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ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY UNDERGRADUATE HANDBOOK 2008 - 2009
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Page 1: Ancient History

ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY

UNDERGRADUATE HANDBOOK 2008 - 2009

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CONTENTS 1. Aims and Objectives of Ancient and Modern History………………… 1 2. Examination Regulations……………………………………………… 3

3. Plagiarism……………………………………………………………… 9

4. Course Structure……………………………………………………….. 13

5. Choosing your Options………………………………………………… 30

6. Theses………………………………………………………………….. 31 7. Examinations…………………………………………………………... 45 8. Illness………………………………………………………………….. 51 9. Tutors………………………………………………………………….. 52 10. The Classics and History Offices……………………………………… 53 11. The Administration…………………………………………………….. 54 12. Feedback and Complaints Procedures…………………………………. 55 13. Students with Disabilities……………………………………………… 59 14. Libraries………………………………………………………………... 60 15. Computing……………………………………………………………... 63 16. Scholarships, Prizes and Grants……………………………………….. 65 17. Taking your Degree……………………………………………………. 67 18. Afterwards……………………………………………………………... 68

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1. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY

Aims 1. To build and encourage intellectual confidence in our students, enabling them to work

independently but in a well-guided framework. 2. To use the study of key historical periods, themes and topics systematically to examine and

analyse the past with a view to understanding and comparing cultures in the light of the past. 3. To provide for students a sustained, carefully designed and progressively structured course

which requires effort and rigour from them and which yields consistent intellectual reward and satisfaction.

4. To train and encourage students in appropriate analytical, research and presentational skills to

the highest possible standards. 5. To equip our students to approach major issues in their own and other cultures with a

thoughtful and critical attitude. 6. To produce graduates who are able to deal with challenging intellectual problems

systematically, analytically and efficiently, and who are suitable for a wide range of demanding occupations and professions, including teaching history in schools and in higher education.

Objectives 1. To provide expert guidance over a wide range of periods and topics in challenging fields of

study in ancient, medieval and modern history. 2. To enable our students to acquire the skills to assess considerable amounts of material of

diverse types and to select, summarize and evaluate key aspects. 3. To foster in our students both the skills of effective communication in written and oral

discourse, and the organizational skills needed to plan work and meet demanding deadlines. 4. To provide a teaching environment in which the key features are close and regular personal

attention to students, constructive criticism and evaluation of their work, and continuous monitoring of their academic progress.

5. To maintain and enhance the broadest possible base for student recruitment and to maintain the

highest intellectual standards at admission. 6. To provide effective mechanisms through which able students of different levels of experience

can rapidly acquire the skills needed to achieve their potential in the subject. 7. To make full and effective use in our courses of the very wide range of research expertise in

our faculties and the excellent specialist resources and collections available in the university. 8. To offer courses which are kept under continuous review and scrutiny.

Programme Specifications The Programme Specifications for the undergraduate degree in Ancient and Modern History can be found on the History Faculty website at (http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/faculty/programme_specifications/programme_specifications.htm). The

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Programme Specifications are primarily intended to provide a formal statement of our syllabus aims and student outcomes, in response to official requirements. The Specifications provide some detail on the range of skills and capacities fostered by the degree in Ancient and Modern History which will be of use in justifying the study of Ancient and Modern History to future employers, and will show the kinds of expectations that tutors have of students undertaking the degree in Ancient and Modern History.

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2. EXAMINATION REGULATIONS

SPECIAL REGULATIONS FOR THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION IN ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY

A

The Preliminary Examination in Ancient and Modern History shall be under the joint supervision of the Boards of the Faculties of Classics and History and shall consist of such subjects as they shall jointly by regulation prescribe.

B

Every candidate shall offer four papers as follows: 1. General History: any one of the following period papers: I: 370–900 (The Transformation of the Ancient World) II: 1000–1300 (Medieval Christendom and its Neighbours) III: 1400–1650 (Renaissance, Recovery, and Reform) IV: 1815–1914 (Society, Nation and Empire). 2. Either Greek History 650-479 BC or Roman History 241-146 BC. 3. Either The World of Homer and Hesiod (Homer, Iliad, Odyssey (tr. Lattimore); Hesiod, Works and Days (tr. M. L. West, Oxford 1988)); or Augustan Rome (as specified in the Handbook for The Preliminary Examination in History); or any other Optional Subject specified for the Preliminary Examination in History. 4. Either Approaches to History, as specified for the Preliminary Examination in History; or Historiography: Tacitus to Weber, as specified for the Preliminary Examination in History; or Herodotus, V. 26–VI. 131, to be read in Greek, ed. C. Hude (Oxford Classical Texts, 3rd edn., 1927); or Sallust, Jugurtha, to be read in Latin, ed. L. Reynolds (Oxford Classical Texts, 1991).

