Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module focuses on the writing of history in antiquity and beyond. In terms of the structure of the MA programme in Classics and Ancient History, this module serves as a signature research specialism for the ancient history pathway. Emphasis will be placed on the active development of research skills, in the first instance through dialogue around a carefully chosen series of sub-fields connected with the writing of history (to be based around the teaching staff’s own research specialisms), in which scholarly and theoretical approaches, new research directions, and evidentiary corpora will be foregrounded and subject to searching scrutiny.

It is also the aim of this module to foster the development of the students’ own research trajectories through including in the contact hours and in the assessment conspectus the delivery of a workshop-style oral research paper. All student papers will be hosted at an end-of-module colloquium (alongside its sister module, CAC8009: Performance and Text), and preparatory support will also be provided through briefings and individual supervisions. This assessed oral paper will also feed into the other assessment component of the module, namely the written research-essay.

A major aim behind the conception and the design of the module is to promote a productive alignment between the module’s content and the active research culture of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, as represented particularly by the School-wide strategic research strand named ‘The Writing of History’. This will be achieved by two principal means: (i) teaching on the module will be research-led, i.e. drawn from the strand-affiliated teaching staff’s own research, including ongoing projects; and (ii) students themselves will contribute to the research culture of the School and the strand, through both the nature of the teaching activities (e.g. discussions of ongoing research) and the methods of assessment (in particular the research workshop at the culmination of the module).

Outline Of Syllabus

Typically, this module will be structured around major research case-studies relating to the writing of history, to be presented by teaching staff and discussed with students in a dialogic, seminar-style forum, before moving onto support for the students’ own oral research-papers, all of which will be delivered at an interactive colloquium at the end of the module. The breakdown of the contact hours will thus typically take the following form:

Introduction and briefing for the module
Research case-study I
Research case-study II
Research case-study III
Briefing on oral research-paper
Supervisory sessions with individual faculty members
End-of-module online colloquium: presentation of research-papers
Summary of feedback on the colloquium, plus briefing on research-essay

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

1. To acquire a substantial knowledge and understanding, as structured by the presentation and discussion of selected case-studies by both teaching staff and student peers, of original research undertaken in line with the thematic focus of the writing of history;
2. To gain a rounded and expansive familiarity with complex scholarly and theoretical apparatuses in the field of ancient history, and a knowledge of the ways in which these might be applied to self-chosen areas of historical study;
3. To obtain, under guidance but principally via independent work, an extensive, systematic understanding of a self-chosen field of research under the ambit of the writing of history, as a stepping-stone to the development of original interpretative positions in this field

Intended Skill Outcomes

1. To further expand critical abilities with respect to evaluation of scholarly ideas and interpretation of evidence;
2. To engage in respectful, productive dialogue with others’ research, both teaching staff and student peers, and so learn the importance of research-collaboration;
3. To develop, through structured briefings and supervisory sessions and then practical experience, competence in writing and delivering an oral research-paper;
4. To consolidate and expand competence with respect to the presentation of individual work in written form;
5. Overall, in contributing to and drawing benefit from the School’s research culture, to take ownership of a continuing, autonomous trajectory towards developing original research.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The learning outcomes, both knowledge and skills, for this module fundamentally underpin the teaching and learning methods employed.

Seminars will principally consist of teacher-introduced case-studies which will serve as the basis for discussion over several sessions. Reading will be assigned in advance and will inform this discussion. Ultimately, the aim is to open up a productive, two-way dialogue on original research relating to the writing of history. This type of learning activity aligns with knowledge outcomes 1 & 2, and skills outcomes 1, 2, & 5.

After coverage of major case-studies in seminar form, one-on-one supervisions will be introduced which aim to ensure that each student receives tailored, expert guidance on the forthcoming task of researching, writing, and delivering an oral research-paper. This activity aligns with knowledge outcome 3 and skills outcomes 2, 3, & 5.

After the supervisions have been completed, the extended workshop will be the site for the delivery and assessment of the oral research-papers, to be performed together in an end-of-module colloquium held in the style of an academic research workshop, with each speaker allocated twenty minutes for the paper plus ten minutes for audience-facing Q&A. This activity aligns with knowledge outcomes 2 & 3, and with skills outcomes 1, 2, 3, & 5.

The final seminar of the module provides a summary of feedback from the oral research-papers, which will serve as formative feedback ahead of the final assessment, a written research-essay, the nature of which will also receive a full briefing. This activity aligns with knowledge outcome 3 and skills outcome 4.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The assessment for this module has been designed in tandem with the learning outcomes and with the chosen teaching and learning activities.

The oral research-paper will be fifteen minutes long, followed by ten minutes of Q&A. This assessment component aligns with knowledge outcomes 1, 2, & 3, and with skills outcomes 1, 3, & 5.

The written research-essay, 3,000 words long and due after the close of teaching for the semester, builds on the content introduced in the oral research-paper and is positioned so as to allow reflection on the formative feedback obtained from that task (both from the teaching staff and from student peers in the form of Q&A). This assessment component aligns with knowledge outcomes 1, 2, & 3, and with skills outcomes 1, 4, & 5.

A formative assessment is also assessed: three sets of Canvas quizzes on each of the three case-studies, to be set in the week following the end of the relevant section of the module.

General Notes

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