This course aims to enable students to undertake original research in history.  Questions of method and ethics in historical research and writing will be discussed, and students will undertake research exercises and a research essay.  Each student will be helped to formulate an independent research proposal based on primary evidence and will be encouraged to conduct research using a variety of traditional and non-traditional historical sources (i.e. published and archival written documents, oral history, material culture, place and cultural landscape, and visual sources such as photographs and film).  Excursions will be arranged to various relevant institutions in Canberra (the National Library, the War Memorial, National Film and Sound Archive, the National Museum of Australia, the National Archives of Australia, the Noel Butlin Archives) and staff at each of these institutions will supply an introduction to the strenth of the holdings, relevance to historical research and methods of access to the collections.  Finally, a series of writing workshops will encourage students to experiment with historical writing, reflect on their work and offer each other constructive criticism and support

Quota: Because of the fieldwork component, there is a quota of 30 students in this course.  Priority will be given to students intending to proceed to History Honours.  All students wishing to enrol must have permission of the Convenor.

Writing: The primary goal of the Researching and Writing History course is to introduce students to the practices, problems, and strategies involved in the writing of history. With this goal in mind, this unit will address issues of style, narrative, argument, and the ethical and literary decisions involved in the movement from the collection of evidence to the written essay. Accordingly, students in the course will acquire the ability to:

• develop a research proposal.
• frame an argument.
• use evidence in generating a readable narrative.
• see writing as a process of creation and revision.

Research Skills: Many of the tasks involved in historical research continue to reflect traditional skills. These skills involve the finding and use of paper, microfilm, and microform documents, the use of collection finder's guides and hard-copy bibliographies, and the use of published materials that may be considered too ephemeral or unwieldy to be made available electronically. In other words, the ability to master traditional (library or archive-based) research will continue to be necessary for the historian. Accordingly, students in History 2139/6506 will practise:

• navigating the library (both virtually and physically).
• using finder's guides for document collections.
• undertaking archival research.
• analysing and assessing evidence.
• emphasising sources as evidence for argument.

Information Technology and Management: Development of electronic resources continues apace. Yet this does not necessarily mean that they are all equally reliable or entirely trustworthy when it comes to historical research. History 2139 aims to sharpen your critical skills in terms of:

• using electronic databases, bibliographies, and text storage sites to best effect.
• navigating and discriminating between resources posted on the internet.

a 4,000-word research essay (in three stages)  (80%); and one exercise interpreting source material (750 words)  (20%).

Completion of 18 units in History.

HIST3005 Third Year Honours Seminar

Howell, M., & Prevenier, W., From Reliable Sources, Cornell, 2001.