History, BA

During Welcome Week, there will be a number of activities for you to get to know the academic team and your fellow students.

You will be told about your timetable and the groups for your classes, and you will start to gain access to our materials on Blackboard. This is the 'virtual learning environment’ for your modules where you will find all the information you need about individual modules.

You will also be assigned a Personal Academic Tutor who will be on hand throughout all your time with us to offer advice and guidance.

We schedule a Library induction for you, and you can "drop in" to meet tutors and support staff on the Friday of Welcome week, with refreshments served!

​​In semester 1, you’ll begin your journey to becoming a historian through two modules.

One of those is Going Medieval, which looks at key themes, events, and developments in Medieval and Early Modern history.

The other is, fittingly, Becoming a Historian. Here, you’ll develop key skills and an understanding of how the discipline of History works at university level and beyond.

Both of these use a combination of lectures and seminars, supported through materials made available to you through Blackboard, our virtual learning environment.

To ensure that you hit the ground running, you’ll study these alongside your Success modules.​ 

To help you prepare

We run an Instagram account which might help you connect with current and former students. There is also a student run History Society!

There are no pre-arrival tasks for you to complete – but there are things that you can do to prepare.

• Visit the Learning Hub, an online platform packed with resources to help you develop key academic skills. The hub has been developed by Learning Developers and Learning & Research Librarians with your needs in mind. Here you will find a range of modules with tips to help you develop your study, academic and research skills.
• Watch some historical programmes or read some history books, on any topic, and think about how the argument is being made.
• You could also read some historical fiction as a way of thinking about the past in different ways – one of my favourites of recent years is "Circe", a retelling of a series of powerful Greek myths from the perspective of the enchantress. It comments in fascinating ways on concepts of honour and gender in ancient Greek society too.

​​All required reading during the course will be provided to you through Blackboard or the university library. If you want to get a head start on some of the major issues you’ll be dealing with, John Arnold, History: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: OUP, 2000) is a great place to start!