Course Handbook - Faculty of History - University of Cambridge

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Course Handbook
MPHIL IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY
2010-11

List of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Page No.
1 CONTACT POINTS IN THE FACULTY
1.1 The MPhil Office 1
1.2 The MPhil in Economic and Social History - administration 1
1.3 MPhil Update 1
1.4 Postgraduate administration within the Faculty of History 1
1.5 How the administration works for the MPhil in Economic and Social 2
History; whom to contact about what and when
2 THE COURSE
2.1 Residence requirements 3
2.2 Overview of Course 3
2.2.1 Introduction to Research Resources in History 3
2.2.2 Part I 3
2.2.3 Part II 5
2.2.4 MPhil Classes and Lectures 6
2.2.5 Research seminars in Economic and Social History 7
2.3 Assessment Procedures 8
2.3.1 Part I 8
2.3.2 Part II 9
2.4 Advanced Courses 10
2.5 Presentation and Submission of Essays and Dissertation 13
2.6 Deadlines for Submission 14
APPENDIX A: LIST OF ACADEMIC STAFF ASSOCIATED 15
WITH THE MPHIL
APPENDIX B: MARKING AND EXAMINING SCHEME 17
APPENDIX C: NOTES ON THE APPROVED STYLE 25
FOR MPHIL DISSERTATIONS

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the MPhil in Economic and Social History. We hope your time here will prove to be both
enjoyable and worthwhile. Graduates can sometimes feel disoriented in Cambridge for the first few weeks.
This handbook is intended to assist you in settling into the MPhil. For information about contact points
within both the university and faculty, library and computing facilities, supervision, graduate training,
financial assistance, maps and useful web addresses, please consult the Faculty of History General
Graduate Handbook 2010.
Please make sure that you attend the induction meeting for all MPhil in
Economic and Social History students at 9.00 am on Wednesday 6 October in
the Faculty Board Room (1 st floor) of the Faculty of History
Please bring this course handbook, and the General Graduate Handbook, with you to the induction
meeting.
I look forward to meeting you.
Professor MJ Daunton
Chairman, MPhil in Economic and Social History

