Module Documentation and Admin

This assignment is designed to equip you with the skills to critically evaluate different types of historical evidence and to engage with debates between historians. You will be expected to explore the ways in which your sources’ significance relates to the context of their production and reception as well as content. You will be expected to devise your own area of interest and research question with your tutor's support.
This essay will help you to develop your own research interests and provide you with research skills that will help you to develop your dissertation in the third year.

Approaches might be

What are the implications of a particular piece of primary evidence for a chosen historical discussion or debate?

To what extent can debates between historians be explored through the types of evidence which they chose?

Contrasting two types of historical evidence

How have historians used their evidence?

The Essay Proposal

The essay proposal should be no longer than 500 words. Part of the point of this exercise is to test your skills in expressing yourself efficiently and effectively.

What is an essay proposal?

The essay proposal is a preliminary exploration of the topic which you plan to develop into your 3,500 word assessed essay.

What should it include?

Your proposal should include the following:

a) An explanation of why you think your topic would be a good subject for your essay.

b) A brief survey of the secondary literature pertaining to the topic you have chosen:

What are the key debates among historians? Is this a topic where there are many competing interpretations? There might actually be a scarcity of secondary literature. Why do you think that is?

c) An indication of the gaps in the existing literature: Where would your own work fit into the existing secondary literature? Remember you are expected to develop you own ideas on the subject, but that does not mean that you have to choose a topic that no one has ever written about before.

d) An exploration of the primary source material available to you on this topic. A good starting point here is the bibliographies of other historians. What sources have they used and where did they locate them? You should also refer to the extended bibliographies in this course book and ask me if you are uncertain. Think about the other sources which might be useful. Find out how much material is available to you from the University library History Subject Guide Resources page http:// guides.lib.sussex.ac.uk/history, electronic library and catalogue.

e) An indication of the way you might approach the topic, key areas, plan of research etc.