Nineteenth-Century Studies - MA

About the course

1 year full time/2 years part time

Explore nineteenth-century society and culture from a variety of geographical and disciplinary perspectives. Taught by staff in History, English and Modern Languages, the topics covered extend across the entire breadth of the 'long nineteenth century' from 1789 to 1914.

The MA is run in association with Sheffield’s Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies, a centre of research excellence that has strong links to the Sheffield City Archives, Museums Sheffield and Weston Park Museum.

Entry requirements

A 2:1 honours degree or equivalent in history or other humanities or social science discipline from a UK or overseas university. You may be asked to supply examples of previous written work.

English language requirements

IELTS 7.0 (with no less than 6.5 in each part), or TOEFL 100 (iBT), or equivalent.

Entry requirements for international students 

Core modules

• Research presentation
• Interdisciplinary Approaches to Nineteenth-Century Studies
• Dissertation

Optional modules

• The Scramble for Africa
• Discovering Rural England
• Ballads
• Broadsides and Cartoons: the Firth collection in Sheffield
• A People’s Conflict: the Union and the US civil war
• The Fin-de-Siècle
• Research Skills for Historians
• PhD proposal
• The Historical Novel
• Presenting the Past: making history public
• Work Placement

Teaching

• Seminars
• Individual tutorials

Assessment

• Bibliographical and source-based exercises
• Written papers
• Oral presentation
• Dissertation (15,000 words)
• There are no unseen examinations

Fees and funding

University and AHRC Studentships are available. You'll need to submit your application by the University deadline in January or February preceding a September entry and should be holding an offer before doing so.

University and AHRC Studentships

Financial information for postgraduate taught courses

Part time study

This course can be taken part-time. Seminars are held during working hours (9am–6pm) – there are no lectures. The number of contact hours will vary over the two years, but you'll have at least one two-hour seminar each week.

You'll take one core module each year and the rest of your course will be made up from optional modules giving you plenty of choice and flexibility over what you study.

Any questions?

If you'd like to know more about any aspect of our courses, contact us:

E: history@sheffield.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)114 222 2552

Your career

Our masters are designed to prepare you for a career or provide professional development for teachers, writers and curators who wish to keep up to date with new approaches and findings in history.

The modules 'Presenting the Past' and 'Work Placement' will equip you with employability skills, but all our modules will make a difference to your personal and professional development.

Many career options are open to you. You could work in the heritage and museum sector, journalism, teaching, law, the NGO sector and the civil service. Around 25 per cent of our graduates go on to further study. Careers advice and help is available from the moment you start your course.

Why your masters matters

Our challenge is to find out how events in our historical past have changed and shaped the world we live in today.

Our research informs our understanding through interdisciplinary research centres such as the Centres for Peace History, the Study of Journalism and History, Cultures of the Cold War, Genocide and Mass Violence, and the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies.

Our staff and students

Our staff are active in their research. In the 2008 RAE we were ranked tenth nationally with 65 per cent of our research judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent.This research informs what we teach you.

Our current students are active too. They organise numerous social activities and trips and you can get involved in discussion groups, seminars and conferences that allow postgraduates and staff from Sheffield and other universities to get together and share their ideas.

Gain vocational experience while you study through our work placement module.

Work experience

One of the unique features of the Sheffield MA is the opportunity to gain vocational experience through our work placement module. You could carry out archive work for a regional country house, assist with research for a public exhibition, or design online learning materials for school children studying history.

Facilities

You'll study in a purpose-built facility for the arts and humanities. The building is designed with you in mind, featuring modern flexible learning, teaching and research facilities and dedicated postgraduate study areas.

Apply now

You can apply for postgraduate study using our Postgraduate Online Application Form. It is a quick and easy process.

Postgraduate Online Application Form