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Research Degrees Handbook 2013-14 Department Of History
Research Degrees Handbook 2013-14
Department Of History
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Contents
Useful Dates 1 Useful Contacts 1 Introduction 2 Postgraduate life in the Department Of History 3 Research Students in the Department 4 Departmental Research Culture 5 Attendance Monitoring 6 Part-time Students 6 Remote Location Students 6 Devising a Research Project in History 7 Objectives for PhD Research 8 Doctoral Development Programme
10 Code of Practise for Research Supervision 11 Supervision 12 Confirmation Review 14 Preparation and Submission of Thesis
15 Plagiarism 16 Graduate Facilities 16 Seeking Help 18 Financial Support 20 Contact with the Department 21 How You Can Influence Things 22 Health and Safety 23 Out of Hours Building Access 23 Useful Web Pages 24
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Note
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information given in this publication, but the University can accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions. Students should check the Department of History’s webpages regularly for updated course information: www.shef.ac.uk/history/current_students/postgraduate/research.
Useful Dates
Intro Week: 23 September 2013 - 28 September 2013
Autumn Semester: 30 September 2013 - 20 December 2013
20 January 2014 - 8 February 2014
Christmas Vacation: 21 December 2013 - 19 January 2014 (4 weeks)
Spring Semester: 10 February 2014 - 4 April 2014
28 April 2014 - 14 June 2014
Easter Vacation: 5 April 2014 - 27 April 2014 (3 weeks)
Useful Contacts
Director of Graduate Studies:
Dr Clare Griffiths ([email protected], 0114 22 22573)
Postgraduate Support Manager:
Miss Beky Hasnip ([email protected], 0114 22 22552)
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Introduction
Welcome to the Department of History at the University of Sheffield. The Department has an excellent reputation for teaching and scholarship, and postgraduate students play an important part within our lively research environment. We have a growing body of postgraduate students who make a valued contribution to academic and social life, in the Department and in the Faculty.
As a student here, you join a friendly academic community, and will find many opportunities to try out and develop your ideas in discussion with staff and fellow students. We hope that you will take advantage of our thriving programme of seminars, workshops and other events, many of them organised by postgraduates themselves.
Desk space, with networked computers, is available within the department’s wing of the Jessop West building. Research students have their own forum and are represented on departmental and faculty committees, where they can raise matters for discussion, as well as being consulted on aspects of department life.
Your primary focus will, of course, be on writing your thesis – and this is as it should be. The Doctoral Development Programme (DDP) offers individually-tailored opportunities to enhance your academic work, providing you with the specific training necessary for your research project. But the DDP at Sheffield also enables you to gain wider experience and skills, to support your future career beyond the PhD.
This booklet provides an introduction for students studying for research degrees in the Department. You will find information and advice about getting started on your research, the facilities and resources available to you in Sheffield, the structure of the PhD and arrangements for supervision, as well as practical information about the Department and the University. Your main source of guidance will, of course, be your supervisors, but advice and assistance is also available from other members of staff, whose contact details may be found at the end of this handbook.
The information contained in this brochure, as well as additional important information, can also be found on the Department of History home page and the departmental research webpages. Other key sources of information are the University home page and the Research and Innovation Services webpages.
It is important that you check these webpages regularly for updated information: www.sheffield.ac.uk/history www.sheffield.ac.uk/history/current_students/postgraduate/masters www.sheffield.ac.uk www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr
Updates and advertisements for forthcoming events and opportunities are sent to your university email address, so we advise you to check this on a regular basis.
I hope you will find this Handbook helpful, particularly during your first weeks as a research student here. As Director of Graduate Studies, I look forward to meeting you and, together with all the members of the Department, I wish you well in your studies.
Dr Clare Griffiths Director of Graduate Studies
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Postgraduate Life in the Department Of History
The Department of History at Sheffield is one of the most active centres for historical research in the country. Our academic partners include major universities around the world while our research partners include UK and overseas government agencies, museums, galleries and cultural organisations, and charitable foundations. Sheffield is also a founder member of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), an international partnership of leading higher education institutions. Our strengths as a recognised centre for research are demonstrated by our reputation for research-led teaching and our excellent and sustained success in the Research Assessment Exercises.
The Department has around 30 full-time academic staff and around 100 postgraduate students. Members of the Department are actively engaged in a wide range of research specialisms, stretching from late antiquity to the contemporary period. Period-specific clusters of expertise include medieval history, early modern England and Europe, eighteenth-century England and America, mid-twentieth century fascist and totalitarian movements, and the contemporary transatlantic and decolonised world. Other areas of research strength are thematic and span several different periods. These include urban history, gender history, imperial and international history, and the history of violence, particularly political and religious violence. In some cases this work leads to collaboration in interdisciplinary networks, which cover subjects as diverse as material culture and democratic culture, and research centres, including the Centre for Peace History and the new Centre for Visual Studies. The Humanities Research Institute facilitates such initiatives and several history projects have been based there, notably the highly prestigious externally-funded projects that have made historical sources as diverse as the Old Bailey records and John Foxes’ ‘Book of Martyrs’ available in electronic form. Further information about our research can be found at www.sheffield.ac.uk/history/research. Members of the Department are also actively committed to public engagement, making the findings of their research available to a wider audience through talks, media work and exhibitions, and working with communities in the city and the region.
Excellent facilities for research students are provided in the Jessop West building. The Department provides research students with desk space and computer access. You have open access to the building (subject to out of hours training) and social space is provided both downstairs in the café and in the department’s library space on level 2. There is no silent study space in Jessop West, which is a work and teaching environment for academic and support staff as well as for undergraduate and postgraduate students, but silent study areas are available in Western Bank Library which also houses other research facilities, including microfilm readers. Additional graduate work space is available in the Graduate Research Centre.