1 CONTACT POINTS IN THE FACULTY
1.1 The MPhil Office
Your main point of contact in the History Faculty (on West Road) will be Miss Tessa Blackman, the
administrator for the MPhil in Economic and Social History, in the MPhil Office. This is on the 4 th
floor of the History Faculty building. You will visit this office quite often; all essays and
dissertations as well as titles are handed in here.
Tel. (7)48152 or e-mail ecsoc@hist.cam.ac.uk.
The office is open Mondays to Thursdays: 9am to 5pm and Fridays 9am to 4.30pm. THE MPHIL
OFFICE IS CLOSED FROM 1PM – 2 PM (Monday – Friday).
1.2 The MPhil in Economic and Social History – administration
The Sub-Committee for this MPhil consists of senior academics. It is the body which oversees the
running of the programme, under the ultimate authority of the Degree Committee for the Faculty of
History. The current Academic Secretary is Dr N. Mora-Sitja. If you need to contact her, you
should do so through the MPhil Office. Most members of the sub-committee, including the
Academic Secretary, are based in their Colleges.
Professor MJ Daunton, Chairman
Dr N Mora-Sitja, Academic Secretary
Dr JC Muldrew
Dr S Horrell
Dr L Shaw-Taylor
Miss T Blackman, Administrative Secretary
Faculty of History / Trinity Hall
Faculty of History/ Downing College
Faculty of History / Queens’ College
Faculty of Economics
Faculty of Geography
Faculty of History, MPhil Office
(email ecsoc@hist.cam.ac.uk)
1.3 MPhil Update
The Degree Committee Office regularly produces an MPhil Update, which is circulated by email
only, to all MPhil students. A copy of the MPhil Update is also put on the Graduate Noticeboard
(located in the Faculty's Graduate Research Room) and on the Faculty’s website. Previous editions
of the MPhil Update can be viewed on the History Faculty's website. It is important that you read the
MPhil Update because it contains up-to-date information regarding funding, events and issues that
have been notified to the Degree Committee Office.
1.4 Postgraduate Administration within the Faculty of History
The Faculty of History has two officers responsible for Graduate Studies, the Director of Graduate
Studies and the Director of Graduate Training. The Director of Graduate Studies is the executive
officer in charge of the Degree Committee Office and the Director of Graduate Training is the
executive officer in charge of the MPhil Office. The latter is responsible for monitoring all MPhil
courses administered by the Faculty of History. He oversees matters relating to MPhil students from
admission through to examination. He reports directly to the Degree Committee of the Faculty of
History, which is the ultimate authority for all decisions affecting graduate students. The current
Director of Graduate Training is Dr Carl Watkins.
Chairman, History Degree Committee
Director of Graduate Studies
Director of Graduate Training
Dr M Goldie
Dr J Chatterji
Dr C Watkins, email: graduatestudies@hist.cam.ac.uk
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Senior Secretary, History Degree
Committee
Miss S M Willson – tel. 335305 email:
degree-committee@hist.cam.ac.uk
The Degree Committee Office deals with all matters relating to postgraduate funding (both PhD and
MPhil) therefore, queries and questions about funding for MPhil and PhD courses should be
addressed to the Degree Committee Office: History Faculty Building, West Road, Cambridge, CB3
9EF.
1.5 How the administration works for the MPhil in Economic and Social History; whom to contact
about what and when
Normally, you are expected first to approach your supervisor about matters relating to your
academic work at Cambridge. If you have not already done so, you should contact your supervisor
to arrange a meeting as soon as possible. The supervisor’s responsibility is to work closely with you
to prepare you for writing your MPhil dissertation.
Non-academic questions should be addressed to the Graduate Tutor of your College, who will
normally be the best person to approach about visa and passport problems, dealings with grant
awarding bodies, and housing and financial problems in general. The Degree Committee does not
deal with these sorts of issues.
Queries about the Faculty’s Graduate Training Course should be addressed to the Faculty’s Director
of Graduate Training, Dr C Watkins (graduate-studies@hist.cam.ac.uk).
The administration of the MPhil in Economic and Social History is managed by the MPhil Sub-
Committee, but under the general oversight of the History Faculty Degree Committee, which has
responsibility for all the Faculty’s postgraduate programmes. As Academic Secretary for the MPhil,
Dr Natalia Mora-Sitja handles the day-to-day administrative work of the programme, and there may
be occasions during your time here when an informal conversation with the Academic Secretary of
the MPhil may lead to the quick solution of some of the problems affecting your work. The
Academic Secretary is here to give you advice about your work in addition to assistance available to
you from the academic personnel with whom you are in direct contact. However, many important
items of business such as a change of supervisor, approving dissertation titles, leave to continue to
the PhD, appointing examiners and scrutinizing examination results are formal, and must be handled
by the MPhil Sub-Committee and/or the Degree Committee. Because Sub-Committee meetings
take place only two or three times a term, it is important for you to deal with administrative
requests in a timely manner.
Other questions about Faculty matters can be addressed to Miss T Blackman, the Administrative
Secretary in the MPhil Office who will be happy to try to answer questions. Please e-mail her with
your questions in the first instance on ecsoc@hist.cam.ac.uk. If you do not yet have access to e-mail
(although all research students are allocated an e-mail address and expected to use it), the office’s
telephone number is 748152 (or 48152 if you are using the university telephone network). Finally, in
some delicate cases you might wish to seek the help of an Ombudsperson, see the General Graduate
Handbook for information.
2 THE COURSE
2.1 Residence Requirements
The academical year in Cambridge is divided into three terms, Michaelmas, Lent and Easter; in each
term, the teaching takes place only in the nine-week period known as ‘Full Term’. The dates for the
current year are Michaelmas Term: Tuesday 5 October - Friday 3 December 2010; Lent Term:
Tuesday 18 January - Friday 18 March 2011; Easter Term: Tuesday 26 April - Friday 17 June 2011.
The University requires that all students ‘keep’ three terms of residence before they can be awarded
a degree.
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During the Christmas and Easter Vacations lectures and classes do not occur and undergraduates are
not in residence. Graduate students are required to remain in residence continuously throughout the
academical year, and are expected to work on their research essays and dissertation during the
Christmas and Easter ‘vacations’, apart perhaps from brief holiday breaks. Residing in Cambridge
means, for research students and those taking most other graduate courses, living within 10 miles
from the centre of the city. (It is your College which must certify to the University that you have
fulfilled the residence requirements. If you have further questions, or need fuller information, you
should contact your College authorities.)
It cannot be emphasised too strongly that the MPhil course has a very tight timetable, and that
it is vital that you work consistently throughout your course.
2.2 Overview of Course
2.2.1 Introduction to Research Resources in History
2.2.2 Part I
NOTE: THESE COURSES ARE LISTED IN A SEPARATE BOOKLET ENTITLED
GRADUATE TRAINING HANDBOOK
This series of classes for all graduate students is designed to help students to discover what
printed and non-printed sources exist anywhere in the world relating to their fields of
interest. The course offers lectures/classes on topics such as ‘Preparing a Bibliography’,
‘Reading early printed books’, ‘Oral history’, ‘Images’, ‘History and literature’, ‘Working
on Early Modern and Modern British Records’, ‘Locating Research Materials on
Continental European Research Topics’, ‘Locating Research Materials on Extra-European
Research Topics’. There are sessions devoted to the resources specifically in Cambridge,
including the University Library, the collections of the Royal Commonwealth Society, the
Faculty Library, the Churchill College Archives Centre and in other local research centres.
A visit to the National Archive is also arranged.
Central Concepts in Economic and Social History
This class meets once a week on Mondays at 10am to 12 throughout Michaelmas. It consists
of a series of seminars/classes in two main areas: (a) Social Theory and Social History, and
(b) Economic Theory and Economic History, covering such topics as social stratification,
households, family and kinship, health and welfare, gender, social capital, neoclassical
economic growth theory, technological change, consumer behaviour and consumption,
demography, and globalisation.
Introductory reading:
D.C. Coleman, History and the Economic Past (1987)
D.A. Redman, Economics and the Philosophy of Science (1991)
A. Giddens, Sociology (1989)
M. Olson, The Logic of Collective Action (1965)
C.I. Jones, Introduction to Economic Growth (1998)
E.L. Jones, The European Miracle (1987)
R.D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New
York: 2000)
M. Granovetter and R. Swedberg (eds.), The Sociology of Economic Life (1992)
P. Joyce (ed.), Class (1995)
J. Scott, Gender and the Politics of History (1988)
R. Fox (ed.), Technological Change: Methods and Themes in the History of Technology
(1998)
M. Anderson, Approaches to the History of the Western Family, 1500-1914 (1980)
J. Elster (ed.), Rational Choice (1990)
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M. Foucault, Power/Knowledge (ed. C. Gordon, 1980)
L. Hunt (ed.), The New Cultural History (1989)
P. Burke, History and Social Theory (1992)
Q.R.D. Skinner (ed.), The Return of Grand Theory in Human Sciences (1990)
W. Kula, The Problems and Methods of Economic History (2001)
Quantitative Research in History
This class meets once a week in Lent (for 3 weeks) on Mondays at 10am to 12. It consists of
a series of classes to review and discuss the use of quantitative methods by economic and
social historians. They are not formally assessed within the course, but attendance is
compulsory.
Introductory reading:
C. Feinstein and M. Thomas, Making History Count (2002)
P. Sharpe, History by Numbers: an Introduction to Quantitative Approaches (2000)
W.O. Aydelotte, A.G. Bogue, and R.W. Fogel (eds.), The Dimensions of Quantitative
Research in History (1972)
Social Sciences Research Methods Course (SSRMC)
These are a set of research training courses in the social sciences organised on an
interdepartmental basis between three administrative Schools of the University: the School
of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Physical Sciences, and the Judge Business
School. The programme is a shared platform for providing research students with a broad
range of quantitative and qualitative research methods skills that are relevant across the
social sciences.
The programme offered by the Joint Schools (JSSS) consists of a series of core modules and
open access seminars. The core modules are grouped in three categories: Foundations in
Statistics, Advanced Statistics, and Qualitative Methods. They focus on giving students
basic IT skills and introducing them to statistical, quantitative and qualitative research
design, providing the foundations for a research career in the social sciences.
The courses offered by the Joint Schools run through Michaelmas and Lent Terms, with a
deadline to submit the relevant workbooks in late April. The modules are taught through a
combination of lectures and practical classes by staff from several University Departments
and Faculties.
PLEASE REFER TO THE JOINT SCHOOLS HANDBOOK FOR DETAILS, DATES
AND DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSES.
Students doing the MPhil in Economic and Social History are entitled to take as many
modules as they wish, but in order to satisfy the requirements of the MPhil they must
attend and submit the workbooks/assignments of at least five modules, as follows:
• SPSS and Descriptive Statistics (four sessions, Michaelmas)
o 1. Introduction to SPSS and basic statistical concepts
o 2. Statistical models and elementary data analysis with SPSS
o 3. Management of data and output
o 4. Getting the best out of SPSS
• Linear Regression (four sessions, Lent)
o 1. Review of covariance, correlations and comparison of means.
Introduction to bivariate linear regression
o 2. Multivariate linear regression
o 3. Assessing regression models.
o 4. Overview and summary of topics in regression
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• Comparative Historical Methods (four sessions, Michaelmas)
o 1. Classics
o 2. Justifications I
o 3. Justifications II
o 4. State of the Art
• Introduction to database design and use: Access (three sessions, Lent)
o 1. Introduction to designing a relational database
o 2. Creating tables and queries
o 3. Useful operations
• One other module of your choice
Students are advised to check with their supervisors whether it would be advisable to attend
other modules within the Social Science Research Methods Course relevant to their
research, and they are encouraged to take as many modules as they wish beyond those
required for the MPhil. For students with no prior training in statistics, it is advisable to
attend the ‘Foundations in Statistics’ module (three sessions, Michaelmas).
Advanced Courses in Economic and/or Social History
Two advanced papers from the following list of subjects must be taken over the course of
Michaelmas and Lent Terms.
1) Topics in the history of economic and social thought
2) British industrialization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
3) Institutions and development (taught by the MPhil in Development Studies)
4) International Political Economy since 1945: Bargaining over Ideas and Interests
5) The origins and spread of financial capitalism
6) Gender and development
7) Language and society (a course taught by the MPhil in Early Modern History)
8) The economic policies of right-wing dictatorships in the era of mass politics
2.2.3 Part II
Dissertation
The formation and execution of the dissertation project on a subject in economic and/or
social history is the largest and most important part of the student’s work in the MPhil in
Economic and Social History. It is expected that it will account for approximately 60 per
cent of the student’s time over the eleven months of the course. Candidates are required to
design, research and write up a dissertation on a subject in the fields of economic and/or
social history that has been approved by the Faculty of History. The dissertation must be
between 15,000 and 20,000 words in length, exclusive of footnotes, references and
bibliography. Candidates must demonstrate that they can present a coherent historical
argument based upon a secure knowledge and understanding of primary sources and they
will be expected to place their research findings within the existing historiography of the
field within which their subject lies. The dissertation must represent a contribution to
knowledge, considering what may be reasonably expected of a capable and diligent student
after eleven months of MPhil level study.
Dissertation Titles must be submitted to the MPhil Office by 12 noon on Friday 14
January 2010
Please see Appendix B ‘MPhil in Economic and Social History – Marking and Examination
Scheme’ and Appendix C ‘Notes on the Approved Style for MPhil Dissertations’.
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2.2.4 MPhil Classes and Lectures
The schedule below is just an orientation; it does not include for example Advanced Papers, which
are scheduled by the course organisers, or the fifth module of the JSSS, which is the students’
choice. Students are advised to double-check the arrangements for each course at the beginning of
the year.
MICHAELMAS TERM 2010
Time Lecture Venue
Mondays 10.00-12.00
Starting 11 October
(eight classes)
Central Concepts in Economic
and Social History
History Faculty, Room 7
Wednesday 6 October, 16.00-
17.00
SSRMC
General Introduction
Babbage Lecture Theatre,
New Museums Site
Mondays, 16.00-18.00 OR
Tuesdays, 14.00-16.00
Starting 8 or 9 November
Wednesdays, 14.00-16.00
Starting 13 October
Thursdays, 5-6.30pm
SSRMC
SPSS and Descriptive
Statistics
SSRMC
Comparative Historical
Methods
Core Seminar in Economic and
Social History
Titan Rooms, New
Museums Site
Lecture Room 1, Mill
Lane
Trinity Hall
LENT TERM 2011
Time Lecture Venue
Mondays 10.00-12.00 Quantitative research in History Faculty, Room 7
starting 24 January
History
Mondays, 14.00-16.00 OR SSRMC
Titan Rooms, New Museums
16.00-18.00
Linear Regression
Site
Starting 21 February
Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday,
14.00-17.00
starting 17 January
Research Methods (JSSS),
Introduction to database design
and use
Titan Rooms, New Museums
Site
Mondays and Thursdays
Timetable of Deadlines
Research Seminars in
Economic and Social History
Refer to Research Seminars
programmes in the Faculty
website
Submission Date
for Central
Concepts Term
Paper
Submission
Date
for Dissertation
Titles
Dates for Advanced
Course Timed Essays
Submission Date
for Dissertation
Proposal Essay
Submission
Date
for Dissertation
Friday 3
December 2010
Friday 14
January 2011
Monday 21 to Monday 28
March 2011 (Submission
Monday 28 March by
5.00pm)
Monday 9 May
2011
Friday 19
August 2011 by
12.30 pm
If a viva is necessary it will generally be held in the last two weeks of September.
2.2.5. Research Seminars in Economic and Social History
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There are several research seminars in Economic History going on at Cambridge during Full
Term: Early Modern Economic and Social History, Modern Economic and Social History,
Quantitative History, History and Economics, and Medieval Economic History. These
involve scholars -from both within and beyond Cambridge- presenting their research
(almost invariably still unpublished) to an audience of graduate students and senior
members of the Faculty, followed by an open discussion. Additionally, there is a Graduate
Workshop in Economic and Social History organised by graduate students and where
graduate students present their work. They are all wonderful opportunities to witness
research in progress, to understand how different methodologies are applied to specific
research questions, to learn about the latest research trends within the discipline and to
understand how to formulate questions and participate in discussions about other people’s
work, all of these important skills even on fields away from one’s own.
The programs are updated early each term in the History Faculty website.
Students for the MPhil in Economic and Social History are expected to attend these
seminars regularly, in particular the Core Economic and Social History Seminar in
Michaelmas Term (Thursdays, 5pm, Trinity Hall).
2.3 Assessment Procedures
2.3.1 Part I (40%)
Central Concepts and Problems of Economic and Social History and Theory (10%)
This is a term paper of up to 3,000 words based on questions dealing with themes discussed
in the sessions, and handed in at the end of Michaelmas term. There will be approximately
two questions per session. The purpose of these essays is to examine a central problem or
issue discussed in the relevant secondary literature in a critical way. They should
demonstrate sound knowledge of the literature in question, but should be more than a
narrative summary. The essays are generally quite broad ranging and should be based both
on readings listed in the individual bibliographies for each session as well as additional
more specific readings supplied by the session teachers.
Research Methods (10%; composed of Research Methods Training course -6%- and
Dissertation Proposal Essay -4%-)
Students will submit workbooks for the Research Methods Training Modules. These are
marked by the instructors involved in the Joint Schools Social Science Research Methods
Course on a fail, pass or high pass basis. For the purposes of its marking scheme, this MPhil
adopts the following convention: fail = 55%, pass = 67%, and high pass =75%. Non
submission of a workbook will count as a fail on that workbook. Students must receive a
majority of pass marks on their workbooks to pass this part of the course. A majority of
high passes will result in a mark of 75%. There is also an essay required for some of the
Modules. NOTE: FOR THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY MPHIL THIS IS
THE SAME AS THE DISSERTATION PROPOSAL ESSAY BELOW, in which
students should endeavour to apply conceptual knowledge learned in the Research Methods
sessions to their own research plans. It should be handed in to the MPhil office in the
History Faculty.
Dissertation Proposal Essay (4%)
This essay, of up to 4,000 words, is intended to help students define the scope of the
dissertation as well as the sources and methods to be adopted. It is primarily an
historiographical investigation of the secondary literature, which contextualises the topic
which is to be investigated, in the dissertation. This is done by drawing on a relevant aspect
of the qualitative and quantitative methods teaching in the joint schools’ courses. The
approach should place the planning of research in a broad context that defends choices of
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methods. The student should also deal with how their proposed research will attempt to
answer the questions arising from the historiographical review, but it is not intended that the
course of research should be described in detail here (this should be done with the
dissertation supervisor).
There will be a session where students will have a 20 minute presentation on this essay to
the whole group of MPhil students for feedback and discussion before it is handed in for
marking. This session will take place on 28 April 2011 (in the afternoon) and the paper will
be submitted approximately one week later. In these presentations, students are expected to
explain to the audience what their research question is, how it contributes to existing
literature on the topic, and what sources and methodology will be used.
All work (essays and dissertations) apart from the Social Science Research Methods Course,
is double marked. Examiners for all work award marks independently. See Appendix B for
details of the marking scheme.
Advanced Papers (10% each)
These papers are taught using a mixture of lectures and seminars amounting to at least 16
contact hours each, and are based on more specialized topics than the central concepts essay,
and should be more specific. All Advanced Papers are examined in the last week of Lent
Term (NOTE: The week after 'Full Term' finishes) by term papers based on the specific
topics discussed in the course. Both of these essays, however, will be written during a
limited time period of one week. The question papers will be picked up on Monday 21
March at 9:00 and have to be handed in by 5:00 on Monday 28 March. Each essay topic will
be chosen from 4 questions. These essays will be 3-4000 words in length each and will be
based on a topic or topics discussed in the course, and students will be expected to cite a
reasonable selection of secondary or/and primary sources discussed. Two copies of each
essay are required. The essays should normally be word-processed, double-spaced, and
written with footnotes and a bibliography, although examiners should take into
consideration the limited amount of time available for each essay.
2.3.2 Part II
Any candidate who fails Part I of an MPhil course may apply to the Board of Graduate
Studies for transfer to the Certificate of Postgraduate Study.
Dissertation (60%)
Each student is assigned to a Supervisor appointed by the Faculty of History. The Supervisor
will be an expert in the student’s general field of dissertation work, whose role is to guide
the student’s programme of study as a regular advisor for the entire year as well as advising
on all aspects of the MPhil dissertation. The Supervisor should be concerned with helping
students to clarify their own ideas, not to impose his or her own interests on the subject; thus
it is important that students should be able to make their own interests known early on in the
course. Students should not expect to be ‘spoon fed’ by their supervisors since graduate
students in Cambridge are expected to have the capacity and enthusiasm for organising their
own research and to work largely on their own initiative. Frequency of meetings between
students and their supervisors is a matter for mutual agreement and varies according to the
stage of the dissertation work and an individual’s particular needs. The level of expected
supervision is one meeting every two weeks during term.
Dissertations are researched and written over a five month period from April to August and
should reflect research which could reasonably be expected to be done in this period.
Dissertation titles must be submitted to the MPhil Office by 12 noon on Friday 14
January 2011, for approval by the MPhil Sub-Committee. Titles may not be changed
(even minimally) except with the written approval of the Academic Secretary, which
8

must be sought in writing (by letter or e-mail). Any such request must be accompanied by
confirmation that the change has been discussed with and is supported by your supervisor.
While permission to change titles is not automatically granted, it does often happen that
students need to refine their titles from those initially submitted. This is accepted practice so
long as the correct procedures are followed. The above points refer to minor refinements of
titles. However, no substantive changes of topic area will normally be permitted once
examiners have been appointed by the MPhil Sub-Committee, because examiners are
appointed with expertise relevant to the topic area indicated by the original title submitted
by the student. Students must therefore be sure to identify at least the broad area of their
intended dissertation correctly in the original title submission.
Dissertations must be submitted to the History Faculty Office before 12.30pm on
Friday 19 August.
Dissertations will be assessed by two examiners (excluding the supervisor), one of whom
may be an external examiner, who will report independently. Dissertations will be classed
according to a scale comprising Pass (60 and above), Marginal Fail (59) and Fail (58 and
below).
Two marks of 67 or above are normally required for a candidate to proceed to a PhD.
59 A borderline mark. As it stands, this mark indicates that the dissertation
fails but that the Pass/Fail qualities are very evenly balanced in the
dissertation.
Please refer to Appendix B ‘MPhil in Economic and Social History – Marking and
Examining Scheme’ for a more detailed explanation of examining and marking procedures.
2.4 Advanced Courses
These courses will be taught using a mixture of lectures and seminars amounting to 16 contact hours
over the course of Michaelmas and Lent Terms. Some courses are taught solely in one term or the
other, and dates are usually arranged at the first session, except for ‘Institutions and development’,
which has a set schedule.
1) The history of economic and social thought
Dr. C. Muldrew, Dr. S. Thompson and Dr. S. Reinert
This course focuses upon six basic themes in the history of economic and social thought
through intensive study of the writings of certain seventeenth, eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury
authors: the nature of money and monetary relations (John Locke and John Law);
regulation and laissez-faire (Adam Smith); economic and social reform; the Industrial
Revolution; the state and social change; and the development of capitalist modernity and
social theory (Marx, Weber).
Introductory reading:
Malynes, Gerald de, Consuetudo vel Lex Mercatoria, (London, 1622).
McCulloch, J.P., A Select Collection of Early English Tracts on Commerce, (Cambridge,
1954).
Patrick Hyde Kelly (ed.), Locke on Money, 2 vols., (Oxford, 1991)
John Law, Money and Trade Considered with a Proposal for Supplying the Nation with
Money (Edinburgh, 1705).
Margaret Schabas, The Natural Origins of Economics (University of Chicago Press, 2005).
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Basic Political Writings, trans. Donald A. Cress (Hackett,
1987).
Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd edition (W. W. Norton, 1978).
9

