Assessment

3,500 word essay, comprising a contextualised analysis of a body of primary source material.

Module Aims

This module will introduce students to the practicalities and pitfalls of historical research. It will provide the skills which will enable them to identify, locate, analyse and contextualise both primary and secondary sources. It will provide advice on how to structure their research and to present their findings in a scholarly manner in accordance with standard writing conventions.

Parts 1 & 2 of this module are delivered on alternate years. The material covered in Part 2 complements the content of Part 1 without unnecessary duplication.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module, the student

• will be able to identify, locate and evaluate relevant primary sources
• will be able to locate relevant scholarship, recent and past
• will be able to produce a carefully researched, well-written paper which conforms to the accepted conventions of writing

Bibliography

• — - Arnold, John H, History: a very short introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), esp. chapter 4.
• — - Burton, Antoinette, Archive stories: facts, fictions and the writing of history (Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2005), Introduction.