BA History & Politics | Final Honour School (Second Year) - Course Handbook

This handbook applies to students starting the Final Honour School in History and Politics in Michaelmas Term 2024, for examination in Trinity term 2026.

Introduction

Welcome to the Final Honour School of History. You have probably completed Prelims in History and Politics, and therefore know your way around Oxford and the academic requirements of the History school. The next two years will enable you to use the skills acquired in the first year to study in much greater depth and breadth, both drilling down much more fully into societies and their surviving sources, and ranging more widely around the world to make bigger connections between the various parts of your accumulating knowledge.

You will become theoretically more sophisticated, and methodologically more competent, which will culminate in writing your own piece of research, and also enable many of you to take on further study in History or perhaps another academic discipline. You will also continue to develop the more general abilities and transferable skills which will equip you to tackle the very wide range of careers open to History graduates.

It is perhaps worth emphasizing here that the final year of the course is very intensive, with both the special subject to be tackled in all its detail, and a thesis to be written, before revision and the final exams. It is therefore important not only to make some time for academic work in the long vacation between the second and third years, but also to ensure that your second-year work is in a good state before the final year, since there will be no time for it in the first two terms of that year.

What follows is the Faculty’s formal Handbook to guide you through the Final Honour School: as well as basic information about facilities and resources and official regulations about courses and examinations, it includes fuller guidance to help you choose amongst the various options, and advice on a range of matters which are new to the course at this stage, such as designing and writing a thesis, professional referencing, and tackling special-subject sources through the specialized practice of writing ‘gobbets’. You will of course also receive plenty of information and guidance from your colleges too, and ideally Faculty and colleges will complement each other.

You probably won’t want to read the Handbook all at once, but do consider its contents so that you know what is available for reference in the course of the next two years; and there may be sections which catch your eye now as of particular interest or relevance to you. We hope that you will continue to make the most of the opportunity of reading History at Oxford, and to enjoy doing so.

Dr Ian Archer and Prof Lucy Wooding
(Directors of Undergraduate Studies, History)

Dr Paul Martin
(Director of Undergraduate Studies in Politics, DPIR)

Disclaimer

The information in this handbook may be different for students starting in other years. This is version 1.0 of the Final Honour School in History and Politics Handbook, published online in October 2024.

If there is a conflict between information in this handbook and the Examination Regulations then you should follow the Examination Regulations.

If you have any concerns please contact the History Faculty Undergraduate Office: undergraduate.office@history.ox.ac.uk.

The information in this handbook is accurate as at date of publication; however it may be necessary for changes to be made in certain circumstances, as explained at http://www.ox.ac.uk/coursechanges and http://www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/coursechanges.

If such changes are made the department will publish a new version of this handbook together with a list of the changes and students will be informed.

The Final Honour School of History and Politics is a two-year course run by the Faculty of History and the Department of Politics and International Relations.

The course consists of seven papers. The formal Examination Regulations may be found at Appendix 1. The next sections briefly describe the seven units, and full descriptions of each paper are available on Canvas at the links below.

The knowledge and skills you will acquire over the whole course are outlined in Section 2 | Teaching and Learning, which build upon the basic skills you will have developed in the first year.

1.1 | Overview

The second and third years of studying History and Politics will present you with challenges different from those of the first year, and should be still more demanding and absorbing. You will continue to study broad papers in both Politics and History – Core or Outline/Theme papers – taught through lectures and regular tutorials which require you to read both widely and deeply, to write essays that answer the question set, and to engage actively in discussion. But both the nature and the teaching of your courses will diversify. In Politics you will be able to develop your understanding of both political theory and of political institutions and processes in more specialist papers and perhaps a Politics Thesis or Dissertation. In History you will also take papers developing your work with primary sources, in the Further or Special Subject, and perhaps a History Thesis. In the specialist History subjects you will learn in Faculty classes to give formal class presentations and to play a constructive role in larger group discussion. In the second year you will also start to design your thesis-project, a piece of independent political or historical research of your own.

In the next two years you will therefore be expected to extend your range as a historian and political analyst, to enhance the subtlety of your thinking and to sharpen and polish your writing. In the second year, when the final examination may seem a deceptively distant prospect, you should be prepared to experiment intellectually, in your choice of papers and in the way that you approach different types of question. In the third year, with Finals imminent, you will find that the creative opportunities as well as the demands of the course are at their highest. Those who have made good and imaginative use of the second year will profit most from the opportunities of the third.

As in the first year, it is important to dedicate time in each vacation to consolidate the previous term’s work, in preparation for college collections, and also to begin work on your next paper. In the Long Vacation after the second year you will need both to do some of your thesis-research and, if you are taking one, read through the texts prescribed for your Special Subject.

