Assessment

For assessment deadlines, see the Undergraduate Handbook.

Seminar contribution (10%)
1500 word blog post (40%)
3000 word essay (50%)

NB Each assessed element will be marked according to the standard assessment criteria. Students should ensure that they follow the MHRA style guide carefully, especially for the presentation of the footnotes and the bibliography.

Seminar contribution

Seminar participation and engagement is assessed by submission of a short (c. 500 words) reflective piece. You can reflect on the whole module or just a part of it. The assignment should address your input into the module and what you achieved and contributed to it. It is not a quantitative assessment about how much you talked or read or the number of questions answered and it does not just cover ‘oral’ contributions but contributions to the asynchronous activities and participation more broadly. The marking criteria for how seminar participation/engagement is assessed in the student handbook.

1500 word blog post

All students are required to submit a blog post of a maximum of 1500 words (excluding footnotes).

Content

The blog post should assess the contribution of ONE woman active during the struggle for Italian Unification. Ideally the focus should be on a British woman but you can draw on a the wider international community if you prefer. For a list of potential women you can write on see here.

Try and avoid writing a biography. Consider your chosen individual's contribution in the wider context of the international community's perspective on unification (as participants, observers, tourists, journalists etc). Ensure you include links or references to historical analysis and scholarship where appropriate.

Style

Blog posts are informal, sometimes conversational pieces rather than academic essays. They should still use full sentences and correct grammar, but are written for a public audience. Therefore keep your language simple and avoid historical jargon.

You should also keep your paragraphs short and include images (or video) to break up the text.

You should still reference your sources, but you can embed relevant links in the text itself if you are using websites (use full footnotes for other sources). Give a list of the sources you have used at the end of your post.

Examples
Elizabeth Crawford, a historical researcher, writer and book dealer has an extensive blog (Women and her Sphere) covering her wide-ranging interests. One of these is Women and Italy. In this post she writes of what 'sweet freedom' might have meant for British women residing in nineteenth-century Italy: https://womanandhersphere.com/la-bella-liberta-british-women-writers-and-italy/

The Centre for Travel Writing Studies at Nottingham Trent hosts its own blog. Rebecca Butler wrote a post based on her recent PhD looking at the connections between women travel writers and their political identity: https://centrefortravelwritingstudies.weebly.com/ctws-blog/freedom-by-degrees-british-women-travel-writers-the-risorgimento-1815-1861

Interestingly both posts focus on the idea of freedom which you may wish to think about.

Submission
You should submit your blog post via Tabula.

Guidance and Support

There will be a 'Writing for Public Audiences' activity as preparation for the second seminar designed to support you with writing your blog posts. You can also discuss with Sarah in office hours or via email.

Marking Criteria

Detailed marking criteria for the blog posts is available here.

3000 word essay

The essay may be on any topic you choose connected with the module. For more information on writing the essay including the marking criteria, see here.

Feedback on assessment

written feedback
student/tutor dialogues in one-to-one tutorials
written feedback and reports on presentations
informal interim feedback on progress in seminars