Keele Badge

HIS-20123 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Business, Law, Humanities & Social Sciences

For academic year: 2026/27 Last Updated: 17 March 2026

HIS-20123 - History in the Headlines
Coordinator: Alannah Tomkins Room: CBB1.055 Tel: +44 1782 7 33465
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 5
Credits: 30
Study Hours: 300
School Office: 01782 733147

Programme/Approved Electives for 2026/27

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2026/27

This second-year module explores the reporting of history in the news across the twenty-first century world. Each week will take a different theme and examine it in a practical workshop: headlines reporting sales or repatriation of national treasures might be examined alongside published criteria for exporting historical artefacts and reports of thefts from the British Museum, for example. Building on your first year, you will further develop skills in evaluating the presentation of history in print, broadcast, and social-media news.

Aims
This module will explore the reporting of History in the news across the twenty-first century world. Each week will take a different theme and examine it in a practical workshop. Headlines reporting sales or repatriation of national treasures might be examined alongside published criteria for exporting historical artefacts, or reports of thefts from the British Museum, for example. Additional themes may include the representation of archaeological finds, reporting on the treatment of statues, heritage tourism in the news, or when history is implicated in traumatic news. Building on level four, students will develop further skills in evaluating the presentation of History in print, broadcast, and social media news.

Intended Learning Outcomes

recognise and explain the processes involved in the translation of academic historical research into newsworthy copy: 1,2,3
analyse the the typical features of news reporting which involves reference to historical events, processes, or precedents: 1,2,3
mimic the non-fiction creative prose required to publish news that contains reference to historical elements: 2
communicate in evaluative prose the tensions that may arise when academic historical information or research is deployed for the purposes of mass-media news: 3

Study hours

24 hours in lectures + workshops
24 hours in seminars
48 hours seminar preparation
48 hours resourcing and writing a piece of creative non-fiction
156 hours resourcing and writing review
[the in-seminar quiz will take place exclusively within set seminar hours]

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Exercise weighted 20%
In-class quiz
In-class quiz of two questions in each of ten substantive seminars, with a total word count of up to 1000 words. Individual student performance in this assessment will be judged on their five best performances. Simple completion of the quiz (in up to five out of ten weeks) will secure ten percent of this assessment per quiz. Correct or appropriate responses to the quiz questions (in the five best-performing weeks) will secure an additional ten percent per quiz. This will ensure that two attendances plus satisfactory quiz performances will secure a pass mark for this assessment, but diligent students who attend and do well in at least five classes will secure 100% on this assessment.

2: Creative Brief weighted 20%
Creative non-fiction prose: a news article
A news article for a specified outlet written on one of an approved set of topics, of c. 1000 words.

3: Exercise weighted 60%
Critical edition of news reporting about one historical story
Students will gather, annotate, compare and evaluate a selection of news items from different sources about the same story, to create a 'critical edition' of news items informed by scholarly research. Students should select 3 news items from a list of options which might include (for example) i. a broadsheet press article; ii. a YouTube story; iii. a Private Eye article; iv. a BBC News Website article. All students will have completed a critical edition assessment at L4, and they will be given further guidance to help them to complete this task successfully, such as assessment support workshops in seminars. c. 3000 words (not including any edited content of the pieces themselves).

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. Details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 17 March 2026