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons
(Routledge, 2001).
2) British industrialization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Dr. S. Horrell and Dr. L. Shaw-Taylor
The course considers the processes by which Britain became the first nation to overcome
growth constraints and embark on a path of sustained expansion of per capita income. It
looks at the roles played by increased investment and labour supply to industrial activities
and changed incentives, which improved the efficiency of agriculture and promoted the
development of industry. But it also emphasises the roles of country-specific institutions,
such as property rights, and national cultures, such as inheritance patterns and work roles for
men and women, in understanding Britain's `exceptionalism'. The course covers key debates
both on the causes of industrialisation and the consequences for the people who lived
through it. It looks at the following main topics:
1. Industrialisation - overview and outline of main debates
2. Agrarian change - enclosure, service in husbandry and rural class structure
3. Agrarian change - new techniques and rising land productivity
4. Revolution or evolution - trade, industry and growth
5. Work and industrialisation - child labour and the emergence of the male
breadwinner family
6. The Poor Law and changes in the welfare system
7. Industrialisation and the standard of living - qualitative assessments and
quantification
8. Industrialisation and women - implications for the measurement of welfare
The aims of this course are to introduce students to the main debates, conceptual tools and
empirical findings that are central to understanding British economic history during the
Industrial Revolution.
By the end of this course students should have acquired a good understanding of the key
debates surrounding Britain's industrialisation and the welfare implications of the changes
that occurred. They should be familiar with the various methodologies and data sources
employed and have knowledge of recent empirical findings.
3) Institutions and development (A course taught by the MPhil in Development Studies)
Dr. S. Fennell
The course looks at development processes through the lenses of a variety of institutional
perspectives, ranging from the economic to the anthropological in disciplinary terms. The
importance and implications of institutional analyses for development processes are
identified by means of engaging with both traditional and new literatures on the role of
socio-political processes and their inter-relationships with economic activity. In the
Michaelmas term the course will examine theoretical issues in the study of institutions using
a range of disciplinary tools and illustrations of institutional success and failure from the
twentieth century. In the Lent term the various competing models that have emerged in the
new field of institutions are examined in the light of historical evidence on institutional
performance and change. The lectures will be based on case studies and a policy analysis of
the different development experiences across a range of countries. The teaching in the
Michaelmas term consists of one lecture and one class each week. In the Lent term, there is
a schedule for both lectures and seminars. The seminars are designed to be small-group
student presentations, which will allow a more free-ranging discussion of the topics covered
in lectures over the two terms. There will be supervisions on key topics in weeks four and
week eight of both Michaelmas and Lent terms. Supervisions will have the following
format: Students will have a preliminary class with the supervisor after which they will be
given a week to write a 2,000 word essay. The essays must be handed in on the scheduled
date so that the supervisor has sufficient time to mark the work for the subsequent meeting
with students in small groups (of five-six students) for a feedback session.
10

4) International Political Economy since 1945: Bargaining over Ideas and Interests
Prof. M. Daunton
This course provides a unique, original, and interdisciplinary lens onto the subject of
International Political Economy that draws primarily on existing analytic frameworks of
historical institutionalism and negotiation analysis. It begins with the assumption that the
current economic system cannot be understood without a close analysis of the institutional
bargains that underpin the system. These bargains are not one-off deals; most international
institutions have formal and informal flexibility provisions that facilitate re-negotiation to
adapt to new international imperatives, domestic interests and ideas. In this course, we will
analyze the intersection between international and domestic factors, and the processes of renegotiation
and adaptation, to explain the evolution of the international economic system
from the post-war years to the present day.
Key features of the course include a) the use of original sources (ranging from the key
intellectual and policy debates over the creation and maintenance of the post-war
international economic institutions, to the agreements, proposals and declarations that form
the workings of these institutions today) b) the use of theories of IPE and negotiation c) an
enhanced historical and theoretical understanding of “process” as an explanatory mechanism
for stability and change in the global economy and d) a clear understanding of the
interaction between the domestic and international levels of the economic system, based on
the often divided worlds of theoretical versus historical approaches to IPE.
The following topics are covered in the course. If there are any additional topics that
students wish to cover, they should consult with Professor Daunton and Dr Narlikar.
I. Introduction
Theoretical Approaches: Bringing together IPE and History
II. The Bretton Woods System: Creation, Crisis, Evolution
The Bretton Woods System: Creation and Collapse
The Evolution of Bretton Woods System: 1974/75-2000
Currency stability and Global Imbalances
III. The Multilateral Trading System: ITO, GATT, WTO
The Construction of the Post-War Economic System (I): the Multilateral Trading System
From the failed ITO to the GATT: A second-best solution
The WTO: Creation and Crisis
IV. Mainstreaming Development
Competing visions and institutions
V. Managing Globalization
Globalization: New phenomenon or Déjà vu
The Global Economy: Opportunities and constraints
New Actors in the International Political Economy
Managing Globalization: Building and reforming institutions
Revision Session
5) The origins and spread of financial capitalism
Dr. D'Maris Coffman and Dr. David Chambers
Historical studies of financial capitalism from the nineteenth century onwards are most often
concerned with moments of spectacular boom and bust from whence moral lessons are
drawn for contemporary audiences. Charles Mackay's classic, Extraordinary Popular
Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, has left generations of readers convinced of the
irrational greed behind Tulip Mania, the South Sea Bubble, and the Mississippi Scheme.
This course takes these three early modern “bubbles” as case studies in market failure. In the
first part of the course, we will investigate what, if any, market fundamentals drove investor
behavior and will study the contemporary polemical literature which followed in the wake of
each speculative disaster. As an alternative approach, we will investigate the role of legal
and regulatory regimes in increasing leverage and will explore the place of new
11

technological and financial innovations as focal points of asset-price bubbles. By bringing
new capital into markets, asset-price bubbles serve first to foster and then, by their collapse,
to resolve what economists describe as the ‘lemons problem.’ Those who cannot tell good
wine from bad will overpay for the latter but reject the former as commanding too high a
price. Yet this is also how untested ideas attract financing. In Weeks 4, 5 and 6, students will
learn about the development of international capital markets and their role in financing both
state and private ventures. Students will decide for themselves what both behavioral finance
and closely historicized studies of market microstructure can offer historians of financial
capitalism. Students will learn why modern financial and economic historians consider
interpretations of asset-price bubbles pivotal to theoretical debates about rational and
efficient markets. In the second half of the course, we will apply these models to three
nineteenth and twentieth-century financial bubbles. Students will then develop their own
research projects in which they interrogate the market realities behind a financial bubble of
their choosing.
General Reading
• Eichengreen, Barry. Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary
System (Princeton University Press, 2008).
• Kindleberger, Charles. Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crisis.
(John Wiley & Sons, 2000).
• Michie, Ranald. The Global Securities Market (Oxford University Press, 2008)
• Vogel, Harold. Financial Market Bubbles and Crashes (Cambridge University Press,
2009).
6) Language and society (a course taught by the MPhil in Early Modern History)
Dr P Withington
This course invites students to think about what words meant in early-modern Europe – not
merely to social and intellectual elites (though they are certainly part of the mix) but also
ordinary men and women. In so doing it encourages reflection about the implications of
these meanings – and their changes and continuities over time – for social attitudes,
relationships, and practices. These aims reflect not only the impact of the infamous
‘linguistic turn’ on early modern studies, but also that some of the most interesting recent
work on language and meaning has been done at the intersection between literary,
intellectual, and social history. To this end students will discuss the way historians have
approached language and discourse over the past forty years and consider the cultural
movements that transformed European vernaculars from the later fifteenth century. They
will be introduced to the kinds of evidence available to historians and the possibilities of
interpretation. They will also think about particular words and vocabularies that have
attracted especial historical attention. In the final week they will research a word of their
own choice. The focus will be on English, though there will be opportunities for students to
consider words in other vernaculars if they so wish. There will be a moderate amount of
preparation for each class, and students will be expected to give a short presentation over the
course of the term. Assessment will be by an essay on one aspect of the course (title agreed
with the tutor) and by evidence of satisfactory participation.
Classes are likely to cover:
• Approaches to language and society
• Humanism and vernacularization
• Sources and interpretation
• Economic vocabularies
• Political language
• Language and social identity
• Personal research
Some Suggestions for Introductory Reading
Robert M. Burns, ed., Historiography. Critical Concepts in Historical Studies (New York,
2005), Part One.
12

