Aims, Assessment & Seminar Instructions

Aims

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key themes within African history and its historiography for the period since 1800
Demonstrate an understanding of Africa’s position within global historical trends
Develop understanding of different interdisciplinary approaches to the study of African history, including anthropology and political science
Critically assess the worth of primary source material and different types of sources, including government documents, speeches, oral history, ethnography and visual sources
Discuss critically and demonstrate ability to construct persuasive oral and written arguments in relation to the history and politics of modern Africa

Assessment

Seminar participation/engagement (10%)
1000-word piece of introductory writing (10%)
2,000-word essay (30%)
3,000-word essay (50%)

Seminar participation/contribution; Classroom discussion and online Forum: 10%

Your seminar contribution takes the form of weekly participation in seminar discussions.

You must carefully read the assigned texts each week and come to class prepared to answer or pose questions. While we do provide questions before hand to aid your reading, you must come prepared to answer any questions posed by the seminar tutor or your peers during the seminar. Your active and informed participation is crucial to the success of the class.

What is being assessed in seminar contribution? For more details see: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/undergraduate/assessments-marking/#seminar-contribution

Oral Communication: clarity of expression; persuasiveness; respectfulness and inclusivity; asking useful/probing questions; contributions that extend the discussion.
Knowledge and Understanding: evidence of preparation of core and/or wider reading; demonstrates comprehension of the readings and/or seminar questions.
Methodological Approaches: ability to discern, explain, or engage with historiographical or methodological issues raised by the readings and/or seminar questions.
Analysis: engagement with and evaluation of readings; focus on meaning rather than description; evidence and argument-driven responses to seminar questions.

Essays

You will be required to write a total of 3 essays with varying word length as shown above. Use the Essay Writing ChecklistLink opens in a new window in the History Department Student HandbookLink opens in a new window to help you to plan and prepare your assessments. The Handbook also has information on presentation and referencingLink opens in a new window and how to avoid plagiarism, Link opens in a new windowdeadlines, penalties for late submission, word count, essay writing, file naming etc. For more information see: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/undergraduate/assess-coursework

It is your responsibility to make your work accessible and readable. So, you must not only think about how you are formulating your argument and presenting evidence (more instructions on this can be found on the Undergraduate handbook) but also styling issues. You will be penalised for not following the rules which you can find here:https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/undergraduate/essaywriting

All extension requests should be made via Tabula in advance of the published assessment deadline.

Feedback

You will receive feedback on your essays and assignments on Tabula. There are no set ways to succeed in university essay writing, but do read the mark schemeLink opens in a new window to understand the criteria that you will be marked against and therefore need to think carefully about when researching, planning and writing. The usual turn-around for assignments is 20 working days. Meetings to discuss feedback are optional, but you are strongly encouraged to take the opportunity to receive individual advice on how to strengthen your work.

You will also be asked to provide feedback on the module content and delivery at several points throughout the year so that we can address any problems and make any necessary adjustments to the syllabus and teaching practice. This feedback is anonymous.