Assessment also diversifies in History Finals, in that there are slightly different sorts of exams, and also more different types of assessment. Of the seven Finals papers, all those in Politics as well as History of the British Isles, European & World History and the History Further Subject adopt the standard format of three essays in three hours, in the latter case with the requirement to answer on both source-focused and more thematic questions. The first paper of the History Special Subject requires twelve commentaries on set-text passages (or ‘gobbets’) to be written in the exam. You may opt for between one and three pieces of submitted work, one of which must be a Thesis, on either side of the course. The History Special Subject is also assessed by an extended essay of no more than 6,000 words submitted by Friday of Week 0 in Hilary Term of the third year.

The basic elements of the syllabus are set out in the Examination Regulations. The current Regulations are in Appendix 1 of this handbook.

Candidates must offer seven papers from the following options:

1-2	EITHER Two Outline or Theme papers in European & World History OR one such paper in European & World History and one in British Isles History. If you write a History Thesis, it replaces one of these two papers.
3,4	Two of the five ‘Core subjects’ in Politics: PPE papers 201, 202, 203, 214, 220. A thesis in Politics may not be substituted for a Politics Core Subject.
5,6,7	One of the following combinations: (i) one Special Subject in History (examined in two papers) and one of subjects 201-228 in Politics which is not offered in papers 3 and 4 above; or (ii) one Further Subject in History and two of subjects 201-228 in Politics which are not offered in papers 3 and 4 above; or (iii) one Further Subject in History, one of subjects 201-228 in Politics which is not offered in papers 3 and 4 above, and one Special Subject in Politics;
8	A thesis, which must be offered in place of either paper 1 or 2, or of a Politics option in any of the combinations for papers 5, 6 and 7.

You will therefore be choosing either four History and three Politics papers, or three History and four Politics papers. One of these will be a thesis/supervised dissertation. These are the rules:

If it’s a History Thesis, it will substitute for a British Isles or European and World History paper (NOT a History Further or Special Subject).
If it’s a Politics Thesis/supervised dissertation, it will substitute for a Politics Optional paper (NOT a Politics Core paper).
So, if you’re doing a Politics thesis, you can take two History Outline papers, but if you’re doing a History thesis, you can only take one.
If you take the History Special Subject, which is examined in two papers, with one Politics option or thesis, your balance will be four History/three Politics; but if you take a History Further Subject, with two Politics options (one possibly a thesis), it will be four Politics. Where you place your thesis doesn’t affect the balance.
You can’t do both a Further and a Special Subject in History.

1.1.1 | Restrictions on your Choice of Papers

(i) Prelims Overlap: You may not take a History Outline paper which significantly overlaps with one you took at Prelims: here is a list of the illegal combinations.

British Isles

BIP1 The British Isles, 300-1100	with BIF1 The Early Medieval British Isles, 300-1100
BIP2 The British Isles, 1000-1330	with BIF2 The British Isles in the Central Middle Ages, 1000-1330
BIP3 The British Isles, 1330-1550	with BIF3 The Late Medieval British Isles, 1330-1550
BIP4 The British Isles, 1500-1700	with BIF4 Reformations and Revolutions, 1500-1700
BIP5 The British Isles, 1688-1848	with BIF5 Liberty, Commerce and Power, 1685-1830
BIP6 The British Isles, 1830-1951	with BIF6 Power, Politics and the People, 1815-1924

European and World

EWP1 The Transformation of the Ancient World, 370-900	with EWF1 The World of Late Antiquity, 250-650 or EWF2 The Early Medieval World, 600-1000
EWP2 Communities, Connections and Confrontations, 1000-1300	with EWF3 The Central Middle Ages, 900-1300
EWP3 Renaissance, Recovery, and Reform, 1400-1650	with EWF5 The Late Medieval World, 1300-1525 or EWF6 Early Modern Europe, 1500-1700
EWP4 Society, Nation, and Empire, 1815-1914	and EWF10 The European Century, 1820-1925

(ii) Breadth of Period : A candidate who has not offered a period of British or European/World History before the nineteenth century at Prelims is required to choose at least one such period in Finals. The papers defined as being pre-1800 are as follows:

Preliminary Examination:

History of the British Isles 1 (300-1100) to 5 (1688-1848)

European & World History 1 (370-900); 2 (1000-1300); and 3 (1400-1650)

Final Honour School:

History of the British Isles 1 (300-1100) to 5 (1685-1830) History of the British Isles, Themes a and b

European & World History 1 (285-476) to 8 (1680-1848)

European and World History, Themes a, b, c & d

(iii) Overlap between History and Politics papers: There are some combinations of papers that you’re not allowed to choose, because of overlap. These are:

Politics paper 202 (British Politics and Government since 1900) and British History 7 (Changing Identities, 1900-present)
Politics Subject 215 (Political Thought: Plato to Rousseau) and History Further Subjects Scholastic and Humanist Political Thought or The Science of Society 1650-1800
Politics Subject 216 (Political Thought: Bentham to Weber) and History Further Subject Political Theory and Social Science c.1780-1920.

