History BA Welcome Pack

Welcome to History BA 2024.

History BA (Hons) at Northampton offers you the opportunity to explore your interests in History and also look at issues that have contemporary relevance to us today.

We have an exciting programme of modules for you, covering a wide range of time periods and different types of history.

Our programme covers different areas of History from the medieval period up until the early 2000s. You’ll be able to study topics as diverse as medieval knights, Tudor kings and queens, the experiences of Native American peoples, Victorian asylum patients, soldiers during the First World War, twentieth century extremist politics, and British society post-1945.

We also support you to develop skills for your future after university, such as writing for social media platforms, researching for podcasts and radio shows and presenting to different types of audiences.

You will be supported in your studies by a team of expert historians, who are engaged in cutting-edge research in these fields.

You will also be assigned a Personal Academic Tutor, who will meet with you in your first week at university.

Programme Leader

Caroline Nielson Senior Lecturer in History and Heritage

Dr Caroline Nielsen

Senior Lecturer in History and Heritage
Caroline.nielsen@northampton.ac.uk

Welcome and Induction sessions

This is your induction timetable with online sessions starting on Monday 9 September, and in-person sessions starting on Monday 16 September.

To welcome you onto the BA History course and help you transition to university-level study, we will be hosting a series of online welcome meetings, and a series of in-person activities.

Our online pre-arrival induction sessions are designed to help you prepare for your first couple of days at university and for the enrolment process.

The aim of the sessions is to help you prepare for Welcome Week, and to ask any questions you may have before you arrive in Northampton. It also means that you will know some of the tutors and your Personal Academic Tutor before you arrive for the University’s Welcome Week (commencing 16th September).

Each online session will be 30 minutes, but tutors will remain available on the call afterwards in case of any questions and to help you.

If you have any questions about these sessions or induction, please do not hesitate to contact the Programme Leader Caroline Nielsen: Caroline.Nielsen@northampton.ac.uk.

  • Monday 9 September

    Wednesday 11 September

    For both these sessions we will be using a platform called Blackboard Collaborate. It works best with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Safari. Please update to the latest version of these browsers for the best experience.

    The platform is public, so please only add your first or preferred name and do not share personal information in the chat. The sessions will open shortly before the published start time.

    The History department will also be running a series of in-person taught sessions during this week, to help you settle into your course and meet your course-mates. There will also be course trips and activities across the week.

  • Monday 16 September

    • Session: BA History Course Induction: The Course Structure, Your Timetables and Your Module Choices
    • Time: 11am-1pm
    • Location: LH323, third floor, Learning Hub

    Tuesday 17 September

    • Session: Transitioning to University Level Study and Preparing for Your New Modules
    • Time: 11am-12pm
    • Location: SN204, second floor, Senate

     

    • Session: History Games and Social Event. Come join us for some short, silly board games – some with a historical theme – to break the ice and meet other students on the course.
    • Time: 1pm-3pm
    • Location: SN204, second floor, Senate

    Wednesday 18 September

    • Session: Hidden Histories – First Year Course Trip with Activities
    • Time: 11am-1pm
    • Location: Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, 5-6 Guildhall Road, Northampton, NN1 1DP. Meet outside the museum main door.

     

    The Students’ Union will also be running events across campus. Please see the Students’ Union website for further details. It will be updated in advance of Welcome Week, so please check regularly for further information.

    Friday 20 September

    • Session: History Day Trip to British Museum, London, with coach travel
    • Time: to be confirmed
    • Location: meeting point will be outside Senate, Waterside Campus

Equipment

Textbooks and History Materials

We are sure you are all eager to get started, and we know that some of you may wish to look at some course reading or materials prior to our first week.

Please note we don’t have any set pre-course reading and you do not need to invest in a large collection of books before your course. You will be able to access materials via the University Library and Learning Services.

You will be given access to the Library and to our wide collection of materials shortly after your formal enrolment on campus.

There is no single textbook for the entire first year of the course. Tutors will use multiple resources across each module.

If you do wish to learn more about a particular topic, or have a passionate for an area of history, please contact the tutors who will be able to advise you. Our contact information is on the History course page.

Study Skills

There are some useful general study skills guides that you may find useful, each designed to help you read more about a particular university study skill.

These resources are available in the University Library, for you to access after enrolment. You do not need to purchase any of them in advance of the course.

Reading these before the course starts is not obligatory!

  • Jeremy Black and Donald Mcraild, Studying History, fourth edition (Macmillan Study Skills, 2016).
  • Stella Cottrell, The Study Skills Handbook, sixth edition (Macmillan Study Skills, 2019)
  • Ian Mabbett, Writing History Essays, second edition (Macmillan Study Skills, 2016)
  • William Kelleher Storey, Writing History: A Guide for Students, (Oxford University Press, 2020).

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