British History, Twentieth Century MRes

MRes programmes offer a unique opportunity to deepen and develop your knowledge of the subject by combining taught elements with research training and an individual research project. They can lead to doctoral research, and will also provide the chance for you to undertake scholarly research as an enrichment of undergraduate study or for career development purposes.

You will complete a 20,000-word thesis on an agreed topic which relates to the history of twentieth century Britain and which can be appropriately supervised by a member of academic staff. If you are interested in studying for this degree, you should contact the Department of History with a proposed topic of research so that a suitable supervisor can be found. We strongly encourage you to do this in advance of making your formal application, if at all possible: the sooner you have a clear idea of your basic research field, the better.

You will study three taught modules:

This module introduces you to the rich and diverse sources through which historians and other scholars of modern Britain have tried to understand the past. Moving beyond a focus on social and political elites, we will explore the sources through which historians have explored the contours of everyday life. In so doing our aim is to think through the ways in which we might understand the pluralistic and inchoate messiness of ordinary life and historical change. A seaside postcard can be just as useful (and important) to a historian as a work of art. Using sources like these, however, presents different problems and possibilities. This module will introduce you to these issues, and give you a broad grounding in the interpretation of diverse primary sources in studying the past.
Assessment: 4,000-word essay

This module introduces you to the major developments in historical approaches since the Second World War and to some of the major schools of, or tendencies in, historical research such as the Annales School, the English historians’ response to Marxism, cultural history, the linguistic turn, gender, history of science and critical social theory (Geertz and Foucault). The focus is on the application of the ideas to historical practice then and now.
Assessment: 4,000-word essay

This module will provide an introduction to research skills training and as sucyh will vary according to your interest and requirements. All students will receive bibliographical training and some training in IT, and other training will be offered including linguistic, palaeographical and quantitative methods.
Assessment: 4,000-word essay

The programme is completed with a 20,000-word thesis, supported by expert academic supervision.

Please note that the optional module information listed on the website for this programme is intended to be indicative, and the availability of optional modules may vary from year to year. Where a module is no longer available we will let you know as soon as we can and help you to make other choices.