HI7018 - Individually Negotiated Topic

You will learn through fortnightly hour-long meetings with a designated member of staff supervising the project. Meetings can take place on campus or via Teams, to be agreed between students and tutors. The first meetings will concentrate on the co-design of a plan of seminars for the rest of the semester, for example, by assigning a reading to each session. Each meeting will also focus on putting together a bibliography, refining a set of research questions, as well as finding and analysing primary sources (if used). The co-designed plan of seminars will structure the content of subsequent taught meetings between you and your tutor. Each meeting will be devoted to specific readings, whether of secondary or primary sources. You will learn through completing a formative assessment, an essay plan in week 6 of the module as well as by completing the summative assessments, including an annotated bibliography of 2,000 words in week 8 before submitting the final 4,000-word piece of work in the May assessment period. You will be able to discuss academic writing and any issues you encounter during the process of research, analysis and writing with the supervising staff members.

The process will begin with conversations between students and their potential tutors in semester 1, with the students submitting a short proposal outlining their topic by the end of November. The staff member and programme leader will scrutinise the form and will have to approve the topic before students can join the module in semester 2. Your academic development will be supported through engagement with your academic tutors, and the programme leader. Fortnightly, hour-long meetings with tutors are the core of the support on this module. The module tutor will be accessible within publicised office hours and via email. You will also be supported through individual engagement with the academic literature and resources available on the eLearning Portal. Formative feedback will be on-going throughout meetings with tutors and through assessment tasks.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Have an understanding of the concepts and theories that have guided the field of the chosen area of study.

2. Demonstrate knowledge of the key themes in the chosen area of study.

3. To have an understanding of the key texts which have shaped our understanding of the chosen area of study.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
4. Ability to read and analyse primary and/or secondary sources and to place them within their wider historical and historiographical context.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
5. Demonstrate a curiosity about the nature of evidence that has guided our understanding of the chosen topic of study.

The assessment strategy for the module corresponds with the learning outcomes and learning and teaching strategy. The module has two summative assessments:

1. Annotated bibliography (35% of the mark, 2,000 words)

This will be an annotated bibliography of c. 15-20 items related to the chosen topic of study. [MLOs 1-4]

2. Extended Essay (65%, 4,000 words)

Students will be asked to complete one essay which discusses their chosen topic of study. The essay is designed to assess the student’s written communications skills and their ability to incorporate historiographical and theoretical concepts into their writing. [MLOs 1-5]

b. Formative assessment

1. Essay Plan (Up to 1,000 words)

Students will be encouraged to produce an essay plan in week 6 that will demonstrate their reading and the lines along which they intend to approach the chosen question. This is a formative piece of work that will feed into the assessed summative 4,000 word essay. The plan should include the essay’s argument, scope, and content along with key secondary works and the likely primary documents addressed within the essay.

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The module opens the opportunity for you to work with a designated member of staff to develop a small research project in the second semester of your MA degree. The topic will be individually negotiated between you and the member of staff and can include both primary source-based topics, historiographical explorations, or interventions into a controversial topic. The module is designed to support research-rich learning and allow you to pursue your own research interests. You will gain research skills of developing, structuring, and carrying out your research projects independently supported by a member of staff whose research aligns to the project. You will also co-design their seminar programme of readings to be discussed with the staff member across the semester, a particularly valuable experience for those students who are thinking about careers in teaching.