Postgraduate Community
The Department is a friendly place to study. Our staff make a point of ensuring that all graduate students have the opportunity to meet regularly with other postgraduate students, academics and visiting lecturers for support and the exchange of ideas. Research students are encouraged to participate fully in the Department’s Research Seminars.
Our current students are also very active in helping to create a departmental research community of both taught and research postgraduate students and academic staff. Postgraduate students have their own forum and organise a variety of research and
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social events throughout the year including discussion groups that cover a wide range fields from medieval to modern history and including gender history and world history.
There have also in recent years been postgraduate seminars organised under the White Rose scheme by students at Sheffield, York and Leeds. Watch your email and the postgraduate noticeboard in the History Online Postgrad organisation in MOLE for more information.
Find out more on the research webpages.
Research Students in the Department
To give you some idea of the breadth of research topics currently being studied within the department, and to help you find other research students with similar interests, there are webpages devoted to research students on our history site.
You can view information about all current research students at www.sheffield.ac.uk/history/research/students.
You will see that some students have also created their own homepage with additional information about themselves and their research. We encourage all research students to take advantage of this opportunity, and you will be contacted via email in the first few weeks of term with information about how to do this. You can update your homepage and add more detail as often as you need as your research progresses and you are also asked to keep us up-to-date with any changes to your thesis title by notifying the Postgraduate Support Manager.
Departmental Research Culture
The Department seminar is a key point in the week during term-time, when members of the department at all levels - and whatever their particular area of interest - gather together to listen to a research paper or participate in roundtable discussions. Speakers are usually established members of academic staff from Sheffield, the wider-UK and beyond but there is a reserved spot each semester for one of our own postgraduate research students. This is a great opportunity for students in later stages of their research to gain experience of presenting a full academic paper to a wider audience. The seminars generally take place on Tuesday afternoons from 4pm. The slot is kept free on the timetable as far as possible to enable everyone to attend. Papers are followed by questions and discussion, after which people normally go on for a drink with the speaker, and often a meal as well. As this suggests, seminars are social, as well as academic events. Postgraduate students are particularly encouraged to attend and participate by asking questions and getting involved in the discussions. The seminars are an excellent opportunity to hear about the latest developments in historical research, to debate key issues, to meet visiting historians and get to know members of the department outside your own research area.
Alongside the main department seminar, there are many other events organised within the department, at Faculty and at University level. Many of the research centres and networks organise seminars, day conferences or special lectures. The postgraduate discussion groups hold regular meetings, with invited speakers from outside Sheffield, as well as speakers drawn from within the department. All this produces a lively
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programme of research events, open to all. We welcome suggestions about other activities to reflect and promote the research going on within the department.
If you are thinking of organising an event, do check the department calendar to make sure it does not clash with other things that are going on. You can add this to your university Google calendar by searching for [email protected].
To provide details and book rooms for these kinds of research events you should complete our events form. Details of how to access this form will be made available at the beginning of the year.
You will find information about all Departmental Seminars and Events here: www.sheffield.ac.uk/history/research/seminars.
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Attendance Monitoring
As a student, it is most important that you attend regularly all the scheduled sessions (e.g. supervisory meetings, departmental research presentations, DDP modules etc.) that are listed in your timetable or that are communicated to you as the year proceeds.
To help you ensure that you make full use of the learning opportunities that are available, departments are required to monitoring the attendance of students and report to Research and Innovation Services (RIS) at three official check points during the year that you are ‘fully engaged’ with your programme of study.
If you need to have a period away from your studies, even a short period such as a couple of weeks, then you should apply for a leave of absence (see p.18).
More information about attendance as well as working patterns is available on the research webpages.
Part-time Students
The University is keen to encourage students studying for a research degree on a part-time basis. It is important for part-time students to consider their position carefully before commencing their study:
to combine study with other commitments requires significant time, energy and resources; it is important that part-time students are aware of the additional load which they are taking on.
the time taken to complete a part-time degree may be considerable, possibly five or six years, and requires both patience and determination on the part of students.
it is necessary for part-time students to plan their study very carefully, to ensure that facilities are available at convenient times and in accessible locations. Given the nature of part-time study, it is especially important to maintain regular contact with your supervisor. This is particularly important for students undertaking research away from the University at a Remote Location Site.
many part-time students are returning to study after an interval away from regular work of this kind. It is necessary, therefore, for students to work with their supervisor to assess their training needs fully before commencing the degree and to integrate such training within the overall study programme.
Remote Location Students
Sheffield does not have residence requirements for the PhD and we have a number of students who are based some distance away from the university.
The Department is also happy to provide supervision for those reading for a research degree as a remote location student. Remote location students participate in the doctoral development programme and their progress is monitored in the same way as for any part-time research student. The student and his or her supervisory team (primary and secondary supervisor) should discuss the best methods of maintaining effective contact and conducting supervisory meetings. Email and teleconferencing methods such as Skype make it much easier to keep in touch. We aim to offer remote location students opportunities to benefit as much as possible from the resources and research environment fostered in Sheffield, and always welcome suggestions on how we might adapt our provision to individual circumstances.
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Devising a Research Project in History
You will already have some ideas about the area in which you hope to pursue research at Sheffield, but your first task after registration will be to formulate this into a more tightly defined project, suitable for a doctorate. Your supervisors will offer you advice on how to set about doing this, but some general guidance may be helpful.
A candidate for the degree of PhD is required to satisfy the examiners that his or her thesis forms an addition to knowledge, shows evidence of systematic study, demonstrates an ability to relate the results of such study to the general body of knowledge in that subject, and has produced work worthy of publication, either in full or in an abridged form. You need to bear this in mind when choosing the area on which you will do your research.
