10 things you need to know about studying History

For anyone considering a history degree, or anyone just wondering what it’s like to study history, here are 10 things you need to know about studying the best subject you can study at university!

1. As a history student, you have very few contact hours, which means you have a lot of time to yourself. You really have to learn to spend this time wisely!
2. But there’s a reason for all this time to yourself, and that’s because you have so much reading to do! History basically revolves around you doing a lot of reading and coming up with your own opinions on topics from absorbing various historians’ opinions.
3. Just as important as reading is writing. As a history student, you have to be comfortable writing a lot! In first year we have weekly journals to submit so we’re constantly writing about what we’re studying every week!
4. Because of all this reading and writing, the library will become your second home!
5. From studying the past, you’ll get a better understanding of the present and learn to form your own opinions on current issues.
6. You’re guaranteed to find something that fascinates you within the subject of history! It’s so broad that there’s something for everyone!
7. The subject of history contains some of the most valuable information you can ever obtain, due to the importance of certain historical events in our modern everyday lives.
8. You could contribute to history at some point in your life, and have the possibility of becoming a published historian quite easily through the humanities society here at Dundee!
9. There will never be an end to the study of history!
10. Contrary to popular belief, you will meet the most interesting people through studying history!

History, in my opinion, is one of the most important subjects you can ever study, so I hope this has encouraged some of you to be more involved in history!