You CAN choose to take either of these two pairs of papers: European and World History 13 (Europe Divided: 1914-1989) and Politics Paper 212 (International Relations in the era of the Two World Wars); or European and World History 14 (The Global Twentieth Century: 1930-2003) and Politics Paper 213 (International Relations in the era of the Cold War); BUT if you do so, you must not substantially duplicate material in the two papers.

(iv) Capping of certain Further Subjects and Special Subjects. In order to ensure that there is adequate teaching provision, certain popular Further and Special Subjects have to be ‘capped’ at a pre- determined number of takers for the year. The definitive lists of available Further and Special Subjects and their capacity will be sent to students before they make their choices; there is then a randomized ballot to determine the distribution of students in cases where applications exceed places. Further Subjects applications are currently processed at the beginning of the second year in Michaelmas Term (with the exception of some joint school students who may choose them in their final year). Special Subjects applications are currently processed at the start of Trinity Term of the final year (again the year may vary for some joint school students).

(v) Overlap rule: The choice of subject for your thesis may impose certain restrictions on the use you may make of material from it in answering questions in other papers. These are set out in Appendix 1:Examination Conventions below.

Please be aware of these limits on your choices from the outset. It is your responsibility, and not your tutors’, to ensure that your choices fall within the regulations.

In general, please remember that the arrangement of your teaching, and particularly of tutorials, is a complex business, over which tutors take a great deal of time and trouble.

When your tutor asks you to make a choice, do so promptly, and at all events by the date specified: otherwise it may not be possible to arrange teaching in the subject you want.

1.1.2 | Study Timetable

The following is a tabular form showing the four different ways of combining papers for the History and Politics Final Honour School, with a suggested teaching timetable:

HO = History Outline Paper (European and World History or British Isles History)
PC = Politics Core Paper (two from PPE papers 201, 202, 203, 214, 220)
HS = History Special Subject (1 and 2) HF = History Further Subject
PO = Politics Option (one or two of PPE papers 201-228, excluding those taken as core papers, and the Politics Special Subject paper)

These are the four possible combinations:

HO, PC, PC, HS1, HS2, PO, Thesis in History
HO, HO, PC, PC, HS1 HS2, Thesis or Supervised Dissertation in Politics
HO, HO, PC, PC, HF, PO, Thesis or Supervised Dissertation in Politics
HO, PC, PC, HF, PO, PO, Thesis in History

The constraints on timetabling are:

History Outline Papers need to be in MT or TT.
History Further Subjects need to be in HT.
History Special Subjects need to be in MT of the third year.
Politics core papers can be in any term.
Politics options need to be in MT or TT as far as possible.
Theses (if in History) need to be completed in HT of the third year.

The HP committee therefore suggests that the timetables shown overleaf are followed wherever possible:

FHS	2^nd year						3^rd year
FHS	Michaelmas Term		Hilary Term		Trinity Term		Michaelmas Term	Hilary Term
HO, PC, PC, HS1. HS2, PO, Thesis in History	1st Politics Core Paper	History Outline Paper	2nd Politics Core Paper		Politics Optional Paper		History Special Subject	Thesis in History
HO, HO, PC, PC, HS1 HS2, Thesis or Supervised Dissertation in Politics	1st Politics Core Paper	1st History Outline Paper	2nd Politics Core Paper		2nd History Outline Paper		History Special Subject	Thesis or Supervised Dissertation in Politics
HO, HO, PC, PC, HF, PO, Thesis or Supervised Dissertation in Politics	1st Politics Core Paper	1st History Outline Paper	2nd Politics Core Paper	History Further Subject	2nd History Outline Paper		Politics Optional Paper	Thesis or Supervised Dissertation in Politics
HO, PC, PC, HF, PO, PO, Thesis in History	1st Politics Core Paper	History Outline Paper	History Further Subject		2nd Politics Core Paper	1st Politics Optional Paper	2nd Politics Optional Paper	Thesis in History

1.2 | Course aims

The programme aims to enable its students to:

acquire a knowledge and understanding of humanity in past societies and of historical processes, characterised by both range and depth, and increasing conceptual sophistication;
engage and enhance their critical and analytical skills to identify and analyse key concepts
approach the past through the work of a wide variety of historians, using a range of intellectual tools; and thus appreciate how History as a subject itself has developed in different societies;
learn the technical skills of historical investigation and exposition, above all how primary evidence is employed in historical argument;
enhance a range of intellectual skills, such as independent critical thinking, forensic analysis, imagination and creativity;
develop their ability to present their own critical understanding of the issues studied to tutors and peers, and to engage in dialogue with them;
perhaps learn or develop languages, or numerical tools;
analyse and argue persuasively in writing, and engage in interactive oral discussion to deepen understanding;
develop the ability to work independently, and to plan and organize time effectively;
promote skills of relevance to the continued professional development of political analysis, which are transferable to a wide range of employment contexts and life experiences.