The project you devise should be broad enough to be explored at some length but sufficiently restricted to be capable of completion and submission within three years if you are a full-time candidate (six years for part-time). This means that you should be aiming, from the outset, to complete at the end of your 36th month of research. You should not plan to extend into a fourth year of research; if you do so, you will have to pay a further fee to the University. (Part-time students should submit by the end of their sixth year of part-time study. Further fees are payable for a seventh or eighth year).
Since your thesis should make an original contribution to knowledge, you will need to establish (by consulting bibliographies and lists of theses) that no one else has investigated, or is in the process of studying, the precise area on which you want to work.
You must verify that there is sufficient material available for you to seek to answer the questions you want to explore, that you can obtain access to that material (particularly important in the case of unpublished sources in private hands), and that you have the necessary technical and linguistic skills. Your supervisors will be able to advise you here.
If you find at this point that there are skills that you do not have (for example, if you need some additional language or palaeography training), your supervisors will advise you and help you to access the training you require.
A PhD thesis has a clear argument, a thesis that the candidate seeks to articulate and defend over the course of the 75,000 word text. At this stage you will, of course, have no idea what in the end your research will have enabled you to demonstrate, but you should start your project with a carefully defined question, or series of related questions. If you formulate your project in terms of question rather than at the general level of description, you are more likely to find an area suitable for critical enquiry at this level. This is perhaps the most difficult transition a research student has to make from undergraduate or MA level. You are no longer asked to respond to questions your tutors ask you - now you have to ask the questions for yourself.
Ideally, you will choose a project that is sufficiently close to your primary supervisor’s main research interests for them to be able to offer you close guidance and constructive criticism. However, all students are under the care of a supervisory team: your primary supervisor will be in the Department while secondary and co-supervisors may come from History, another Department at Sheffield, or even another institution. If you find that your research takes you into new, different areas, your original supervisors may well still be suitable advisors.
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However, if you deviate a long way from your original subject matter, you may feel that another member of staff could advise you better. If so, you may, after consultation with your supervisor and the Director of Graduate Studies, seek an alternative supervisor. If you have any queries or concerns about your supervisory arrangements, at any stage, then you should discuss these with either the Director of Graduate Studies or the Head of Department.
You should have a clear notion of the shape and structure of your final thesis. This may sound odd when you are only just beginning, but you are much less likely to lose your way if you work throughout your three years towards a clearly defined goal. Begin by trying to devise a contents page for the final thesis. This is a useful way of ensuring that you – and your supervisor – have a clear sense from the outset which central question your research will aim to answer and which questions you will have to ask in order to address it. By writing a contents page, listing the titles of 6 or 7 chapters, you will immediately have a sense of the shape of the wider task and will have sub-divided it into more manageable pieces that may make the whole seem more approachable. This is also a useful way of ensuring from the start that the project is not too large. If you aim to write 6 chapters of 10,000 words each (or 7 chapters of about 8,000 words), an introduction and a conclusion, you will produce a thesis within the maximum 75,000 word limit. If you wait for two years to see how the project takes shape before you start to plan how you will write it, you are in severe danger of producing a manuscript that will be far too long to be examined. Obviously, as you begin work, you will start to revise the questions and assumptions with which you began and so to reshape your intended structure for the thesis, producing new versions of the contents page. But you will always have a clear and manageable end in sight.
Spending time at this stage in planning a research strategy will pay dividends throughout your three years in Sheffield (or six years, if you are studying part-time). This is the longest project you will ever have engaged in and you need to pace yourself to ensure that you are able to work steadily and successfully over such a long period. Putting provisional dates by which you hope to have completed each chapter of the thesis into your contents page at the outset may seem a little arbitrary, but having some sense of what you should have completed by the end of each three-month period is good practice and will help you to achieve your year-specific objectives. (Part-timers are advised to work to sixth-monthly deadlines, so should plan their work accordingly).
Objectives for PhD Research
General Objectives
In undertaking doctoral research in History students will:
Demonstrate their competence to carry out independent and original academic research in history.
Complete within a three-year fixed period of time a body of research that contributes significantly to historical knowledge (or within 6 years if part-time).
Present the results of their research to a standard equivalent to that of a peer-reviewed academic publication.
Demonstrate that they have acquired skills in oral presentation and sufficient confidence in their knowledge, ideas and abilities to be able to present and defend their academic work in front of their peers.
Achieve the DDP objectives of:
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a) generic skills to become a high-level professional b) subject-specific advanced training; c) subject-specific craft skills d) broad scholarship and wider engagement within the full community of
scholars (e.g. networking, dissemination of knowledge, conferences, demonstrating impact and public value of research).
The Department also has the following year-specific objectives. These are designed to help research students to plan their time most effectively and so improve completion rates for the submission of PhD theses. All research students should work to these objectives.
Year-specific Objectives
(Note: part-time students will achieve each year’s objectives over two calendar years)
By the end of the first year of research a student will have:
Established a regular routine of meetings with their supervisor and clear arrangements for contacting other members of their supervisory team.
Completed a comprehensive bibliographical survey of literature relevant to their research topic, including a survey of doctoral theses currently in progress.
Formulated a research project and a fully-timetabled strategy for its implementation.
Written up a Doctoral Development Plan, identifying training needs as appropriate, and completed some initial training. Partial completion of DDP is necessary before a student can go through confirmation of PhD status.
Completed in first draft at least one chapter intended for the final thesis. Undertaken the departmental and university requirements for confirming PhD
status.
By the end of the second year of research a student will have:
Completed sufficient archival research (or research in printed primary sources) to provide an adequate body of material for discussion and analysis in the final thesis.
Continued research training associated with the University’s DDP. Completed in first draft some further text intended for the final thesis, ideally a
further two chapters. Unless working away from Sheffield, had the opportunity to acquire experience in
tutoring small groups of undergraduates in order to enhance their prospects of pursuing an academic career.
