Overview

The course will examine a wide range of medieval and early modern genres of historical sources, including but not limited to charters, historical narratives, records of central government, probate records, visual sources, pamphlets, and so on.

Assessment Strategy

Grades B- to B+/60-68%: To proceed to a dissertation, students will show a solid level of achievement in all the criteria. To achieve a merit (B- to B+) students will demonstrate a solid level of achievement and depth of knowledge in all the criteria in the B- to B+ range, and will in addition exhibit constructive engagement with different types of historical writing and historiographical interpretation. Ideas will be communicated effectively and written work will include a good range of sources/reading and demonstrate a clear understanding of the issues and of the existing interpretations expressed in a well-structured, relevant, and focused argument. Students at the top end of this band will engage with and critique the ideas that they come across, and synthesise the various interpretations they find to reach their own considered conclusions. Written work will be correctly presented with references and bibliography where appropriate..

Grades A-/70% and above: Excellent students (A- and above) will show strong achievement across all the criteria combined with particularly impressive depths of knowledge and/or subtlety of analysis. In written work, they will support their arguments with a wealth of relevant detail/examples. They will also demonstrate an acute awareness of the relevant historiography and give an account of why the conclusions reached are important within a particular historical debate. They may show a particularly subtle approach to possible objections, nuancing their argument in the light of counter-examples, or producing an interesting synthesis of various contrasting positions. Overall, the standards of content, argument, and analysis expected will be consistently superior to top upper-second work. Standards of presentation will also be high.To gain a distinction, students will, in addition, demonstrate originality in their interpretation of the evidence.

Grades C- to C+ /52-58%: To pass the module students must show a basic competence based on the above criteria. They will demonstrate an appropriate depth of knowledge in at least parts of the relevant field using the relevant evidence; they will make at least partially successful attempts to analyse the material showing some knowledge of current debates and interpretations; they will present their written work in a way which demonstrates a serious attempt to structure and present it clearly and correctly. Students in this band (C- to C+) will demonstrate a satisfactory range of achievement or depth of knowledge of most parts of the module, and will make successful, if occasionally inconsistent, attempts to develop those skills appropriate to the study of History at undergraduate level. In the case of the written assessments, the answers will attempt to focus on the question, although might drift into narrative, and will show some evidence of solid reading and research. The argument might lose direction and might not be adequately clear at the bottom of this category. Written work will be presented reasonably well with only limited errors in grammar, punctuation, and referencing, and not to the extent that they obscure meaning

Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to develop their ability to recognise the significance of different kinds of historical source.

• They will develop the capacity to assess the problems involved in the use of different kinds of historical sources.

• They will develop their ability to assess the role which different kinds of source can play in historical enquiry.