In addition, you will acquire and develop a particular set of intellectual, practical and transferable skills: -

Intellectual skills: the ability to gather, organise and deploy evidence, data and information from a wide variety of secondary and some primary sources; interpret such material with sensitivity to context; identify precisely the underlying issues in a wide variety of academic debates, and to distinguish relevant and irrelevant considerations; recognise the logical structure of an argument, and assess its validity, to assess critically the arguments presented by others, and by oneself, and to identify methodological errors, rhetorical devices, unexamined conventional wisdom, unnoticed assumptions, vagueness and superficiality; construct and articulate sound arguments with clarity and precision; engage in debate with others, to formulate and consider the best arguments for different views and to identify the weakest elements of the most persuasive views. –

Practical skills: the ability to listen attentively to complex presentations and identify the structure of the arguments presented; read with care a wide variety of written academic literature, and reflect clearly and critically on what is read; marshal a complex body of information in the form of essays, and to write well for a variety of audiences and in a variety of contexts; engage in oral discussion and argument with others, in a way that advances understanding of the problems at issue and the appropriate approaches and solutions to them.

Transferable skills: the ability to find information, organise and deploy it; draw on such information, and thinking creatively, self-critically and independently, to consider and solve complex problems; apply the techniques and skills of philosophical argument to practical questions, including those arising in ethics and political life; apply concepts, theories and methods used in the study of Politics to the analysis of political ideas, institutions practices and issues; make strategic decisions with a sophisticated appreciation of the importance of costs, opportunities, expectations, outcomes, information and motivation; motivate oneself, to work well independently, with a strong sense of initiative and self-direction, and also with the ability to work constructively in co-operation with others; communicate effectively and fluently in speech and writing; plan and organise the use of time effectively; where relevant, make appropriate use of numerical, statistical and computing skills.

1.3 | Course Structure and Description

1.3.1 | Politics Core papers

1.3.2 | Politics Optional papers

1.3.3 | European & World History (including Theme Papers)

European and World History is divided into fourteen periods, which cover much of the last two millennia. Papers vary in their focus, with some being centred on particular regions and others offering the opportunity to think on a more ‘global’ scale, or to look at different parts of the world and their relationships within particular periods. You can study times and places not covered in the Preliminary year, and periods are studied in greater depth, requiring you to examine the distinctive features of individual societies as well as to grasp broad themes. There are in addition three Theme papers on offer, which challenge you to study an issue or problem in depth across chronological and geographical boundaries. You will be able to explore how a theme (such as gender and sexuality, technology, religion and war) manifests itself in different ways across time and space, and how it has been approached by historians who have very different skills and interests.

As in your British Isles History papers you should take the initiative in devising your tutorial programme so that it makes the most of both your own and your tutor’s interests.

Course information for each of the European/World History options available can be found at: https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/courses/22234/pages/ewf-paper-options?module_item_id=209547

Teaching: 8 tutorials over one or two terms, with submitted essays or essay plans for discussion, or 8 classes

Assessment: A 3-hour written examination takes place during the Trinity Term. This accounts for one seventh of the overall mark.

1.3.4 | History of the British Isles (including Theme Papers)

The History of the British Isles outline papers will be familiar from Prelims. You are not permitted to take the same period, and the paper will be different in a number of different ways. It will be assessed by a three-hour timed written examination during Trinity Term of year 3.

You will have some freedom to follow your own interests in the period. In the knowledge that there will be a wide range of questions, and time to do some extra reading, you will be able to probe the history of different societies in the British Isles, and to prioritise political, intellectual, social, cultural or economic history as you choose. Indeed, Finals British History has always demanded greater depth, in terms of closer engagement with specific issues in the period, of reading in monographic literature and perhaps in primary sources too, and of greater historiographical awareness. You therefore have some scope to shape your own course and can take the initiative in discussing with your tutor what you wish to cover during the term.

Nevertheless, the most impressive scripts will also demonstrate breadth – in terms both of the whole chronology of the period and the differences and similarities between the various parts of the British Isles. And they will be imbued with a sense of the interaction of different types of development – economic, cultural, social, intellectual and political. Your tutorial preparation should not therefore be too narrow in chronological, geographical or thematic terms.