Had the opportunity to speak at a research seminar, conference or other postgraduate seminar within or outside Sheffield.
By the end of the third year of research a student will have:
Completed the writing of their thesis having had intensive supervisions to discuss each chapter.
Completed the training identified for the DDP. Completed, or be very close to completing, the final draft of their PhD thesis for
submission. Had the opportunity to discuss publication of the thesis or papers arising from it
with their supervisors.
Discussed their next career move (e.g. application for post-doctoral fellowships or temporary lectureships or employment outside the field of History) with their supervisors.
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Doctoral Development Programme
Many students embarking on a first research degree have limited experience of undertaking a research project. The University therefore has a Doctoral Development Programme (DDP) which is organised by the Doctoral Development Team in Research and Innovation Services (RIS). The DDP is compulsory for all research students including part-time and remote location students.
The DDP is a flexible, on-going training plan that is an integral part of your research degree, and is tailored to your individual needs. It helps you progress through your research studies by identifying the skills you already have and providing opportunities to improve these and acquire new skills and experience. This training may be provided through attending modules offered within the Department or elsewhere in the University. But the DDP is not only about formal courses and classes. Your developmental needs may also be about gaining different forms of experience, networking, or focusing on particular aspects of presentation and study skills.
The aim of the DDP is to provide you with a range of skills and training opportunities orientated both towards your specific study and towards future employment. At the end of your period of study, you should have acquired transferrable skills that will not only make you a successful researcher, but also extend your options for employment more broadly.
Find out more: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/ddpportal/ddpguidance www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/ddpportal/home
You will take ownership of your development through various tools including the Training Needs Analysis (TNA), and the Development Plan. You should keep a portfolio of your training. You can do this as an e-portfolio, using the Pebblepad or an alternative system of your choice.
Find out more: www.shef.ac.uk/ris/pgr/ddpportal/steps/eportfolio.
All new PGR students take a compulsory module on research ethics, research integrity, good research practices and professionalism. Where your research involves work with live participants (for example oral history), or raises other ethical issues, you will also have to obtain clearance from the Department’s Ethics Committee, and you should consult with your supervisor about how to go about this.
Your supervisor will help you to decide what research training is most appropriate to help you develop throughout your time with us. Your TNA will be renewed annually, so that, as your skill level changes and your research develops, you can tailor your further training accordingly.
What do I do first?
The first thing to do is to complete a provisional TNA form which you should then bring to your first formal meeting with your supervisor (this should take place by 11th October and your supervisor will contact you to arrange a time).
When you meet with your supervisor, you will discuss your training needs and finalise your TNA. Your supervisor will help you to choose appropriate training/modules to study as part of the DDP and you will complete a Development Plan.
Finally, you will register for your DDP modules on-line, making sure to check the on-line timetables so you don’t miss any of your training. Please note that if you are planning on
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taking any language modules as part of the DDP, you will also need to speak to the Modern Languages Teaching Centre to see if there is space available and have a language assessment. Places can fill up fast so we would recommend that you speak to them as soon as possible in Intro Week. See: www.sheffield.ac.uk/mltc/.
You will find more information and all of the above links here: www.shef.ac.uk/ris/pgr/ddpportal/about.
Once complete and signed, a copy of both your TNA form and Development Plan should be given to the Postgraduate Support Manager.
Please note that, while you are very welcome to use the student e-Portfolio (Pebblepad) to keep a copy of your TNA form and/or Development Plan for your own purposes, you should also complete the Word versions of these documents to provide a signed hardcopy to the Postgraduate Support Manager.
Once you’ve settled in
Three months into your research, you will meet with your supervisor(s) to discuss your DDP progress so far and make adjustments if necessary.
Future Years
The DDP is an on-going process and you should complete a new TNA and Development Plan at the start of each academic year. These should again be submitted to the Postgraduate Support Manager in hardcopy for your record.
You can then log back into your Learning Plan via the DDP webpages to enrol on more modules: http://ris.dept.shef.ac.uk/doc_reg/.
See the annual DDP cycle: www.shef.ac.uk/ris/pgr/ddpportal/steps.
Confirmation Review and Annual Review
As part of the Confirmation Review process you will be required to submit a Doctoral Development Statement about your DDP progress to date. You and your supervisor will also be asked to comment on your DDP progress as part of the annual review process.
Code of Practice for Research Supervision
The Department expects students and supervisors to adhere to the Research and Innovation Service Code of Practice, which is available on the RIS website: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/code/.
Supervisors’ have responsibilities towards both the department and their students including being responsible for the overall academic direction of the student’s research project and working with that student to establish an effective and supportive supervisory relationship. They also work with the student to identify training needs and develop the DDP.
Students also have specific responsibilities to adhere to relating to their research More information about these responsibilities is available on the research webpages.
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Supervision
When entering the Department, you will be assigned a supervisory team. This normally comprises the Primary Supervisor and a Secondary Supervisor, with the additional support of the Director of Graduate Studies, the Head of Department and the Postgraduate Support Manager. You may have decided to come to Sheffield specifically to work with a particular member of staff whose research interests are close to your own, in which case you are likely to have been in contact with your intended supervisor before your arrival. Other factors may, however, have brought you to Sheffield (perhaps because there is a significant archive in this region or because you have been attracted by one of the Department’s on-going research projects). In this case, you may have had only limited contact with your intended supervisor and both of you may want to devote some time to getting to know one another. Few students who enter the Department from outside are likely to have had much or any contact with their assigned second supervisor and you should make contact with him or her early in your first weeks here. Your relationship with your supervisors is vital to the successful outcome of your work. From the Department’s point of view, the supervisors are given a great deal of autonomy to advise the student. Successful supervision depends, however, not only upon the supervisors, but also on the co-operation of the student.
