BA History and American Studies / Course details

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.

• 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 

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

One preliminary briefing; three workshops;  three personal supervision meetings.

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.

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)

This unit is  a core course only open to students on BA (Hons) History and American Studies