structure
In this section
Course Structure
Module Registration
Timetables
Part-time Study
Ethics in Research
Research Seminar Attendance
Postgraduate Conference
Course Structure
All MA students follow the ‘Historical Research: Theory, Skill & Method’ (TSM) course. Students following the MAs in Modern, Global and Comparative, and Early Modern History follow one course-specific core module and two optional modules, selected from an available list. Students on the MA in the History of Medicine are required to take two course-specific core modules and one optional module from the same list. All modules are delivered via nine two-hour seminars over one term.
Module Registration
MA optional modules run in the Spring term and must be formally chosen and registered for.
Your choices for the MA optional modules must be submitted by the online form below:
This form must be submitted by the end of week 2 of the Autumn term and the results of the module allocation will be circulated to students by the end of week 4 of the Autumn term. Places are not allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, but instead, all students who submit their module nomination form by the relevant deadline are given due consideration. Students may resubmit the form with different nominations as often as they wish before the submission deadline; the last form submitted by each student will be used in the module allocation process. Those students who fail to submit a form by the deadline are required to wait until the module allocation process has been completed for those students who submit by the deadline, and then to make their choices from the reduced number of module places that still remain available.
Timetables
You will be able to access your timetable through your Tabula profile. You will be able to see the day, time and location of your lectures and classes that you are required to attend.
Please note some of your classes (e.g. some seminars, tutorials and lab classes) may not be arranged through the University’s Central Timetabling Office. They are organised locally by the department concerned. This means that they will not appear in your personalised timetable. You will need to contact the department that is running the module in order to find out when these sessions are running or to sign up for a seminar group.
If you have any issues with your timetable, for example, if you think there is something missing or you have a clash, please contact PGHistoryOffice@warwick.ac.uk
Part-time Study
We generally recommend that part-time students follow the mandatory Theory, Skill, Method (TSM) module in the autumn term and one optional module in the spring term during their first year, to spread the workload as evenly as possible. This will mean that the course-specific core module and the second optional module are followed in the second year. (If students have external commitments which mean that a different structure is more appropriate, this can normally be accommodated.)
Work on part-time students’ dissertations will be ongoing from the point at which they are assigned a supervisor but will be concentrated during the summer terms and vacations, and they will be required to submit this in the September of their second year. Please see the Dissertation Timeline for further details
Dissertation
All taught MA students apart from those following the MA in History of Medicine write a dissertation of 15,000 words. History of Medicine students submits a dissertation of 20,000 words. (This word count does not include the main title page, footnotes, appendices (including acknowledgements) and bibliography). Contents pages are not compulsory and if included will be counted towards the word count
The dissertation is the most important piece of work you will produce in the course. You should begin the course with a clear, if general, idea of your dissertation topic. You will request and be assigned a dissertation supervisor by the end of week 4 term 1. You are expected to meet with your supervisors during week 5, term 1. This is no different for part-time students.
Ethics in Research
The University requires departments to consider the ethical implications of the students’ research. We will ask you to fill in a form and submit it together with your dissertation proposal. It is not acceptable to submit a blank form. If any ethical issues are identified, you will need to supply the PGT Director with an appropriate written description of the scope of the project, and a formal record of the decision to grant ethical approval will be kept in the departmental office.
Research Seminar Attendance
The Department hosts a lively research culture. Departmental seminars are ongoing and you will get the most out of your degree course if you attend them regularly. It is also a great way to interact informally with staff and students across the Department.
You are required to attend certain research seminars according to your course, as per this handbook's guidance on attendance.
Postgraduate Conference
This is a two-day conference at which Warwick History postgraduate students make presentations of their own research during late May/early June. Both PGT + PGR students may present papers at the conference. Panels are organised to reflect the stage of research that the presenter has reached: some panels will deal with research outlines at a preliminary stage of development, whilst others will present research at a more advanced stage, perhaps by those nearing completion of their thesis.
The audience for the Conference is made up of fellow graduate students, staff in the Department and other academics and Warwick students who may be interested. The Conference has a dual purpose: to provide you with an opportunity to develop your presentational skills in a professional environment, and to enable you to receive informed feedback on your work from other historians.
The Conference will be organised by a small panel of 2 or 3 research students (normally drawn from Years 2 and 3). All research students are expected to present their work to at least one Conference during their time at Warwick, and many students will do so more frequently. All research and taught MA are expected to attend the conference.
MA Conference
In the event MA students are willing to form an organising committee early in Term 1, the department will support an MA conference (normally in week 6 of term 2). Please feel free to approach the PGT Director with any ideas or themes for this year’s conference. The PG Coordinator will be available to provide any administrative support required. This will be organised independently by the MA students.