MSt History (Part-time) - Course Handbook

2023-25

Disclaimer

The information in this handbook is accurate as at October 1st 2024. Although it may be necessary for changes to be made in certain circumstances, as explained at www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/coursechanges, it is hoped to keep such changes to a minimum. If changes are made the faculty will publish a new version of this handbook together with a list of the changes and students will be informed.

The Examination Regulations relating to this course are available at https://examregs.admin.ox.ac.uk/ or Appendix 2 below.

If you have any concerns or queries please contact the Graduate Office at graduate.office@history.ox.ac.uk.

This handbook has been prepared for part-time students who started the part-time Master of Studies (MSt) in History in Michaelmas Term 2023. You are advised to refer to it throughout your course, as it will be of considerable help throughout the period of your study.

It contains information about the structure of the course, teaching and assessment deadlines, how to format and submit your work, and the exam conventions that set out how your work is marked. It also acts as a signpost to more general information, including useful contacts and locations around the Faculty and university.

 

As well as this handbook, you will also find the other sources of information useful:

Canvas: https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/ To find information about your course, such as reading lists and available options.
The Oxford Historians Hub: https://ohh.web.ox.ac.uk/ To find information on studying history at Oxford, the termly lecture list, details of the Oxford History Graduate Network, how to present your work when submitting it, and other general information relating to your studies.
Examination regulations: https://examregs.admin.ox.ac.uk/. The definitive rules that govern the course.
Marking criteria and conventions in this handbook The rules by which your work is marked.

Your supervisor will review, monitor and comment on your academic progress using Graduate Supervision Reporting (GSR), which is accessible via Student Self Service (https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/selfservice). You are also encouraged to submit comments on this system.

An introduction to Oxford for new students is available on the university website: https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/new.

This programme is convened and administered by the Faculty of History. If you need help or advice relating to your course, and can’t find the answer in this handbook or on Canvas, you should contact one of the following:

Details of the administrative staff that support the Master’s courses can be found on the Academic Administration page of the History Faculty website: https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/administrative-staff.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the content of this handbook, please email them to current.graduates@history.ox.ac.uk.

Welcome to your Master’s course in History at Oxford. I look forward to meeting you in person at some point in the coming year, and wish you every success in the months to come. Above all, I hope that you enjoy postgraduate study here and find it rewarding.

Our Faculty is one of the largest history departments in the world. It brings together an extraordinary array of scholars pursuing an unparalleled range of research. This is reflected in the abundance of research seminars, regular graduate workshops, special lectures and discussion panels that take place throughout the academic year. As a postgraduate student, you will probably be spending more time in independent study than you did as an undergraduate, and the live, in-person discussion available at a regular research seminar can be important for both social support and intellectual stimulation. You will find events listed on the Faculty website; while you will need to prioritise attendance at lectures and seminars in your own specialist area, you are welcome to attend anything that interests you. In this respect, I also encourage you to explore Oxford’s intellectual life beyond the Faculty, in the Colleges, the lecture lists and seminar series of other faculties and departments, and at TORCH (the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities).  

The Graduate Joint Consultative Committee (GJCC), made up of academic staff and student representatives, meets every term. It works in conjunction with the Oxford History Graduate Network (OHGN), a student-led forum which organises social and academic events, and raises matters of concern to students with the Faculty’s graduate office.  You can find more details of both these organisations at the links above and I would encourage you to think about getting involved

The MSt and MPhil in History bring together eight “strands”, or different areas of historical research. You therefore belong to two cohorts: a smaller one focused around your particular strand and a larger one encompassing all students on the master’s program. In your first term, the Sources and Historiography seminar will be your introduction to your specific strand, and your Theories and Methods class will bring you together with other students on the larger degree course. We hope that you will benefit from both the stimulus of working with historians of other periods and places, and the specialist expertise of the tutors on your strand.

