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School of History, Welsh History and Archaeology

Course structure

Image of student taking notes in a seminar

The teaching methods in the School includes lectures and smaller group teaching in the form of seminars, tutorials and workshops. For many years the School has laid particular emphasis on its small group teaching.

You also have the opportunity for individual discussion of work with your teacher.

All degrees at Bangor are modularized and based on a semester system. This means that each academic year is divided into two 15-week semesters, (with the final three weeks of each semester set aside for revision, private study and assessment).

As part of your degree course you take modules (units of study) that are equivalent to 360 credits over the three years of your course. Each year you have to take modules that are equal to 120 credits; some modules are worth 10 credits, while others are worth 20 or 40 credits.

Year 1

The School of History, Welsh History and Archaeology offers a wide range of modules. You choose which modules you wish to study to make up the necessary total of 120 credits per year. In year 1, in particular, you will have the opportunity to take some modules offered in other academic disciplines, such as Modern Languages, English and Linguistics, Sociology and Social Policy, Computing or Welsh.

You will have around 8 to 12 hours of lectures, seminars and tutorials each week. You will spend about twice this amount of time reading, completing coursework and preparing for seminars.

Those taking archaeology and heritage modules have ample opportunities to go on field trips both locally and further afield, including Ireland and the Isle of Man. Some history modules, particularly special subject courses, also include trips, for example, to Hampton Court Palace, while European modules can involve trips to French museums and places of interest. You may also take a work placement module in an archives office or archaeological unit, or participate in an exchange scheme to the USA. If you take History as a joint degree with a language you will spend a year abroad.

Some courses are assessed by examinations, others by essay. Particular importance is attached to the third-year dissertation.

In your first year you study a variety of courses designed to give you a basic grounding in different aspects of history and the study of the past. It also allows you to sample other academic subjects. The first year is also designed to help you to acquire the skills of research, analysis, argument and presentation which is vital for your success in Years 2 and 3.

In Year 1 your assessment is by a combination of 70% examination and 30% coursework.

Years 2 and 3

In your second and third years you choose from different types of courses designed to expand your knowledge, to deepen your understanding and to continue to develop your skills in the study of the past.

General modules are designed to give you an understanding of a broad expanse of history. Topic modules will enable you to study a subject or theme in greater depth. Special subjects concentrate on a particular aspect of the past studied in detail through the contemporary source material.

In Year 2 most students will study a core module in Perceptions of the Past.

In both years, your assessment is, typically, by about 50% course and project work and by about 50% examination. Particular importance is accorded to the dissertation in the final year.