Whereas Period outline papers encourage you to study one period in depth, Theme papers challenge you to study an issue or problem in depth across chronological and geographical boundaries. You will be able to explore how a theme (such as gender and sexuality or the state and national identity) manifests itself in different ways across time and space, and how it has been approached by historians who have very different skills and interests.

Teaching	8-16 lectures usually in Michaelmas Term; 4 lectures in Trinity Term (except for BIF7, for which there are 8); 8 tutorials in either Michaelmas or Trinity Term, for most of which an essay or some other output such as a presentation will be required.
Assessment	Three-hour timed written examination during Trinity Term of year 3. This accounts for one seventh of the overall mark.
Content and scope	Candidates are encouraged to follow their interests into any part of the history of the British Isles in this period: this includes the history of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and of other territories in so far as they are specifically connected with the History of Britain. Candidates are also encouraged to display some breadth of knowledge, whether thematically, geographically or chronologically.

Course information for each of the period options available can be found at: https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/courses/22234/pages/bif-paper-options?module_item_id=209542

1.3.5 | History Further Subject

Further Subjects continue the approach of the Optional Subjects in Prelims in being more defined subjects than outline papers. You may wish to take a subject ‘further’ to a period you have covered, so that you start from a basis of knowledge; but you do not have to do so. Looking forward, you may want to choose a subject near the field in which you wish to take your thesis (although the latter cannot be largely based on the same sources).

Further Subjects are focused around prescribed sources, on which (in most cases) the structure of the exam requires you to answer directly. You will need to analyse the texts and other kinds of source (such as images, archaeology, film and music) using the standard range of questions historians ask of their primary material – who? when? where? And, above all, for what purpose? And you will need to relate them to the scholarly literature and to understand their role in constructing historians’ current understanding of the subject.

There are over thirty Further Subjects to choose from, ranging geographically across the globe, and conceptually from archaeology to political and social thought. They enable you to study subjects in which members of the Faculty are themselves actively engaged in research, and your choice may well arouse interests which you yourself wish to pursue subsequently.

The teaching of Further Subjects is partly based on the usual essay-plus-tutorial format, but this is balanced by Faculty classes for eight-to-twelve students, in which you will develop your ability to work effectively in a group. All students will be encouraged to participate in the discussion which constitutes the main form of teaching in these classes, and students are also asked to set the agenda for the classes or to give presentations on the material.

Most Further Subjects focus the classes around the set texts – section A of the exam paper – and use the tutorials for study of the substantive topics in section B; but patterns of teaching vary from subject to subject.

Further Subjects are examined in a single paper in the Final Honour School. You are required to answer three questions, including at least one from each of Section A (usually focused on the prescribed sources) and Section B, and to illustrate your answers as appropriate by reference to the prescribed texts.

Capping:	The number of students who can take each paper is determined by the teaching resources available to each subject. Some are therefore ‘capped’, and where demand for these exceeds the number of places, students are allocated by a random ballot. Students choosing such subjects therefore need to have backup choices, at least one of which must be a subject which is unlikely to fill its quota: such subjects are flagged on the ballot form. This process takes place early in Michaelmas Term of the second year. If you have a special reason for studying a particular Further Subject, you can make a request to do so using the Special Case Form. Contact your College Tutor about making such a request. Please bear in mind your fulfilment of the geographical requirement when you are making your choices.
Teaching:	Twelve contact sessions, usually 6 tutorials and 6 classes, held over Hilary Term of year 2. Note that finalists may not attend Further Subject classes again in their final year.
Assessment:	A 3-hour written examination takes place during the Trinity Term of year 3.

Course information for each of the options available can be found at: https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/courses/22234/pages/further-subject-paper- options?module_item_id=209550

1.3.6 | History Special Subject

Special Subjects get you the closest to the scholarly study of a subject of all the prescribed papers in the History School. This depth is signalled by the fact that the paper is examined in two ways, and counts for two-sevenths of your Final mark. Your comprehension of how historians use sources is extended beyond that required in the Further Subject, and your specific knowledge of the set texts will be the focus of the written exam. This exam paper

requires you to write short commentaries or ‘gobbets’ on brief unseen excerpts from the set sources, in order to decode the full meaning of the passage, its context both textual (or material) and factual, and its place in the scholarship. But you also have the opportunity to arrive at your own conclusions about the subject through your Extended Essay based on the sources. Some subjects constitute their teacher’s current research project, and in discussion and through your writing you may be able to contribute to their work.

In these subjects the balance between (college) tutorials and (Faculty) classes tips further towards the latter, of which there are eight, weekly through the final Michaelmas Term.

