Studying at York
Research Training - HIS00086M
Module summary
The course is designed to help students acquire the skills to design and manage a research project in history, locate relevant primary and secondary sources, handle those sources and prepare a research proposal. Sessions will take the form of classes and workshops, and may take the form of visits to archives and museums in York. Sessions will be led by a variety of lecturers and outside speakers with relevant expertise.
The module introduces students to a wide range of resources, sources and approaches, but the content of the classes will be in part determined by your own interests. It will therefore be just as concerned with sharing experiences of research, as with handling information, your contribution to the classes is therefore vital to their success.
You choose whether to attend the medieval, early modern or modern pathways.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching cycle |
|---|---|
| A | Autumn Term 2021-22 to Spring Term 2021-22 |
Module aims
The module aims to:
- Introduce students to the processes of independent research
- Make them aware of the range of archival and other resources available to historians
- Develop skills of source analysis for both primary and secondary literature
- Develop students’ powers of historical argument
- Develop skills of primary research, including project and information management, independent working and the ability to research primary and secondary materials independently
Module learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course students should:
- Have knowledge of the different types of sources available to historians
- Have knowledge of how to scope and describe an independent research project
- Have developed an understanding of the potential and limitation of resources for historical research
- Have developed an understanding of the resources available for their own specialist areas
Module content
Teaching Programme:
There will be five two-hour workshops in Weeks 1-5 of the Autumn Term. The Spring Term is for researching and writing a dissertation proposal.
The teaching programme will typically be as follows (variants may occur):
Autumn Term
Week 1: Introduction - 2 hour workshop for all history department MA students
Week 2: Library skills (for all history MA students)
Weeks 3 - 5: cohort pathways
- Medieval Masterclasses
- Early Modern Masterclasses
- Modern Masterclasses
Week 6: extra masterclasses
- Public History Masterclass
- Political Science Masterclass
- Interdisciplinary Masterclass
Week 9: Dissertation Inspiration workshop
Spring Term
Week 7: Dissertation session held for each MA cohort.
Assessment
| Task | Length | % of module mark |
|---|---|---|
| Essay/coursework 500 word dissertation proposal |
N/A | 100 |
Special assessment rules
Pass/fail & Non-compensatable
Additional assessment information
The module is assessed by means of a 500-word dissertation proposal on a non-compensatable pass/fail basis, to be researched and written in the spring term. It does not generate a mark, but a pass is a progression requirement. Candidates whose proposal fails will be given the opportunity to submit a revised version in the course of their programme.
Reassessment
| Task | Length | % of module mark |
|---|---|---|
| Essay/coursework 500 word dissertation proposal |
N/A | 100 |
Module feedback
Students are informed of whether their dissertation proposal has received a pass or fail mark within 20 days of submission (students whose dissertation proposal is given a fail mark are given written feedback to assist with resubmission). Students meet with their dissertation supervisor at the beginning of the summer term to receive verbal feedback on their dissertation proposal. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
Indicative reading
There are no key texts for this module.