The Role of your Primary and Secondary Supervisors
Your primary supervisor will be the academic lead and will take the central role in helping you to devise a research project, guiding you towards the materials you will need to consult, offering advice over the handling or interpretation of the sources and providing considered, constructive criticism on draft chapters of your thesis as well as any seminar papers or articles you may write during your time as a research student.
Your second supervisor’s prime role is to offer an independent perspective on your research, providing direct supervision if your primary supervisor is absent, but otherwise playing a more loosely-defined supportive role. Your second supervisor will have expertise in the general field in which you are working, but is unlikely to be an expert on your specialist area. She or he may, however, be in a position to offer a different perspective on some aspects of your work, perhaps by offering an alternative methodological viewpoint, or a useful comparative perspective. When you submit your work for your Confirmation Review (see below), both supervisors will assess the work you submit and your primary supervisor will also be present at the formal Confirmation Review interview.
Contact with your Supervisors
At the beginning of the academic year, you and your primary supervisor should agree a schedule of work, and arrangements for meetings to discuss the work. The frequency of meetings will vary according to circumstances, but both parties are responsible for ensuring that regular contact is maintained. You should arrange to meet your supervisor at least once a month if you are working full-time, or once every two months if you are a part-time student. Students working away from the University, whether they are working at a Remote Location or on an extended research trip, should agree arrangements with their supervisory team for maintaining an appropriate level and form of contact.
Supervisors and students are required to keep formal records of these supervision meetings using the Supervision Report Form, available on the research webpages.
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It is the supervisor’s responsibility to use the Student Attendance Monitoring System to record meetings including uploading completed Supervision Report Forms.
Supervision Related to the Doctoral Development Programme (DDP)
With regard to the DDP, your supervisors will advise you as to the knowledge and skills training required. Both your primary and secondary supervisors are involved in overseeing your annual training analysis.
Annual Reviews
All students and their supervisors will complete a form, reflecting on progress with their research during the year. In addition, students at the end of their first year will meet with the Director of Graduate Studies, for a review of their progress, and to discuss their preparation for Confirmation of PhD status.
Where serious problems occur, these should be reported by the supervisors to the Director of Graduate Studies and, where necessary, to the Head of Department. You will be notified in writing of any serious criticism or concerns, with copies of this correspondence placed in your file.
If you have any concerns about the quality or nature of your supervision you are encouraged to seek help at an early stage. In the first instance you may wish to talk in confidence to the Director of Graduate Studies or to one of the other staff members on the Postgraduate Committee. You may also approach the Head of Department for assistance.
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Confirmation Review
All students will register directly onto the full PhD (Doctorate) degree programme, unless they choose to register for the shorter MPhil (Masters Research) degree.
To ensure that, as a PhD student, you are progressing at the right level and pace you will undertake a Confirmation Review. This will take place by the end of the first year of study (second year for part-time students). If a student fails the first attempt, they will be permitted to undertake a second attempt no later than 18 months (three years for part-time students) from the start of their registration. For your Confirmation Review, you should submit two hardcopies and an electronic copy (via email) of the documents listed below to the Postgraduate Support Manager. The review itself will take the form of an oral examination conducted by the Confirmation Review panel.
The work put forward for the Confirmation Review will be evaluated by a Confirmation Review panel, consisting of two members of the Department's Postgraduate Committee. The panel will conduct the oral examination with the primary supervisor present. If a pass is recommended by the panel then a departmental recommendation is made to Research and Innovation Services where the confirmation decision ultimately rests.
A successful MPhil thesis will be based on a clearly defined body of primary research, and display a good general knowledge of the historiography of the area of study together with a comprehensive and detailed knowledge of some aspect of the wider topic chosen. Aspects of the wider argument may be original and the work may in whole or part be publishable, but these are not requirements for the award of the degree of MPhil.
A candidate for the degree of PhD is required to satisfy the examiners that his or her thesis forms an addition to knowledge, shows evidence of systematic study, has the ability to relate the results of such study to the general body of knowledge in that subject and includes work worthy of publication, either in full or in an abridged form.
Documents for submission:
1. The Confirmation Review Form. Available from the research webpages.
2. A substantial piece of written work (this should be c.6-8,000 words in length).
The written work may take the form of a draft chapter of the thesis; a (fully referenced) seminar or conference paper; or other substantial piece of academic writing arising from the research for your thesis. You should provide a brief description of the piece of work on the application form, explaining its status and its relationship to the thesis as a whole.
All work should be presented in an appropriate academic format, with footnotes and full referencing. Please number the pages!
3. A detailed written description of your research project. This should offer an overview of the scope of the project, the key research questions and the nature of the sources you are using. You may find it helpful to include a bibliography, detailing the main primary sources you are using and the key historiography relevant to the topic.
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The description should be broken down into chapters, and under each chapter heading you should indicate the questions to be addressed, the principal sources to be employed, and the projected word-length.
The assessors will find it helpful to be given some indication as to which elements of your intended research will represent new work (or a novel approach) and which build substantially on the work of others. You are reminded that the word-limit for PhD theses is 75,000 words.
There is no word length for this part of the submission, but you should expect to write a least a paragraph on each projected chapter of the thesis, with an introductory paragraph introducing the project as a whole.
4. A timetable for completion. This should take the form of one or two sides of A4, presenting the programme of work as currently envisaged, highlighting periods of archival or other research and demonstrating the feasibility of completing the thesis on time.
Please also summarise the work completed to date, so that the panel has a context for thinking about the completion of the project as a whole.
5. A Doctoral Development Programme (DDP) statement.
This is a statement about your DDP activities so far. It should include information about what you have done towards your TNA objectives and how this has contributed towards your work on your thesis, including a list of all modules/training undertaken as part of the DDP. One side of A4 should normally suffice.