There are up to six tutorials, of which four are commonly used for the writing of essays or ‘gobbets’, and one or two for individual advice on your Extended Essay. On the basis of even more detailed and intensive study of the material you will be able to deploy your skills in discussion and presentation from the Further Subject and Disciplines, and thus take more control of class- and tutorial-discussion; indeed it is to be hoped that students will learn more from each other than their teachers. (Note that subjects vary in whether they require the writing of essays for tutorials or the giving of presentations in classes, and whether they focus preparation for gobbet-writing on tutorials or classes.)

The Extended Essay provides you with the opportunity not only to demonstrate your knowledge of an aspect of the subject in very great depth, encompassing both the relevant sources and historiography, but also to come to your own conclusions on the basis of close study of these. As a short scholarly piece of work it also acts as a warm-up to the thesis you will write in the following term, not least in that it requires proper academic presentation and referencing. The guidelines for these are the same as those for the thesis (see section below); the lecture on thesis-preparation offered to second years is also relevant to this essay. The eight-question paper is published half-way through term, and you then receive individual tutorial advice to help choose a question and refine your approach to it, and to discuss a plan. The tutor or class teacher is permitted to read and comment on a plan, but not a draft, of the essay. The essay must be submitted digitally via Inspera by 12 noon on Friday of week 0 of the following Hilary term. Instructions on how to submit your work will be sent out in the course of Michaelmas term.

The three-hour exam paper taken at the end of the course requires you to write commentaries on twelve out of twenty-four short passages or images from the prescribed sources. There are guidelines on the writing of gobbets below (Appendix 5). The key aim is to elucidate the passage in a number of different but connected ways: the essential meaning of the passage (including any technical terminology), its place within its text or location or the oeuvre of its author, how it relates to other evidence, and how it has been used and understood in the scholarship. You only have fifteen minutes to write each gobbet, and the structure of the paper requires you to answer across the whole range of the set sources. This therefore requires a very thorough knowledge of the texts, and is one reason why reading them all in the long vacation before the Michaelmas Term is important.

Capping:	As with Further Subjects, the number of students who can take each paper is determined by the teaching resources available to each subject. Some are therefore ‘capped’, and where demand for these exceeds the number of places, students are allocated by a random ballot. Students choosing such subjects therefore need to have backup choices, at least one of which must be a subject which is unlikely to fill its quota: such subjects are flagged on the ballot form. This process takes place in the course of Trinity Term of the second year. If you have a special reason for studying a particular Special Subject, you can make a request to do so using the Special Case Form. Contact your College Tutor about making such a request. Please bear in mind your fulfilment of the geographical requirement when you are making your choices.
Teaching:	6 tutorials and 8 classes, held over Michaelmas Term of year 3.
Assessment:	Paper 1 (Gobbets): A 3-hour written examination during the Trinity Term of year 3. This paper accounts for one seventh of the overall mark.
Assessment:	Paper 2 (Extended Essay): an extended essay of not more than 6,000 words, to be submitted by Friday of week 0 of the Hilary Term of year 3. This paper accounts for one seventh of the overall mark.

For further information about individual papers go to: https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/courses/22234/pages/special-subject-paper- options?module_item_id=209553

1.3.7 | Compulsory Thesis

Every undergraduate taking the BA in History and Politics must submit a thesis as part of the fulfilment of their Final Examination. In the course of Trinity Term of the second year they are required to meet with a college tutor and, where appropriate, specialist adviser in order to discuss a possible thesis topic (see Timetable below). The thesis may be a thesis in History or a thesis or supervised dissertation in Politics. The guidance, length, and submission dates of the thesis in History are different from those for the thesis or supervised dissertation in Politics.

The History Thesis

All History finalists and some joint-schools students write a 12,000-word thesis on a topic of their own devising. Many undergraduates find this to be the most satisfying work they do in their History degree. The whole process from designing the topic to handing in is described in detail in the next section.

Teaching: The Faculty provides an initial lecture on framing a topic in Hilary Term of the second year, and the Thesis Fair early in Trinity Term to help suggest sources from a wide range of fields. At total of five hours of advice from college tutors and a specialist supervisor are permitted across the second and third years.

Assessment: The 12,000-word thesis is submitted digitally via Inspera by noon on Friday of 8th week of Hilary Term of the student’s final year. The thesis counts for one of seven units in Finals.

The Thesis in Politics

For information on taking a thesis in Politics, including when to apply for approval, the assessment criteria, guidance on writing your thesis, and other information, please see Politics Canvas:

https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/courses/71424/pages/politics-thesis-information-for-fhs-ppe-and-hp

1.5 | Research and Thesis

The thesis offers you the opportunity to engage in primary research on a subject of your own devising, and to work out arguments which are entirely your own, not a synthesis of the conclusions of others. It enables you to work as a historical scholar in your own right and to taste the kind of academic work undertaken professionally by your tutors. For those who continue as graduate historians, the thesis will represent a first opportunity to test their abilities as creative and independent researchers, able to define and explore a historical problem on a large scale. For others a successfully accomplished thesis is a clear indication to employers and the outside world that they possess a capacity for organization, self- discipline and the ability to structure a substantial and complex piece of research on their own initiative. Some undergraduate theses are so good that they are ready to be published as they stand. But almost all theses give their authors considerable personal satisfaction, and will be looked back on with pride long after the authors have left Oxford and the study of History behind.

