Assessment

Assessment for this module is as follows:

• Seminar Contribution (20%)
• EITHER a 3000-Word Essay OR a 3000-Word Primary Source Review (80%)

Seminar Contribution

• This will be assessed across all seminars according to the seminar contribution guidelines.
• There will be a summative end of module self-evaluation which will be adjusted by your tutor if necessary. This is an opportunity for you to reflect on your seminar contribution across the whole module.
  • NB This will represent the assessed mark for the module. It will be based on the 20 point marking scale.Link opens in a new window
  • NB You must submit the summative self-evaluation formLink opens in a new window via Tabula according to the deadline on Tabula.
  • NB You should provide detailed comments with examples of your contributions to large and small group discussions. Referring to the seminar contribution guidelines Link opens in a new windowwill help you with this. Comments which lack detail and examples will reduce the mark.
  • NB Please submit the form as a Word document so that feedback can be added to it.

Essay

• Your essay should focus on the history of Venice or the rest of the Veneto between 1797 and the present. It should be based on primary and secondary sources.
• You may use one of the seminar questions as the question for your essay. If you would prefer another question, please speak with your module tutor and we can work out one together. A non-standard questions must be approved by your module tutor. In either case, your tutor is happy to advise you about primary and secondary sources for your essay.

Primary Source Review

The aim of the Primary Source Review is to focus your attention on primary sources and allow you to seriously engage with them. There is a wide range of sources for you to choose from, including texts, images, and films. NB Suggested primary sources are listed hereLink opens in a new window.

The key question you are trying to answer with the review is: How can we use this source/these sources to illuminate the history of Venice or the Veneto between 1797 and the present? NB Sources need to have been produced in the period between 1797 and the present. NB As such you should choose a source, not a topic, and that source should drive the content of the review. (In this sense, this is different from what you are asked to do in a normal research essay)

Choose a sizeable source or sources eg. a book or a film or a comparable quantity of visual sources (five paintings or photographs) NB Suggested primary sources are listed hereLink opens in a new window. NB Please choose your source(s) in consultation with the module tutor. By the Friday of Week 5 at the latest you should let your tutor know which source(s) you have chosen.

Having chosen the source/s, study it/them carefully, BEFORE you do too much secondary reading. Go back and study it/them again after you have read more about its/their context.

The Review should include discussion of:

• what kind of source is it? Its form, author, purpose, language, audience, context.
• what can the source tell us about the history of Venice or the Veneto?
• what are the advantages and disadvantages of the source for an understanding of the history of Venice or the Veneto?

Above all, your Review should engage closely with your source(s) and there should be frequent quotation from it/them. Secondary sources are to be used for context but they should not be the focus of your argument.

NB If you are comparing more than one source, the structure of your argument should be thematic with the sources compared within each theme.