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How do I become a successful historian?

I have accepted my offer from the University of York and hopefully, if I get the grades, I'll be studying history there from October 2017. I would like to know what I can start doing during my degree, Masters and PhD in order to prepare for an academic career in history. I know that it'll be tough and the odds are against me. I'd just like to know if anyone has any tips so I can get off to a good start. I'm currently interested in specialising in late medieval/early modern French social or political history and I will pick up either French or Medieval Latin when completing my degree (I have some experience with French though)
Original post by icyfire99
I have accepted my offer from the University of York and hopefully, if I get the grades, I'll be studying history there from October 2017. I would like to know what I can start doing during my degree, Masters and PhD in order to prepare for an academic career in history. I know that it'll be tough and the odds are against me. I'd just like to know if anyone has any tips so I can get off to a good start. I'm currently interested in specialising in late medieval/early modern French social or political history and I will pick up either French or Medieval Latin when completing my degree (I have some experience with French though)


Are you kidding? You can't possibly know that you want to do a PhD yet, let alone know what area you want to research/specialise in. Overthinking and excessive planning will not help you, just focus on your university modules, keep an open mind, get the best grades you can and try to enjoy yourself.
Reply 2
Original post by Snufkin
Are you kidding? You can't possibly know that you want to do a PhD yet, let alone know what area you want to research/specialise in. Overthinking and excessive planning will not help you, just focus on your university modules, keep an open mind, get the best grades you can and try to enjoy yourself.


I have an open mind about what I want to study. I mentioned it in case anyone suggested that I should start doing anything specific for a certain topic.
Reply 3
I've done my BA and am currently doing my Masters in History at York, and have just accepted a funded PhD offer at Durham too - so I can say with confidence that York is a good choice!

As per preparing for an academic career, the above poster is right that it is a little early to know for definite if you will want to do a PhD. I wasn't sure until I finished my BA, and a lot of people take the MA year to really think it through before applying rather than applying for PhD right at the beginning of the MA. You're right that it's tough, as there is a degree of luck when it comes to going straight from one degree to the other without some kind of break - but recognising that and being open-minded about it is a good start. Although there is no real need to stress about your life almost 7 years down the line from right now, it will not hurt to have a long-term goal in mind - even if it's just that you want to be involved in something which uses your historical knowledge, rather than just the transferable skills (that was always my vague aim) - as it will encourage you to take up the opportunities on offer. Just don't force yourself into doing too much!

From my own experience at York and what's on offer there, there are some general tips I can give about how to make the most of your History degree, whether it is essential to your career or not: try to take a range of modules, and commit to them whilst keeping an open mind about what you might find interesting - I had gone into my BA convinced that I would love medieval history, but I'm now a fairly staunch early-modernist. Basically, try not to plan exactly what modules you're going to be doing because 1) in reality you may not get to do them, and 2) sometimes the best modules you take are the ones you just thought sounded interesting. Doing a language is a good idea; you'll get a free year of languages through the LFA programme, and having done Medieval Latin Level 1 & 2 I can recommend it, though you might not use it for research purposes until later on. There will also be a short course in reading medieval and early modern handwriting at some point (I think second year) which is another research skill worth picking up if you're serious about going on at least to an MA. Another thing worth doing is getting involved in writing outside of essays - this is a bit of a plug as I've been involved for a couple of years but there is a student magazine called 'The York Historian' which publishes student-written articles and is good CV fodder for academic and non-academic careers.

Anyway sorry for the long post, but hope this is useful!
Reply 4
Original post by flandalf
I've done my BA and am currently doing my Masters in History at York, and have just accepted a funded PhD offer at Durham too - so I can say with confidence that York is a good choice!

As per preparing for an academic career, the above poster is right that it is a little early to know for definite if you will want to do a PhD. I wasn't sure until I finished my BA, and a lot of people take the MA year to really think it through before applying rather than applying for PhD right at the beginning of the MA. You're right that it's tough, as there is a degree of luck when it comes to going straight from one degree to the other without some kind of break - but recognising that and being open-minded about it is a good start. Although there is no real need to stress about your life almost 7 years down the line from right now, it will not hurt to have a long-term goal in mind - even if it's just that you want to be involved in something which uses your historical knowledge, rather than just the transferable skills (that was always my vague aim) - as it will encourage you to take up the opportunities on offer. Just don't force yourself into doing too much!