6. Training Needs Analysis (TNA) and Development Plan forms.
Please submit copies of the TNA and Development Plan forms that you produced with your supervisors at registration and the start of your second year of research.
If the TNA for the start of the second year has not yet been completed, please go ahead and submit the rest of the confirmation material, with a note about when that TNA discussion is scheduled to take place.
Preparation and Submission of Thesis
Full advice on preparation of your thesis is provided in the Code of Practise for Research Degree Programmes, and the Research and Innovation Services website at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/code/.
Students are advised to familiarise themselves with these guidelines and with the Department’s style guide (available in the History Online Postgrad organisation in MOLE) before commencing work on the preparation of their thesis. You will save yourself a lot of tiresome work at the end of your three years if you write in accordance with the University’s guidelines from the outset.
Writing a thesis
Whilst the responsibility for the writing, preparation and submission of the thesis rests with the student, it is expected that supervisors will read and comment on drafts, with a view to enabling the student to produce a thesis which is coherent, well-documented and written in good English. It is the student's, rather than the supervisor's,
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responsibility to decide when to submit, taking into account the supervisor's opinion, which at this stage is advisory only.
You should always keep in mind the guidelines on thesis length which, in Faculties of Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences are as follows:
PhD 75,000 words MPhil 40,000 words
The above word limits exclude footnotes, bibliography and appendices.
More information about preparing your thesis is available on the research webpages.
You will also find full details of the regulations and procedures governing the preparation and submission of theses at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/code.
Plagiarism and the Use of Unfair Means in the Assessment Process
It is the responsibility of each student to ensure that they understand exactly what it means to plagiarise, or copy the work of others, without proper acknowledgement. Full details can be found on the Research and Innovation Services website at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/code/plagiarism.
Graduate Facilities
Student Computing Facilities
Corporate Information and Computing Services (CiCS) provides systems and services to support research and teaching. CICS maintain a large number of networked PCs, and Apple Macs and hundreds of these are in open access areas. Students use Managed Windows across the campus. This is a centrally managed service controlled by CiCS. The Managed Desktop provides you with commonly used software, such as Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer; access to a range of specialist teaching software; networked printers and filestore.
When you join the University you will be given a login name and password along with an information pack. You can change your password whenever you wish. If you forget your password, or it doesn't seem to work, ask for help at an IT information desk, the closest to the Department is located in the Information Commons building. For any other problems, speak to our IT team in History; Mr Nick Walsh (0114 222 2613) or Mr. James Pearson (0114 222 2590), or alternatively, contact the CiCS Help Desk on 0114 222 1111.
There are many online resources that will be of importance during your study here. The University of Sheffield home page gives you access to information about the University and its resources. The University library webpage’s give details of useful academic websites. There are several important websites with which you should become familiar. A particular website to note is that of the Institute of Historical Research (www.history.ac.uk) which not only provides information about its resources but gives you easy access to websites throughout the world (for example, European and American library and archival sources). There are other websites for The National Archives (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/) and The British Library (www.bl.uk), as examples.
Departmental Computing Facilities
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The Department has its own designated Postgraduate workspaces and desks with computers are available for research students in the following locations:
Floor one – 6 desks Floor two – 7 desks Floor three – central workspace (6 desks) and end workspace (7 desks)
Please note, these desks are ‘hot desks’ with students welcome to use any desk available. However, research students who regularly use the departmental workspaces should be able to use the same desk, over a period of time.
There is a postgraduate printer on floor three (in the central PGR Workspace) and you can use this printer for free when providing your own paper. There are also two departmental scanners accessible from the postgraduate workspaces.
Students are welcome to use both the open access storage and lockage under-desk storage in these areas to store academic resources but please remember that this is a shared area for all research students and you should respect the access rights of other users.
More information about computing facilities and printing is available on the research webpages.
Library Facilities
Western Bank Library and the Information Commons
The University Library provides access to information resources required by members of the University for learning, teaching and research. There is a wealth of material available – over 1,500,000 printed volumes and 10,000 electronic journals – and staff to help you find what you need.
You will find full information on the Library web pages at www.sheffield.ac.uk/library. You may also access these pages via MUSE. You will need to familiarise yourself with the Library’s on-line catalogue and the ejournals webpages, which are easily searched using Find It.
Western Bank Library is the main research library for History and the Humanities, though you will also find material in the Information Commons (IC), which holds the majority of core student texts. The IC is a 24-hour facility that has 1,300 seats, 550 PCs, complete wireless networking, flexible spaces to enable group study, a café and access to all the Library’s electronic resources. It is popular and can be very busy, particularly around exam time. Silent study space is available in the research libraries: Western Bank has extended opening hours but is not staffed in the evenings. You will also find more specialist works, particularly monographs and journals, here.
Other Resources
There a variety of other resources available including the Graduate Research Centre, which provides dedicated and drop-in work space for research students, the Modern Languages Teaching Centre, which offers languages modules to students wishing to gain language skills, and the English Language Teaching Centre, which offers courses and support services in English languages to all students whether English is your first language or not.
More information about these resources is available on the research webpages.
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Seeking Help
Personal Problems
If you experience difficulties of any nature during your research studies you are welcome to consult the Director of Graduate Studies in confidence. You are also more than welcome to approach other members of academic staff, if you would feel more comfortable talking to a particular staff member. You will also find helpful information available via the Student Services Information Desk webpages at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/.
Illness
Illness leading to absence should be notified as soon as possible. You must let your principal supervisor know about any period of illness of longer than 7 days that has affected your work. If you do suffer a period of illness you should obtain a medical certificate from the University Health Service - these are only available for periods of longer than seven days - and submit it to the Postgraduate Support Manager. If you suffer a prolonged illness, you will need to take leave of absence from your research to give you time to recover properly. It is vitally important to keep both the Department and, if you have funding, the grant-awarding body informed of any such interruptions to your work.
