Course Handbook - Faculty of History - University of Cambridge

• 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’.
5