided into different strands covering different themes, and you can choose between these different themes.

Alongside ‘Conversations’, students take four further modules. These are taught intensively over half of the academic year (two in the Michaelmas term and two more in Epiphany and Easter terms).

There are many other departments in the University, of course, and you may take modules from other departments as well – but you may not take more than 40 credits (normally the equivalent of two modules) across your second and third years. As in the first year, our focus on research-led teaching means that the modules on offer will vary year by year.

This list gives you an idea of some of the modules running in 2016/17:

• Conversations Strands: The End of the Roman Empire; Sport in Modern History; Interpreting Stalin’s the Soviet Union
• The Book of Hours in Medieval Life and Art
• Selling the Tudor Monarchy
• Memory and Conflict in Europe since 1918
• The Romantic Revolution in Europe, 1770-1840

Year 3

The third-year allows you to specialize, with a triple-module Special Subject, taught entirely through seminars, which involves close study of primary sources. For this, you will work in a small group with a specialist in the field – with a three-hour seminar every week. In the final year, you will also undertake supervised independent research leading to the writing of a double-module dissertation. Given this emphasis on focused study and independence, there is no requirement for you to study a range of periods this year.

As well as the Special Subject and the dissertation, you will also take a single module in the third year: third-year History single modules are all strongly reflexive in character, encouraging students to think about the ways in which historical knowledge is produced.

You will choose your own Dissertation topic, through consultation with a supervisor. There are some limits, set by the availability of primary material and the expertise of supervisors, but the potential range of topics is very wide indeed: in recent years topics have varied from a representation of bandits in twentieth-century Hollywood films to ceremonial in medieval France.

As with modules at other levels, the precise choice of Special Subject and third-year single modules changes from year to year. Our Special Subjects cover a wide range of different periods and historical approaches. This list gives you an idea of some of this range. There are many other special subjects available and the list changes from year to year, allowing us to be completely flexible in the opportunities we provide to students with different historical interests:

Special subjects in 2016/17 include:

• The Black Death
• Worlds Apart: The City in Medieval England
• Burning Hearts: Catholic Reform between Mission and Inquisition, 1550-1700
• British Politics and the Great War

Single modules

• Anglo-Saxon Invasion? The Search for Origins
• History of American Capitalism
• Interpreting Conflict in Post-Colonial Africa

Study Abroad

History

The Department participates in the University-wide overseas exchanges with:

• Boston College (USA),
• the University of British Columbia (Canada),
• the University of Hong Kong (China) 
• the National University of Singapore (Singapore).

Students can apply to spend an additional year of study abroad. This is normally taken between the second and third years of the degree program. If you study on the four-year Joint Honours Modern European Languages and History degree, you will spend your third year abroad at a European university or a work placement as part of the University’s ERASMUS exchanges

Options Available:-

• 4 Year With Foundation Year