Dyslexia and Disabilities
If you have a disability, medical condition, or specific learning difficulty, or become aware of an issue during the course of your studies (for example, the identification of dyslexia), we strongly recommend that you contact the Disability and Dyslexia Support Service (DDSS) and talk to the Director of Graduate Studies. The departmental Tutor for Disabled Students, Dr Simon Middleton, is also available to help make any special arrangements that may be required.
More information about disability support is available on the research webpages
Leave of absence
Sometimes research students encounter unforeseen personal, medical or financial difficulties that make it temporarily impossible for them to continue with research full-time. Other students – especially those studying part-time – may find they have to accept different sorts of short-term fixed-contract work because of financial necessity. In such situations you should seriously consider, in consultation with your supervisor and the Director of Graduate Studies, taking a period of leave of absence. This is not a decision to be taken lightly: it is difficult to return to full-time research after a period of absence, and many students can have problems readjusting. However, if on serious consideration, you do feel this is the best course of action, you may make application to the Faculty, via Research & Innovation Services, for a period away from full-time research.
The application form for leave of absence is available from the Research & Innovation Services at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/code/loa. You and your supervisor should complete the relevant sections and pass the form onto the Postgraduate Support Manager for consideration by the Director of Graduate Studies.
If you are granted leave of absence, you will be notified of your new completion date. In the case of students who are funded by an external body such as the AHRC approval will need to be obtained before taking leave of absence. Leave of absence is not a suitable
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recourse for students close to submission and cannot be considered as an alternative to an extension for those who have run out of research time.
Time Limit Extensions
The aim of the Department is to assist the student in every way to complete his or her postgraduate work within the maximum period of registration. Where completion within such a time is not attainable, the student can apply for an extension (through the supervisors and the Director of Graduate Studies who, if supportive, recommend the extension to the Faculty and University Higher Degrees Committees). An application for an extension must be accompanied by good reasons for the delay in submission, together with both evidence that work is being carried out efficiently and a realistic schedule for completion.
In considering requests for extensions of the time limit, Faculties will wish to ascertain that submission of the thesis can reasonably be expected within the period of the extension requested. A continuation fee will be payable at the beginning of your period of extension.
Further details are available at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/code/timelimits .
Withdrawal from the University
If you are considering withdrawing from your studies, please discuss this matter first with your Supervisor and the Director of Graduate Studies. If, following careful consideration and discussion, you still wish to withdraw, please complete the appropriate form and submit it to the Postgraduate Support Manager. Please note that any outstanding debt to the University will become payable on withdrawal. Find out more at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/code/withdrawal.
Appeals and complaints procedure
Details of the University's complaints procedures are found on the Research and Innovation Services webpages: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/code/complaints. Students should raise any concerns with their supervisor in the first instance.
More information about department procedures is available on the research webpages.
University Support Services
The university also has a range of services that may be useful: you might have a general enquiry not confined to history or sometimes you may just prefer to talk to someone outside of the department.
More information about these services is available on the research webpages.
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Financial Support
Students holding a Scholarship Award
If you hold funding, such as an AHRC, Wolfson, or University Studentship, you will find information about payment and terms and conditions on the Research and Innovation Services webpages: www.shef.ac.uk/ris/pgr/scholarships.
You may be able to apply to your funding body in support of research expenses such as travel. AHRC students are able to apply through the University for funds to help with research trips and conference attendance. Deadlines are at the end of November and April in each year. Please note that this funding is limited and not automatically guaranteed.
For more information and to apply see www.shef.ac.uk/ris/pgr/scholarships/ahrcrstg.
All Students
Conference Attendance
Where it is appropriate to your studies, your supervisor(s) may recommend that you attend an academic conference, to give a presentation of your research, or simply to find out about other people’s work and have the opportunity to meet researchers active in your field. The University supports conference attendance through the Learned Societies Fund, which is open to research students who do not have other sources of funding available. The Fund provides allowances towards expenses incurred in attending meetings of learned societies within the UK (other than in Sheffield) and the EU.
Full guidance notes and a claim form can be found at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/faculty/arts-and-humanities/research-innovation/information-for-staff/learnedsocieties.html.
Support for attendance at conferences (worldwide) can also be sought through the Petrie Watson exhibition fund (administered at Faculty level), which makes grants annually with the deadline for applications normally being in February.
Research trips and other costs
Some limited funding may be available within the Department to help support the costs involved in consulting archives outside Sheffield, or to acquire materials not otherwise available.
Expenses claims
If you are successful in applying for research funds/travel grants you should complete an expenses form and submit this to the history reception addressed to Rebecca Trueman.
More information is available on the research student webpages.
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Contact with the Department
How you can contact us
Your first point of contact in the Department of History is the Postgraduate Support Manager. Beky Hasnip is located in room 1.13 (opposite the History reception) and can be telephoned on 0114 222 2552 and emailed at [email protected].
Our reception is open weekdays 10.00am - 12.30pm and 1.30pm - 4.00pm. The departmental telephone number is 0114 222 2555 and email is [email protected].
Find more information about the department on our website www.shef.ac.uk/history
Contacting Academic Staff
A list of all staff academic staff with contact details is available on the departmental website here: www.sheffield.ac.uk/history/staff.
For an overview of our academic staffs’ research interests, take a look at our Research Areas webpage: www.sheffield.ac.uk/history/research/areas.
A list of staff contact details and office numbers is also displayed on the PG noticeboard on level one (opposite the History reception) and on the History Online Postgrad organisation in MOLE.
Communicating with Staff
Please take care to be polite and respectful when you address academic and administrative staff both via email and in person. If you want to make a complaint or raise an urgent matter, you are most likely to be effective if you communicate in a calm and courteous fashion.
