Master of Studies in History (Part-Time)

The regulations of the Board of the Faculty of History are as follows:

1.        Candidates for this degree must follow for at least six terms a course of instruction and directed research and must, upon entering the examination, produce from their society a certificate to that effect.

2. Candidates must attend such lectures, seminars and classes as their lead supervisor shall determine. In addition to the formally examined programme elements described below, each candidate will be expected to attend and complete in-course requirements for a series of skills options based on a schedule to be published from year to year by the Faculty's Graduate Studies Committee. The candidate's individual programme, agreed with their supervisor, will be subject to approval by the Director of Graduate Studies, in consultation with the programme convenor, by Friday of Week One of Michaelmas Term; subsequent changes must be agreed by the Directorprogramme of Graduate Studiesconvenor not later than Friday of Week Three of Hilary Term. Class teachers will report to the Chair of Examiners on the candidate's attendance and participation, and, where appropriate, test results, not later than Monday of Week Nine of Hilary Term, except in the case of three-term language classes where the respective reporting deadline will be Monday of Week Nine of Trinity Term.

3. Candidates must apply for and follow a particular named strand of the programme, chosen from a list published by the Faculty by 1 September of the year before entry.    They may only change to a different strand with the written agreement of their supervisors, and of the Convener of the MSt in History and the Director of Graduate Studies.

4. The final examination for candidates in History shall comprise (i) one extended essay based on the programme’’s core component, plus one annotated bibliography and one dissertation proposal, (ii) one extended essay based on an Option, and (iii) a dissertation of not more than 15,000 words.

• I.        During Michaelmas Term of the first year each candidate shall attend two elements of a core programme, comprising introductory lectures and strand-specific classes on sources and historiography. These elements will be assessed by an annotated bibliography of up to 2,500 words and a dissertation proposal of no more than 800 words. The bibliography and proposal must be uploaded to the Assignments section of the MSt in History Weblearn site by 12 noon on Monday of Week One of Hilary Term of the first year. The submission will require the candidate to make a declaration indicating that it is their own work. The assessment of the annotated bibliography and the dissertation proposal will be on a pass/fail basis only, and candidates who fail one of these elements will be given the opportunity to submit a revised version in the course of their programme.

• II.     In Hilary Term of the first year candidates must choose one Option course, normally from the Options for the Master of Studies in History. The choice of Option must be discussed with the candidate’’s supervisors and will depend on the candidate's training objectives or dissertation project. Details of available Options are published in course handbooks. Candidates wishing to take an Option paper from another programme offered by the History Faculty, and exceptionally, by other Faculties, may do so with the permission of the Programmeprogramme Convenorconvenor, the person responsible for the delivery of the requested option/advancedOption paper, their supervisor,. and the Director of Graduate Studies.  Such candidates will be assessed according to the regulations with respect to the form of assessment and deadlines governing that optionOption (iei.e. the regulations of the programme under which the AdvancedOption paper is offered), but the modes of assessment and deadlines for the other course elements of the programme for which the candidate is registered will remain in force. This part of the programme will be assessed either by one extended essay of between 86,000 and 10-7,000 words or by two extended essays of 4-5,000 words each, depending on the Option taken. The essay should be uploaded to the Assignments section of the MSt in History Weblearn sitesubmitted by 12 noon on Friday of Week NineTen of Hilary Term of the first year. The submission of the essay will require the candidate to make a declaration indicating that it is their own work. This essay should reflect skills and understanding that the candidate has developed by following the choice of Option paper. This essay may complement but must not share significant content with the essay submitted under I. above. Teaching may not be available for all the Advanced Options each year.

• III. During the Michaelmas Term of the second year each candidate will attend core classes on theory and methods. The core classes will be assessed by an extended essay of between 3,000 and 5,000 words. The essay must be uploaded to the Assignments Section of the MSt in History Weblearnsubmitted site by 12 noon on Monday of Week OneNought of Hilary Term in the second year. The essay should be accompanied by a declaration that they are the candidate’s own work. 

• IV.       Each candidate must prepare a dissertation of not more than 15,000 words on a topic in their chosen subject area. The dissertation must include a short abstract which concisely summarises in about 300 words its scope and principal arguments. The dissertation must be uploaded to the Assignments section of the MSt in History Weblearn sitesubmitted by 12 noon of Monday of Week Nine of Trinity Term of the second year and should be accompanied by a declaration that it is the candidate’s own work. Material submitted under I. and II. may be summarised or substantially further developed in the dissertation, but no significant part of the dissertation should reproduce or paraphrase other work submitted for examination.

  5.      A candidate who failshas failed to satisfy the examinationexaminers in any one of the papers may enter again to be examined on the failed assessment on one, but not more than one, subsequent occasion. This resubmission of paper will be permittedmade towithin retaketwelve itmonths onof the original assessment deadline (Oxford Calendar). No candidate who has satisfied the examiners in any one furtherof occasionthe only,examinations may enter again for the same examination. Candidates who have initially failed any element of assessment shall not laternormally thanbe oneeligible year afterfor the initialaward attemptof merit or distinction.

6. All submitted assessments should be accompanied by a declaration that they are the candidate's own work.