Research and Thesis

Click here to find information about:

Timetable
Supervision
Framing a Topic
Research and Planning
Grants to support travel for the purposes of research
Writing
Presentation and Referencing
Formalities
Research Integrity

1.6 | Recommended Patterns of Teaching

History Year 2

Paper	Term	Dept/Faculty		College		Comments
Paper	Term	Lectures	Classes	Tutorials	Classes	Comments
[1.] History of the British Isles 1- 7, and Theme Papers A and B	MT	16		8*		16 lectures in MT and 8 tutorials in either* MT or TT, can be flexible for Joint School students. In TT, there will be 4 lectures for BIF 1-6, 8 for BIF 7 and 8 for Theme Paper B
	HT
	TT			8*
[2.] European and World History 9 and 11, Theme Papers A and C	MT	16		8*		8-16 lectures in MT and 8 tutorials in either* MT or TT for these papers, can be flexible for Joint School students.
	HT
	TT			8*
[3.] European and World History 4-7, 8 and 10, 12	MT			8*		16 lectures in HT and 8 tutorials in either* MT or TT for these papers, can be flexible for Joint School students.
	HT	16
	TT			8*
[4.] European and World History 1-8, 13 and 14, Theme Papers B and D	MT			8*		8-16 lectures in TT and 8 tutorials in either* MT or TT for these papers, can be flexible for Joint School students.
	HT
	TT	16		8*
[5.] Further Subjects	MT					Taught via 6 classes and 6 tutorials, which take place in HT. (Some tutors have asked to deliver their subject in 7 classes and 5 tutorials.)
	HT		6	6
	TT
[6.] Compulsory Undergraduate Thesis	MT					Introductory lectures and workshops in HT and TT of year 2; at least one session with college tutor or external supervisor in TT.
	HT	2
	TT	2		1

History Year 3

Paper	Term	Dept/Faculty		College		Comments Figures in this table are in hours unless otherwise stated.
Paper	Term	Lectures	Classes	Tutorials	Classes
[1.] Special Subjects 1-31	MT		8	4-6		Submission of Special Subject Extended Essay at start of HT.
	HT
	TT
[2.] Compulsory Undergraduate Thesis	MT			4		Maximum of 4 hours advice from supervisor/s during MT and HT. Timing is flexible. Submission at end of HT.
	HT			4
	TT
[4.] Revision	MT					One revision class may be offered at some time in TT for the Further Subject, and one revision class or tutorial for the EWF paper.
	HT
	TT		1	1

Politics Teaching Pattern

The recommended patterns of teaching for Politics papers for the second and third year HP students are below. Lectures, classes, and tutorials typically last an hour. If you have any issues with teaching or supervision, please raise these as soon as possible so that they can be addressed promptly.

Paper	Term	Dept/Faculty		College		Comments
Paper	Term	Lectures	Classes	Tutorials	Classes	Comments
201 Comparative Government	MT	8		7		7 tutorials, which can take place in any term.
	HT	8		7
	TT
202 British Politics and Government since 1900	MT	8		8		8 tutorials, which can take place in any term. Colleges to arrange revision classes.
	HT	8
	TT
203 Theory of Politics (also Philosophy option 114)	MT	8		8		8 tutorials, which can take place in any term. Colleges to arrange revision classes.
	HT	8
	TT
214 International Relations	MT	8		7		7 tutorials, which can take place in any term.
	HT	8
	TT
220 Political Sociology	MT	8		7		7 tutorials, which can take place in any term.
	HT	8
	TT
Q-Step 2nd-Year component.	MT	1	7			Any student taking at least ONE of papers 201, 214 and 220 should attend one QS2 lecture in MT of 2nd year
	HT
	TT

Politics Optional Papers

Politics options papers usually consist 8-16 lectures (provided by the faculty) delivered over one or two terms, and 8 tutorials (provided by colleges) given in a single term.
Course providers for the papers Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa, Politics in South Asia, Comparative Demographic Systems, and Politics in China may offer supplementary classes. For papers including (but not limited to) Politics of the Middle East, tutorials may be replaced by college classes.
Eight documents classes for Modern British Government and Politics take place in HT of third year; these run instead of lectures.
Tutorials for Politics of China are ordinarily solely available in MT;
Tutorials for a paper may not always be given in the same term as its lectures.
The recommended teaching for students taking the optional thesis paper is 8 tutorials (provided by college). Additional support and guidance lectures and workshops are organised by the department.
The final list of Politics optional papers will be announced during a student's second year. In the event that recommended teaching patterns of new options fall outside these norms, this information will be updated and students will be informed.

