2018-2019 / HIST0015-2

Exercises in historical issues, including an introduction to bibliography : Contemporary History 2

Partim : Cours

Partim : Travail de fin de cycle

Duration

Partim : Cours : 15h Th, 30h Pr, 5d FT Tr. Pr.
Partim : Travail de fin de cycle :

Number of credits

 Bachelor in history10 crédits  

Lecturer

Partim : Cours : Catherine Lanneau
Partim : Travail de fin de cycle : Catherine Lanneau

Coordinator

N...

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

All year long, with partial in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

  • Foreign students are expected to master the French language first, as several papers and results of bibliographical research are to be turned in during the academic year and at the end of it.
  • The first part of the course will concentrate on archives sources. The individual and collective research, on a theme changing each year, will focus on a more thorough use of historical criticism and precision in writing.
  • This course is also organized in order to prepare the End-of-cycle project (ECP). This ECP allows the student to use the theoretical knowledge, the heuristic approach, the historical criticism abilities and the writing skills acquired during his/her formation. The student will work autonomously on an original theme selected with the advice of his/her Professor and will regularly report to her on his/her progresses.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

  • See above. Students will be prepared to research on master's level and to the writing of their final Master thesis.
  • The making of a ECP must lead the student to undertake a personal, original and thorough research based on a limited body of sources. The student will demonstrate that he has mastered the elementary competences in criticism requested from every historian. It will not be a mere compilation of existing works and secondary sources but will prove that the student is able to establish a status quaestionis, to élaborate research problems, to assemble and / or justify his/her body of sources allowing him/her to answer the research questioning, to challenge testimonies of the past and to deliver clearly and correctly the results of his/her research.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

  • To have followed course HIST0014-1.
  • Working knowledge of French, both oral and written.
  • Reading capacity of English and, possibly, of Dutch (or any other modern language).

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

  • Theoretical introduction to the archives world in Belgium;
  • visit of an archive center;
  • oral and / or written reports during the year relating to the central theme;
  • writing of the ECP.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Face-to-face. The main part of the course focuses on personal research in archives and libraries.

Recommended or required readings

Syllabus: "Introduction au monde des archives en Belgique". The syllabus of the exercises course, level I = HIST0014-1 ("Guide d'initiation bibliographique") continues of course to be used and is updated and expanded every year.

Assessment methods and criteria

Assessment methods

  • The ECP will be evaluated by the teacher of the level II Exercises course of the selected period.
  • JANUARY: the student will deliver a state of progress of his/her ECP (begin of the 3rd week of January). This January evaluation will count for 10% of the final grade.
  • MAY/JUNE: the student will deliver his/her final ECP to the teacher at the start of the first session. During the oral examination, he/she will comment on his/her work. At the end of his/her oral comment (5 minutes), he/she will receive remarks and critics by the teacher and will be allowed to answer to them.
Criteria: the ECP will be made of at least the following elements:
  • introduction
  • criticism of the body of sources
  • status quaestionis
  • presentation of the research questioning
  • personal analysis 
  • conclusion
  • complete and up-to-date bibliography
 The ECP will present the following characteristics:
  • ca. 30 p. (bibliography included)
  • Times new roman 12
  • 1,5 spacing
  • margins 2,5 cm
  • footnotes and bibliography will be taken great care of, with uniform bibliographical references (http://web.philo.ulg.ac.be/bibliohist/references-bibliographiques/)
  • the text will be written in perfect French without orthographical, grammatical or syntactical errors.
Academic and examination regulations - Art. 37 §2: "Teaching staff may declare students inadmissible for exams when they have not participated in the activities which have been stated to be inseparable from the teaching unit in question. The same is true for students who have not submitted, within the set delays or in the prescribed formats, reports, personal work or any work set in the context of the activity in question". Students who would not have, at the beginning of the second (August) session, delivered the complete list of required works and papers will not be admitted to that session. The evaluation for the second session will consist in the verification of the improvements made in the final paper not judged sufficient in June.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Contacts

Catherine LANNEAU Département des Sciences historiques (A4) 1 b, quai Roosevelt, 4000 Liège Tél. 04 366 56 08 - Fax 04 366 57 68 C.Lanneau@ulg.ac.be