Nottingham, University of, BA (Hons), American Studies and History

Year 1: Students are introduced to the basic themes and events of American history and the key authors and texts of American literature; the history core is learning history, a skill and methodology based module; the emphasis is on reflecting on the nature of history as a discipline and developing the skills required for the writing and debating of history. Year 2: Students broaden and deepen their understanding of both disciplines; study of American thought and culture complements the 1st-year surveys of history and literature, and a range of modules allow students to focus on certain periods, events, authors or texts; in history, students select modules from medieval, early modern or modern history, and submit a long essay at the end of the 2nd semester; the history core module is exploring historiography, which involves planning, researching and writing a 5,000-word analysis of the historiography of a topic of the student's choice. Year 3: Study abroad year: the study abroad year is undertaken by those students registered for the 4-year programme; students attend a major North American university for an academic year, where they are required to take a certain proportion of their courses related to their degree, but are also encouraged to take advantage of the wide range of alternative modules offered in most American and Canadian universities; their choice of modules are supervised by staff at Nottingham; the year abroad provides students with a unique opportunity to experience North American culture and society at 1st hand. Year 4: Students continue and extend the process of specialisation, submitting a dissertation on a subject of their choice, choosing from a range of advanced level modules and continuing to engage with the historiography in various debates, taking a critical approach to the use of primary source material.