Reading Seventeenth Century Scotland module (HY31016)

This module will teach you how to analyse and interpret historical evidence, using sources from seventeenth-century Scotland, both in print and as digitised images of original manuscripts. It's about learning how to be a historian by thinking directly about how historians approach the challenges of interpretation presented by original sources.

What you will learn

In this module, you will:

• learn how to read seventeenth-century handwriting in a collaborative and interactive setting
• engage with a wide range of original sources containing evidence for everything from the dramatic events of high politics and war to the detail of the everyday lives of ordinary people
• work in groups and individually to develop your skills in source analysis and interpretation
• experience sources from the point of view of the archivist and learn about how they are preserved and presented to the public

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• read original manuscripts for yourself
• apply your enhanced skills in critical analysis of texts to all of your future modules
• think like a professional historian
• appreciate how manuscripts are cared for and the role archivists play in History

Assignments / assessment

• compulsory source review (on a set source) 2,000 words (30%)
• second source review (on a source of your choice) 2,500 words (40%)
• palaeography exercise (transcription of a digitised manuscript) (30%)

There is no final exam for this module.

Teaching methods / timetable

You will learn by taking a hands-on approach. This will involve taking parts in seminars and workshops.

• seminars
  • each week there is a two-hour seminar, these are mostly used for discussing the sources you will be working on for your two source reviews
  • first half of the module will focus on the source used in the Compulsory Source Review
  • second half of the module involves reviewing the range of other source types you can choose from for your Second Source Review
• workshops
  • each week you will have a one-hour workshop, most of these are devoted to palaeography (how to read old handwriting), with two weeks in the middle of semester devoted to learning about archives