Academic and support staff check email accounts regularly, and during term-time we will usually respond to your messages within 2-3 working days, but do consider whether your message is really necessary first – the information may be available already on the website!
How we will contact you
You will receive regular emails containing important University and Departmental notices. These will be sent to your University of Sheffield email address so please make sure you check this regularly.
It is important that your University record always includes your most up-to-date address, as this record will be used by both the department and University central services when we need to contact you. You can check and change your University address using the myRecord tab in MUSE.
Departmental Mail
You may receive internal mail from RIS and central services within the University, you should also check the postgraduate post trays (located in the PGR workspace on the first floor) for items sent by post.
Please do not have personal items of post sent to the department.
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Noticeboards
There are postgraduate noticeboards on the first and third floors of the department and there is also an electronic noticeboard located in the History Online Postgrad organisation in MOLE, these are an alternative way of accessing essential information and also provide details about forthcoming events and conferences that you might be interested in.
Twitter and Facebook
The Department’s Twitter and Facebook pages can help you to keep up-to-date with the latest news and events. You might also be interested in our History Matters blog, which sees staff and students discuss the history behind the headlines.
www.sheffield.ac.uk/history/socialmedia
How You Can Influence Things
The University places great value on the opinions of its students and there are various opportunities for you to get involved, both to have your say and also to represent the views of other students.
Being a student representative is rewarding work and will develop your communication skills. It can also give you a greater understanding of how the University works and enable you to play a role in decision-making in your department and/or Faculty.
Postgraduate Student Forum (run by our current postgraduate students)
The history postgraduates hold their own meetings to discuss items such as social events, departmental committee feedback, issues for student representatives to raise, discussion group proposals, and finance. They are a key way to influence postgraduate life at the university and to keep in touch with events.
Departmental Committees
In the Department two MA representatives and two PGR representatives are required each year for the departmental committees and getting involved means you will be able to take part in discussions and decision making about a range of issues. If you would like to be involved make sure that you go along to the first Postgraduate Student Forum.
More information about these opportunities is available on the research webpages.
University Wide Opportunities
There are many ways that you can become involved in the University on a wider scale including the Arts and Humanities Student Forum and the Arts and Humanities Faculty Postgraduate Committee.
More information about these opportunities is available on the research webpages.
Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES)
This national survey runs every two years and aims to find out the opinions of postgraduate research students on a range of academic issues relating to their courses.
More information about the PRES is available on the research webpages.
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Health and Safety
Safety and First Aid
The Department has first-aid boxes in the kitchens on the first and second floors and in the photocopy room on the third floor. The appointed first aiders are Nick Walsh (Room 1.01 Tel: 222 2613) and Claire Williams (History reception, Tel: 222 2601).
In the event of an emergency where staff are not available you should telephone 4444 on a University internal phone and give details clearly and concisely.
Fire Procedures
On hearing a fire alarm all staff and students must leave the building immediately and assemble in the designated area. The assembly point for the Jessop West building is the St George’s Churchyard. Fire exits are clearly marked and in the case of a fire all occupants should use the stairs at the end of each wing unless otherwise instructed by a Fire Marshall, do not use the lifts in cases of fire.
Fire Alarm testing takes place on Mondays between 10am and 12pm.
All students must undertake annual online fire training and you should complete this at the beginning of your course.
Security
Please do not leave personal possessions unattended and ensure that you lock your computer when not in use. The University cannot accept responsibility for damage to, or loss of, any personal property.
Use of Display Screen Equipment (DSE)
Over a period of time you can suffer serious ill effects if you use display screen equipment without a few sensible precautions. You should complete an online DSE self-assessment at the beginning of your course.
Out of Hours and Fire Training
Postgraduate students registered with the Department will be able to access the departmental buildings out of normal working hours (these being 8.00am-6.00pm, Monday to Friday) via their UCard. In order for your UCard to be activated you must first have undertaken Health & Safety and Fire training. This training will then need to be kept up-to-date as appropriate or your card will be deactivated.
More information about health & safety and training is available on the research webpages
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Useful Web Pages
Department of History www.sheffield.ac.uk/history/
Department of History PhD information www.sheffield.ac.uk/history/current _students/postgraduate/research
History Department Facebook www.facebook.com/HistorySheffield
History Department Twitter http://twitter.com/unishefhistory
History Matters Blog www.historymatters.group.shef.ac.uk/
History Postgraduate Forum webpage www.historypostgraduate.group.shef.ac.uk/
Research and Innovation Services www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr
RIS Code of Practice www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/code
RIS Information for Scholarship Holders www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/pgr/scholarships
Students’ Union www.sheffield.ac.uk/union/
Student Services Information Desk (SSiD) www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid (general information for all students)
Student Advice Centre www.shef.ac.uk/union/student- (Independent confidential advice for all students) advice-centre/index.php
Frequently Asked Questions www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/faq
Your University Record www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/record (your registration information, update your contact Details, add/drop information, list of modules available)
Things Not Going Right? www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/sos (help and support for students)
Financial Information www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/finance (including fees, financial help and student loans) www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/fees
Disability & Dyslexia Support Service www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/disability
Essential Guide for Mature Students www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/student/mature
Information for International Students www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/international
University Health Service www.sheffield.ac.uk/health
Nightline http://nightline.union.shef.ac.uk/
Counselling Service www.sheffield.ac.uk/counselling
University Administration www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/admin
Print and Design Solutions www.sheffield.ac.uk/cics/printanddesign
The Students’ Charter www.shef.ac.uk/ssid/ourcommitment/ (statement of policies, rights, responsibilities and expectations) /charter
The University of Sheffield Calendar www.sheffield.ac.uk/govern/ (sets out the Charter, Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations of the University)
Careers Service www.sheffield.ac.uk/careers/students
Student Job Shop www.shef.ac.uk/careers/students/jobs/jobshop
