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1. Admissions/ Management Information
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Masters MA Early Modern History
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Postgraduate Diploma Postgraduate Diploma Early Modern HistoryPlease indicate if the Postgraduate Diploma is available as an entry point, ie. is a programme on which a student can register, is an exit award, ie. is only available to students exiting the masters programme early, or both.Exit
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Postgraduate Certificate Postgraduate Certificate Early Modern HistoryPlease indicate if the Postgraduate Certificate is available as an entry points, ie. is a programme on which a student can register, is an exit award, ie. is only available to students exiting the masters programme early, or both.Exit
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Level of qualificationLevel 7
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This document applies to students who commenced the programme(s) in:2019
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Awarding institutionTeaching institution
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University of York University of York
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Department(s):
Where more than one department is involved, indicate the lead department		Board of Studies
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Lead Department HistoryHistory
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Other contributing Departments:
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Route code
(existing programmes only)		PMHISSEMH1
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Admissions criteria
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BA 2.1
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Length and status of the programme(s) and mode(s) of study
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ProgrammeLength (years/ months) Status (full-time/ part-time)
Please select		Start dates/months
(if applicable – for programmes that have multiple intakes or start dates that differ from the usual academic year)		Mode
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Face-to-face, campus-basedDistance learningOther
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MA Early Modern History12 monthsFull-timePlease select Y/NYesPlease select Y/NNo
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MA Early Modern History24 monthsPart-timePlease select Y/NYesPlease select Y/NNo
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Please select Y/NPlease select Y/N
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Language(s) of study
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English
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Language(s) of assessment
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English
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2. Programme accreditation by Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Bodies (PSRB)
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2.a. Is the programme recognised or accredited by a PSRB
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Please Select Y/N: Noif No move to section 3
if Yes complete the following questions
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4. Programme leadership and programme team
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4.a. Please name the programme leader for the year to which the programme design applies and any key members of staff responsible for designing, maintaining and overseeing the programme.
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The Chair of the Graduate School Board and the Programme Leader for 2019/20 is Professor Miles Taylor
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4.b. Who has been involved in producing the PLOs, programme map and enhancement plan? (please include confirmation of the extent to which colleagues from the programme team /BoS have been involved; whether student views have been incorporated, and also any external input such as external examiners, employer liaison board)
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Consultation was carried out with former MA convener - Dr Natasha Glaisyer --with all members of Graduate School Board in the Department of History, including student representatives who conducted a survey of the current MA cohort.
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5. Purpose and learning outcomes of the programme
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In the MA in Early Modern History you will engage with the complex and diverse history of the early modern period. This distinctive and ambitious programme is delivered by a large group of early modern historians working on Europe and overseas empires. The programme will teach you about continuity and change across the early modern period and introduce you to the key concepts, methods and practices of the study of early modern history. You will engage with a variety of innovative approaches to a range of topics including the Reformation, early modern globalisation, gender in early modern Europe, the scientific revolution and material culture. You will be introduced to a wide range of sources and approaches drawn from the entire span of the early modern period, and thereby gain an unusual breadth of vision which transcends more conventional boundaries, not only between British and European history but also between Europe and the differing cultures encountered on Europe's frontiers and overseas. You will study option modules in history, and possibly in neighbouring departments, which offer a wealth of different disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to a wide range of early modern topics. You will also have the opportunity to develop specialist skills training such as early modern palaeography. The programme centres on skills of independent learning: for every module you will, with the guidance of your tutors, have to establish your own research agenda and find ways to address the questions you wish to answer. You will critically reflect upon and further enhance the intrinsic skills of historians: these include an ability to read extensively and intensively. You will navigate the abundant materials available to early modern historians at York (including the rich holdings of the Borthwick Institute for Archives and the York Minster Library) to contextualise your findings and develop arguments. Your presentation skills will improve considerably via practice at seminars and workshops, and by the writing of research-led essays and a dissertation. Throughout your programme you will be guided by internationally recognised historians. You will be encouraged to participate in the lively scholarly community of the department's active graduate school through attendance at relevant seminars, research training sessions and the weekly departmental research seminar. You will also have full access to the interdisciplinary Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies which provides an active programme of academic seminars, small conferences and reading groups involving both the academic staff and graduate students. The MA opens up possibilities for progression to a research degree or for further professional development.
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5.b.i. Programme Learning Outcomes - Masters
Please provide six to eight statements of what a graduate of the Masters programme will be able to do.
