Course Catalogue

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Every student progressing to the degree of MSc is expected to write a dissertation on a topic of his/her own choosing. A dissertation is an argument based on primary sources, placed in the context of existing historiography. Its focus on primary source material is what distinguishes from a long essay, and it is important that you identify a manageable and appropriate body of sources on which to base your research. The dissertation should aim to build an argument and make a case in a coherent and convincing fashion; it should prove its case through an informed and critically aware use of primary sources; it should show how its argument relates to the existing secondary literature. Ideally your dissertation should constitute an original contribution to its field, and the best dissertations are equivalent to a publishable journal article.

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Standard entry to Masters at College level.

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12-15,000 words dissertation

This course aims to:

■ train students in the form, style, apparatus and techniques of a scholarly piece of historical writing.

■ extend knowledge of a particular period chosen by the student, at a depth greater than that achieved in undergraduate study.

■ encourage the independent and original analysis of a complex range of appropriate source materials.

■ prepare students for further graduate study of an advanced kind, to M.Litt. or Ph.D. level, should the student so desire

On completion of the dissertation, students will be able to:

■ assemble and assess material from a variety of sources, including libraries, archives, interviews and web-based storage media.

■ undertake and complete a sustained piece of independent original historical research

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