History

Overview

• The opportunity to study a broad range of themes – political, social and cultural – from around 400AD to the present day
• Teaching by eminent and accessible scholars with wide-ranging and internationally recognised expertise
• An exciting and challenging programme offering a balance between deepening historical knowledge and developing transferable skills and groupwork
• An opportunity to study abroad in the second year and carry out work- or school-based research placements
• Assessment not just by traditional exams and coursework essays but also a personal project in the second year and the opportunity to undertake an independently researched final-year dissertation
• The opportunity to develop intellectual skills, such as effective reading, note taking and the interpretation and comparison of information from a broad range of sources and the ability to construct an historical argument and to present this coherently and elegantly with the appropriate supporting evidence

There is nothing dead about history. It is not just about understanding the past, but about looking beneath the surface of our world and coming to understand the forces which shape it, from economic and social evolution to the interaction of individuals and cultures. Keele’s historians have a world-class expertise in a wide range of fields, from Anglo-Saxon Britain to 20th-Century Africa, from religion to women's politics. They share a genuine passion for their subject and the continual mission of exploration and explanation it involves.

Course Content

First year

The narrow specialisms of A-level are challenged in a course which covers Europe and the wider world from 400AD to the present day, and which explores how past processes shape the present. In the Autumn Semester you will take Historical Research and Writing, a ground-breaking module that provides integrated training in the historical skills needed for the second and third years of study. You can also choose to study Princes and Peoples: Early Modern Europe and/or Anglo-Saxon England. In the Spring Semester you will take either or both Medieval Europe or Modern History, providing a comprehensive foundation to the key events and debates of European and global history from the 11th century. You will also have the chance to take a wide range of optional modules, such as History, Media, Memory: the Presentation of the Past in Contemporary Culture, various local history modules and the American Past: Explorations in US History.  For those taking Single Honours History and Majoring in History there is an additional core module, Histories of the Extraordinary and the Everyday. These modules typically involve 10 lectures, 10 small-group seminars and one-to-one feedback meetings.

We also encourage you to look at relevant options offered by companion programmes, such as International Relations or American Studies.

Second year

Second year courses provide a more detailed understanding of specific periods or particular themes, while developing both the critical and the practical skills that historians need for research. You will take at least two modules, one of which – Sources and Debates – involves writing an extended essay on a key problem or controversy in historical studies which you will have chosen from a wide range of topics such as early modern witchcraft, the Rwandan genocide or everyday life in Britain (1850-1950).

Other modules are chosen from a range of options; each consists of a series of 10 lectures, 7 seminars and a one-to-one essay feedback meeting.

Typical pre-1750 modules may include:

The Normans in Europe
Saints and Society in Medieval Europe
Castle and Cloister in Medieval Europe c.900 - 1250
English Radicals and Writers
Discovering America: from Empires to Revolutions
State and Empire in Britain c.1530-c.1720

Typical post-1750 modules may include:

Power and the Modern World
Issues in Women’s History
Imperialism
Victorian Society
Race and the Body in Colonial Africa
The Holocaust
Nature, Society and the Past
Right-wing Movements in Inter-War Europe
History of the United States in the Twentieth Century

You will also have an opportunity to choose a limited number of approved modules offered by other subject areas, such as Criminology, Politics and American Studies.

Third year

You sharpen your focus and deepen your knowledge as you apply the skills developed in the past two years in original historical research. While you can choose just how in-depth you want to make your commitment to History, you will take at least two modules.  Most History teaching in Level 3 is organised in special subjects -  a detailed study, based on original sources, of a sharply defined period or topic. A typical range of special subjects may include:

The Making of Contemporary Africa
Suffrage Stories: life stories and representations
The English Civil Wars
Spirituality and Social chanage in the Eleventh Century
Encountering the Other: Genocide, Tolerance and the European Perspective
The Kingship of Edward II
Revolution, War and Terror in France, 1789-1804
Health, Illness and Medicine in England, 1628-1858
German Occupation Policy 1938-1945
The Partition of India
A Cultural History of Water

In addition you can choose individual semester-long modules such as:

The Art of Dying in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
'Eyes on the Prize' the Struggle for Civil Rights in America

Linked to this is an optional extended piece of original historical research undertaken with your tutor’s supervision, whether an extended essay or a more substantial dissertation. We strongly encourage our students to undertake a dissertation. For many students the dissertation is the highlight of the degree course, and several are inspired to carry on to postgraduate research. Some dissertations have been so good that they have later been published.