For Herodotus and Sallust, candidates will be required to illustrate their answers by reference to the specified texts. The individual specifications and prescribed texts for Optional Subjects, Approaches to History, and Historiography: Tacitus to Weber as specified for the Preliminary Examination in History will be published for candidates in the Handbook for the Preliminary Examination in History by Monday of Week 0 of Michaelmas Term each year for the academic year ahead. The individual specifications and prescribed texts for the Optional Subject Augustan Rome will be published for candidates in the Handbook for the Preliminary Examination in History by Monday of Week 0 of Michaelmas Term each year for the academic year ahead. Depending on the availability of teaching resources, with the exception of Optional Subject 1, not all the Optional Subjects listed in the Handbook will be available to candidates in any given year. Candidates may obtain details of the choice for that year by consulting the Definitive List of Optional Subjects posted at the beginning of the first week of Michaelmas Full Term in the History Faculty and circulated to Ancient and Modern History Tutors.

Candidates who fail one or more of papers 1, 2, 3, or 4 above may resit that subject or subjects at a subsequent examination.

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SPECIAL REGULATIONS FOR THE HONOUR SCHOOL OF ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY

A

1. The examination in the Honour School of Ancient and Modern History shall consist of such subjects in Ancient and Modern History as the Boards of the Faculties of Classics and History from time to time shall in consultation prescribe by regulation. 2. No candidate shall be admitted to the examination in this school unless s/he has either passed or been exempted from the First Public Examination. 3. The examination shall be under the joint supervision of the Boards of the Faculties of Classics and History. They shall appoint a standing joint committee to consider any matters concerning the examination which cannot expeditiously be settled by direct consultation between them. Whenever any matter cannot otherwise be resolved they shall themselves hold a joint meeting and resolve it by majority vote.

B

Each candidate shall offer the following subjects: I. A period of Ancient History (one paper). One of the following:

(a) Greek History 478–403 BC; (b) Greek History 403–336 BC; (c) Roman History 146–46 BC; (d) Roman History 46 BC–AD 54.

II. A period of Modern History (one paper). Either

(a) Any one of the periods of General History specified for the Honour School of Modern History;

or: (b) Any one of the periods of the History of the British Isles specified for the Honour

School of Modern History except any such period that has already been offered on passing the First Public Examination.

Students participating in the Princeton Exchange will have to substitute either a General History or History of the British Isles paper with courses taken at Princeton. The Princeton courses will be examined at Princeton, and the grades awarded will be reviewed and moderated by the Examiners to produce a single University standard mark, according to procedures laid down in the Handbook and Examiners conventions. III FURTHER SUBJECTS

Either, (a) (i) any one of the Further Subjects as specified for the Honour School of Modern History (one paper);

or, (b) any one of the following Further Subjects in Ancient History (one paper) provided

that any candidate who offers alternative IV (a) below may only offer alternative III (b):

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(i) Athenian democracy in the Classical Age (as specified for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores: I.7)

(ii) Politics, Society and Culture from Nero to Hadrian (as specified for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores I. 11).

(iii) Religions in the Greek and Roman World, c. 31 BC–AD 312 (as specified for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores I. 12).

(iii) The Greeks and the Mediterranean World 950–500 BC (as specified for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores IV.1). (iv) Art under the Roman Empire, AD 14–337 (as specified for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores IV.3). IV SPECIAL SUBJECTS

Either, (a) any one of the Special Subjects as specified for the Honour School of Modern

History (one paper and one extended essay); or, (b) any one of the following Special Subjects in Ancient History (two papers), provided

that any candidate who offers alternative III (a) above may only offer alternative IV (b).

(i) Alexander the Great and his Early Successors (336–302 BC) (as specified for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores I. 8).

(ii) Cicero: Politics and Thought in the Late Republic (as specified for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores I. 9).

The individual detailed specifications and prescribed texts for the Further and Special

subjects as specified for the Honour School of Modern History will be given in the Handbook for the Honour School of Modern History. This will be published by the History Board by Monday of Week 1 of the first Michaelmas Full Term of candidates’ work for the Honour School.

Depending on the availability of teaching resources, not all Further and Special Subjects

will be available to all candidates in every year. Candidates and Ancient and Modern History tutors will be circulated by the beginning of the fourth week of the first Hilary Full Term of their work for the Honour School with (i) details of any Further and Special Subjects which will not be available for the following year, (ii) the supplement to the Handbook for the Honour School of Modern History. This book will contain full specifications and prescribed texts for any Further or Special Subjects specified for Modern History introduced for the following year, and any amendments to the specifications and prescribed texts for existing Further and Special Subjects approved by the History Board by its first meeting of the preceding Hilary Term.

V. DISCIPLINES OF HISTORY

Each candidate shall be examined in the Disciplines of History in accordance with regulation V of the Honour School of Modern History.

VI. A THESIS FROM ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Regulation VI of the Honour School of Modern History applies with the following modifications:

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Cl. 3.(a) (For the avoidance of doubt) the Arnold Ancient History Prize and the Barclay Head Prize for Ancient Numismatics are to be read with the schedule. Cl. 5. For ‘Honour School of Modern History’ read ‘Honour School of Ancient and Modern History’. For theses concerning the years before AD 285 read ‘Chairman of Examiners, Honour School of Ancient and Modern History’.