2 | Teaching and Learning

3 | Examination and Assessment

4 | Student Representation and Feedback

5 | Student Life and Support

6 | Facilities and Contacts

APPENDIX 1: Examination Regulations

Final Honour School in History and Politics, 2023-24

A

The examination in the Honour School of History and Politics shall consist of such subjects in History and Politics as the Board of the Faculty of History and the Social Sciences Board shall from time to time in consultation prescribe by regulation.
No candidate shall be admitted to examination in this School unless he or she has either passed or been exempted from the First Public Examination.
The examination in the Honour School shall be under the joint supervision of the Board of the Faculty of History and the Social Sciences Board, which shall appoint a standing joint committee to make proposals for regulations concerning the examination. Such proposals shall be submitted to the boards which shall make regulations concerning the examination and which, in the case of difference of opinion, shall hold a joint meeting at which the matter in dispute shall be resolved by the vote of the majority.
The Chairs of Examiners for the Honour School of History and for the Honour School of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics shall consult together and designate such of their number as may be required for the examination for the Honour School of History and Politics, whereupon the number of examiners shall be deemed to be complete.
The lists of specific papers available in this School from the Honour School of History and in Politics from the Honour School of Politics, Philosophy and Economics will be published by the relevant Boards at the dates defined in the regulations for those schools.
Except where indicated a paper cannot be substituted. Candidates shall offer seven papers from the following options, which must include the compulsory substitute thesis based on original research, as specified under Regulation B8 below. Certain combinations of papers in History and in Politics will be illegal, or subject to advice about duplication of material; these will be specified in the Handbook for this School.

B

B1., B2. Each candidate may offer:

either one paper in the History of the British Isles, and one paper in European & World History,
or two papers in European & World History,

as specified for the Honour School of History, provided that:

(a) one paper may be replaced by a compulsory thesis in History;
(b) no candidate may offer a paper in the History of the British Isles or European & World History similar to one already offered in the Preliminary Examination; illegal combinations will be specified by the History Board.
(c) candidates who have not offered a paper in the History of the British Isles or European & World History before the nineteenth century in the First Public Examination are required to choose at least one such period in the Honour School of History and Politics. The list of papers satisfying this provision is given in the Handbook for History and Politics.

B3., B4. Each candidate shall offer any two of the five ‘core subjects’ in Politics, as specified for the Honour School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics (i.e. 201, 202, 203, 214, and 220). A thesis as specified in Regulation B8 below may not be substituted for a Politics core subject.

B5., B6., B7. Each candidate shall offer one of the following combinations:

(i) one Special Subject in History (examined in two papers) and one of subjects 201– 230 in Politics which is not offered under Regulation B3 above;
(ii) one Further Subject in History and two of subjects 201–230 in Politics which are not offered under Regulation B3 above;
(iii) one Further Subject in History, one of subjects 201–230 in Politics which are not offered under Regulation B3 above, and one Special Subject in Politics.

Provided that one of the optional papers in Politics in any of these combinations may be substituted by a compulsory thesis from the Honour School of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

B8. Each candidate must offer a thesis in place of either a Politics option in any of the combinations as specified under Regulation B5-6-7 above or a paper in the History of the British Isles or European & World History, as specified under Regulation B1-2 above.

(a) A thesis offered in place of a Politics optional paper shall be either a substitute thesis or a supervised dissertation submitted in accordance with the regulations prescribed for Politics in the Honour School of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
(b) A thesis in History in place of a paper in the History of the British Isles or European & World History shall be submitted in accordance with Regulation B6, A Thesis based on Original Research, for the Final Honour School of History. In this case, a candidate must also offer a paper satisfying the requirements specified in Regulation B1-2(c) above which has not been satisfied in the First Public Examination, unless he or she is a Senior Student, as defined by the Regulations for Senior Student Status, or has passed the First Public Examination in a course other than History and Politics, History, or any other joint school with History.

B9. All candidates must offer a substitute thesis or supervised dissertation, but may not offer more than one substitute thesis or supervised dissertation in place of a paper.

APPENDIX 2: Politics departmental academics and their areas of study

Undergraduate Handbooks - General Appendixes

APPENDIX: All Papers by Period and and Geographical Location
APPENDIX: List of Postholders
APPENDIX: Tariff of Penalties for Inadequacies in History Examinations and Submitted Work
APPENDIX: Writing Guidance
APPENDIX: History Faculty Online Resources