- UCAS course code
- VT17
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
BA History and American Studies
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Duration: 3 years
Year of entry: 2025
UCAS course code: VT17 / Institution code: M20
- Key features:
Study abroad
- Typical A-level offer: AAB including specific subjects
- Typical contextual A-level offer: ABC including specific subjects
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: ACC including specific subjects
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 35 points overall with 6,6,5 at HL including specific subjects
Fees and funding
Fees
Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £26,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
- Find out more from student finance
- Eligible UK students can apply for bursaries and scholarships
- Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages
- Many students work part-time or complete a student internship
Course unit details:
Long Essay
| Unit code | AMER20022 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 20 |
| Unit level | Level 2 |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
| Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
The US History Long Essay provides an opportunity to research and write about a substantial and exciting topic in US historical scholarship based on archival materials. This is a module that trains you to work independently with some of the unique primary and archival collections held around the city of Manchester relating to the United States. The module will guide you to develop an interpretation of your sources in conversation with relevant and recent US historiography, and it offers an opportunity to build and sustain an historical argument over a longer piece of research and writing.
Aims
- To show students how to identity and work with archival and primary collections
- To enable students to formulate good historical questions
- To develop students’ abilities to research their chosen topic in order to meet the demands of an extended piece of written work
- To encourage students to identify and evaluate a relevant historiography, and to establish their own historical arguments in conversation
- To encourage students to develop their ability as historical writers
Learning outcomes
On completion of the course, successful students should be able to demonstrate:
- Ability to work knowledgably and confidently with archival collections
- Ability to manage an independent and extended piece of research, including the identification of relevant secondary materials
- An advanced grasp of the relevance of historiography in shaping historical interpretation
- Improved skills of historical writing and argumentation
Teaching and learning methods
One preliminary briefing; three workshops; three personal supervision meetings.
Employability skills
- Analytical skills
- Students taking this unit will be able to analyse and evaluate arguments and texts. Above all, committed students will emerge from this course unit with an advanced capacity to think critically, i.e. knowledgeably, rigorously, confidently and independently.
- Innovation/creativity
- On this unit students are encouraged to respond imaginatively and independently to the questions and ideas raised by texts and other media.
- Project management
- Students taking this unit will be able to work towards deadlines and to manage their time effectively.
- Research
- Students on this unit will be required to digest, summarise and present large amounts of information. They are encouraged to enrich their responses and arguments with a wide range of further reading.
- Written communication
- Students on this unit will develop their ability to write in a way that is lucid, precise and compelling.
Assessment methods
| Archival and Historigraphical Report | 15% |
| Long Essay | 85% |
Feedback methods
Students are expected to attend the preliminary briefing meeting before the Christmas vacation, and to select one of the archival collections. They will be helped in this decision by both academic colleagues and the relevant library staff.
Students will produce a 350-word project proposal in advance of the module’s commencement. This is a formative assignment, and they will receive brief written feedback on their submission.
The Archival & Historiographical report will be submitted through Tii, and students can expect written feedback on the exercise. In addition the assignment will be discussed with students at their first supervision.
The final dissertation will be marked on Tii, with written feedback.
Recommended reading
Given the nature of this module, the course bibliography will change from year to year, dependent upon the selection of archives/ collections. The following works may be helpful for students to consult prior to the module’s commencement:
Richard J. Evans, In Defense of History (pb edition, 2001)
Ludmilla Jordanova, History in Practice (2017)
Nicolas Barreyre, et al eds., Historians across Borders: Writing American History in a Global Age (2014)
Study hours
| Scheduled activity hours | |
|---|---|
| Project supervision | 4 |
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 196 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Andrew Fearnley | Unit coordinator |
Additional notes
This unit is a core course only open to students on BA (Hons) History and American Studies