Like any large institution, the collegiate University of Oxford is a complex place to navigate and it is entirely normal to find it difficult to get around both the place and its processes. Whenever you have questions that aren’t answered in this handbook or elsewhere on the Faculty or University websites, you should contact your thesis supervisor or (for College or welfare issues) your College advisor, Tutor for Graduates, or College welfare team; your course tutors; or the convenor of your strand. You are also welcome to contact the Graduate Office, whether in person, by phone (01865 [6]15011) or by email (graduate.office@history.ox.ac.uk). If you still don’t have an answer to your question, or if you have concerns you don’t wish to share with your supervisor, tutors, or the office , please do contact either Alan Strathern, the Convenor of the MSt/MPhil in History, or me.

This handbook is intended to be a comprehensive guide to the teaching, assessment and administrative arrangements of the course (but please note that the formal rules governing the programme are set out separately in the University’s Examination Regulations); it also contains useful information on other aspects of life in Oxford as a postgraduate historian.  You can find further information about graduate matters on our Canvas pages.

Once again, welcome to graduate work in history at Oxford.

Professor James McDougall
Director of Graduate Studies in History

1| Course Content and Structure

All course information can be found on Canvas.

The course extends over 21 months and has three main parts:

  • The Core Courses: a) Sources and Historiography (first year); b) Theory and Methods (second year)
  • An Option Course
  • Dissertation

You MUST check all deadlines against the Examination Regulations for your course. If there are any discrepancies with what is published here, the official Examination Regulations take precedence.

Extensions to deadlines for the submission of assessed work can be requested ONLY from the Proctors, where there is good cause, i.e. circumstances beyond your control preventing you from completing assessed work on time. Details of policy and procedure can be found here. Please note that you are responsible for the timely submission of your assessed work: submitting work, especially your thesis, after the original deadline may mean that your work will not be marked according to the usual timetable, and you must not make plans for graduation without first checking with the Graduate Office that your marks will have been ratified by the relevant Board of Examiners in time.  

Year One

Michaelmas Term (year 1)

Week 5, Friday (noon)

Choose Option Papers

 A link will be circulated two weeks before the deadline for you to submit your options

Week 7, Friday (noon)

 Submit formative essay (Sources and Historiography) Submit your formative essay for Sources and Historiography to your course tutor

Week 8, Friday

Online Exam Entry

Complete online exam entry - Exam Schools will contact you with details of how to do this.

PLEASE NOTE that this is compulsory, and that Exam Schools charge a fee for late entries and modifications to exam entries.

Hilary Term (year 1)

Week 0, Monday (noon) Annotated Bibliography submission Submit your Annotated Bibliography and Dissertation Proposal (see Section 2 [Submission & Assessment guidance] on how to submit)
Dissertation Proposal Submission
Week 6, Friday Option Essay title A link will be circulated two weeks before the deadline for you to submit the titles of your Option essay*
Week 10, Friday (noon) Option Paper Essay(s) submission Submit your Option Essay (see Section 2 [Submission & Assessment guidance] on how to submit)

Year Two

Michaelmas Term (year 2)

Week 5, Friday (noon) Submit Formative Essay (Theory and Methods) Submit your formative essay for Theory and Methods to your course tutors

Week 10, Friday

Methodology Essay title

 A link will be circulated two weeks before the deadline for you to submit the title of your Methodology essay *

Hilary Term (year 2)

Week 0, Monday (Noon) Methodology Essay submission Submit your Methodology Essay (see Section 2 [Submission & Assessment guidance] on how to submit)
Week 6, Friday Dissertation title A link will be circulated two weeks before the deadline for you to submit the title of your Dissertation *

Trinity Term (year 2)

Week 9, Monday (noon)

Dissertation submission

Submit your Dissertation (see Section 2 [Submission & Assessment guidance] on how to submit)

*Modification of your essay and dissertation titles is only possible up to five days before the submission deadline, and requires the permission of the course/option tutor or (for your dissertation) your supervisor. Once permission has been obtained, the new title should be sent to the Graduate Office by email (graduate.office@history.ox.ac.uk).

Please note that most title changes that are approved are small adjustments to the title and/or focus of an essay or dissertation. Proposed title changes that radically alter the topic of a piece of work are unlikely to be granted approval at a late stage

Teaching

The Core Courses in the MSt in History consist of two key courses taught in Michaelmas Term, supplemented by specific skills training.