If the document only covers a Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma please specify four to six PLO statements in the sections 5.b.ii and 5.b.iii as appropriate.
Taken together, these outcomes should capture the distinctive features of the programme. They should also be outcomes for which progressive achievement through the course of the programme can be articulated, and which will therefore be reflected in the design of the whole programme.
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PLOOn successful completion of the programme, graduates will be able to:
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1Understand and give illuminating accounts of key changes and continuities in the religious, social, political, economic and cultural histories of the early modern period (c. 1450-c. 1750) by deploying an in-depth and extensive knowledge of relevant scholarship.

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2Engage critically with historical scholarship and select relevant scholarly contexts in which to situate research findings.
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3Design and pursue high quality research questions for essays and a dissertation, demonstrating a capacity for independent thought and action.
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4Formulate and defend historical arguments grounded in the interpretation of sources.
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5Reflect critically on how historians handle a wide variety of sources for the study of the early modern period including printed materials, manuscripts, and visual sources and choose appropriate sources and methods for independent research.
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6Respond responsibly and resourcefully to the ethical and practical issues that arise during advanced historical research, including disciplinary differences between historical methods and those deployed by cognate disciplines and be alert to the value of working across these boundaries.
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7Communicate research findings imaginatively, lucidly and succinctly using a variety of media forms including short reports, oral presentations and extended pieces of writing.
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5.c. Explanation of the choice of Programme Learning Outcomes
Please explain your rationale for choosing these PLOs in a statement that can be used for students (such as in a student handbook). Please include brief reference to:
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i) ... in what way will these PLOs result in an ambitious, challenging programme which stretches the students?
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These PLOs ensure that students have the requisite skills and knowledge in early modern history to progress onto a research degree or professional employment. They embed critical thinking at an advanced level and ensure and test that students can work independently, to develop original research-based assisgment for every module. PLO 1 and 2 stretch the students by requiring in-depth and comprehensive subject knowledge, and the ability to differentiate multiple perspectives, and attribute causation: these are techniques required for professional historians and embed transferable skills for employment in the professions. PLO 5 and 6 stretch the students by demanding critical engagement with sources and methods, and with the ethical issues that arise from research and dissemination.
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ii) ... in what way will these PLOs produce a programme which is distinctive and advantageous to the student?
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The PLOs are ambitious and challenging and thus create an MA that is distinctive in its bredth of historical knowledge, temporal and thematic; in its blending of practical, theoretical and practical skills; in its access to research resources of regional and national significance (see 99 below); and in its access to a large and diverse cohort of early modernists. York can deliver on PLO 1 and 6 because it is a large department with over 10 early modern historians and with excellent links to interdisciplinary centres of research excellent.
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iii) ... how the design of the programme enables students from diverse entry routes to transition successfully into the programme? For example, how does the organisation of the programme ensure solid foundations in disciplinary knowledge and understanding of conventions, language skills, mathematics and statistics skills, writing skills, lab skills, academic integrity
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The MA is designed for full-time and part-time students, both for those seeking a one-year, stand-alone qualification and those who are aiming to move onto a research degree. It recruits from a diverse range of backgrounds, domestic and international, taking students with both typical and non-typical qualifications, including those who are returning to study after a break. Careful attention is paid to the needs of part-time students, to ensure that their workload is balanced as far as is feasible across the two years. The core module assumes no prior knowledge of the field. For students making the transition from non-typical backgrounds the University provides additional support via the Writing Centre. The programme introduces students to cutting-edge debates from a range of different perspectives and fields; through training modules it provides advice on methodology, primary sources and digital skills, whilst optional modules allow students to develop their own specialism through seminar and essay work. Thorough knowledge of the discipline together with critical analytical and knowledge assimilation skills prepare students both for onward research and for other modes of professional study and employment, such as in the heritage sector.
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iv) ... how the programme is designed to enable students to progress successfully - in a limited time frame - through to the end of the award? For example, the development of higher level research skills; enabling students to complete an independent study module; developing competence and confidence in practical skills/ professional skills. See QAA masters characteristics doument http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/Masters-Degree-Characteristics-15.pdf
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Full-time students are grounded in historiography and methodology through core and optional modules, whilst skills training lays down the foundation for progression to the dissertation or long essay. All modules are assessed by an independently researched essay, and all of these essays are first submitted as formative work on which feedback is given, allowing for mistakes to be corrected and giving students the confidence to experiment with new approaches. The dissertation preceded by a dissertation proposal, which scopes the project and assesses its viability before progression on to substantive research and writing. Part-time students follow the same trajectory in their first year, to the point of dissertation preparation. Once they are able to progress, they complete their dissertation in their second year.
