Welcome
About First-Year Modules
History courses aim to provide you with a broad knowledge and understanding of key social, cultural and political aspects of themes in history.
What will I study?
The modules focus on the early modern and modern period, a span of around 500 years. The key questions that we will seek to answer are:
What exactly was changing in this period – political systems, social structures, cultural horizons? – and why?
Which individuals, social groups, or particular regions benefited most from such changes, and which were more adversely affected by them?
To what degree did continuity as opposed to change play an important role in shaping belief systems and social and political structures?
There are two History core modules. All students are required to take HR111-4-FY Society, Culture and Politics in Europe, 1500-1750, and/or HR100-4-FY The Making of the Modern World 1776-1989.
All single honours History students are also required to take HR101-4-AU History Workshop: Researching and Writing History at Degree Level, which is also open to joint History students as an optional module. This module plays an important role in developing your historical skills. You will be given a series of assessed tasks which will help you to develop your historical skills.
First year students may also like to take HR121-4-AU From Disunity to Unity: an introduction to the history of Europe in the twentieth century and/or HR141-4-AU Introducing Latin American history: from 16th-century conquest to 19th-century modernisation and/or HR151-4-SP Reform and Revolution in Russia 1861-1953 and/or HR162-4-SP 'The Great Experiment': United States history from 17th-century settlement to the 1970s and/or CS101-4-FY The Enlightenment.
What are the aims and objectives of our first-year modules?
The modules aim to familiarise students with important periods of history and to give them a foundation for the study of modern history modules and other, more specialised early modern history modules that they might take in subsequent years of study. The modules are also designed to train students in the key skills necessary for university study, with specific emphasis on those skills specific to the discipline of history. By taking the modules you will be given the opportunity to develop the following skills:
Many of these skills are also transferable to the world of work. They are therefore valued by employers and will be of benefit to you when applying for either temporary or permanent jobs in future.
How will the lectures and seminars be organised?
Full-year (FY) modules run over twenty-one weeks, AU modules run in the autumn term and SP modules run in the spring term. Revision sessions are held in the summer term. Students must attend a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar every week, for each module (except for HR101 which is a weekly two-hour workshop). Seminar times will be assigned at the beginning of the autumn term. Students are required to prepare in advance for seminars by completing a specified amount of designated reading (usually a minimum of two items). They are also required to contribute to seminar discussions. Students are strongly advised to purchase Module Reading Packs, which contain the designated readings for seminars, for a small fee from the History Department Office at the beginning of term.
How will I be assessed?
Coursework will comprise 50% of the final overall mark and a written examination in the Summer Term will comprise the other 50%. The examinations are three hours long for full-year modules and two hours long for autumn or spring-term only modules. The only exception to this is HR101 History Workshop which is assessed by 100% coursework.
Revision seminars are scheduled in the Summer Term to help you prepare for the examination. Please see the separate coursework guidelines section for further details.
Is there any introductory reading?
Peparatory reading lists are available for each first-year History module and can be found in the Module Directory.