Department of History
Applicants - Postgraduates
The Masters in Historical Research (MRes) |
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The MRes trains students to be historians and prepares them for the Doctoral programme (PhD) at Stirling or other universities in Britain and overseas. Both are achieved through the completion of independent study modules, field seminars and skills training, under supervision. Research topics are chosen from a range of fields in consultation with supervisors: in this way a student can study any period in Scottish History, eighteenth-century British History, the French Revolution, European History, African history, evangelicalism and so on. There are also two pathways specifically for in-depth study in Medieval Scottish History and the American Revolutionary Era.
Syllabus
The following schedule represents the programme followed by full-time students, but the MRes can also be taken part-time over two years.
Entry is to the MRes in Historical Research, whereupon students plan their pathway in consultation with an assigned supervisor. Students can choose one of three pathways: (a) MRes in Historical Research; (b) MRes in Historical Research (Medieval Scottish History); (c) MRes in Historical Research (the American Revolutionary Era). A different first module distinguishes each pathway, thereafter students take three core modules.
Pathways
Module 1 (September to December). Historiography.
(a) Students taking the MRes in Historical Research undertake independent study of the historical literature of a chosen field in HTRP11 – Historiography.
Coursework comprises a 10,000-word paper, due 4 Dec., that critically reviews historians’ works and identifies a topic suitable for original research in a dissertation (module 4 below). There are no classes; one-to-one supervisory sessions are scheduled at mutually convenient times.
(b) For the MRes in Historical Research (Medieval Scottish History) take the weekly seminar HTRP16 - Medieval Scottish History which caters for students of varied experience and aims to develop their understanding of historiography and historical sources from c.1100-c.1560.
(c) For the MRes in Historical Research (the American Revolutionary Era) take the weekly seminar HTRPXF - The Imperial Crisis or HTRPXA - The American Revolution. These seminars examine the origins and nature of the American Revolution, from c.1760 to 1790, and its historiography, and prepare students for conducting research in British and American archival sources.
Coursework in all the seminars involves one 4,000-word essay and a reflective presentation.
Core Modules
Module 2 (all year). HTRP14 - Research Skills Training.
Students plan a personal itinerary, with direction, that entails attendance at events organised by the School of History and Politics between 26-29 Oct. and 7 11 Dec., covering cover (a) Historians’ Resources, (b) Historical Evidence, (c) Historical Approaches and (d) Historical Specialisms. The Stirling Graduate School provides training throughout the semester: sessions include personal development and career planning, making grant applications, undertaking qualitative and quantitative analyses and database management. Extra classes in languages can be arranged.
Coursework involves the preparation of a research bibliography for the dissertation, due 4 Dec., and due performance at skills’ workshops. Students attend History research seminars and present a short working paper at the History postgraduate symposium on 2 June.
Module 3 (January to March). HTRP12 - Sources and Methods.
Students discuss with their supervisor how to apply and develop their research skills. This may entail further training, such as in languages or palaeography, or attendance at external courses on relational database construction or social theory. Students also examine a body of sources related to their research topic, and practise the methods that they have been learning.
Coursework comprises (a) a 5,000-word paper explaining the research “value” and significance of the selected sources and setting out the appropriate concepts, theories and methods to be used in analysis and interpretation; (b) a skills test based on the methods learned and the sources studied. Submission dates will be set by supervisors.
Module 4 (April to September). HTRP03 - Dissertation
Having researched the existing secondary literature and the primary sources, and having received training in appropriate research skills, students now go on to complete a dissertation by 30 Sept. 2010, on an historical issue or debate or conduct an original investigation. (in up to 20,000 words).
Current MRes Projects at Stirling University
Anne GillinghamM.A. (Hons) English Literature – University of Edinburgh 'Women, Readership and Gender in 19th Century France' Frenchwomen as readers and the ideas of gender and womanhood to which they were exposed through literature and the press. Encompassing a wide range of genres and media, this research examines not only what women read, but also how they responded and how this helped forge ideas of gender in later nineteenth and early twentieth-century France. |
M FullerB.A. Waldorf College, USA |
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Department of History University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA |
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Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 467580 |
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Fax: + 44 (0) 1786 467581 |
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Email: history@stir.ac.uk |