From my own experience at York and what's on offer there, there are some general tips I can give about how to make the most of your History degree, whether it is essential to your career or not: try to take a range of modules, and commit to them whilst keeping an open mind about what you might find interesting - I had gone into my BA convinced that I would love medieval history, but I'm now a fairly staunch early-modernist. Basically, try not to plan exactly what modules you're going to be doing because 1) in reality you may not get to do them, and 2) sometimes the best modules you take are the ones you just thought sounded interesting. Doing a language is a good idea; you'll get a free year of languages through the LFA programme, and having done Medieval Latin Level 1 & 2 I can recommend it, though you might not use it for research purposes until later on. There will also be a short course in reading medieval and early modern handwriting at some point (I think second year) which is another research skill worth picking up if you're serious about going on at least to an MA. Another thing worth doing is getting involved in writing outside of essays - this is a bit of a plug as I've been involved for a couple of years but there is a student magazine called 'The York Historian' which publishes student-written articles and is good CV fodder for academic and non-academic careers.

Anyway sorry for the long post, but hope this is useful!


Thank you so much for this reply! It was really helpful. I'll definitely try out the tips you've suggested. I agree with being open minded and that's partly why I'm unsure about whether I should pick up French or Medieval Latin in October. Overall, are there more opportunities to learn Latin if I decide to study French during my degree instead? I understand that many Medieval MAs include Latin, but I'm not sure whether, if I still felt like studying medieval history, I could understand the language enough in a year before progressing onto a PhD (if I decided I wanted to)? Thanks again.
Reply 5
Original post by icyfire99
Thank you so much for this reply! It was really helpful. I'll definitely try out the tips you've suggested. I agree with being open minded and that's partly why I'm unsure about whether I should pick up French or Medieval Latin in October. Overall, are there more opportunities to learn Latin if I decide to study French during my degree instead? I understand that many Medieval MAs include Latin, but I'm not sure whether, if I still felt like studying medieval history, I could understand the language enough in a year before progressing onto a PhD (if I decided I wanted to)? Thanks again.


During my undergrad at York, which was from 2013-2016, there was no other opportunity to take Latin at all - there are no integrated language options like there are on some English Lit courses. There isn't even an integrated Latin part of my MA, though you're right that it is offered as a skills module for credit on the Medieval Studies MA. That being said, I have heard that the department is planning to re-organise the History MA to include languages, image interpretation, palaeography etc. as credited skills modules, so this might change in your time. Currently, though, LFA will be your only opportunity to learn a language officially, with some kind of certification.

I was also stuck between Latin and French as my language choice, but I would say that it is a lot easier to learn French yourself, through an app like DuoLingo, a book on reading French, or a very short, lunch-time course with LFA, than it is to learn Latin (not saying that will be easy though, just that the resources exist as it is a popular, modern language). Latin is unlike any other language in terms of teaching approach, so actual tuition in it with a regular class is something you can't replicate with other resources. Either way, I suspect by the time you were to reach MA the option might be there to take Latin as a credited skills module (fingers crossed) and at PhD level any language training you required would be catered for on a personal basis - so if you were to choose to pursue Latin I don't think you need to worry about being brilliant at it and knowing it extensively before you advance (honestly, nobody is brilliant at Latin).
Reply 6
Original post by flandalf
During my undergrad at York, which was from 2013-2016, there was no other opportunity to take Latin at all - there are no integrated language options like there are on some English Lit courses. There isn't even an integrated Latin part of my MA, though you're right that it is offered as a skills module for credit on the Medieval Studies MA. That being said, I have heard that the department is planning to re-organise the History MA to include languages, image interpretation, palaeography etc. as credited skills modules, so this might change in your time. Currently, though, LFA will be your only opportunity to learn a language officially, with some kind of certification.

I was also stuck between Latin and French as my language choice, but I would say that it is a lot easier to learn French yourself, through an app like DuoLingo, a book on reading French, or a very short, lunch-time course with LFA, than it is to learn Latin (not saying that will be easy though, just that the resources exist as it is a popular, modern language). Latin is unlike any other language in terms of teaching approach, so actual tuition in it with a regular class is something you can't replicate with other resources. Either way, I suspect by the time you were to reach MA the option might be there to take Latin as a credited skills module (fingers crossed) and at PhD level any language training you required would be catered for on a personal basis - so if you were to choose to pursue Latin I don't think you need to worry about being brilliant at it and knowing it extensively before you advance (honestly, nobody is brilliant at Latin).


Yeah that makes sense. I did French GCSE and I suppose I can build on those skills through my own resources.Thank you for all your help. Good luck with your MA and PhD!

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