Reinhart Koselleck, The Practice of Conceptual History (Stanford, 2002)
J. G. A. Pocock, ‘The Concept of Language and the Metier d’Historien: Some
Considerations on Practice’ in Anthony Pagden, ed., The Language of Political Theory in
Early Modern Europe (New York, 1985)
Quentin Skinner, Visions of Politics: Volume I: Regarding Method (Cambridge, 2002), esp.
chapters. 9 & 10
Anna Wierzbicka, Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words (Oxford, 1997)
Raymond Williams, Keywords (Harmondsworth, 1976)
Keith Wrightson, ‘Estates, Degrees and Sorts: Changing Perceptions of Society in Tudor and
Stuart England’ in Penelope Corfield, ed., Language, History and Class (Oxford, Blackwell,
1991)
______, English Society, 1580–1680 (London, 1982)
7) Gender and development
Dr N Mora-Sitja
This course will examine the literature, debate, and approaches linking gender, economic
growth and historical development. Key questions will be how crucial the role of women has
been for economic development, and how particular growth trajectories have impacted on
women's status. In order to do so, the course will explore several theoretical and
methodological approaches to the study of women and the economy, with particular
emphasis on gender roles at work and within the family, as well as tools to measure and
identify discrimination. The second half of the course will be devoted to a comparative study
of the impact that key economic developments, such as industrialization or globalization,
have had on gender outcomes, in order to establish more systematic connections between
gender discrimination and the economy.
Some Suggestions for Introductory Reading
Boserup, E. (1970), Woman's Role in Economic Development, New York
Momsen, J.H., Women and Development in the Third World (1991)
Scott, J.W., Gender and the Politics of History (1988)
Becker, G.S. (1981), A Treatise on the Family
Goldin, C., Understanding the Gender Gap. An Economic History of American Women
(1990).
Hudson, P. and Lee, W.R. (1990), Women's Work and the Family Economy in Historical
Perspective
Lewis, J. (1984), Women in England, 1870-1950: Sexual Divisions and Social Change
Marcia Guttentag and Paul F. Secord. Too Many Women The Sex Ratio Question.
Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1983.
L. Gordon (ed.) Women, the State and Welfare (1990)
D. Sainsbury (ed.) Gender and Welfare State Regimes (1999)
Burnette, J., Gender, Work and wages in Industrial Revolution Britain (2009)
8) The economic policies of right-wing dictatorships in the era of mass politics
Dr C Ristuccia
This course will analyse economic policy making by European right-wing dictatorships in
the 20 th century, including Fascist Italy, Poland under Marshal Piłsudski, Portugal under
Salazar, Nazi Germany, Franco’s Spain, and Vichy France. Course topics will include
nationalism as an economic ideology, theories of citizenship in dictatorships, and the impact
of economic superiority on the outcome of WW2, complemented with in-depth studies of
economic policy in the countries listed above. The course’s comparative framework, and its
exploration of methodological and theoretical tools to study nationalist economic policies,
should provide the students with a solid background to understand Europe’s twentieth
century. Classes will be spread over Michaelmas and Lent.
Introductory reading list
Ben-Ghiat, R. (2001), Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922–1945, Berkeley and Los Angeles,
CA: University of California Press.
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Bosworth, R. J. B. (1998), The Italian dictatorship. Problems and perspectives in the
interpretation of Mussolini and fascism, London.
Harrison, M. (ed.), The economics of World War II. Six great powers in international
comparison, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Jackson, J. (2001), France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kallis, A. A. (2000), Fascist Ideology: Territory and Expansionism in Fascist Italy and Nazi
Germany, 1922–1945, London: Routledge.
Knox, M. (2000), Common destiny: dictatorship, foreign policy, and war in fascist Italy and
Nazi Germany, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Liberman, P. (1996), Does conquest pay The exploitation of occupied industrial societies,
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Milward, A. S. (1987), War, economy and society, 1939-1945, Harmondsworth: Penguin
Morgan, P. (2002), Fascism in Europe, 1919–1945, London: Routledge.
Overy, R. J. (1996), Why the Allies won: explaining victory in World War II, London:
Pimlico.
Roberts, D. D. (2006), The Totalitarian Experiment in Twentieth-Century Europe:
Understanding the Poverty of Great Politics.
Rodogno, D. (2006), Fascism's European Empire: Italian Occupation during the Second
World War, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thomas, M. (1998), The French empire at war, 1940–1945, Manchester: Manchester
University Press.
Tooze, A. (2006), The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi
Economy, London: Allen Lane.
Willson, P. R., The clockwork factory. Women and work in fascist Italy, Clarendon Press,
Oxford 1993.
2.5 Presentation and Submission of Essays and Dissertations
Essays and the dissertation should be submitted to the MPhil Office on the prescribed dates,
as follows:
Part I: Two copies of each essay, stapled or soft bound;
Part II: Two bound copies of the dissertation and a labelled CD containing an
electronic version of the dissertation (so that if necessary the word count
may be independently verified). The dissertation may be spiral bound or in
a plastic folder, but must be sufficiently secure as to be durable. If you
wish to submit it with a more solid binding, there are good services run by
the University Reprographics Centre (Old Schools) and the Graduate
Students’ Union.
Essays and dissertations must be typed on one side of A4 paper, one-and-a-half or doublespaced,
in a typeface of 11 or 12 point font.
• The title page of your dissertation should contain Title, Name, College, Date (optional)
and Declaration stating 'This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Master of
Philosophy.'
• There should be a declaration in the Preface stating: ‘This dissertation is the result of
my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration
except where specifically indicated in the text’.
• Please number the pages of the dissertation.
• The dissertation must include a bibliography of all (and only) works cited.
Important points in relation to the word limit:
• The word count includes appendices and statistical tables at 150 words per table, but
excludes footnotes, references and bibliography. No penalty will be imposed for an
excess of 50 words (for an essay) or 150 (for a dissertation) over the maximum word
limit, but this allowance should not be abused. The MPhil sub-committee acting as a
Board of Examiners has the discretion to penalise essays/dissertations which exceed the
14

word limit. The word limit (within the 50 / 150 words grace allowance) must
therefore be strictly observed. Students can expect to be severely penalised for
exceeding the word limit. Normally the penalty will be the deduction of up to 5 marks
from the essay/dissertation, but in severe cases the work may be marked as failed.
• Footnotes should be restricted to the documentation of claims and the registration of
relevant caveats or observations in relation to the literature. Footnotes must not be used
to circumvent the word limit of the essay or dissertation. Students can expect to be
severely penalised for abusing the proper use of footnotes in this way. Normally the
penalty will be a deduction of up to 5 marks from the essay or dissertation, but in
severe cases the essay or dissertation may be marked as failed.
• The word count of the entire essay or dissertation (excluding footnotes), must be
recorded on a separate page bound up with the essay or dissertation. An electronic copy
of the dissertation on CD must also be provided so that if necessary the word count may
be verified.
2.6 Deadlines for Submission
Submission dates must be strictly adhered to.
If there are grave and convincing reasons why work for Part I assessment cannot be submitted
on time, the Secretary of the MPhil must be informed of these in writing at the History Faculty, or
by email, before the deadline. These reasons will normally be either medical, in which case a
statement from a College nurse or a GP must also be provided, or personal, in which case a
supporting letter from the student’s College tutor is also required. The Chair and/or Academic
Secretary of the MPhil are able in these circumstances to consider granting an extension. An
extension will normally only be considered for the actual amount of time lost, and students should
be aware that excessive delay may make it impossible for their work to be examined at the same
time as that of other students and may consequently delay receipt of their results.
Whereas in the case of the essays, the Academic Secretary and Chair are able to grant extensions in
compelling circumstances, in the case of the dissertation there is a formal procedure laid down
by the Board of Graduate Studies by which extensions must be sought. These may only be
granted where there are grave and convincing reasons for a delay in submission. These reasons will
normally be either medical, in which case a statement from a College nurse or a GP must also be
provided, or personal, in which case supporting comments from the students College tutor are also
required. An extension should be applied for in advance, normally at least one week before the
submission date, using the appropriate application form downloaded from your Self-Service pages in
CamSIS: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/current/submitting/deferring.html. After
initial consideration by the MPhil Sub-Committee, the application will be referred to the next
available Degree Committee meeting and, if approved, forwarded to the Board of Graduate Studies.
Official confirmation that leave to defer has been granted will be sent to the student by the BGS. If
in any doubt about this procedure, please contact the MPhil Office for advice.
Mechanical breakdown in the functioning of word processors will not normally be regarded as a
sufficient excuse for late submission. Students are therefore strongly advised to plan to complete
their work a couple of days in advance of the deadlines in order to avoid such problems, and to back
up their work regularly in multiple formats.
15

APPENDIX A:
LIST OF ACADEMIC STAFF ASSOCIATED WITH THE MPHIL
Dr H-J Chang
(Development Studies and
Economics & Politics)
Professor MJ Daunton
(History & Trinity Hall)
Dr S Fennell
(Development Studies and
Jesus)
Professor MJ Hatcher
(History & Corpus
Christi)
Role of the state in economic change; industrial policy and
technology policy; privatisation and regulation; theories of
institutions and morality; the East Asian economies; corporate
governance.
Economic and Social history of Britain since 1700, especially
economic and social policy, urbanisation, and globalisation
since 1945. Author of Progress and Poverty: An economic and
social history of Britain, 1700-1850 (1995), Trusting
Leviathan: The Politics of Taxation in Britain, 1799-1914
(2001), Just Taxes: The Politics of taxation in Britain, 1914-79
(2002), and Wealth and welfare: An economic and social
history of Britain, 1851-1951 (2007).
Political institutions, household, community and development
in twentieth-century China and India.
Medieval and early modern British economic and social
history. Recent publications include Modelling the Middle
Ages: the history and theory of England’s economic
development (OUP 2001), and Understanding the population
history of England, 1450-1750, Past and Present (2003).
Dr S Horrell (Economics) Labour market participation of women and children; household
structure, standards of living and expenditure c1750-1900;
structures of consumption and production in 19 th century
Britain.
Dr J Lawrence (History
& Emmanuel College)
Professor P Mandler
(History & Gonville and
Caius)
Dr J Marfany (History
& Homerton)
Dr N Mora-Sitja (History
& Downing)
Dr JC Muldrew (History
& Queens’)
Professor E Rothschild
(History & King’s)
British social, political and cultural history from the mid
nineteenth century to the present. Currently working on the
history of class identity in Britain between the 1930s and the
1990s.
Cultural and social history of Britain since 1800; history of the
social sciences in the 20 th century. Author of The Fall and
Rise of the Stately Home (1997), History and National Life
(2002); The English National Character (2006). Current work
on ideas about modernization and globalization in 19 th and
20 th -century Britain; the history of the idea of ‘national
identity’; the place of social science in everyday life in 20 th -
century Britain and America; the history of anthropology and
‘cultural relativism’.
Economic and social history of England and Europe,
especially: eighteenth-century Spain, proto-industry,
population growth, marriage and family formation, living
standards, consumption and poverty and welfare.
Modern European economic history, especially: Spanish
history since 1750; labour markets and industrialisation; the
standard of living; globalization and inequality.
British early modern economic and social history.
18th and 19th century French and English economic ideas.
Author of Economic Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet and
the Enlightenment (HUP, 2001), 'Global Commerce and the
Question of Sovereignty in the 18th Century Provinces' in
16

Dr L Shaw-Taylor
(History)
Professor RM Smith
(Geography & Downing)
Professor SR Szreter
(History & St John’s)
Professor R P Tombs
(History & St John’s
College)
Dr BC Wood (History &
Girton)
Modern Intellectual History (2004), 'Language and Empire,
c.1800' in Historical Research (2005), 'A Horrible Tragedy in
the French Atlantic' in Past and Present (2006).
English economic and social history 1500-1850, especially:
common rights, enclosure and proletarianisation; the standard
of living; agricultural productivity; occupational structure and
industrialisation. Author: ‘Labourers, cows, common rights
and parliamentary enclosure: the evidence of contemporary
comment c 1760-1810’, Past and Present (2001).
‘Parliamentary Enclosure and the Emergence of an English
Agricultural Proletariat’, Journal of Economic History (2001).
De Moore, M., Shaw-Taylor, L., Warde, P., The Management
of Common Land in North West Europe ca. 1500-1850 (2002).
Medieval and early modern population and economic history.
Author of (with Peter Laslett) Bastardy and its Comparative
History (1980), Land,Kinship and Life-cycle (1984), with L.
Bonfield and Keith Wrightson, The World We Have Gained
(1986), with Margaret Pelling, Life, Death and the Elderly:
Historical Perspectives (1991), with Zvi Razi, The Manor
Court and English Society (1996).
Demographic history, including the intellectual history of the
field and contemporary policy questions. Author of Fertility,
Class and Gender in Britain 1860-1940 (1996); Changing
Family Size in England and Wales 1891-1911: place, class
and demography (with E. Garrett, A. Reid and K. Schurer)
(2001); Health and Wealth: studies in history and policy
(2005); edited (with H. Sholamy, A. Dharmlingam),
Categories and Contexts: Anthropological and Historical
Studies in Critical Demography (2004); Sex Before the Sexual
Revolution. Intimate Life in England 1918-1963 (with Kate
Fisher) (2010).
Modern French and European History, and Franco-British
relations. Author of France 1814-1914 (1996), The Paris
Commune 1871 (1999), co-author of That Sweet Enemy (2006)
and co-editor of Cross-Channel Currents:100 Years of the
Entente Cordiale (2004).
Colonial American social history.
Many other members of the Cambridge History Faculty may be available to supervise dissertations.
17