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v) ... how this programme (as outlined in these PLOs) will develop students’ digital literacy skills and how technology-enhanced learning will be used to support active student learning through peer/tutor interaction, collaboration and formative (self) assessment opportunities (reference could be made to such as blogging, flipped classroooms, response 'clickers' in lectures, simulations, etc).
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Digital literacy is covered in all aspects of the programme. Core and optional modules are based on a variety of digital sources (texts, illustrations, dedicated web-sites, video & film screening, audio), and their provenance and relevance is explained to students, with web-links embedded on the module VLE. The skills training programme deals explicitly with issues of digital literacy, for example, digitised primary sources, advanced IT techniques for historians (databases, GIS and mapping, palaeography), and dissertation preparation seminars focus on digital primary sources (Mss, printed and visual), as well as bringing in our colleagues from the Library to examine the range of digital resources available there, as well as the specific search engines needed by historians.
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vi) ... how this programme (as outlined in these PLOs) will support and enhance the students’ employability (for example, opportunities for students to apply their learning in a real world setting)?
The programme's employablity objectives should be informed by the University's Employability Strategy. This can be access on the University Staff Careers webpage
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Employability is a key outcome of the programme. Transferable skills such as the ability to master information, data collection and arguments, undertake specific research tasks, to deploy critical and independent thinking, work to deadlines, and make effective oral and written presentations are requirements of the programme. Additionally, students will come away from the programme with a range of specific specialist skills particular to the programme, for example, paleography and visual sources, that may be of use in other careers, such as in the civil service, heritage sector, teaching and media. Students can also opt to take a work placement instead of an option, which provide practical experience of applied history. Foreign language acquisition is also available. Students on this programme are also supported by the employability-linked sessions run by the HRC, and have access to careers sessions in areas related to their career aims. The independently-devised extended essays and research-led dissertation provide valuable experience in large and small-scale project management.
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vii) Consultation with Careers
The progamme proposal should be discussed with Careers (tom.banham@york.ac.uk, ext. 2686)
Please provide details of Careers' comments and your response.
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Heather Stout (Strategic Project Manager, Pedagogy and Placements) provided extensive feedback on a representative sample of PDDs (Modern History, an example of a period specific MA; Public History, our MA which is designed to be more practice backed; and Contemporary History and International Politics, one of our two interdisciplinary MA). Her feedback was positive (they 'look good') and constructively critical, asking for a stronger articulation of the value of these programmes for future workplaces. She requested further information on how careers advice is embedded in the programmes and suggested that students might be asked to reflect on the implications of skills training for future careers. These ideas are incorporated in the enhancement plan.
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viii) ... how learning and teaching on the programme are informed and led by research in the department/ Centre/ University?
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Modules are research-led, designed by leading scholars in the field, and the core module introduces students to cutting edge advances in the historiography. Students are encouraged to attend research seminars as part of their informal training and are invited to the York PhD conference as part of their first term induction. The department is one of the largest in the country and was rated second in the Research Excellence Framework. The research culture is therefore outstanding, and highly inclusive, supportive of the next generation of scholars. It links with university interdisciplinary centre, in particular the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies and the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies. Both these centres run research seminars, reading groups, student-led forums and other events that are open to all MA students that run research seminars that are open to all MA students, and which are advertised weekly, and termly. MA students also have access to resources of world-wide significant available locally and regionally, including the Borthwick Institute, the Minister library, and the British Library at Boston Spar. Students can make use of these resources to develop innovative dissertations, working with staff who have experience of using these depositories for their world-leading research.
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5.d. Progression
For masters programmes where students do not incrementally 'progress' on the completion of a discrete Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma, please summarise students’ progressive development towards the achievement of the PLOs, in terms of the characteristics that you expect students to demonstrate at the end of the set of modules or part thereof. This summary may be particularly helpful to students and the programme team where there is a high proportion of option modules and in circumstances where students registered on a higher award will exit early with a lower one.

Note: it is not expected that a position statement is written for each masters PLO, but this can be done if preferred.
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On completion of modules sufficient to obtain a Postgraduate Certificate students will be able to:
If the PG Cert is an exit award only please provide information about how students will have progressed towards the diploma/masters PLOs. Please include detail of the module diet that students will have to have completed to gain this qualification as an exit award.
