This course aims to develop students' capacities in historical research and its writing. In particular, it will assist students to undertake a historical research project using primary source materials, and to present their work in a form appropriate to its subject matter, purpose and audience. Through a program of seminars and workshops, each student will formulate an independent research proposal, conduct research using a variety of historical sources, and construct a research output. Students will be invited to reflect on questions of theory, methodology, ethics, audience and presentation in historical research and communication.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. identify, analyse and select from a range of theoretical and historiographical approaches to interpreting the past in designing a methodologically sound historical research proposal;
2. locate and interpret a wide variety of primary source materials in libraries and archives;
3. locate and evaluate the relevant historiography;
4. provide and respond to feedback in the process of identifying and formulating solutions to complex historical questions;
5. construct a substantial research-based historical project in a form suitable to its content, stated purpose and target audience;

Required Resources

Key readings for seminars will be available in Wattle in digital form. While you may wish to produce hard-copies of these materials, you can bring them to class on a laptop or tablet. No textbooks are required. These will be available from Library reserve and in many instances downloadable in e-form. 

Students enrolled in the online class should have internet access to participate via Zoom.

There will be incidental costs (e.g. transport) for students opting to undertake work with original archival materials off-campus. 

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

• written comments
• verbal comments
• feedback to whole class, groups, individuals, focus group etc

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). The feedback given in these surveys is anonymous and provides the Colleges, University Education Committee and Academic Board with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement. The Surveys and Evaluation website provides more information on student surveys at ANU and reports on the feedback provided on ANU courses.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Introduction and Developing a Research Proposal
2	Primary Research and a Digital Revolution
3	Individual consultations
4	Written Sources and Linguistic Turns
5	Written Sources and Public Texts	Research Essay Proposal Due Thursday 26 August (5pm)
6	Visual Sources	Primary Source Evaluation (weeks 6–8) Submit 1 calendar week after you give your presentation.
7	Oral/Aural Sources
8	Physical Sources
9	Report back	Research Essay – Beta Test version. Due Thursday 07 October (5 pm)
10	Writing Workshop I.
11	Writing Workshop II.
12	Writing Workshop III.	Research Essay – Alpha Final version. Due Monday 15 November (5 pm)

Tutorial Registration

n/a

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Primary Source Evaluation	10 %	*	*	2
Research Project Proposal	10 %	26/08/2021	10/09/2021	1–3
Research Essay – Draft Version	30 %	07/10/2021	22/10/2021	1–5
Research Essay – Final Version	50 %	15/11/2021	02/12/2021	1–5

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Misconduct Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Policy and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the Academic Integrity . In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Wattle’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Assessment Task 1

Primary Source Evaluation

· Word Limit: 1500 words

· Value: 10%

· Presentation requirements: double-line spaced on numbered A4 pages in doc. or docx. format

· Due: 5pm, one calendar week after in-class presentation

                                                                                                                                      

For the written submission, please supply/attach a copy of your source (or a reasonable facsimile: photo, plan, hyperlink citation, etc.) to your work.

In each case, you are to select one of the following types of sources. You will give a 7–8 minute presentation on your source in class but your mark will be decided on the basis of the written version of your work submitted a week later. In some circumstances, students will be able to pre-record presentations but there remains an expectation that they will be available in class/online to discuss their work.

· Visual: painting, drawing, photograph, cartoon, film etc

· Oral-Aural: oral interview (original or transcribed), radio broadcast, song, speech, soundscape or dramatic performance etc

· Physical: object(s), building, landscape

The purpose of this assignment is to explore primary sources other than written documents. It involves finding a source, as well as writing a historical analysis of it. You are required to present in academic prose a succinct and sustained account of how this artifact is valuable as historical evidence.

You are encouraged to use a source that is relevant to your research essay. Reading primary sources requires that you use your historical imagination. You need to be willing to ask questions of the source (in all its dimensions), propose possible answers, and explain your reasoning. You should consult an adequate number of secondary sources to help you situate the source in its historical context and make sense of it. You need to address the following issues:

Identity: 

o   What is it, where did I find it, and how did it get to be where I found it? 

o   For what reasons was it preserved, or under what circumstances did it survive?

How was this source made, by whom, where and for what purpose?

o   How can I be sure about it? 

o   Who else has been interested in this source? 

Historical meaning:

o   What questions does it prompt? 

o   What surprises or intrigues or challenges me about it? 

o   What does its form tell us? 

o   To what context – time, place, social milieu, person, collectivity – does it belong? 

o   Has its meaning changed over time? 

o   What are the questions for which this source provides evidence from which to develop an answer or from which to speculate?

o   What historical knowledge does this source generate – what pasts does it teach me about?

Particularity vs. comparison:

o   What makes this source unique as evidence? What might I learn from this source that could not be learned from other sources? 

o   What are its limitations? What can’t learn from it that I can learn from other sources? What other sources would complement this one?

Once again, our seminars are devoted to helping you explore and critically assess these issues. The written version of your work should be informed by feedback and discussion in the relevant class.

Assessment Task 2

Research Project Proposal

· Word Limit: 1500 words (excluding bibliography)

· Value: 10%

· Presentation requirements: double-line spaced on numbered A4 pages in doc. or docx. format

Your proposal should be for an essay based on original materials, not on a synthesis of secondary analysis. It cannot cover a large and sweeping field, but needs to be a smaller topic within that broader field. It should include:

What’s it about? The topic you have chosen to study, and the questions/hypotheses for investigation, as well as an elaboration of your angle or approach to studying and answering the question/s posed.

Who has been here before? A discussion of key secondary sources that allow you to establish the intellectual or scholarly context of your investigation. This is often referred to as a review of the literature, or the historiography. It can be helpful to think about with whom – among historians – are you having a “conversation”?