APPENDIX B:
MPHIL IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY – MARKING AND EXAMINATION
SCHEME
1. SUMMARY OF THE COURSE STRUCTURE
Part I (40%)
a. Central Concepts and Problems in Economic and Social History and Theory (10%)
b. Research Methods Course (10%)
Social Science Research Methods Course (6%)
Dissertation Proposal Essay (4%)
c. Two Advanced Courses in Economic and/or Social History chosen from a specified list of
subjects (10% each).
Part II (60%)
a. A dissertation of between 15,000 and 20,000 words (including appendices and statistical tables,
but excluding footnotes, references and bibliography) to be submitted at the end of August.
2. THE MARKING SCHEME
The criterion of judgment in determining pass in all MPhil examinations in Cambridge is the
achievement of ‘the equivalent of an Upper Second Class in Part II of a Tripos, extrapolated for one
year of graduate study’. Candidates are required to pass each course element and dissertation in this
MPhil in these terms.
The classification scheme of marking, expressed in percentage points, is as follows:
75 and above Marks of 75 and above indicate a distinction
67-74 Marks of 67 and above are strong marks of high II.1 or 1 st class quality
which, insofar as essay marks are relevant, tend to support the case for
leave to continue to the PhD
63-66 Marks of 63 (the necessary mark for compensation: see Sections 10 & 12
below) to 66 are solid but medium-range marks which will help the
candidate securely to pass the course but may, as essay marks, raise
questions about whether leave to continue to the PhD should be granted
60-62 Marks of 60 to 62 are weak pass marks which indicate that the piece of
work deserves a bare pass in itself but is not strong enough to offer
compensating support should other work be of marginal fail quality
59 Marginal fail mark
58 and below Marks of 59 and below indicate work which falls below the academic
standard of the course as set out above
Note that ‘leave to continue’ to the PhD is judged primarily on the basis of dissertation performance,
although strong performance in Part I can be taken into account in marginal cases.
3. CRITERIA OF ASSESSEMENT
Work at this level, particularly the dissertation, should reveal high standards of intellectual enquiry,
research skills and analytical sophistication.
Examiners should primarily assess the academic content of essays and the dissertation. They should
consider scope (i.e. the appropriateness of the topic; its relation to a larger historical or theoretical
18

context, and to current debate); research content (i.e. identification and study of primary sources);
use of quantitative methods, where appropriate the work should demonstrate knowledge and
confidence in the use of the taught research methods; quality of argument (i.e. analysis of historical
sources, development of analytical arguments demonstrating knowledge of qualitative methods, or
reconsideration of existing accounts); and awareness of limits of knowledge.
Candidates are also expected to present work which is clearly and correctly written and which has an
adequate scholarly apparatus. The decision to balance judgment on content and presentation in
marking MPhil essays, on how to mark relatively for weaknesses either of argument or of prose and
presentation rests with the examiner. Examiners should consider the organization of the narrative
and the argument; capacity to summarise findings; style and clarity of prose and precision in
documentation (including footnotes and bibliography).
SPECIAL NOTE ON PLAGIARISM, FOOTNOTES AND WORD COUNT:
The word limit of 20,000 may not be breached under any circumstances.
The word count must include appendices and statistical tables at 150 words per table, but excludes
all footnotes, references and bibliography. Candidates are required to note the total word count on
the cover sheet bound with the dissertation and to submit an electronic version of the dissertation on
a CD so that if necessary the word count may be verified; examiners should note any failure to do so
in their report. The Economic and Social History Course Handbook stipulates:
‘No penalty will be imposed for an excess of 50 words (for an essay) or 150 (for a dissertation) over
the maximum word limit, but this allowance should not be abused. The MPhil sub-committee acting
as a Board of Examiners has the discretion to penalise essays and dissertations which exceed the
word limit. The word limit (within the 50 / 150 words grace allowance) must therefore be
strictly observed. Students can expect to be severely penalised for exceeding the word limit.
Normally the penalty will be the deduction of up to 5 marks from the essay/dissertation, but in
severe cases the work may be marked as failed.
Footnotes should be restricted to the documentation of claims and the registration of relevant caveats
or observations in relation to the literature. Footnotes must not be used to circumvent the word limit
of the essay or dissertation. Students can expect to be severely penalised for abusing the proper use
of footnotes in this way. Normally the penalty will be a deduction of up to 5 marks from the essay or
dissertation, but in severe cases the essay or dissertation may be marked as failed.’
The Course Handbook, which is available on the Faculty website, also gives clear instructions to
candidates about avoiding plagiarism.
Examiners who believe that a dissertation infringes the course rules in respect of plagiarism,
use of footnotes, or word count, are required to state this in their report but to award a mark
independent of these issues. An Examiner must not penalise an essay. The MPhil Sub-
Committee sitting as Board of Examiners will then make a determination of whether violation
of the rules has occurred and, if so, impose the appropriate penalty. Normally the penalty will
be up to 5 marks, but in severe cases the dissertation may be marked as failed.
4. PART I: INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS OF ASSESSMENT
4.1 Central Concepts Essay (10%)
This is a term paper of up to 3,000 words based on questions dealing with themes discussed in the
sessions, and handed in at the end of the Michaelmas term. There will be approximately two
questions per session. The purpose of these essays is to examine a central problem or issue discussed
in the relevant secondary literature in a critical way. They should demonstrate sound knowledge of
the literature in question, but should be more than a narrative summary. The essays are generally
quite broad ranging and should be based both on readings listed in the individual bibliographies for
each session as well as additional more specific readings supplied by the session teachers.
19

4.2 Research Methods (10%)
Research Methods Training Course (6%)
Students will submit workbooks. These are marked by the instructors involved in the Joint Schools
Research Methods Course on a fail, pass or high pass basis. For the purposes of its marking scheme,
this MPhil adopts the following convention: fail = 55%, pass = 67%, and high pass =75%.
Dissertation Proposal Essay (4%)
This essay, of up to 4,000 words, is intended to help students define the scope of the dissertation as
well as the sources and methods to be adopted. It is primarily an historiographical investigation of
the secondary literature, which contextualises the topic which is to be investigated, in the
dissertation. This is done by drawing on a relevant aspect of the qualitative and quantitative methods
teaching in the joint schools’ courses. The approach places the planning of the research in a broad
context that defends choices of methods. The student should also deal with how their proposed
research will attempt to answer the questions arising from the historiographical investigation, but it
is not intended that the course of research should be described in detail here. When marking this
essay, examiners should note that students will have had only limited time to consult their archives
at this point because the first two terms concentrate largely on the course work element of the Mphil.
Thus, some aspects of the proposed research will have to be formulated in a preliminary way and the
candidate should not be penalised for this. It is more important that the candidate understands the
nature of the questions that the research will address.
4.3. Advanced Papers (10% each)
These papers are taught using a mixture of lectures and seminars amounting to 16 contact hours
each, and are based on more specialized topics than the central concepts essay, and should be more
specific. All Advanced Papers are examined in the last week of Lent Term (NOTE: The week after
‘Full Term’ finishes) by term papers based on the specific topics discussed in the course. Both of
these essays, however, will be written during a limited time period of one week. These essays will
be 3-4000 words in length each and will be based on a topic or topics discussed in the course, and
students will be expected to cite a reasonable selection of secondary or/and primary sources
discussed. Two copies of each essay are required. The essays should normally be word processed,
double-spaced, and written with footnotes and a bibliography, although examiners should take into
consideration the limited amount of time available for each essay.
5. PART II: THE DISSERTATION
Dissertations are researched and written over a five month period from April to August and should
reflect research which could reasonably be expected to be done in this period. The criterion for
assessment in 3. above should be followed. In some cases involving an extensive amount of data
collection (such as, for instance, parish reconstitution) where the student intends to continue the
project with the PhD, and it is impossible to collect more than a part of the data in the short time
available for research during Easter Term and Summer, it is permissible for the student to present
only part of the data for analysis. In such cases this should be clearly stated in the introduction, and
there must be enough data and analysis presented for the examiner to be able to judge the
candidate’s analytical skills even if it might be impossible to draw firm conclusions based on the
partial data available. The dissertation should be marked on this basis and the candidate should not
be penalised for this.
A MARK OF 67 OR ABOVE SHOULD BE AWARDED IF THE CANDIDATE MIGHT
REASONABLY BE EXPECTED TO GO ON TO COMPLETE A SUCCESSFUL PHD.
6. NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS
Many candidates are not native English speakers. They are expected to make use of all available
resources to ensure that both essay work and dissertation are written in correct English. Examiners
should acknowledge the special difficulties faced by non-native speakers, while commenting on
20

linguistic shortcomings if appropriate. Linguistic shortcomings should be penalized, if their effect is
to make the work not clearly intelligible.
7. SELECTION OF EXAMINERS
All work is assessed by two independent examiners in the first instance. Examiners are nominated
by the MPhil Sub-Committee at the time that titles of essays are approved and any necessary
changes (e.g. due to refusals to serve) are made by the Academic Secretary subject to the approval
of the Sub-Committee acting as Board of Examiners. Dissertation supervisors may not act as
examiners of work they have supervised.
8. THE EXTERNAL EXAMINER
The External Examiner normally examines a representative cross-section of the written work which
is double marked, drawn from both options, and a cross-section of all dissertations within his/her
field of expertise. He/she does so as the second, independent marker and not in a moderating role.
The External Examiner also acts as a moderator elsewhere in the examination (including all
marginal fails and fails), and may be called upon to act as a third independent reader where
examiners have failed to agree. The External Examiner is also asked to write a report on the
examination processes and procedures, as for Tripos.
9. MARKING PROCEDURES
The two examiners must not confer before marking and there is no reconciliation of the two marks
into a single overall mark. The marks are registered separately by the MPhil Sub-Committee sitting
as Board of Examiners, and are used to determine pass or failure and reported separately to the
Degree Committee. However, for the purposes of calculating the final percentages for Parts I and II
all marks are averaged based on the weighting of each course element.
On the receipt of any pair of examination marks with manifest divergence (e.g. by at least 10
points), the External Examiner is automatically asked by the Secretary of the MPhil Sub-Committee
to read the piece of work and establish a third mark for it. The External Examiner normally provides
a third independent mark in those cases where the examiners have failed to agree. However, where
the External was one of the original examiners, the third mark will be provided by the Chairman. If
the Chairman was also one of the original examiners or the supervisor of the candidate concerned, a
third examiner will be appointed by the Chairman and Secretary, with the advice of the External. In
the case of dissertations, a third examiner who is not the External may be appointed by the same
process, if the External’s expertise in the particular area of the dissertation is not thought to be
sufficient. In case a third examiner has to be appointed, this person should first reach an independent
conclusion on the basis of the written work and only then look at the marks and comments of the
two examiners before giving a final mark.
The third marker will initially read the dissertation without reference to the two original examiners’
reports and provide an independent third mark, but may in his or her report comment on the relevant
areas of disagreement between the two original reports and the judgements reached therein.
Should they be members of the MPhil Sub-Committee sitting as Board of Examiners, neither the
supervisor nor any examiner (except the External Examiner) of a given piece of work shall vote on
any question arising about that piece of work.
10. MARGINAL FAIL MARKS IN PART I
The mark of 59 is a marginal fail mark. All work receiving one or more marginal fail marks will be
read by a third examiner (normally the External Examiner). The third reader will examine and award
marks independently, without reference to the marks already awarded. If the permutation of marks
results in a confirmed marginal fail in any one element of Part I, it is required that it be compensated
for by two marks of at least 63 per cent in the dissertation. Any candidate who has a marginal fail in
Part I will be notified through his/her supervisor that he/she is in the ‘danger of fail’ category and
therefore needs to achieve this level in the dissertation.
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11. FAILURE IN PART I
In the case of one or two fail marks (58 or below) the External Examiner is automatically asked by
the Secretary of the MPhil Sub-Committee to examine and enter a third mark for the essay.
However, fail marks submitted by the External Examiner acting as a regular essay examiner will be
moderated by a third marker appointed by the Secretary and confirmed by the MPhil Sub-
Committee sitting as Board of Examiners. The external examiner or third reader will examine and
award marks independently, without reference to the marks already awarded. Whenever possible,
the third reader’s mark should give a clear recommendation of Pass or Fail. A third mark, which is a
failing mark results in failure of this element, however a third mark which is a marginal fail (59) will
result in a fail if the other mark is a fail, or a marginal fail if the other mark is a 59 or a passing
mark.
FAILURE IN COURSE ELEMENTS WORTH 10% OR MORE, OR MARGINAL FAILURE
IN COURSE ELEMENTS WORTH 20% OR MORE CONSTITUTES FAILURE IN THE
COURSE OVERALL. Candidates who fail at this stage will be notified as soon as possible so that
they may withdraw from the course. The MPhil Sub-Committee sitting as Board of Examiners will
make a recommendation to this effect to the Degree Committee of the Faculty of History. There are
no vivas for Part I examinations even in the case of outright failure. The Board of Graduate Studies
also allows the Degree Committee discretion in the case of certain Part I failures to allow a
candidate to submit a dissertation for a Certificate of Postgraduate Study.
The results of all possible permutations of problematic marks are listed below:
Original Marks Third Reader’s Mark Outcome
marginal fail marginal fail = marginal fail / viva
pass fail = marginal fail / viva
pass = pass
marginal fail fail = fail
marginal fail marginal fail = marginal fail viva
pass = marginal fail / viva
marginal fail fail = fail
fail marginal fail = marginal fail
pass = marginal fail
fail fail = fail
pass marginal fail = marginal fail
pass = pass
fail fail = fail
fail marginal fail = fail
pass = marginal fail
12. MARGINAL FAIL MARKS IN THE DISSERTATION (PART II)
The mark of 59 is a marginal fail mark, which is possibly redeemable by evidence of more than
borderline performance overall in the work submitted in Part I of the course. In giving such a mark
examiners would indicate that the dissertation alone is not evidence enough to pass the course, but
that it is sufficiently close that evidence of reasonably strong performance elsewhere in the course
would warrant the award of the MPhil degree.
In the case of one examiner awarding a Marginal Fail (59) and the other a Pass (60 or above), the
dissertation will be marked by a third reader (normally the External Examiner). The third reader
will examine and award marks independently, without reference to the marks already awarded.
22

