BA History Fresher - Prelim Reading??

What time period were you interested in pursuing?

King's College London

London

Reply 2

Hi
Probably British medieval & early modern. Are you an existing student? I ask only because the course is changing. I was also thinking about the "new" year 1 course. I guess in the post-exam period, not many want to think about this now!!

Reply 3

The structure of the degree is changing, but the courses themselves remain similar.

British Medieval:
Bede: Ecclesiastical History of the English People
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
Vita Aewardi (Life of Edward the Confessor)

David Carpenter: The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284
Maurice Keen: England in the Later Middle Ages
Michael Clanchy: England and Its Rulers
Ann Williams: Kingship & Government in Preconquest England 500-1066
W.M. Ormrod: Political Life in Late Medieval England

Reply 4

Early Modern British History:

C.S.L. Davies: Peace, Print, and Protestantism
Conrad Russell: The Crisis of Parliaments: English History 1509-1660
Mark Kishlansky: A Monarchy Transformed: Britain 1603-1714
James A Sharp: Early Modern England: A Social History
Alison Wall: Power and Protest in England: 1525-1640
Jenny Wormald: The Seventeen Century
Joyce Youing: The Sixteenth Century

These books cover a very long timespan and it's up to you to pick and choose which ones to read and which ones to simply peruse. Not a good idea to try and read everything; it doesn't necessarily help in the long run.

Reply 5

charlotte11

Hi, I'm going to be doing history at King's too. I'm not sure that there's much point in reading a lot about specific periods, as we don't know which paper we'll be doing first - if I read about medieval Britain now but don't take that module until next summer term, I'll probably have forgotten it all. There's also the new 'Historical Skills and Sources' paper, of course, so maybe reading up on historiography would be more useful.

Reply 6

Perhaps. But if you do some reading now, at least you'll have a general idea of what's going on in the time period and know what you want to study further in depth.

Reply 7

You may find upon arrival and the preliminary discussions and introductions that you actually want to do something completely different to what you were intending on. I kinda found that although my ideas weren't totally set; you might find that you aren't inspired by the lecturers of the era you were interested in, or vice versa. Having an engaging lecturer/tutor is probably more important than studying an "interesting" period; they're all good. (almost all the lecturers i've encountered have been amazing too but it can be subjective) Personally I chose medieval B+E and the British Empire, and they turned out awesome. Old, vicious and/or far away is good. (i've just finished first year)

And to be honest, you don't reaaaaaaaaally need to do preliminary reading I don't think i know many people who did, trust me the greater appetite you have for reading once you get the right reading list the better, you don't wanna quench it by reading something unnecessary at the start because by the end of the term you're going to be feeling quite stuffed full of words. yes. Although from experience if you're returning from a gap year or something it's handy to make sure you can remember how to read and write :biggrin:

Reply 8

Although I would agree with Sijia that you should find out at least enough to know roughly what you're putting yourself in for. *cough*wikipedia*cough*

Historical skills and sources? My mate at UCL did something like that, kind of sounds like its going to be patronising and not quite as worthwhile as some actual history. what is this veritable institution coming to? :biggrin:

Glad we missed that one.. :s-smilie:

Reply 9

We're also missing 'History and Memory' from the new yr 2 program. Thank god.

Reply 10

erk? what on earth is that about?

my mate who did a historical skills course at UCL showed me that at one point he had to study the best layout for a seminar room, i mean... here's a big table for discussion, here's some bookshelves, beanbags and a coffee machine.... seriously! :eek:

Reply 11

Coffee machine? I have never even seen a decent chair in the UCL history classrooms, let alone something as advanced as a coffee maker!

Reply 12

Actually, in starting this thread I was half thinking about this "new" Historical skills and sources course in year 1.
Maybe it will be the similar to the UCL one?? But not in the workload! [lol]
They do just two essays in first term. KCL website says this course only is assessed by 10 essays over the year.
This, I assume, is in addition to the periods we choose [3]. So, will it all end up at being one essay a week [as before, or so I understand], or will the 2008 freshers have an even heavier workload than the already [in]famous essay load at KCL!? :confused:

Reply 13

The new freshers will have less; they'll be doing approx. 4 essays per course, whereas we do 6+. But I think every essay counts for them and the degree itself might not be based entirely on the final exams...But that's speculation. Apparently the professors & the office will figure everything out 2 weeks after term begins to see what'll work best.

Reply 14

Thanks.
Sijia & B Buddha: some new questions:
I need a new laptop & MS Office software. As a KCL student, would I get any special discounts [as students apparently do @ UCL], or would I be better off just going to Tottenham Court Road and trying to bag a good deal?
I know that students can get special prices on MS products, so would it be better to wait until October?

In the first year especially, do most history students get by with KCL & Senate house library facilities? I am thinking of the weekly production of essays? Do people ever get into situations where, say, they have a Monday deadline, and they are still waiting for a crucial book, say, the previous Friday?
I ask because a friend has mentioned that online there is a consolidated catalogue of all public library holdings in London. Also, apparently, some London councils have come together in a "consortium" whereby library membership of one allows you access to holdings of all others in the group. Sounds like a useful added resources, almost too good!

Reply 15

I'm afraid I know too little of computers to help you out there, but maybe another person could.

As for libraries, as I said, you probably will not be doing weekly essays and professors are considerate if they know another teacher has assigned the same topic, in which case, they'd pick another subject for you to do instead. I found that the King's and Senate House sufficed. However, you are allowed to use as reference any other library in the UoL college system. And if you take an intercollegiate course in your 2nd year, you will be allowed to borrow books from that college's library (I did that with UCL this last academic session).

All else fails, there is the British Library which has just about everything and is free.

Reply 16

what sijia said; by the way dude, I'm taking 2 of my 3 modules in 2nd year at UCL, it's worth doing right? cause otherwise I'm screwed, I'm doing their ancient near east courses; ancient mesopotamia, egypt and the selucid empire. know anything about em? they sound awesome but it's hard to tell!

don't know about buying laptops but all students are entitled to the same discounts via NUS cards so if UCL ones are, so shall you be. i've only very rarely been forced to use libraries other than KCL and senate house (although that's apparently closing this year if they can't get some funding, so this may change)

less than one essay a week? shameful!

Reply 17

I can't say anything on UCL's ancient history courses; I took a modern history course and it looks like most of their Modern History dept are on sabbatical this year.

But the Group 2 course should be the same as in Kings: you have to do the preliminary reading for the weekly seminar (100 pages minimum); otherwise, revision will be a total disaster. I worked so hard for revision it was not even funny. I will do the reading this year!

Reply 18

What's that BB: is there a risk that Senate House lib will close in sept for kcl borrowers?
If true, other sources will surely be even more relevant!

Reply 19