These consists of the following:

  • Theory and Methods: taught in Michaelmas Term (weeks 1-6). The format is a 1.5 hour seminar class, which meets once a week. This will cover current methodological and theoretical approaches and debates across the discipline. Students and course tutors will choose six of these from a syllabus of nine. Students will write one formative essay for this course (due to be submitted to the course tutors by Friday of Week 5). It will be read by the course tutors and returned with comments (but no numerical mark) by the end of week 7.
  • Sources and Historiography: taught in Michaelmas Term (weeks 1-8). The format is a 1.5 hour strand-specific seminar class, which meets once a week throughout the term. Classes will cover major themes in the historical study of  the strand’s particular field, period or theme, including the use of primary sources, either through a dedicated class or in other ways through the course. They will also provide an arena in which bibliographic work and dissertation planning may be discussed.   . Students will write one formative essay for this course (due to be submitted to the course tutors by Friday of Week 7). It will be read by the course tutors and returned with comments (but no numerical mark) by the end of week 9.
  • Auxiliary Skills: Additional lectures, classes or tutorials may take place over Michaelmas and Hilary terms to provide general historical or field-specific training in e.g. document or object handling, languages, paleography, etc. Medieval historians and some early modernists will be expected to work on Latin, palaeography, and diplomatic sources, whereas for other students, modern languages, oral history training, quantification or digital skills may be more important. Normal expectations will be set by strand convenors, and students should discuss their individual skill requirements with their supervisors.

Oxford has a wealth of lectures and seminars, both within the History Faculty and across cognate disciplines in other faculties, departments, and centres, provided for both undergraduate and graduate students, that all graduate students are able to access. If you are entering the MSt/MPhil from a discipline other than history, are pursuing research that might involve methods drawn from other disciplines, or feel that there are particular gaps in your higher education to date, you should work with your supervisor to identify lecture programmes and seminars that will be useful alongside the provision within your core courses. 

Assessment

Methodology Essay

The Core Course is assessed by a Methodology Essay of 3,000-5,000 words, covering some aspect of the historiography or methodology of the candidate’s chosen strand.

This may be based on revising one of the two formative essays written for Theory and Methods and Sources and Historiography, or it may tackle another topic which comes out of these two courses.

No additional supervision (or reading of drafts) will be provided beyond the feedback already received on these two courses.

The title for this essay must be submitted to the Graduate Office by Friday of Week 10 of Michaelmas Term in your second year..

The Methodology Essay counts for 20% of the final mark of the degree.

For further advice on preparing your formative and summative essays, see ‘Guidance on Essays for the Core Courses.’ The Methodology Essay is an opportunity to engage historiographic or conceptual issues rather than showcase first-hand research.

The Methodology Essay must be submitted by Monday of Week 0 of Hilary Term in your second year, with the deadline being at Noon. 

Candidates must also complete two additional assessments as part of the Core Course:

An Annotated Bibliography of up to 1,500 words. It should contain your project title, and a list of the most important primary and secondary sources to be consulted in researching your dissertation, together with a critical reflection of up to 1,000 words on the resources used in compiling it (2,500 words in total). You may find that your initial bibliography exceeds the word limit, in which case you should provide a selection of the most important items, and indicate that you have done this in the commentary. The bibliography should be formatted according to the ‘Conventions for the presentation of dissertations, essays, and theses’, which are available on the Oxford Historians Hub.

The intention is not for you to summarise or comment on the contents of the individual items contained in your bibliography – indeed, we do not expect you to have read all the works yet. Instead, it should be accompanied by a critical commentary on the resources used in compiling it. You should show evidence of having consulted the relevant databases, library and archive catalogues (including union catalogues), on-site archival finding aids, thesis search tools, and the bibliographies of other scholars. You should comment on the utility of these various resources, the types of searches you conducted, and the balance between the digital resources and catalogues and on-site finding aids (where appropriate to the project), or even personal contacts and communications. You may wish to indicate occasions when your searches have been frustrated, i.e. when your searches have yielded unsatisfactory results.

