Duration
15h Th, 15h Pr
Number of credits
| Bachelor in history | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The four Heuristics courses offer students the opportunity to discover the specificities and methods of historical research for the four periods of history (typology of sources and works specific to each period; introduction to bibliographical research and the use of the main working tools). In B3, each student will thus be able to choose, with full knowledge of the facts, the two periods in which he or she wishes to specialise and to carry out his or her first major work independently (including the TFC).
Students will have acquired some research skills, exercised their critical thought and improved the quality of their scientific writing.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of this course, students will be able to
- distinguish potential sources for medieval studies among the traces of the past
- conduct detailed research (chronologies, dictionaries and encyclopaedias, specialist atlases)
- carry out rigorous bibliographical research
- distinguish between the different types of source (material, written, immaterial) available to the medieval historian
- identify a narrative source by taking a critical look at the information provided by bibliographical directories of sources (circumstances of writing, manuscript tradition and critical editions)
- properly cite the reference of a medieval source, whether it is a manuscript source or a printed source
- begin compiling a corpus of sources
- report orally or in writing on the research of others (issues, methods and means)
- communicate the results of his/her research in clear and precise scientific French, either orally or in writing
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Corequisite courses
- HIST0082-1
- HIST0040-1
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
This course should give students the opportunity to discover the reality of research in the field of medieval history. There will therefore be an alternance between the theoretical sessions needed to make students aware of the specific nature of the study of this period of history and practical and dynamic sessions, designed according to the flipped classroom pedagogy. These sessions will be given at the QI on Mondays from 2pm to 4pm (Prof. Fl. Close).
An initiation to bibliography will be given at the same time to enable students to familiarise themselves with the works and to become increasingly involved in the construction of collective knowledge. These compulsory sessions will take place on Wednesdays from 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm in R100 from 23 september to 21 October (G. Beyens, Assistant).
Optional but highly recommended bibliography sessions will be organised by student tutors every week from 2 November to 18 December, according to the timetable provided in class.
Self-study bibliographic exercises will be available on eCampus.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Face-to-face course
Further information:
This course, which has a strong practical and collaborative focus, requires everyone to attend regularly and participate actively.
Students must notify the tutor of any absences. Three unauthorised absences may result in exclusion from the module.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus
Further information:
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus
Further information:
Bibliography Syllabus 2026-2027 and documents to download (eCampus)
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam
Further information:
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam
Additional information:
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam ( open-ended questions )
Additional information:
A 4-hour exam held in the library, designed to assess the student's ability to initiate research on a topic in medieval history (typological analysis, information and bibliographic research, identification of sources, critical review of an academic article, etc.) and to clearly express their thoughts in writing in French.
Submission of all (compulsory) formative work by the deadline is a sine qua non for admission to the certification test.
Absences and inadmissibility
In accordance with article 61 §. 2 of the General Regulations for Studies and Examinations, any student who has not participated in the activities declared inseparable from this course or has not submitted, within the set deadlines or in the prescribed form, the work required in the course will be declared inadmissible for the examination.
All learning activities and assessment tasks formally announced as such in the module descriptions published on eCampus are compulsory and form an integral part of this module.
Use of AI:
Any academic paper must be a personal and original work. At the end of your written work work, you will state that it is not the product of an artificial intelligence software and declare any use of such a tool for language improvment purposes (that is, exclusively, spelling and grammatical correction; translation). The oral discussion intends to establish your mastery of your own written production. Any erroneous or incomplete declaration will be assimilated to fraud and sanctioned as such.
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
First class : Monday 21 September at 11 am.
The Monday classes from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the initiation sessions on bibliography (Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m; 23 septembre - 21 octobre) are both compulsory and interchangeable.
The suspension of certain courses may be compensated by carrying out autonomous work.
Contacts
Enseignant titulaire : Florence Close, Professeur PhD
Département des Sciences historiques - bat A4
Quai Roosevelt 1B
4000 Liège
04 366 54 47
fclose@uliege.be
Assistant : Grégoire Beyens : gbeyens@uliege.be
Assistante pédagogique pour la maitrise de la langue française : Cécile Gorré cgorre@uliege.be