Prep for History degree

Hi! I took a poorly timed gap year for 2020-21, before I study history at Lancaster (I already got in). But now I have very little to do what with no jobs going or travel opportunities. I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions on how they would have prepared for their degree if they had a free year? I've been doing some OU courses, watching documentaries, and getting the basics of historiography down. Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

ageshallnot

Original post by hoemer

Have a read through Studying History by Black and Macraild.

Reply 2

oswalds

Definitely a good call to look at some historiography, this isn't really touched on much at A-Level! I read E. H. Carr's What is History? and Richard J. Evans' In Defence of History (which is a response of sorts to Carr) in year 13 and found them to be really useful starting places. Other than that, I'd recommend just exploring areas of history that you think are interesting! In 1st year you'll probably cover quite a large range of topics as the aims is normally to bring the whole cohort onto the same page, so no need to worry about covering specific topics right now.

Reply 3

hoemer

Thanks for the recs, I'll check them out. How difficult did you find the jump between essay styles?

Reply 4

oswalds

Original post by hoemer

Thanks for the recs, I'll check them out. How difficult did you find the jump between essay styles?

University essays felt a bit weird to write at first - I think one of the biggest differences is that they don't want to hear 'here's what one person may argue, but here is the opposite view point', they want to know what you think. There's also a lot more emphasis on accessing and using primary sources to form original arguments. You have the first year to get used to writing university essays and they won't count towards your final degree mark so don't worry if you don't get the marks you want immediately (You just need to pass them all to go onto second year, 40% is the pass mark). You will probably get access to an academic writing service which can help you with this transition, and your seminar tutors and lecturers can offer advice as well. They'll also help you go through your feedback as well.