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The PG Certificate, an exit award, offers a postgraduate qualification that can be completed in less time than the MA and involves the taking of course work. Students must obtain 60 credits in order to receive the certificate, for three taught modules which must include the Core module. Successfully completing these requirements will mean that students gaining a certificate will have engaged in learning towards all seven PLOs, and will have been assessed on four of those PLO.
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On completion of modules sufficient to obtain a Postgraduate Diploma students will be able to:
If the PG Diploma is an exit award only please provide information about how students will have progressed towards the masters PLOs. Please include detail of the module diet that students will have to have completed to gain this qualification as an exit award.
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The PG Diploma, an exit award which students can chose to transfer onto prior to progression, offers a postgraduate qualification that can be completed in less time than the MA and involves the writing of a 7,500-word 30-credit Long Essay rather than a 20,000-word dissertation (90 credits). Students must obtain 120 credits in order to receive the diploma; 80 credits are gained for the four 20-credit taught modules, 10 credits gained from the completion of Research Training and Dissertation Preparation module which lays down the foundation for the independent study required for the essay work and 30 credits from the Long Essay. Successfully completing these requirements will mean that students gaining a diploma will have engaged in learning towards all seven PLOs, and will have been assessed on four of those PLOs.
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6. Reference points and programme regulations
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6.a. Relevant Quality Assurance Agency benchmark statement(s) and other relevant external reference points
Please state relevant reference points consulted (e.g. Framework for Higher Education Qualifications, National Occupational Standards, Subject Benchmark Statements or the requirements of PSRBs): See also Taught Postgraduate Modular Scheme: Framework for Programme Design:
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6.b. University award regulations
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The University’s award and assessment regulations apply to all programmes: any exceptions that relate to this programme are approved by University Teaching Committee and are recorded at the end of this document.
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7. Programme Structure
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7.a. Module Structure and Summative Assessment Map
Please complete the summary table below which shows the module structure and the pattern of summative assessment through the programme.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
If the structure of your programme does not fit the usual academic year (for instance students start at the beginning of September or in January) please contact your Academic Quality Team contact in the Academic Support Office for guidance on how to represent the structure in an alternative format.

To clearly present the overall programme structure, include the name and details of each invidual CORE module in the rows below. For OPTION modules, ‘Option module’ or 'Option from list x' should be used in place of specifically including all named options. If the programme requires students to select option modules from specific lists by term of delivery or subject theme these lists should be provided in the next section (7.b).

From the drop-down select 'S' to indicate the start of the module, 'A' to indicate the timing of each distinct summative assessment point (eg. essay submission/ exam), and 'E' to indicate the end of teaching delivery for the module (if the end of the module coincides with the summative assessment select 'EA'). It is not expected that each summative task will be listed where an overall module might be assessed cumulatively (for example weekly problem sheets).

Summative assessment by exams should normally be scheduled in the spring week 1 and summer Common Assessment period (weeks 5-7). Where the summer CAP is used, a single ‘A’ can be used within the shaded cells as it is understood that you will not know in which week of the CAP the examination will take place. (NB: An additional resit assessment week is provided in week 10 of the summer term for postgraduate students. See Guide to Assessment, 5.4.a)
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Full time structure
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CreditsModuleAutumn TermSpring Term Summer Term Summer Vacation
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CodeTitle12345678910123456789101234567891012345678910111213
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20Core: ApproachesSEA
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10Research TrainingSEEA
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20Option ATSEA
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20Option STSEA
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102 x Skills, orSEA
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20placementSEA
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90dissertationSE
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Part time structures
Please indicate the modules undertaken in each year of the part-time version of the programme. Please use the text box below should any further explanation be required regarding structure of part-time study routes.
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Year 1 (if you offer the programme part-time over either 2 or 3 years, use the toggles to the left to show the hidden rows)
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CreditsModuleAutumn TermSpring Term Summer Term Summer Vacation
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CodeTitle12345678910123456789101234567891012345678910111213
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20Core: ApproachesSSEA
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10Research TrainingSSEEA
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202 x skills, orSEA
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20placementSEA
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Year 2
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CreditsModuleAutumn TermSpring Term Summer Term Summer Vacation
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CodeTitle12345678910123456789101234567891012345678910111213
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20Option ATSSEA
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20option STSSEA
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90dissertationSE
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Year 3