Ancient History Dissertation

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Present your work clearly and convincingly
• Organize your time effectively
• Research and analyse large amounts of material
• Produce a long and complex written text

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The broader historical significance of your chosen research question
• The wider historiographical material relevant to your research
• The range and usefulness of primary source material for your topic

Cognitive Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Analyse primary source material
• Evaluate the existing historiography on the topic
• Structure and explain your own arguments carefully and clearly

A dissertation is a piece of original, independent research written on a topic of your choice and using primary source materials, whether printed or in an archive and an extended engagement with existing historiography. Topics might relate to a specific collection of sources or a local archive. You might choose to research an area that interests you but is not represented in our final-year modules or you might decide to follow up on an aspect of your second year options or the group project. A dissertation is the length of an average academic article and will have, like an article, a clear research question and central argument. You will be allocated a supervisor, based on your choice of research question, who will give you advice on specialist content and will read and comment on one sample chapter.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include:

• Information session (2 hours)
• Individual tutorials (4 hours max)

Learning activities include:

• Individual research
• Accessing primary sources including visiting archives
• Managing the project and organising your time.

Innovative or special features of this module:

• Independent research

The information session will assist you in devising a research topic and to organise your time. Discussion with your supervisor will help you to identify and understand the primary sources that you will be using and to develop your interpretation of the material. Through your visits to archives, museums, or archaeological sites and your careful examination of the sources you will further learn to develop and substantiate your own arguments and to critically assess the ideas in existing historiography. Your independent study and research will enable you to develop knowledge and understanding of a field of enquiry of particular interest to you. The writing of the dissertation will improve your written communication and will encourage you to be self-motivated and organised. The completion of a piece of independent research will enable you to fully understand the work of professional historians who specialise in the study of the ancient world.

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

MHRA Style Book: Notes for Authors, Editors and writers of Theses 5th ed. (London, 1996).

Textbooks

L. Hampson (1994). How’s your dissertation going?. Lancaster.

B. Allison (1997). The student's guide to preparing dissertations and theses. London.

J. Young and J. Garrard (1993). How to write a dissertation. Salford.

R. Higgins (1996). Approaches to research: a handbook for those writing a dissertation. London.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External