Making History

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

170 hours

This subject is only available to students completing the final year of a major in history, or those in the Graduate Diploma in Arts (History). Completion of 37.5 points of level 2 subjects in history and enrolment in the Bachelor of Arts or Graduate Diploma in Arts. Bachelor of Arts students should endeavour to take the capstone in their final semester of study after completion of 25 points at third year.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject brings all students majoring in History together in a culminating experience to reflect on the past and current state of History as a discipline, as well as on its contemporary relevance and importance. Students will undertake an archivally-based research project, and will engage with issues to do with the history, politics and culture of the archival sources of historical knowledge. Emphasis will be placed on current debates in historical studies, as well as on the uses of history in the community beyond the classroom. We will consider the impact of the digital revolution on historical studies and students will undertake some basic tasks in digital history. Students will also be encouraged, both in class and in their assignments, to reflect upon their own historical research and practice over the years of their degree.

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

• understand the development of History as an academic discipline and major debates about its past, present and future;
• be capable of formulating an historical research question in relation to existing scholarship and of undertaking an independent historical research project;
• have undertaken archival research and have some understanding of the history of archives and of the past and present importance of archival research to historical studies;
• have an enhanced understanding of the relationship of academic history to other modes of engagement with the past;
• have an enhanced understanding of the ways historical knowledge can be effectively and creatively presented, in writing and in other modes, and a demonstrated proficiency in presenting their own research findings;
• have an ability to reflect on their own practice as historians;
• have an enhanced critical understanding of the variety of conceptual approaches currently used by historians;
• have an enhanced understanding of the effects of the digital revolution on historical studies;
• have a demonstrated ability to express historical arguments in writing and orally.

A 500 word written exercise 10% (due mid semester ), a 2500 word archival research project 50% (due late semester) and a 1000 word essay on weekly readings, 40% (due in the examination period).

Hurdle requirement: students must attend a minimum of 80% of tutorials in order to pass this subject. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day; after five working days, no late assessment will be marked. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

A subject reader will be available.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Making History is the capstone subject for students taking the major in history