Whenever possible, the third reader’s mark should give a clear recommendation of Pass or Fail. If
the third mark is a Pass the candidate is deemed to have passed. If the third mark is a Marginal or an
outright Fail, a viva will be held.
In the case of both examiners awarding a Marginal Fail, a third reader (normally the External
Examiner) is consulted. If the third mark is a Pass or a Marginal Fail, a viva will be held. If the
third mark is an outright Fail, the candidate will be deemed to have failed.
If the outcome of such a viva is itself a marginal fail mark of 59, this would constitute a ‘marginal
fail’ of Part II of the MPhil (dissertation), and point 3(b) of the Board of Graduate Studies
‘Memorandum to Examiners and Assessors for the Degree of Master of Philosophy (one-year
course) would apply, giving the Degree Committee discretion to judge whether the essays in Part I
taken as a whole had achieved what the Memorandum calls ‘high performance’ and to take this into
account in recommending a pass to the Board of Graduate Studies. Such ‘high performance’ would
for this course be constituted by a set of essay marks none of which falls under 63 (and excluding
for this purpose any mark of 59 which was not confirmed by a third marker). If such compensation
is judged to be available, the candidate may be deemed to have passed the MPhil as a whole. If
compensation is not available, the candidate will be deemed to have failed.
13. FAILURE IN THE DISSERTATION
In the case of one Passing or marginal fail mark (59), and one Failing mark (i.e. 58 or below) from
examiners, the dissertation is sent to a third marker (normally the External Examiner). If the third
mark is a clear Pass, the dissertation might be deemed to have passed, or a viva might be held. If that
marker awards a Fail mark (i.e. 58 or below), the candidate will be deemed to have failed. If the
third mark is a Marginal Fail, a viva will be held.
The third reader will examine and award marks independently, without reference to the marks
already awarded. Whenever possible, the third reader’s mark should give a clear recommendation
of Pass or Fail.
In the event of two clear failing marks, the candidate will be deemed to have failed. The dissertation
might be sent to a third marker (normally the External Examiner), and if the third mark is a clear
pass a viva will be held.
In each case where a candidate is deemed to have failed, a viva may be held, but only if the
candidate wishes it. Candidates must be informed of their right to request a viva in such cases. In
the event of two low failing marks, it is appropriate to advise the student that a conversion of the fail
to a passing mark, though theoretically possible, is in practice highly unlikely.
Referral of the dissertation for further work and for re-examination at a later date is not permitted for
MPhil dissertations. A fail mark (58 or below; or uncompensated marginal fail mark of 59)
confirmed after the viva is grounds for failure of the MPhil course overall. The MPhil Sub-
Committee sitting as Board of Examiners will make a recommendation to this effect to the Degree
Committee of the Faculty of History. Any candidate who is deemed by the Degree Committee to
have failed an MPhil course as a whole, may apply to the Board of Graduate Studies and the Degree
Committee to be considered for the award of the Certificate of Postgraduate Study.
14. VIVA VOCE EXAMINATIONS
A viva will be required only for certain candidates who receive a failing mark (or a confirmed
marginal fail) or in other special circumstances (e.g. suspected plagiarism) recommended by the
examiners and/or determined by the MPhil Sub-Committee acting as Board of Examiners. Viva voce
examinations (which normally last for thirty minutes) are held at a predetermined date (usually the
day or the day before the Board of Examiners meet in mid to late September). All candidates are
informed of this date well in advance. Unauthorised absence of a candidate from a viva implies a
failure in the dissertation examination. Postponement of the viva will be allowed by the MPhil Sub-
Committee only on the most serious (e.g. medical) grounds. If that happens the viva examiners will
be notified immediately.
The Academic Secretary of the MPhil Sub-Committee will call a viva voce examination by the two
examiners of the dissertation jointly with the External Examiner acting as adjudicator. Vivas caused
by a mark submitted by the External Examiner acting as a regular dissertation examiner are
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moderated by a member of the MPhil Sub-Committee sitting as a member of the Board of
Examiners. The viva voce examiners (including the External Examiner or additional member of the
MPhil Sub-Committee) must submit a joint written report to the MPhil Sub-Committee sitting as
Board of Examiners and may recommend the raising of dissertation examination marks to pass level
or higher. If a joint report is not possible and the two original examiners remain in disagreement
after the viva, the view of the External Examiner (who will be present at the viva and have read the
dissertation) will prevail; should he or she be one of the two original examiners, the Examining
Board, of which the External Examiner is a member, will decide the matter. It should be noted that
the normal expectation is that marks will not be reduced as the result of a viva. Confidential minutes
of the viva examination will be taken either by the Academic Secretary or Chair of the MPhil or by
the Director of Graduate Training and Taught Courses, or, if these are not available, by the Director
of Graduate Studies. The officer attending in this capacity will be present at the viva only as an
observer and will not participate in the discussion
15. FIRST CLASS MARKS AND DISTINCTION
Outstanding work by students in each element of the MPhil should be rewarded with first class
marks of 70 or above. Examiners are reminded of the need to make full use of the range of marks
above 70, particularly since distinction will only be recognized for marks of 75 or above.
For outstanding performance on the MPhil as a whole, the MPhil Sub-Committee sitting as Board of
Examiners may award a distinction. An average mark of 75 or above across all elements of the
course indicates a distinction, but exceptional performance in the thesis can compensate for a lower
performance in the coursework elements at the discretion of the MPhil Sub-Committee. Students
and their supervisors are informed if they achieve this level so that information may be used for
further academic applications.
16. DEPOSIT OF OUTSTANDING DISSERTATIONS IN THE SEELEY LIBRARY OF THE
FACULTY OF HISTORY
The Sub-Committee will normally recommend those dissertations which have received agreed
marks of 75 or above for deposit in the Seeley Library. Examiners, however, can recommend the
deposit of other dissertations if they contain material which in their judgment would be of use to
future scholars and which is not readily available elsewhere.
17. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LEAVE TO CONTINUE AS A PhD STUDENT IN
CAMBRIDGE
For the purpose of Leave to Continue in the History Faculty, the mark of 67 defines an important
borderline. It is assumed a mark of 67 or above on the dissertation indicates that the candidate has
demonstrated the qualities necessary to be allowed to continue on to the PhD, and conversely, that a
mark of 66 or below indicates that a candidate is not suitable to be allowed to continue. Two marks
of 67 or above on the dissertation are required to be given leave to continue; if one of the marks is
below 67 but the average is 67 or more, the supervisor can, at his/her discretion, provide a letter of
support to the student’s application to continue on to the PhD.
Examiners should therefore award a mark of 67 or above if they wish to recommend that a candidate
be allowed to continue to the PhD. but they should not award a mark of 67 or above to any candidate
whose dissertation does not, in their opinion, demonstrate the qualities necessary for research at PhD
level. Marks on coursework are not normally considered when considering leave to continue,
however exceptional performance in a marginal case can be taken into consideration by the MPhil
sub-committee when making a recommendation on leave to continue to the Degree Committee.
18. DEADLINES AND SUBMISSION OF EXAMINERS’ REPORTS
The MPhil Sub-Committee will not extend the deadline for the submission of MPhil dissertations by
students except on the most serious (e.g. medical) grounds. If that happens examiners will be
notified immediately. Normally the MPhil office will dispatch dissertations to examiners the day
after their receipt and examiners will have about two weeks to submit their report and marks. It is
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essential that examiners should regard their deadline for submission as unmoveable and respond as
early as they can. If an examiner, for whatever reason, anticipates any difficulty in meeting the
deadline, it would be very helpful if the MPhil Office could be warned as soon as possible. Before
final approval is given, the examiners’ marks must go to the Sub-Committee for the MPhil sitting as
Board of Examiners, then to the History Degree Committee, and finally to the Board of Graduate
Studies of the University. Failure to meet the entirely inflexible deadlines set by these committees,
to which the MPhil’s own deadline is linked, will delay the approval of the degree and may do harm
to the candidate’s plans and chance of receiving funding for the next academic year.
Examiners should not write specific comments or corrections on the texts of essays or
dissertations (all submissions are returned to their authors after the completion of the essay
examination process). The space provided on the second page of the report form should be used to
complete the report, and it should not be longer than can be fitted into this space, but it needs to be
long enough to provide sufficient feedback to students. The reports should give a brief account of
the main claims and features of the work, including any particular achievements or flaws, and
should explain the mark awarded according to the marking scheme and criteria set out above.
Reports and marks should be submitted by the university messenger service or by post on the forms
provided to the MPhil Office, Faculty of History, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9EF. If necessary a
facsimile report can be transmitted to the Faculty at (01223) 335968, with a clear marking on the
cover sheet ‘for the attention of MPhil Office: MPhil in Economic and Social History’. Faxes
should be followed by subsequent posting of the original. Examination reports may be sent by e-
mail or as an e-mail attachment so long as a hard copy with signature is also provided.
19. CONFIDENTIALITY AND FEEDBACK TO STUDENTS
The results of each element of Part I will not be communicated to candidates until approved by the
MPhil Sub-Committee sitting as Board of Examiners. Once approved by the MPhil Sub-Committee,
the anonymised examiners’ reports of those elements marked within the Faculty of History will be
provided to students. The names of examiners remain confidential and cannot be released to
students.
Dissertation marks will not be communicated to candidates until approved by the MPhil Sub-
Committee sitting as Board of Examiners, the History Faculty Degree Committee, and the Board of
Graduate Studies; the examiners’ reports and the names of examiners remain confidential and
cannot be released to students according to Board of Graduate Studies regulations. Anonymised
copies of dissertation examiners’ reports will be sent to candidates after the Board of Graduate
Studies has approved the award of the degree.
Examiners are asked not to discuss their reports with candidates even after the examination process
has been completed, as it would be unfair for some students but not others to learn the identity of
their examiners.
20. PAYMENT OF EXAMINERS
The Board of Graduate Studies will only authorise payment for examiners who are not officers of
the University of Cambridge (except for Affiliated Lecturers, who are eligible). Such examiners are
invited to complete and return the claim form attached to the report form. Please note that the Board
of Graduate Studies has in the past restricted claims from examiners to one essay per MPhil course,
no matter how many are examined; check the claim form for current restrictions.
This document will be supplied to course advisers, supervisors, examiners and candidates
(Updated September 2010)
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APPENDIX C
LENGTH
NOTES ON THE APPROVED STYLE FOR
DISSERTATIONS IN THE HISTORY FACULTY,
CAMBRIDGE
OCTOBER 2010
The dissertation must be between 15,000 and 20,000 words. The word limit includes appendices but
excludes footnotes, references and bibliography. Statistical tables should be counted as 150 words per table.
Maps, illustrations and other pictorial images count as 0 words. Graphs, if they are the only representation
of the data being presented, are to be counted as 150 words. However, if graphs are used as an illustration of
statistical data that is also presented elsewhere within the thesis (as a table for instance), then the graphs
count as 0 words. Only under exceptional circumstances will permission be granted to exceed this limit.
CANDIDATES ARE REQUIRED TO MAKE A WRITTEN DECLARATION INDICATING THE
NUMBER OF WORDS IN THE DISSERTATION AND TO HAVE THIS DECLARATION BOUND
WITH EACH COPY.
TITLE
A title should be brief and to the point. The title should approximate a simple statement of the subject or
contents of the dissertation. It is advisable to include dates, or some other chronological indication, of
the time period covered by the dissertation.
BINDING
Dissertations need not be hard bound and spiral binding is acceptable. Essays may be bound, but need not
be.
PLAGIARISM
Board of Graduate Studies Statement for graduate students:
In general, plagiarism can be defined as:
the unacknowledged use of the work of others as if this were your own original work.
In the context of an examination, this amounts to:
passing off the work of others as your own to gain unfair advantage.
Such use of unfair means will not be tolerated by the University; if detected, the penalty may be severe and
may lead to failure to obtain your degree.
1 The scope of plagiarism
a) Plagiarism may be due to:
• Copying (using another person’s language and/or ideas as if they are
your own);
• Collusion (where collaboration is concealed or has been expressly forbidden, in order
to gain unfair advantage)
b) Methods include:
• quoting directly another person’s language, data or illustrations without clear
26

