Postgraduate History 2019-2020

A postgraduate student of medieval and early modern history or literature often needs to be able to use unedited literary and archival sources, or to check the completeness and accuracy of existing editions.  Medievalists often need to consult material available only in later copies, extracts and antiquarian notes. To do so, you must be able to read pre-modern scripts. This course is designed to give students the necessary skills to use manuscript sources for themselves, whatever their date,  describe manuscripts, and transcribe texts.  Assessment is by exercises and a final essay.

Old Norse was also the primary literary language of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, notably the Icelandic sagas and skaldic and eddic poems. This course will provide the basic linguistic tools needed to read Old Norse texts, and some background about the history of the language and its links with other languages. No prior knowledge of Old Norse is assumed. This course uses Old Norse literature, in particular the sagas and Eddas, to introduce aspects of early Scandinavian culture, including literature and pre-Christian religion.

This course allows you to do in-depth study in a specific area in History or a related subject agreed upon with your programme coordinator. It may be offered in conjunction with you sitting in on level 3 or 4 lectures relating to the subject material, with additional individual tuition.

Students work closely with a member of staff to develop a detailed knowledge of and write a critical survey of the literature in their chosen field. This helps students develop research skills required for the literature review in the dissertation, but will be much broader in scope to ensure they have a secure grasp of the relevant research in their field. The course enhances students' ability to identify and engage critically with a body of literature and improve their skills in academic writing appropriate to postgraduate work.

A directed reading course for taught postgraduate (PGT) students in History who wish to pursue a particular line of scholarly inquiry supportive of an existing taught postgraduate programme but not otherwise available on existing PGT courses. 

This course allows a student to do in-depth study in a specific area in History agreed with the course coordinator. You will be allocated a supervisor and through a series of meetings pursue in-depth reading on a topic and write a 4000-word essay on that subject.

What is an archive and how can it be used? Students are introduced to some archives in Aberdeen and learn how to make best use of these important resources for research. Seminars investigate the history and philosophy of archival collections, and how they relate to museums, libraries and galleries; approaches to the evaluation of contents of archives and qualitative analyses of specific collections. Assessment is based on a 5000-word essay in which students are asked to identify and analyse material from a specific archive which may be in Aberdeen, or elsewhere in Scotland, the UK, or abroad.

Students complete the course with an enhanced ability to present convincing academic arguments and research findings in writing and, particularly orally. They improve their critical engagement with the research and arguments of other historians.

Students attend research seminars and write a seminar comparison report, fostering engagement with the process of presenting arguments and research findings.

Following training in presentation skills, students present their dissertation proposals in a workshop, recording their presentation using Camtasia, and respond to questions from staff and students. Students then write a reflective analysis of their presentations.

A directed reading course for taught postgraduate (PGT) students in History who wish to pursue a particular line of scholarly inquiry supportive of an existing taught postgraduate programme but not otherwise available on existing PGT courses. 

What is happening now in the field of early Scandinavian Studies? What are its biggest questions, concerns and influences? How is new research developed, and why is it important? This course exposes students to cutting-edge research in the field, via research seminars and recently-published papers. It encourages you to start to think in big picture terms about the field, and prepares you for researching and writing your own dissertation by thinking explicitly and critically about the field, its questions and directions.

This course consists of a mixture of two-hour group seminars and shorter one-to-one supervision with the member of staff best equipped to advise you on your dissertation topic. It will involve detailed discussion of your research ideas and planning with the aim of providing the fullest preparation for researching and writing the dissertation in the summer and research beyond. Fundamental to the success of the course are mutual feedback and support within the student group.

An individually supervised project with a 18,000-word dissertation for students to complete their MLitt qualification