Study Abroad

Many historians choose to spend one semester of their second year studying at one of our partner universities in the USA, Canada, South Africa, Asia, Europe or Australia.

Codes and Combinations

Students are candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) (BA Hons) if their two Principal courses are in humanities and/or social science subjects.

All students who study a science subject are candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science (with Honours) (BSc Hons).

Dual Honours Course can be combined with:

* subject to approval

Single Honours, Major and Foundation course available:

Teaching and Assessment

First and second year teaching is based on a mixture of lectures designed to introduce students to the broad themes of a module and group teaching in seminars of about 15 students in which students will deepen their knowledge and understanding through discussions led by a staff tutor. One-to-one consultations and feedback sessions are also part of the programme to help students develop coursework skills. Third year teaching consists almost exclusively of seminars, as well as individual supervision for dissertations. Assessment is by a combination of written examinations and continuous assessment, including coursework essays, portfolios of shorter assignments, class participation and the dissertation. We also make extensive use of web-based tools to support personal learning.  

Programme specifications (new window)

Skills and Careers

Most historians do not use their historical knowledge directly in their future careers, but are often surprised by just how well trained and employable they have become. Our graduates have a very good employment rate precisely because, in addition to the deeper understanding of the past and present they have gained, the skills of a good historian are applicable in a very wide range of future careers. Students will have spent three years analysing complex situations, evaluating evidence that is often biased or partial, and constructing, presenting and defending their own arguments both orally and in writing, individually and as part of a team. Many employers recognise the value of these transferable skills. Within six months of leaving, 96% of Keele University History graduates are in full time employment or further study - well above the national average. They may have begun Master’s or teaching courses, embarked on careers in local and central government, industry, graduate-level management positions or the service sector. Others, of course, stayed with the subject, becoming teachers, going into postgraduate research (some of our staff originally studied here) or otherwise becoming professional historians.

Viewed over the longer term, the evidence shows that studying history opens a surprising number of doors. Amongst our History alumni we have the founder of Eye Independent Films, chairman of the Association of Preservation Trusts, an Assistant Director of the British Council, a Permanent Secretary in the Civil Service, Chairman of a brewery, many barristers, Secretary General of a Trade Union, a Director of Education, Head of the Press Office at ITN, merchant bankers, a Prison Governor, accountants, publishers, journalists, industrialists, playwrights, a minister in the government of Gibraltar, head of a Cambridge College and the first Scottish female Vice-Chancellor.

The evidence is that Keele historians are well adapted to meet the changing challenges of the employment market and this almost certainly reflects the advantages of having read dual honours at a well-reputed institution of higher education.

Visit our Careers pages (new window)

History and English
It is possible to construct a programme of closely related modules in these two subjects, studying Byron and Dickens in English alongside history courses on Victorian Britain, or combining study of Milton and Bunyan with the Reformation or the English Civil War. Knowledge of the historical context enriches your understanding of literature while a critical appreciation of the literature or film of a period adds another dimension to historical analysis. You could take courses dealing with similar themes – revolution, religion, the experience of women – and explore the contrasting approaches of literary scholars and historians. Members of staff in English and History co-operate in a graduate programme in Victorian Studies, and in seminars and research projects in early modern English History. English and History is a very useful pairing for intending teachers. The critical and analytical skills, breadth of knowledge, and the insights into a variety of human experience fostered in both disciplines fit students for a variety of careers in the expanding cultural and heritage sectors.

Keele History is small enough for you to know all the teaching staff and big enough to focus on an extensive range of times, places and approaches in its History teaching.