This is not intended to be a definitive bibliography, but rather to provide evidence that you have thought about how to frame a bibliography for a research project. You will be able to reframe the project as you actually conduct the research.

Your feedback will take note of the following:

  • Compliance with Faculty's bibliographic standards

  • Use of an appropriate range of resources

  • Evidence of having thought critically about appropriate methods of searching

  • evidence of having thought about the strengths and weaknesses of the various resources

You are expected to consult with your supervisors about the bibliographic exercise before submitting it.

The Annotated Bibliography and the Dissertation Proposal must be submitted by Monday of Week 0 of Hilary Term in your first year, with the deadline being at Noon.

A Dissertation Proposal of between 800 and 1,000 words. It is logical, though it is not obligatory, for the research proposal to lay out the plan for the Master's dissertation. However, if you are already considering pursuing a career in historical research beyond the Master's degree, you can take this opportunity to lay out your proposal for doctoral study, which will form part of a re- admission application (in January). Candidates should agree with their supervisor whether to submit their proposal for the intended Master’s dissertation, OR whether to focus on a proposal for their future doctoral research.

A Research Proposal should include accounts of the following elements:

  • A research question

  • The historiography from which the research question derives and with which it engages

  • The primary sources (manuscript, printed or digitised) it is intended to use

  • The methods it is proposed to adopt

If the proposal relates to the Master’s dissertation it should also include a chapter plan. You should expect that your project may evolve and change when underway, and that it may be inappropriate to follow slavishly the original research proposal.

For further guidance see the Faculty's criteria for a research thesis. This advice is designed for DPhil students, but the conventions also apply for theses prepared for the MSt and MPhil qualifications. Students should bear in mind the difference of scale and depth between a Master’s dissertation and a doctoral thesis.

The Methodology Essay must be submitted by Monday of Week 0 of Hilary Term in your second year, with the deadline being at Noon.

 

Students take one Option paper (also called Advanced papers) in Hilary term, and should notify the Graduate Office of their preferred Option by the end of Week 5 Michaelmas Term (a link for doing this will be circulated two weeks beforehand). The options available to students are listed on Canvas.

Option papers will be provided by specialists in their subject area, and there is provision for annual rotation and revision of optional courses to ensure that students are in contact with the latest developments in their chosen subject. The availability of Options varies from year to year, depending on the availability of teaching staff, and the Faculty reserves the right to not run an option if insufficient numbers enrol.

Students are not limited to selecting an Option paper from their particular strand, and may select an Option from another strand within the MSt in history without prior approval.

Candidates wishing to take an Option paper   from another programme offered by the History Faculty, and exceptionally, by another Faculty or Department , may only do so with the permission of their Programme Convenor, the person responsible for the delivery of the requested option/advanced paper, and their  supervisor. Candidates  should contact the Graduate Office in the first instance (graduate.office@history.ox.ac.uk).

PLEASE NOTE: Students taking an option paper from a programme other than that in which they are enrolled will be assessed on that paper according to the regulations  of the programme under which the advanced paper is offered. This means that deadlines, length of assessed work, teaching timetable, and mode of assessment may be different to option papers being taken by other students on the same course. If you take a paper from another programme, please consider the impact on your workload based on the other deadlines for your own programme. The modes of assessment and deadlines for the other course elements of the programme for which the candidate is registered are unaffected. Advanced or Option papers from other programmes may run for 8 weeks. Please contact graduate.office@history.ox.ac.uk if you have any questions. 

Teaching

Option papers are normally taught in 2 hour classes in Hilary Term, weeks 1-6.

The small class size provides an excellent opportunity for peer input and participatory learning. Emphasis will be placed upon class discussion, and on the creation of an intellectual community among students. Students will acquire a deeper, focussed understanding of a particular field of historical research, and they need not confine their studies to the issues explicitly raised in class.

Assessment

One extended essay of between 6,000 and 7,000 words. A draft should be submitted to the course tutors by the end of week 7. They will read and return the essay(s) with comments (but no numerical marks) by the end of week 9.

Assessment for the Option Paper must be submitted for examination by noon on Friday of Week 10 of Hilary Term of your first year. The assessment for the Option paper accounts for 30% of the final mark of the degree.

