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HIS-40028 - Module Specification
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

For academic year: 2025/26 Last Updated: 15 December 2025

HIS-40028 - Dissertation - History
Coordinator: Shalini Sharma Room: CBB1.060 Tel: +44 1782 7 33206
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 7
Credits: 60
Study Hours: 600
School Office:

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2025/26

Through your Master's research project you will showcase the advanced historical skills that you have developed, and consolidate the type of Historian that you have become. You will work closely with a member of the Keele History team to produce either a 15,000-word History Master's dissertation, a digital, public-facing project, or a critical edition of an original text, allowing you to pursue a project to which your own skills and interests are best suited. All routes require you to use advanced skills in historical research, scholarly debate, and primary source analysis.

Aims
To undertake a piece of advanced, independent historical research supervised and supported by a member of staff with expertise in the area.

Intended Learning Outcomes

read critically and assess primary materials and to judge their historical significance in a highly reflective manner, demonstrating a deep understanding of the historical and intellectual context: 1
formulate a question or series of questions to answer an historical problem: 1
reflect critically on the place of a specific research topic within wider debates in the discipline: 1
plan and construct a substantial independent research project in History and present this tailored to their appropriate audience.: 1
critically evaluate the themes of and historiographical background of a detailed theme or focused period of History in a highly reflective manner, demonstrating organizational, intellectual, and reflective skills: 1

Study hours

Individual supervision 10 hours (this augments/extends the considerable contact hours for planning the dissertation embedded in other modules such as Research Skills in the Humanities).
Research 360 hours
Writing plan 60 hours
Researching and writing dissertation or researching and producing website and report 140 hours
Revision of drafts and proof reading 30 hours

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Assignment weighted 100%
Dissertation Public History website and Report, or Critical Edition
Students will select one of the following options. (1) Dissertation: Students will produce a substantial piece of historical research on a topic chosen by the student in consultation with their supervisor, and present this as a dissertation (limit 15,000 words) observing the academic conventions of the discipline. (2) Public History Website and Report: Students will choose a research topic in consultation with their supervisor. Students will then create a public-facing website (such as populating a Wordpress website template) in a way that speaks to a wider public audience using text supplemented by a mixture of images, graphs, podcasts, videos or other media. They will also write a Research Report that explains a. their research topic, b. research methodology, c. how they have geared their research to engage a wider public audience with their findings using a website. The website should be concise and accessible to a general readership, therefore the relative sizes of these two sections should be agreed with the supervisor in advance to produce a total of c.15,000 words. (3) Critical Edition Students will produce a modern edition of an original source or collection of sources (e.g. a pamphlet, an extract from a contemporary text, a collection of sonnets, Acts of Parliament) with direction from a supervisor. The original source(s) will be c.5000-10,000 words in length. The edition will comprise a transcription of the source(s) with modernised spelling and punctuation, submitted along with an introduction, glosses, notes, and a reflective commentary on the process of producing the edition. The introduction, glosses, notes and reflection should comprise c.10,000-12,000 words

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: 15 December 2025