The Writing of Australian History

This subject is not offered in 2014.

10 hours per week: total time commitment 120 hours

Usually admission to fourth-year honours in history or the postgraduate diploma or enrolment in a relevant coursework Masters program

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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 seminar will explore the ways in which Australian history has been written. It will consider the principal forms of the literature and the chief schools of interpretation, from the establishment of Australian history as an academic discipline to the present. It will engage with some of the principal publications of leading historians, from Brian Fitzpatrick and Manning Clark through to present-day historians. Their work will be read in its cultural, intellectual and political context to explore the materials they employed and the methods they used. Particular attention will be given to the critical assessment of historical argument, so that the seminar will consider examples of historical debate and students will undertake their own appraisal of historical literature. Students will extend their knowledge of the patterns of Australian historical scholarship and develop a capacity for historiographical analysis. They will apply these skills to case studies of leading Australian historians, and to their own historical scholarship.

Students who successfully complete this subject should...

• be familiar with the development of Australian historical scholarship and the principal schools of interpretation
• be able to undertake a critical reading of different forms of historical literature and demonstrate textual and contextual skills of historical evaluation &amp.amp.amp.amp.bull.. be able to synthesise a body of historical literature

A book review 1000 words 20% and a short paper on one of the forms of Australian history ,1000 words 20%, (due at specified dates through the semester) and an historiographical essay 3000 words 60% (due at the end of semester).

Hurdle Requirement: Students are required to attend a minimum of 75% of classes in order to pass this subject. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 2% per working day. 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.

Students who successfully complete this subject should

• be able to show an advanced understanding of the changing knowledge base in the specialist area.
• be able to evaluate and synthesise the research and professional literature in the discipline.
• develop an appreciation of the design, conduct and reporting of original research