During the admissions process you are assigned a supervisor to direct your intended individual research. In the course of the first term, your research focus may change – and in some cases this may lead to a change in your supervision arrangements. If this happens, you should complete a GSO.25 form (change of supervisor or appointment of joint supervisor) and submit it to the Academic Office so that the student record system can be updated: https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/graduate/progression.

Your supervisor’s primary responsibility is to advise you on the programme of work necessary to complete your dissertation or thesis. To this end, they should maintain a general overview over your course work and academic development. They should help you to identify and acquire the knowledge and skills needed to complete your dissertation or thesis, and to further your aims for study or employment, insofar as these build upon the programme of graduate study.

A strand-specific dissertation workshop will be held early in Trinity Term, at which students will be expected to give a short presentation of their work. Further details will be provided during the course of the academic year.

You should agree a definitive title with your supervisor(s) and inform the Graduate Office of the title by the deadline. The dissertation should be on a topic falling within the scope of this programme.

The Examiners will expect your dissertation to be clearly distinct from coursework essays in either chronological or geographical range, or historical issue. The dissertation is expected to include some study of original source material, whether in printed, manuscript, or other form (e.g. archaeological, numismatic, visual evidence, etc).

For students on the Medieval strand, although you are permitted to make use of sources in translation, your dissertation should engage – to the best of your abilities – with textual sources in their original language(s).

The following notes for students and supervisors provide rough guidance for students and supervisors - individual progress rates will vary, depending (for example) on the level of your background knowledge; whether you need to acquire new technical skills; the speed at which you identify a workable topic; the accessibility of sources in Oxford or Britain; the time needed to process data; the extent to which the research programme makes feasible the drafting of chapters while research is in progress, etc.

Year One:

Michaelmas term:

  • Meet supervisor
  • Identify any training needs
  • Plan lecture/seminar attendance and a programme of secondary reading necessary to set the scene for proposed research
  • Initial exploration of primary sources
  • Discuss subject and nature of the research proposal you plan to submit as part of your examination
  • Expect to spend one day a week on preparing your dissertation project, and arrange to see your supervisor three or four times after the initial meeting

Christmas vacation

  • Proceed, against the background of continuing work as above, to refine definition of dissertation topic

Hilary Term

  • Revise the structure of your master’s dissertation in the light of this ongoing exploration
  • Expect to step up work on your dissertation project to about two days a week
  • Again, arrange to see your supervisor for about three sessions

Easter vacation/Trinity Term

  • Start primary research, modifying plan and structure as necessary in process
  • Make the most of the opportunity to work on your dissertation research without parallel course work, extensively consulting original sources and write drafts of sections of your dissertation, giving it a tightly argued structure
  • Give a short presentation of your work to the student-led dissertation workshop that will be held early in Trinity Term.

 

Year Two:

Michaelmas term:

  • Negotiate an appropriate timetable of meetings with your supervisor for the second year (up to 5 or 6 sessions)
  • Discuss whether applying for doctoral research in Oxford or elsewhere, and if so nature of doctoral research proposal (deadline for submission of the application mid-January)

End of Michaelmas Term:

  • Discuss whether applying for doctoral research in Oxford or elsewhere, and if so nature of doctoral research proposal (deadline for submission of the application mid-January)

Christmas vacation

  • Proceed, against the background of continuing work as above, to refine definition of dissertation topic
  • Definitively identify and work with primary and secondary sources central to your proposed master’s research
  • If applying for re-admission to doctoral programme, AHRC funding, or other funding requiring a doctoral research proposal, work with supervisor to refine that well in advance of the January application deadline

Hilary Term

  • Finalise plan of work remaining for dissertation and agree this with supervisor
  • Revise the structure of your master’s dissertation in the light of this ongoing exploration
  • Expect to step up work on your dissertation project to about two days a week
  • Again, arrange to see your supervisor for about three sessions

Easter vacation/Trinity Term

  • Complete research, modifying plan and structure as necessary in process
  • Produce draft – make sure draft is in supervisor’s hands in plenty of time for supervisor to comment (supervisors are not expected to comment on drafts received later than Monday of 6th week)
  • Revise in light of comments: make the most of the opportunity to work full-time on your dissertation up to submission, extensively consulting original sources and carefully revising your dissertation, giving it a tightly argued structure and presenting it in idiomatic English which makes it accessible to a non-specialist reader

The dissertation must be submitted by the given deadline. Refer to Section 2 for guidance on how to submit your dissertation, and for guidance on the presentation and submission of essays and dissertations.