What/where’s the evidence? An assessment of accessibility and size of your source base; a description of the archive you will assemble for the study; an assessment of how you will deal with the evidence in a manageable, imaginative and intelligent way.

What methods will you use? These could include theoretical approaches (e.g.: gender / comparative/ microhistory / economic / transnational / political / postcolonial etc) and analytical or interpretative methods for dealing with the evidence (close reading of language / art historical methods / reading against the grain / statistical analysis / prosopography etc).

Why does it matter? A discussion of the significance of the topic and question/s, including key theoretical or historiographical issues. This is the “so what?” question. What makes this question and topic worth studying? What will it contribute to historical knowledge and understanding? What misunderstandings or inadequate interpretations might it help to correct? Who will care?

Please append a bibliography (which does not otherwise count towards the word-limit). 

Divide it into two categories, Primary Sources and Secondary Sources. Subdivide the categories as/if appropriate. For example, Primary Sources would list original materials you’re going to consult via the National Archives, followed by those you might read in published/edited collations of material.

It is important that you make effective use of material available in, or resources accessible from, Canberra. 

While you need not read every page of every source at this stage, it is crucial that you do a fair amount of research in preparing your proposal. Do not attempt to write the proposal by using one source or by ‘re-writing’ out of another book. Spend equal amounts of time assembling your archive of primary sources and reading in the secondary scholarship – so that you can bring both of them together in your proposal.

The question of how to frame a research proposal for a historical study will be the focus of our initial seminars. Individual consultations in week 3 are designed to help you develop your ideas, develop your source base and identify the relevant historiography.

Assessment Task 3

Research Essay – Draft Version

o Word limit: 4000 words 

o Value: 30%

o Presentation requirements: double-line spaced on numbered A4 pages in doc. or docx. format

This is the product of your archival research, critical thinking, and imaginative use of sources. 

Despite the term ‘draft’ (I would have preferred ‘Beta Test’ version), it should otherwise be as finished as any essay you would submit in other courses and should therefore:

o   avoid use of dot points/notes to self or to your convenor about work still to be done.

o   follow referencing conventions and include a full bibliography.

Please be sure to:

o   head your first page with your specific research question as well as a proposed title, as if you were writing an article for publication (Sometimes a question will work well as a title; sometimes not).

o   comment directly and succinctly on the secondary literature for the topic and your essay’s relation to it (i.e. sketch out a literature review)

You may also finish with a 250–word postscript (part of the word-limit) which reflects critically on one or both of the following questions:

o  what is the most significant difference between the proposal and the draft essay? Why did you make this change?

o  what remains to be done and/or it hasn’t been possible to do in this submission but may be for the end-of semester submission?

This version of your essay is the one you and your seminar colleagues will be working on in the Writing Workshops. It’s particularly important to submit this essay on time so I can grade it and return for the sake of organisation.

Assessment Task 4

Research Essay – Final Version

· Word limit: 6000 words (see below for critical explanation)

· Value: 50%

· Presentation requirements: double-line spaced on numbered A4 pages in doc. or docx. format              

This should be a more polished and modestly longer version of the draft essay. For this version, you should aim for a paper demonstrating that you have incorporated, or at least considered, the suggestions from feedback on the Beta version and the writing workshops. 

The process of polishing is one of paying attention to how you have written your account. 

It is not unusual for essays to change significantly at this stage, especially in terms of structure, style, and explanation. By contrast, much of your raw content/sources will remain the same. You might occasionally dip back into your primary evidence for a better or extended example in support of your argument, but you should not be spending too long back in the archives doing more research at the coal-face.

Please ensure that your submitted work does the following:

o gives the essay a title at the top of the first page.

o provides a prefatory 250–500 word statement (part of the word limit) on how your work has changed since the draft version. Be as specific as possible and be certain to note how, if at all, your argument and presentation has changed. 

o presents the main essay, effectively with about 1500 words incorporated into the draft version. Depending on feedback, this might involve 

·       an expanded review of the literature and where your research contributes to the scholarship; 

·       a clearer explication of your key questions and arguments; 

·       the inclusion of further examples and quotations to support your analysis and arguments; 

·       a fuller conclusion.

o offers a complete and carefully arranged bibliography, which of course forms the basis for complete and accurate footnotes.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. At its heart, academic integrity is about behaving ethically, committing to honest and responsible scholarly practice and upholding these values with respect and fairness.

The ANU commits to assisting all members of our community to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. The ANU expects staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle and Academic Misconduct Rule, uphold high standards of academic integrity and act ethically and honestly, to ensure the quality and value of the qualification that you will graduate with.

The Academic Misconduct Rule is in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. Very minor breaches of the academic integrity principle may result in a reduction of marks of up to 10% of the total marks available for the assessment. The ANU offers a number of online and in person services to assist students with their assignments, examinations, and other learning activities. Visit the Academic Skills website for more information about academic integrity, your responsibilities and for assistance with your assignments, writing skills and study.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Individual assessment tasks may or may not allow for late submission. Policy regarding late submission is detailed below:

• Late submission not permitted. If submission of assessment tasks without an extension after the due date is not permitted, a mark of 0 will be awarded.
• Late submission permitted. Late submission of assessment tasks without an extension are penalised at the rate of 5% of the possible marks available per working day or part thereof. Late submission of assessment tasks is not accepted after 10 working days after the due date, or on or after the date specified in the course outline for the return of the assessment item. Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

Referencing Requirements

Accepted academic practice for referencing sources that you use in presentations can be found via the links on the Wattle site, under the file named “ANU and College Policies, Program Information, Student Support Services and Assessment”. Alternatively, you can seek help through the Students Learning Development website.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Diversity and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students