HIS8098 : Research Skills and Dissertation Training
- Offered for Year: 2024/25
- Module Leader(s): Professor Susan-Mary Grant
- Co-Module Leader: Mrs Geraldine Hunwick
- Lecturer: Miss Louise Cowan, Professor Bruce Baker, Mrs Rob McEwen-Orr, Dr Willow Berridge, Dr Katie East, Mr Simon Young
- Owning School: History, Classics and Archaeology
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 10 |
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 10 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
This module prepares students to undertake their MA dissertation in History by providing them with a supportive, participatory, and example-driven set of teaching and learning activities that speak to the process of pursuing original research into a diverse set of topics. The final assessment for HIS8098 is a dissertation proposal, a plan that students can use to inform their ultimate dissertation research and writing.
Outline Of Syllabus
The module covers topics such as:
How to locate a range of both physical and digital primary and secondary material that is the basis of all research;
How to analyse critically this material;
How to formulate a research question at PG level;
How to approach the issue of ethics in historical research;
How to raise the approach to writing from UG to PG work, and why referencing is crucial at PG level;
A range of discrete research topics, teaching for which is led by the researchers themselves, as a means of introducing students to a variety of topics in European, British, American (and others year on year).
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 4 | 1:00 | 4:00 | N/A |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 90 | 1:00 | 90:00 | N/A |
| Structured Guided Learning | Academic skills activities | 4 | 2:00 | 8:00 | Skills tasks assigned for students to undertake independently in advance of seminars, e.g. critial reading exercise |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 40 | 1:00 | 40:00 | Set, recommended and further reading. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Small group teaching | 5 | 2:00 | 10:00 | N/A |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 6 | 2:00 | 12:00 | Navigating library resources; identifying and using Newcastle's Special Collections materials; a guide to other European and British primary sources; writing at postgraduate level; review past dissertation proposals, and gain feedback on ideas from peers. |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 36 | 1:00 | 36:00 | N/A |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
The teaching programme has been designed to impart a range of skills and practical knowledge that all students require at postgraduate level, both in terms of general research skills and those specific to the MA dissertation. The approach combines library and archival workshops and lectures and individual, academic-led seminars and workshops that focus on discrete research topics/publications. The latter covers a selection of historical topics, geographical areas, and periods. Each has been designed to highlight a different approach to the research topic in question in order that students may have access to as broad a range of skills, material, and approaches as possible over the course of the two semesters.
There will be introductory lectures from the module leader and the library team and a seminar on possible dissertation topics. The structure will broadly be that a preparation week, during which students will complete assigned tasks and/or subject specific reading, will be followed by the seminar or workshop on that subject. These research-focussed seminars and workshops are interspersed throughout the year by lectures and library-led skills sessions. In semester 2, as the dissertation research proposal becomes due, there will be an intensified series of referencing and writing skills sessions followed by a period allocated to writing the proposal that will be supported by drop-in sessions with the module leader.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research proposal | 2 | A | 100 | Dissertation/research project proposal 3000 words including footnotes (with a bibliography exluded from word count) |
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research proposal | 2 | M | Dissertation proposal outline of 1000 words |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
This module aims primarily to prepare students to design and undertake a dissertation. The summative assessment, a dissertation proposal, allows them apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired during this module to outline how they plan to do this. Students then benefit from the feedback they receive on their proposal at the end of this module supports their ongoing dissertation research.
A formative dissertation proposal outline encourages students to address all the important components of the proposal at an early stage, and to get feedback and support on their ideas.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- HIS8098's Timetable