The dissertation should consist of up to 15,000 words. It must be accompanied by a short abstract which concisely summarises its scope and principal arguments, in about 300 words; the abstract should be bound into the dissertation, immediately after the title page. Please see Word Count in Section 2, for detailed guidance on what is included and excluded from the word count. 

The dissertation must not exceed the permitted length. If it does the Examiners will reduce the marks awarded.

Part of the exercise of writing a dissertation lies in devising a topic that can be effectively handled within the word limit. However, in exceptional circumstances – for example if a large section of your dissertation is taken up with translations or lengthy appendices – you can apply to the Director of Graduate Studies for permission to exceed the word limit. This should be supported by your supervisor.

Formative Feedback

Formative feedback is provided on work done during the course, to help you improve your work as your progress through the programme.

  • Students will receive regular informal feedback on their class presentations and contributions from the class leaders and their peers.
  • Students are entitled to receive comments from a class tutor on ONE draft of the formative essay for Theory and Methods and on ONE draft of the formative essay for Sources and Historiography. Such a draft must be handed in to them by Friday of Week 5 of Michaelmas Term at the latest for the Theory and Methods essay and Friday of Week 7 for the Sources and Historiography essay, so that they have the opportunity to comment on the draft before the end of term, and so that you have received feedback before the end of term and can decide what topic you will choose for the assessed Methodology Essay. No further supervision is provided for this essay. 
  • Students are entitled to receive comments on ONE draft of the Option Essay from a class tutor. Such a draft must be handed in to them by Friday of Week 7 of Hilary Term at the latest, so that they have the opportunity to comment on the draft by Friday of Week 9, well in advance of the final revision of your submission of the essay for examination. 
  • Formative feedback on your annotated bibliography and dissertation proposal should be obtained from your thesis supervisor by mutual arrangement. Feedback on your dissertation work may be obtained from your supervisor as it progresses in the course of Hilary and Trinity terms. Be sure to discuss the timetable of your thesis work with your supervisor; supervisors will have other commitments which may make it necessary that you provide them with your full draft well in advance of the deadline. Supervisors might not be expected to provide comments on drafts later than Monday of Week 6 of Trinity Term  ( Supervisors will generally do everything they can to support your research and writing, but it is your responsibility to make contact with your supervisor, agree a timetable of work, and provide drafts in time for them to comment and return them to you.
  • Students may also receive formal (written) or informal (oral) comments on their work at graduate research presentations, seminars, or  a dissertation workshop. These are generally held in Hilary term.
Summative Feedback
  • The examiners will provide summative feedback on your assessed essays and your dissertation. Indicative marks and feedback for your Methodology and Option essays will be shared via Canvas by the Graduate office once they have been approved by the MSt Exam Board. Feedback for your dissertation will be shared the same way, however, given the proximity to the summer Exam Board, your dissertation mark will only be released alongside your final classification.
  • Please note that marking is inherently subjective, and it is not uncommon to receive two separate pieces of feedback that may differ in tone or perspective.

The programme of teaching is supported by regular graduate seminars, which run throughout the academic year and will be attended by graduate students and staff. Details can be found in the Lecture List on the Oxford Historian Hub, but note that a weekly email alert will tell you about all the seminars, lectures and visiting speaker presentations organised by the Faculty of History.

Appendix

The History Faculty is able to provide some support for student research through its trust funds, but you are expected to explore also other sources of support such as your college. Details regarding trust funds can be found on the Oxford Historians Hub.

