Postgraduate Course: MSc Dissertation - American History (PGHC11193)

Course Outline
School	School of History, Classics and Archaeology	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)
Course type	Dissertation	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	60	ECTS Credits	30
Summary	The final stage of the programme, this Dissertation of 15,000 words serves as a forum for the candidate to demonstrate their progress in American History. All students will complete a dissertation proposal which will contribute 10% to the final mark for the dissertation. They will then undertake a 15,000 words dissertation on a topic agreed with the supervisor/s, to be submitted by a date specified in the University Regulations. The dissertation is an extended piece of scholarship in which a student is expected to formulate and sustain a substantive piece of research within the field of American History. The dissertation is expected to engage critically and analytically with the literature in the field, building upon relevant concepts and theory covered in the taught element of the degree and deploying a range of primary and secondary sources as well as appropriate data-analytic and bibliographic skills. Each student will be allocated two research supervisors from the start of the academic year.
Course description	Not entered

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Block 5 (sem 2)
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 600 ( Dissertation/Project Supervision Hours 9, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 12, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 579 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Completion of a dissertation proposal, which will contribute 10% to the final mark for the dissertation, plus a 15,000 word dissertation.
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
The Dissertation exercise binds the different elements of the programme together while exploring candidates' abilities to undertake original research, and to make a sustained argument, in their chosen field of study. The dissertation provides students with the ability: - To formulate and implement a plan of research. - To formulate hypotheses relating to the student's research subject and to test them by marshalling a range of primary and secondary evidence. - To locate a specific thesis within its broader historiography. - To reflect critically on the processes and methods involved in research and writing. - To construct and pursue a coherent historical argument based on the hypotheses which have been formulated and tested by reference to primary and secondary source material. - To locate an argument - whether verbal or written - within a broader intellectual context and to evaluate its implications from that more general perspective. - To conceive and pursue to its conclusion a coherent argument founded on evidence provided by the sources at the student's disposal. - To undertake a sustained independent research project, and to complete it within a strict time limit. - To write clear, accurate, precise and concise prose.