Course requirements

Course description and objectives

This is a one-term survey course of British history. Its chief objective is to give students a general overview of the most important periods, people and ideas in British history in terms of its political, economic and cultural development. In seminars students will have a chance to explore and discuss seminars some of the documents, issues and ideas that have shaped the four nations in the present-day United Kingdom.

Course textbook

For their weekly reading assignments as well as for exam preparation students are recommended to buy The Oxford History of Britain and Ireland: From Early People to the Present Day (ed. Kenneth O. Morgan) and it is published by Oxford University Press (ISBN-10: 0199115737, ISBN-13: 978-0199115730). Other recommended reference source is The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain(Oxford University Press 1984).

Lectures

It is advisable to do your coursebook reading assignment for a particular week before you attend the lecture. It is essential to have a copy of the appropriate lecture worksheet while listening to a lecture. The lecture worksheet will help you to make an easier job of listening as it contains a lot lot of useful information (proper names, vocabulary, dates). What is more, it contains a complete list of TEST/EXAM QUESTIONS which might appear in your written tests (this is the only study guide for all tests/final examination). The test/exam qestions include topics covered in lectures, seminars and weekly reading assignments. Some questions relate to the topics that will not be covered in either lectures or seminars and you will have to review for these as part of your corsebook reading assignments. To access all topic-by-topic lecture worksheets go to Lecture worksheets section.

Seminar preparation

Themes covered in lectures will be followed up by seminar activities. It is essential that students prepare for each seminars by doing the following work: 1. Attend lectures. 2. Do regular week-by-week reading assignments from the coursebook. 3. Read additional materials (this may including reading an article, listening to a recording or other assigned task). To access a list of topic-by-topic seminar weekly assignments go to Seminar preparation section.

Assessment procedures

The overall assessment of the Great Britain is made up of the following assessed tasks: 1. TEST I, 2. TEST II. There may be a third assessed task - WRITTEN HISTORICAL ESSAY. Please check in the Announcements section whether you have to do this task or not. In addition to above mentioned tasks, students can be awarded points for active participation in class discussions (3 points per seminar). In addition, there may be a non-compulsory assessed task (Check Announcements if there is one in your academic year). Test I is a mid-term test written in week 7 or 8 and Test II after the end of classes (during exam time). The tests are based on the lectures, weekly reading assignments and topics discussed in seminars. Attendance at seminars is compulsory. Students are allowed to miss a maximum of 2 seminars. For the guidelines how to go about writing a historical essay (or comparative analysis) go to Written assignment. For more information on the breakdown of points for all the assessed tasks and an overview of the points you have collected go to Assessment.

Note

All the information you need about the course as well as distribution of additional course materials will be handled via the internet on this website. Check the Announcements section weekly for test dates, essay submission deadlines, etc.

PhDr. Roman Ličko, PhD
E-mail: roman.licko@umb.sk
Tel.: +421 48 4465022
Department of English and American Studies
Faculty of Humanities
Matej Bel University
97401 Banská Bystrica