indication that the authorship is not your own and due acknowledgement of the
source;
• paraphrasing the critical work of others without due acknowledgement – even if
you change some words or the order of the words, this is still plagiarism if you are
using someone else’s original ideas and are not properly acknowledging it;
• using ideas taken from someone else without reference to the originator;
• cutting and pasting from the Internet to make a "pastiche" of online sources;
• colluding with another person, including another candidate (other than as might be
permitted for joint project work);
• submitting as part of your own report or dissertation someone else’s work without
identifying clearly who did the work (for example, where research has been
contributed by others to a joint project) or submitting work that has been undertaken
in whole or in part by someone else on your behalf (such as employing a ‘ghost
writing service’);
• submitting work you have submitted for a qualification at another institution without
declaring it and clearly indicating the extent of overlap;
• deliberately reproducing someone else’s work in a written examination..
c) Plagiarism can occur in respect to all types of sources and all media:
• not just text, but also illustrations, musical quotations, computer code etc;
• not just text published in books and journals, but also downloaded from websites or
drawn from other media;
• not just published material but also unpublished works, including lecture handouts
and the work of other students.
2 How to avoid plagiarism
The stylistic conventions for different subjects vary and you should consult your course director or
supervisor about the conventions pertaining in your particular subject area. Most courses will issue
written guidance on the relevant scholarly conventions and you are expected to have read and to
follow this advice. However, the main points are:
• when presenting the views and work of others, you must give an indication of the
source of the material; conventions for this vary, but one approach would be to write:
'... as Sharpe (1993) has shown', and give the full details of the work quoted in your
bibliography;
• if you quote text verbatim, make this completely evident; again conventions will vary
but you might say: 'The elk is of necessity less graceful than the gazelle' (Thompson,
1942, p 46) and give the full details in your bibliography as above;
• if you wish to set out the work of another at length so that you can produce a counterargument,
set the quoted text apart from your own text (e.g. by indenting a paragraph)
and identify it in a suitable way (e.g. by using inverted commas and adding a reference
as above). NB long quotations may infringe copyright, which exists for the life of the
author plus 70 years.
• if you are copying text, keep a note of the author and the reference as you go along,
with the copied text, so that you will not mistakenly think the material to be your own
work when you come back to it in a few weeks' time;
• if you reproduce an illustration or include someone else's data in a graph or table,
include the reference to the original work in the legend, e.g. '(figure redrawn from
Webb, 1976)' or '( 1 = data from Webb, 1976);
• if you wish to collaborate with another person on your project, you should check with
your supervisor whether this might be allowed and then seek permission (for research
degrees, the permission of the Board of Graduate Studies must be sought);
• if you have been authorised to work together with another candidate or other
27

esearchers, you must acknowledge their contribution fully in your introductory section.
If there is likely to be any doubt as to who contributed which parts of the work, you
should make this clear in the text wherever necessary, e.g. 'I am grateful to A. Smith for
analysing the sodium content of these samples';
• be especially careful if cutting and pasting work from electronic media; do not fail to
attribute the work to its source. If authorship of the electronic source is not given, ask
yourself whether it is worth copying.
3 The Golden Rule:
The examiners must be in no doubt as to which parts of your work are your own original work
and which are the rightful property of someone else.
THE TYPESCRIPT
The following notes give guidance on the preparation of a typescript, on bibliographies and footnoting. They
are not intended to be exhaustive, nor are they compulsory. There are a number of accepted conventions that
you can use. The conventions outlined below have been adapted from the house-style of the Cambridge
Historical Journal. Recent articles published in this journal will normally provide a good model for you to
follow, in line with the guidance outlined here. You may, however, wish to chose a different set of
conventions. The main principle is to be consistent. Choose your system and stick to it. If you have doubts
about using the system outlined below, seek the advice of your Supervisor. For another helpful source of
very detailed guidance on all aspects of bibliographical style and other conventions such as abbreviations,
spelling, capitalization, etc., consult the style guide of the MHRA (Modern Humanities Research
Association), available as a pdf file at:
http://mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/download.shtml
Always make regular backups of your computer files, as well as hard copy print-outs.
Have your dissertation printed on one side of A4 paper (on a laser printer or a good inkjet printer). You may
wish to make use of the laser printing facilities provided in the Faculty’s Graduate Research Room.
Leave margins of at least 40mm at the top, the left and the foot, and 25mm at the right.
Everything in the main text should be one-and-a-half spaced, except indented quotations and footnotes
(which should be at the foot of the page) which should be single-spaced. Be sure to paginate.
There is no prescribed typeface but it is strongly recommended that candidates use simple classical typefaces
(such as Times Roman). Use 12 pt for the body of the text and 11 pt for footnotes.
Many word-processing programmes are capable of producing accents and non-roman characters, as well as
printing mathematical symbols and equations. Candidates are advised to use such word-processing packages
but in the case of rare languages the appropriate fonts may not be available, in which case hand-written
additions to the typed texts are allowed. See that any handwriting is entirely legible, and that subscripts and
superscripts are clearly positioned.
Paragraph breaks should be indicated by indents and not line breaks. The first paragraph of an article, and of
numbered sub-sections, should not be indented.
TEXT CONVENTIONS
Headings
Do not use more than three kinds of headings within a chapter; the more kinds there are, the more difficult it
will be for the reader to distinguish one grade from another.
Abbreviations.
A list of abbreviations used in the text and the footnotes should be placed at the beginning of the thesis, after
the preface.
Tables
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Tables may be typed on separate sheets or in the text. Tables of more than four lines should be numbered
and given suitably descriptive titles, and referred to in the text by number rather than ‘as follows’. Do check
your tables carefully. Are they in the form that the reader will find most helpful Will the reader be able to
compare one set of values with another Are all units, percentages and totals identified Do the totals tally
with the individual values You should also make clear (either in the title, the text, or using a footnote) the
source(s) of material from which the table has been compiled.
Quotations
Follow the punctuation, capitalization, and spelling of the original.
For short quotations use single quotation marks (except for quotations within quotations which should have
double quotation marks). Short quotations (those that do not exceed four lines of typescript) should run on
with the main text. Longer quotations should be typed as a displayed extract, i.e. indented and separated
from the rest of the text with a line space above and below, using single spacing for the quoted extract.
Longer quotations formatted in this way do not need quotation marks (except for single quotation marks for
quotations within quotations).
Use three point ellipses ... when omitting material within quotations. (Note that there is no purpose in
placing brackets around ellipses; and rarely is there any purpose in placing ellipses at the beginning or end of
quotations.) Punctuation should come after closing quotation marks, except for exclamation marks and
question marks belonging to the quotation, or a full stop if the quotation is (or ends with) a grammatically
complete sentence beginning with a capital. Some examples:
He declared that ‘the sergemakers are rebelling’.
He made his report. ‘The sergemakers are rebelling.’
He stated that ‘Mr Ovington told me, “the sergemakers will rebel”, but I did not believe him’.
Spelling
Follow British English rather than American English (e.g. defence, labour, programme, sceptical). Note the
following preferences:
-ize
-tion
acknowledgement
appendixes
connection
dispatch
elite (no accent)
focused
indexes
inquiry
judgement
medieval
premise
reflection
regime (no accent)
role (no accent)
Note especially the use of -ize rather than -ise. E.g. criticize, emphasize, organize, recognize.
Titles cited in the text
Titles of books should be either italicized or underlined; do not use inverted commas. Use inverted commas
and roman type if naming a part of a book or an individual chapter. E.g. ‘This point is strongly made in the
fourth chapter, ‘Of sincerity’, in Maxim Pirandello’s Princely government (1582).’
Foreign words and phrases
Foreign words and phrases should be italicized (or underlined), except when they are naturalized, i.e. have
become normalized in English usage. E.g. phronesis, ius naturale, status quo, ex officio. Some words that
are naturalized may nonetheless still carry accents, if it affects pronunciation, e.g. protégé, whereas ‘regime’
and ‘role’ have lost their accents. Short foreign phrases that are italicized should not also carry inverted
29

commas. Longer foreign passages should be treated as quotations, i.e. should be in roman type with
quotation marks. Translations of quoted material that is not in English should be provided in the footnotes.
Numerals
Spell out all numbers up to ten (e.g. five hospitals, ten years ago; but 18 days, 404 parishes), except when
used in groups or in statistical discussion (e.g. ‘75 voted for, 39 against, and 30 abstained’). Use words
rather than figures to start a sentence.
Thousands take a comma: ‘5,000'. Use 0.15 rather than .15.
Note the use of elisions: 101-2; 1568-9. Numbers in the teens are not fully elided: 115-16; 1611-12.
Dates
Express dates as follows in the text: 12 December 1770 (i.e. do not use the form December 12th, 1770).
Decades should be referred to as 1660s (not 1660’s).
Use 1534-5 (not 1534-35), but for years in the teens use 1513-14 (not 1513-4). In B.C. references the full
dates must be given, e.g. 250-245 B.C (not 250-45 B.C.). Use ‘between 1641 and 1650’ and ‘from 1641
until 1650’ or just ‘1641-60’, but not ‘between 1641-50’ or ‘from 1641-50’.
Place a comma before dates when citing titles of books and articles: A history of Hungary, 1810-1890.
When referring to centuries, be aware of the distinction between ‘the court in the sixteenth century’ (noun,
without hyphen) and the ‘sixteenth-century court’ (adjective, with hyphen).
When abbreviating months in footnotes, note that the standard abbreviations are: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr.,
May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
Currency
Words should be used to express simple sums of money occurring in normal prose: ‘the manuscript was sold
for two shillings in 1682’. Sums of money which are cumbrous to express in words, and sums occurring in
statistical tables etc. should be expressed in figures. British currency prior to 1971 should be shown in the
following form: ‘The value of the goods stolen was £3 4s 8d’.
British decimal currency should be expressed in pounds and new pence, separated by a full stop and not a
comma: ‘£5.00’. Sums below one pound can be shown as ‘84p’ or ‘½p’ (note no full stop after ‘p’).
Abbreviations may be used for the more familiar foreign currencies where it is not appropriate to express
sums in words. Do not use £ for lire or livres, use li. instead. Always make it clear what currency you are
using, particularly when there may be confusion, e.g. livres tournois and livres parisis, US $ and Canadian $.
Punctuation
The serial comma is preferred (‘red, white, and blue’ rather than ‘red, white and blue’).
The addition of a possessive - ‘s following a name ending in -s is preferred (e.g. Dickens’s, Jones’s, rather
than Dickens’, Jones’), except that people in the ancient world do not carry the possessive final ‘s, e.g.
Sophocles’, Jesus’.
Note that plainly parenthetical clauses or phrases require commas both before and after them; if in doubt
about comma placement in these and other cases you are advised to consult Fowler’s English Modern
Usage. Round (not square) brackets should be used for brackets within brackets. Square brackets should be
reserved for editorial interpolation within quoted matter.
Capitalization
In general, use lower case wherever possible, but do not take this policy to extremes.
Use lower case for titles of books and articles (except for the initial letter), but not for journals and
newspapers, where each significant word carries a capital. E.g. ‘In his book The making of peace he argued
in favour; but, writing in The Sheffield Gazette, he declared that ...’ Note that newspapers include the definite
article in their titles when cited in the text, e.g. The Guardian, The Observer, The Lancet; but without the
definite article in footnotes, e.g. Guardian, 14 Aug. 1964, p. 8.
Use lower case for titular offices: the king, sultan, monarch, pope, lord mayor, prime minister, foreign
secretary, bishop of Durham, chiefs of staff, duke of Portland. But use upper case to avoid ambiguity (the
Speaker, the British Resident). Use upper case in personal titles only when they immediately preface names
(Pope John, King William, Duke Richard, Viscount Andover, Bishop Outhwaite). E.g. ‘The earl of
30

