All undergraduates are encouraged to confront periods and concepts beyond those encompassed by a narrow chronological focus, which enables then to see things not just in their immediate context but also in the perspective of long-term developments. The course demands that, during your three years, you study at least one paper from each of three periods: Medieval, Early Modern and Modern.
During the first year students study a mixture of papers designed to introduce them to ways of studying the subject different from those they have previously encountered, and to equip them with skills appropriate to the work they do later in the course. At Harris Manchester, in common with many other colleges, our tutors like to ensure that undergraduates are taught within College during their first year. In your first term, you will be taught British History I, 300-1087, which many students have never studied before. At Harris Manchester this is taught as a source-based paper, and, although it focuses mainly on primary texts, it also encompasses archaeological finds, art, architecture and book production. At the same time, you will be introduced to Historiography: Tacitus to Weber: Tacitus, Augustine, Machiavelli, Gibbon, Ranke, Macaulay, Weber, which is taught in house in the first term and by tutors at other colleges in the second term. One General History paper and one optional subject complete the first year, at the end of which you will be examined on all four papers.
The second and third years comprise Disciplines of History, one more British and one General History paper, a Further and a Special Subject and a Dissertation. Some of these are assessed by submitted extended essays and some by exams at the end of the third year.
