Dr Kirsten Schulze SAR 2.12

The dissertation is an exercise in using primary sources to write on a precise topic in International and Asian History. The only formal limit on the choice of subject is that it must fall within the syllabus - i.e. it has to be a topic in International History with an Asian angle, and the dissertation has to be a study in the discipline of history. Dissertations that represent contributions to disciplines outside history, such as International Relations or Politics, will not be approved or accepted. Dissertations must therefore be based substantially on a critical analysis of primary sources, and candidates should aim to include an element of originality in the argument and/or the treatment of the evidence. The subject must involve an element of engagement with the analysis of relations between states and/or societies; alternatively it may involve the study of the history of attitudes and/or policies in one society towards others or comparative studies involving at least two states and/or societies. The topic must not be confined purely to the domestic affairs of one society or state. The dissertation supervisor is the final judge of whether a particular topic falls within the syllabus.

4 hours of workshops in the MT.

Teaching is provided through the dissertation workshop sessions and through the individual supervision of dissertation projects by supervisors in the Department of International History. Students should use the Michaelmas Term to find, decide on, and develop a suitable dissertation topic and consider possible dissertation supervisors. Help with this process is available from the students' personal advisers. Students are then required to complete the Dissertation Proposal Form and to seek approval for their project from their dissertation supervisor. It is the students' responsibility to locate a supervisor. They should meet with the potential supervisor in late Michaelmas term (every member of staff has weekly office hours) to discuss their dissertation proposal, and then ask the supervisor to sign the Dissertation Proposal Form before the published deadline. It is the students' responsibility to contact their supervisor to arrange at least one but no more than three meetings in the Summer Term to discuss their dissertation. At this stage the supervisor will be prepared to read and give feedback on a draft table of contents and a draft chapter, or a section or a detailed plan of the dissertation of no more than 1,000 words. Students should note that if they submit a dissertation proposal after the deadline the Teacher Responsible for the course may need to allocate them to a non-subject-specialist supervisor, if no specialists are available.

Dissertation (100%, 10000 words) in September.