COURSE CURRICULUM

The History BA at Sheffield offers a broad and flexible study of the past, encouraging students to develop critical thinking, research skills, and historical understanding across time and space. In the first year, students establish foundational knowledge through core modules such as History Workshop, Thinking Historically, and Beyond Borders? A Deep History of the Connected World, with additional modules exploring empire, everyday life, early modern Europe, and archaeology. This year focuses on building confidence, analytical skills, and familiarity with historical methods. In the second year, students deepen their understanding through core modules like History and Historians and History and the Public, while optional modules allow exploration of diverse periods, regions, and themes, including Eastern Africa, Russia, China, Britain, and global crises, as well as issues of gender, race, and social change. In the final year, students consolidate their learning through a dissertation, undertaking independent research on a topic of their choice, and select from advanced optional modules covering areas such as British social and cultural history, European and global conflicts, empire and decolonisation, and late medieval Europe. The degree develops students’ ability to interpret complex sources, appreciate diverse perspectives, and apply historical knowledge to contemporary issues, preparing them for careers in research, heritage, education, policy, and other fields where critical analysis and contextual understanding are essential.