COURSE CURRICULUM

The BA History degree is structured over three years, gradually building academic skills, specialist knowledge, and independent research ability. Year 1 establishes core foundations through modules that introduce major historical frameworks, global perspectives, and key debates about interpreting the past. Students learn how historians use evidence, challenge interpretations, and construct arguments, while optional modules allow exploration of diverse periods and themes, from medieval worlds and the Renaissance to film, archaeology, religion, and ancient civilisations. In Year 2, students deepen their analytical skills through core modules focused on reading, debating, and interpreting history. A wide range of optional modules encourages specialisation in areas such as medieval life, supernatural history, environmental histories, anti-colonial resistance, modern Britain, Europe, East Asia, and the Enlightenment, with opportunities for independent study. Year 3 centres on advanced research and specialist study. Students take high-level optional modules covering topics such as witchcraft, espionage, Native American history, wartime societies, migration, Victorian crime, socialism, and Japan’s Meiji transformation. The degree culminates in a supervised dissertation, enabling students to undertake original research and demonstrate expertise in a chosen area of historical study.