Lovelace conveyed the king’s command to the bishops ordering them to refrain from preaching, but Bishop
Outhwaite was not dissuaded.’
In general, use lower case for institutions, government agencies, etc.: the cabinet, privy council, royal
commission, select committee, member of parliament (but MP), the opposition. But use upper case to avoid
ambiguity or where convention insists: the Bank of England, King’s Bench, the Inner Temple, the House of
Commons, the Star Chamber.
Use upper case for political parties except where ambiguity is impossible: so, whig, tory, but Conservative
government, the Liberal Party, the Labour opposition.
Use lower case for historical systems, periods, events, and religions, wherever possible: Washington treaty,
the British empire, home rule, the commonwealth, the middle ages, puritans, parliamentarians. But use upper
case to avoid ambiguity or where convention insists: the Congress of Vienna, the Renaissance, the
Enlightenment, the First World War, the French Revolution, the Third Republic, the Second Empire, the
Union; Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, Wesleyan, Quaker.
Note that words derived from names of persons take upper case: Jesuit, Calvinism, Bonapartist, Marxism.
Use lower case for official publications (e.g. the report of the select committee on agriculture, a bill, an act,
the act, the bill), except for the names of specific items (e.g. the Stamp Act).
Examples:
an act
battle of Waterloo
bishop of Durham
Bishop Tenison
British empire
cabinet
Catholics
chiefs of staff
the church
the Commons
commonwealth
council of state
crown
duke of Portland
Duke William
First World War
foreign secretary
French Revolution
houses of parliament
king
King’s Bench
Labour opposition
lord mayor
member of parliament
middle ages
ministry of defence
parliamentarians
Presbyterian
prime minister
privy council
Protestants
Prussian Diet
Seven Years’ War
the state
tory
the Union
Washington treaty
Whig
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FOOTNOTES
Notes should be kept brief. They are primarily for the citation of sources and should only with great restraint
be used to provide additional commentary or information.
The purpose of footnotes is primarily to refer the reader to the source upon which statements are made. It is
essential that the reader should be able to identify quickly the particular sources for particular statements. If
it is convenient to gather together the evidence for sequences of statements, or a sequence of examples
illustrating a statement, it is perfectly proper to put these into a single note. However, in such cases the
sequence in the notes must follow the sequence in the text precisely. If there is any risk that a reader will not
be able easily to identify a particular source for each statement, then separate notes should be given. If in
doubt, use more rather than fewer separate notes.
In the text, footnote indicators should come after and not before punctuation. Footnote indicators should be
in the form of superscript numerals, without brackets. The notes for each chapter should begin with the
number 1.
Give a full bibliographical reference at the first citation in each chapter, and then author-plus-short-title in
subsequent citations within that same chapter.
First references to manuscript sources, books, dissertations and articles are to be punctuated, spelt out or
abbreviated, and capitalized as in the following examples:
Cardwell to Russell, 3 Nov. 1865, London, The National Archives (TNA), Russell papers,
30/22/156, fo. 23.
John Morley, The life of William Ewart Gladstone (2 vols., London, 1988), II, pp. 121-34.
M. Cowling, 1867: Disraeli, Gladstone and revolution: the passing of the second Reform Bill
(Cambridge, 1967), pp. 41-5, 140-7.
David Harris Sacks, The widening gate: Bristol and the Atlantic economy, 1450-1700 (Berkeley and
Los Angeles, 1991), pp. 54ff.
Sverre Bagge, ‘The individual in medieval historiography’, in Janet Coleman, ed., The individual in
political theory and practice (Oxford, 1996), p. 45.
C. M. Williams, ‘The political career of Henry Marten’ (D.Phil. thesis, Oxford, 1954), ch. 6, passim.
W. G. Hynes, ‘British mercantile attitudes towards imperial expansion’, Historical Journal, 19
(1976), pp. 969-76.
Edmund Ludlow, A voyce from the watch tower, ed. A. B. Worden (Camden Fourth Series, vol. 21,
London, 1978).
Note the following points:
lower case in titles (except for journals and newspapers)
lower case for ‘bk’, ‘ch.’.
place of publication but not publisher
authors’ forenames or initials as they appear in the original (though it is permissible to reduce all
forenames to initials)
‘p.’ or ‘pp.’ are always used before page references
a space follows ‘p.’ and ‘pp.’
volume but not issue number of journals given (except that for pre-twentieth century journals it is
often necessary to provide issue numbers)
volume numbers of journals in arabic not roman numerals
volume numbers for multi-volume books in roman small capitals
subtitles separated by colons
32

Note also:
dates in titles of books and articles separated by commas
elision of page numbers
‘ed.’ and ‘eds.’ not ‘(ed.)’ and ‘(eds.)’
editors’ names come before and not after a book title, except where the book carries an author’s
name, in the case of memoirs, autobiographies, etc.
‘ch.’ not ‘chap.’
a space follows initials of names
supply full page ranges for articles in journals
anglicize foreign places of publication, e.g. Cologne rather than Kőln.
Where a quotation or particular fact needs referencing, and the work in question is a journal article needing
the full page range at a first citation, then use the following form: Phyllis Deutsch, ‘Moral trespass in
Georgian London’, Historical Journal, 39 (1996), pp. 637-56, at p. 642.
Be especially careful in citing multi-volume works. Avoid ambiguity about whether the date given is the
date of a particular volume or of the whole series. Use the form: E. S. de Beer, ed., The correspondence of
John Locke (8 vols., Oxford, 1976-89), V, p. 54. Note that if you were to use the following misleading form,
it would not be clear whether the whole series or just the one volume appeared in the year specified: E. S. de
Beer, ed., The correspondence of John Locke (Oxford, 1979), V, p. 54. Multi-volume works occur in so
many different guises - e.g. general editors and volume editors, series titles and individual volume titles -
that it is not possible to prescribe a universal form of citation; the priorities should be swift direction of the
reader to the correct volume and the avoidance of ambiguity.
Even where an historian’s name is given in the text, it should be repeated in the footnote citation. I.e. do not
leave a footnote citation bereft of an author.
In a series of citations within a single footnote, items should generally be separated by a semi-colon rather
than a point.
For early-modern printed works it is legitimate to omit place of publication by providing a covering note at
the beginning, e.g., ‘All pre-1800 works were published in London unless otherwise stated.’ Use ‘n.d.’ (no
date) and ‘n.p.’ (no place of publication) where the information is not known. Use signature numbers (‘sig.’)
where pagination is absent.
Internet citations should be avoided wherever possible. The stability of e-texts, for example, is not yet
secure; references to e-texts posted on the Internet will become incomprehensible to readers in generations to
come whereas references to printed books will not. Internet citations should only be used where the referent
is a unique resource not available in any other form; in such cases, identify the resource by a project title or
similar as well as by URL in pointed brackets (< >), with the date at which the resource was created (not
accessed) where appropriate.
Second and subsequent references
For example:
Use the author’s surname and short title: not author’s name alone
Use ‘Ibid.’ : see under Latinisms below
Use abbreviations (e.g. for archive repositories) only if the abbreviation has been explained in the
initial reference or in the list of abbreviations at the outset of the dissertation.
BN n.a.fr. 20628 (Thiers Papers), fo. 279
TNA, Russell papers, 30/22/156, fo. 41.
Morley, Gladstone, II, pp. 147ff.
Cowling, 1867, p. 91.
Ibid., p. 108.
Hynes, ‘Mercantile attitudes’, pp. 971-4; Sacks, Widening gate, p. 19.
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Abbreviations
Note the following common abbreviations used in citations of source materials in footnotes (see also under
Latin abbreviations below):
ed. = editor
eds. = editors
edn = edition
f = the following page, e.g. p. 54f
ff = the following pages, e.g. pp. 54ff
fo. = folio (where a manuscript is foliated rather than paginated)
fos. = folios
MS = manuscript
MSS = manuscripts
p. = page
pp. = pages
qu. = quoted
r = recto (the front side of a foliated manuscript leaf)
sig. = signature number, where there is no pagination in an early modern book
trans. = translation, or translator
v = verso (the reverse side of a foliated manuscript leaf)
vol. = volume
vols. = volumes
Latin abbreviations
Note that only three latinisms may be used (and none is italicized).
Ibid. This is used to denote a repetition of the immediately preceding item, where only a different page (or
volume) number needs to be recorded. If the preceding item is in the preceding footnote, then ibid. should
only be used if the preceding footnote contains only a single reference; otherwise there is ambiguity.
Idem. This is used to denote a repetition of the immediately preceding author’s name, where only a different
book or article title (and page references) needs to be recorded.
Passim. This is used to denote that a topic is referred to periodically throughout the source cited.
Do not use ‘op. cit.’ or ‘loc. cit.’ Only use ‘cf.’ when it really does mean ‘compare’; otherwise use ‘see’.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The bibliography must include all material, primary and secondary, that has been cited in the footnotes or
has substantially informed the dissertation; it should not include materials consulted that have not, in the
end, been used. It should normally be divided into manuscript sources, printed sources, printed secondary
works, unpublished dissertations, and websites.
Each item should be described as follows:
a) Manuscripts
1) City in which archive is to be found
2) Full name of archive
3) Reference according to the practice of the relevant archive
b) Printed primary sources
Examples:
1) Source published as a whole book
Stephanus, Vita sancti Wilfridi, ed. B. Colgrave (Cambridge, 1927)
2) Source published as part of a book or as part of a volume of a journal (for which you should
provide details of pages containing the entire source)
Roger of Salerno, Chirurgia, ed. K. Sudhoff, Studien zur Geschichte der Medizin 12 (1918),
148-236
34

3) Source published as an entire volume of a series (in the example given below, the volume forms
part of a sub-series (Epistulae) of the series known as the Monumenta Germaniae Historica)
Alcuin, Epistolae, ed. E. Dümmler, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Epistulae, 4 (Hannover,
1895)
4) Source published as part of a volume which is itself part of a series (in the example given, the
volume forms part of a three-volume edition of the complete works of Amalarius, which is
itself part of the series known as Studi e testi)
c) Printed works
Amalarius of Metz, Liber officialis, ed. J.M. Hanssens, Amalarii episcopi opera, Studi e testi,
138-40 (3 vols., Rome, 1948), II, 3-543
I. Books
1) author’s or editor’s surname
2) author’s or editor’s initials or forename (for editor(s) add ‘(ed.)’ or ‘(eds)’)
3) the title, in italics or underlined
4) the series, if any, not underlined
5) the edition (if not the first)
6) the number of volumes, publication place and date, punctuated as follows
Carter, P., Frognal to Englands Lane (London Street Name Series, vol.45. London, 1938)
Hazel, J.A., The growth of the cotton trade in Lancashire (2 nd edn. 4 vols. London, 1956-7)
II. Chapters in edited books
1) author’s surname
2) author’s initials or forenames
3) name of chapter, in single inverted commas, not underlined
4) the word ‘in’ followed by the initials/forenames and surname of the editor(s) and ‘ed.’ or
‘eds.’ in brackets
5) the title of the book, in italics or underlined
6) the number of volumes (if more than one), publication place and date published as above
7) volume number (if relevant) and page numbers of the chapter, punctuated as follows:
Kelly, S., ‘Anglo-Saxon lay society and the written word’, in R. McKitterick (ed.), The uses
of literacy in medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 36-62
III. Articles
1) author’s surname
2) author’s initials or forenames
3) name of article, in single inverted commas, not underlined
4) name of journal, in italics or underlined
5) volume number in Roman or Arabic numerals (‘vol.’ not needed)
6) date in brackets
7) page number(s) (‘p’, ‘pp.’ not needed in the case of multi-volume works) punctuated as
follows:
Carr, J.L., ‘Uncertainty and monetary theory’, Economics, II (1956), 82-9.
d) Unpublished dissertations
Put the title in inverted commas and add University and date.
Punctuate as follows:
Other, A.N., ‘The breeding of caveys for food in sixteenth century Peru’ (unpublished PhD. thesis,
University of Cambridge, 1962).
e) Websites
Cite author or webmaster/webmistress (if known), date created or last updated (if known), title of text,
heading of page, full url, and date last accessed; e.g. Kirk, Elizabeth E., ‘Evaluating information found
on the internet’ (1996), The Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University University,
http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/general/evaluating/, last accessed 7 Sept 2006.
35