Postgraduate Course: MSc Dissertation - American History (PGHC11193)

Course Outline
School	School of History, Classics and Archaeology	College	College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
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 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.
Course description	Students should be thinking of a dissertation topic throughout their period of study, and should feel free to contact a potential supervisor informally at any time, but there is an administrative process during semester 2 to formalise dissertation topics and supervision allocation in advance of the proposal submission deadline.

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

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: 0
Course Start	Full Year
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 600 ( Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 12, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 588 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	One research proposal (Pass/Fail) One written dissertation (100%) Completion of a 2,000 word dissertation proposal, which will be assessed on a pass-fail basis, plus a 15,000 word dissertation which will count for 100% of the mark.
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: 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 and 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, to complete it within a strict time limit and to write clear, accurate, precise and concise prose.