The Faculty also offers annual prizes for the best dissertations. A central list of all University prizes can be found here.

https://examregs.admin.ox.ac.uk/Regulation?code=mosinhist-p-t&srchYear=2022&srchTerm=1&year=2021&term=1

The regulations of the Board of the Faculty of History are as follows:

1. Candidates for this degree must follow for at least six terms a course of instruction and directed research and must, upon entering the examination, produce from their society a certificate to that effect.

2. Candidates must attend such lectures, seminars and classes as their lead supervisor shall determine. In addition to the formally examined programme elements described below, each candidate will be expected to attend and complete in-course requirements for a series of skills options based on a schedule to be published from year to year by the Faculty's Graduate Studies Committee. The candidate's individual programme, agreed with their supervisor, will be subject to approval by the the programme convenor, by Friday of Week One of Michaelmas Term; subsequent changes must be agreed by the programme convenor not later than Friday of Week Three of Hilary Term.

3. Candidates must apply for and follow a particular named strand of the programme, chosen from a list published by the Faculty by 1 September of the year before entry.  They may only change to a different strand with the written agreement of their supervisors, and of the Convener of the MSt in History.

4. The final examination for candidates in History shall comprise (i) one extended essay based on the programme’s core component, (ii) one extended essay based on an Option, and (iii) a dissertation of not more than 15,000 words.

I. During Michaelmas Term of the first year each candidate shall attend two elements of a core programme, comprising introductory lectures and strand-specific classes on sources and historiography.

II. In Hilary Term of the first year candidates must choose one Option course, normally from the Options for the Master of Studies in History. The choice of Option must be discussed with the candidate’s supervisors and will depend on the candidate's training objectives or dissertation project. Candidates wishing to take an Option paper from another programme offered by the History Faculty, and exceptionally, by other Faculties, may do so with the permission of the programme convenor, the person responsible for the delivery of the requested Option paper, their supervisor. Such candidates will be assessed according to the regulations with respect to the form of assessment and deadlines governing that Option (i.e. the regulations of the programme under which the Option paper is offered), but the modes of assessment and deadlines for the other course elements of the programme for which the candidate is registered will remain in force. This part of the programme will be assessed by one essay of 6,000-7,000 words. The essay should be submitted by 12 noon on Friday of Week Ten of Hilary Term of the first year. This essay should reflect skills and understanding that the candidate has developed by following the choice of Option paper. This essay may complement but must not share significant content with the essay submitted under I. above.

III. During the Michaelmas Term of the second year each candidate will attend core classes on theory and methods. The core classes will be assessed by an extended essay of between 3,000 and 5,000 words. The essay must be submitted site by 12 noon on Monday of Week Nought of Hilary Term in the second year. 

IV. Each candidate must prepare a dissertation of not more than 15,000 words on a topic in their chosen subject area. The dissertation must include a short abstract which concisely summarises in about 300 words its scope and principal arguments. The dissertation must be submitted by 12 noon of Monday of Week Nine of Trinity Term of the second year. Material submitted under I. and II. may be summarised or substantially further developed in the dissertation, but no significant part of the dissertation should reproduce or paraphrase other work submitted for examination.

 5.  A candidate who has failed to satisfy the examiners in any one of the papers may enter again to be examined on the failed assessment on one, but not more than one, subsequent occasion. This resubmission of paper will be made within twelve months of the original assessment deadline (Oxford Calendar). No candidate who has satisfied the examiners in any one of the examinations may enter again for the same examination. Candidates who have initially failed any element of assessment shall not normally be eligible for the award of merit or distinction.

6. All submitted assessments should be accompanied by a declaration that they are the candidate's own work. 

Contacts

Director of Graduate Studies: 

  • Dr Simon Skinner

Programme Convenor: Professor Richard Reid

The main office contact for all graduate matters is: graduate.office@history.ox.ac.uk

Graduate Officer: Joe Shepherd

Assistant Graduate Officer: Maya Blackwell

Teaching Officer: Callum Kelly

Admissions Officer: Liz Owen

Useful Links

History Faculty Website

Lecture List

History Faculty Canvas

History Faculty Library

Examination Regulations

Oxford Students Website

Student Self Service

Guidance for using Self Service