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Department of History

MPhil/PhD Course Details

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There are a number of requirements to fulfil in a programme of study for an MPhil/PhD.

MPhil/PhD Course Details

The breadth of expertise and experience in the History Department (currently forty or so full-time members of staff), along with a thriving culture of research, seminars and conferences, make Warwick one of the very best universities in the UK to undertake research in history. PhD students normally complete their degrees within three to four years of full-time study, or five to six years part-time. As a research student, your closest contact will be with your supervisor, or supervisors, who will meet with you regularly to discuss your work, and agree on a programme of reading, research and writing with you.

Additional support and training are provided by the Department, Arts Faculty and the Graduate School, as well as by History’s many reading groups, seminars, workshops and conferences. History researchers will benefit from the University Library’s Research Exchange, a dedicated postgraduate conference and study area, with state-of-the-art facilities.

The Course

Successful applicants are admitted in the first instance to the MPhil degree and are expected to pass through an Upgrade procedure from MPhil to full PhD status. The culmination of the PhD programme is the submission of a dissertation (maximum length 80,000 words). The dissertation is assessed by internal and external subject specialists in a Viva Voce (oral) examination.

 

MA by Research Course Details

The breadth of expertise and experience in the History Department (forty or so full-time members of staff), along with a thriving culture of research, seminars and conferences, make Warwick one of the very best universities in the UK to undertake research in history.

As a research student, your closest contact will be with your supervisor, or supervisors, who will meet with you regularly to discuss your work, and agree on a programme of reading, research and writing with you.

You will be given advice about crafting independent research topics and historical skills and approaches but we normally recommend that students take the more standard MA routes, since the taught elements of these are usually the best way of framing a project and preparing you for in-depth research. The MA by Research is thus a specialist option that will only be suitable for some people and projects, and if you are contemplating an MA by Research do contact us to talk through the advantages and disadvantages.

The Course

At the core of this programme lies the design, research and composition of a dissertation (maximum length 40,000 words). Students meet regularly with their supervisor/s and other members of the department to review their progress. Alongside their research project, students are expected to follow the Warwick HI989 Historical Research Core module, Theory, Skill and Method. The dissertation is assessed by internal and external subject specialists, who have the option of requiring the candidate to attend a Viva Voce (oral) examination.

Support

Additional support and training are provided by the Department, Arts Faculty and the Graduate School, as well as by History’s many reading groups, seminars, workshops and conferences. History researchers will benefit from the University Library’s Research Exchange, a dedicated postgraduate conference and study area, with state-of-the-art facilities.

FAQs

You can find here a list of the FAQs for the Research degrees

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/prospective/postgraduate/research/research-faqs/.

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