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HIST6001

Writing History

10 Units 6000 Level Course

Available in 2013

Callaghan Campus Semester 2

Previously offered in 2012, 2011

This course provides an overview of historiography for postgraduate students engaging with writing and researching history at an advanced level. It considers how we ask questions about the past and why the past is foundational to our understanding of the contemporary world. It explores both the theory and practice of history, including the use of written and non-written sources, and interrogates a range of ancient, contemporary and critical methodological approaches to the interpretation of the past.

Objectives This course provides students with the opportunity to:
1. Develop advanced skills in historiography and critical approaches to the past.
2. Acquire knowledge of major historians and school of history from ancient to modern times.
3. Critically appraise historical sources and writing relevant to a particular thesis, essay or historical topic.
4. Consider philosophical, methodological and practical issues which inform good historical research and writing.
Content Topics covered will include material from the following list:
- Creating archives
- Fathers of History - Herodotus and Thucydides
- Using national and international archives
- Empiricists and diplomatic history
- Gender and history
- Marxist theory and history
- Annales and annalists
- Oral history and memory
- Post-structuralism and post-modernism
- History wars - history and the public sphere
Replacing Course(s) Not Applicable.
Transition Not Applicable.
Industrial Experience 0
Assumed Knowledge Not Applicable
Modes of Delivery Distance Learning : IT Based
Internal Mode
Teaching Methods Case Study
Email Discussion Group
Self Directed Learning
Seminar
Assessment Items
Essays / Written Assignments Assignment 1: 50% (approx. 2,500 words)
Essay providing a critical review of a particular historian and their body of work.
Essays / Written Assignments Assignment 2: 50% (approx. 2,500 words)
Essay providing a critical appraisal of a school of history chosen for its relevance to a research task such as a research essay or thesis.
Contact Hours Self Directed Learning: for 2 hour(s) per Week for Full Term
Timetables 2013 Course Timetables for HIST6001