Cl. 8. For ‘Chairman of Examiners, Honour School of Modern History’ read ‘Chairman

of Examiners, Honour School of Ancient and Modern History’. VII. AN OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL THESIS

Regulation VII An Optional Additional Thesis of the Honour School of Modern History shall apply with the following modifications:

Cl. 4. For dissertations concerning the years before AD 285 read ‘Chairman of

Examiners, Honour School of Ancient and Modern History’ for ‘Chairman of the Examiners, Honour School of Modern History’.

Cl. 7. For ‘Chairman of Examiners, Honour School of Modern History’ read ‘Chairman

of Examiners, Honour School of Ancient and Modern History’.

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3. PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism in the research and writing of theses Definition Plagiarism is the presentation as if it were your own work of material copied from another source. Such sources include printed publications, information or text from the internet, unpublished essays and theses written by other people, and lecture handouts. The most common form of plagiarism is the use of a passage taken unchanged and unacknowledged from another author; but you will be guilty of plagiarism too if you disguise your borrowing in the form of a close paraphrase. Plagiarism also includes the citation without due acknowledgement from secondary sources of primary materials that you have not consulted yourself, and collusion, in which you collaborate with one or more other people in the composition of an essay or thesis which is then presented as the work of only one of those authors. Explanation Plagiarism is a serious offence. It is dishonest in that the plagiarist is claiming credit for work and writing that he/she has not done. It deprives the author of the plagiarized passage of credit for the work that he/she has done. And if undetected in essays and theses submitted for assessment, it devalues the achievement of honest students who have done the work themselves but get the same marks as the student who has cheated. Furthermore, the plagiarist remains dependent on the opinions of others, and therefore fails to develop the independence of mind that is required of a historian, and indeed of anyone with an Oxford degree. The University and the Faculty of History respond to plagiarism very severely. Students found guilty of plagiarism in any piece of work will be penalized. Even inadvertent plagiarism – the result, for example, of careless note-taking, where you have copied down what another author has written, and then transferred that wording to your own essay or thesis without realizing that it is not your own – will be punished. Guidance Everything you write at Oxford – tutorial essays, extended essays, theses – will inevitably involve the use and discussion of material written by others. If material written by others is duly acknowledged and referenced in your work, no offence will have been committed. And it is not of course necessary to provide a full reference for every fact or idea that you mention in your work: some things – such as the date of the Battle of Hastings, for example – can be said to be common knowledge. Such legitimate practices must however be clearly distinguished from plagiarism, which is the appropriation without proper acknowledgement of material that has been produced by someone else. What therefore should you do if you need to make use of or discuss information or ideas from another (published or unpublished) source? There are two ways in which you can proceed. a) Material from another source might be represented by a direct quotation in inverted commas, as follows, with the source clearly indicated in a footnote: ‘The idea of providence [became] powerfully divisive in early modern Ireland since each confessional group was convinced that it had unique access to the power of God’. 1

Note the use here of square brackets to indicate an alteration to, or interpolation in, the quotation from Professor Gillespie’s book. It is important always to make clear to the reader what is your own work, and what has been taken (with acknowledgement) from another writer.

1 R. Gillespie, Devoted People: Belief and Religion in Early Modern Ireland (Manchester, 1997), p. 50.

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b) Alternatively, you might paraphrase the passage from the source. This is acceptable, as long as the paraphrase is written entirely in your own words: it is not enough merely to change or omit a few words of the original text. Note too that such a paraphrase still requires a footnote reference to the original source: Providence caused conflict in early modern Ireland: each confession claimed particular Divine favour. 2

The example used here is very brief – a single sentence. But the same principles apply when you want to make use of a longer quotation, or to discuss a more extensive argument from another source. When you conduct research for your thesis, you should always consult the primary materials, as far as possible, rather than depending on secondary sources. The latter will often point you in the direction of original sources, which you must then pursue and analyse independently. There may, however, be occasions on which it is impossible to gain direct access to the relevant primary source (if, for example, it is unprinted and located in a foreign or private archive, or has been translated from a language with which you are unfamiliar). And of course, when you are preparing a tutorial essay, there is rarely time to check the primary sources cited by other authors. In these circumstances, you may cite the primary source from the secondary source; but make sure that you always acknowledge in a footnote where you found the quotation you are using. This should be in the following form, here in a Welsh-language example: ‘In order to buy this [the Bible] and be free of oppression, go, sell thy shirt, thou Welshman’.3 When choosing your thesis subject it is important to check that you can gain access to most of the primary materials that you will need, in order to avoid the type of dependence discussed here. Guidance for note-taking The best way to ensure that you do not engage in plagiarism is to develop good note-taking practices from the beginning of your career in Oxford. When you are working on a primary source, whether for essays or for the thesis, keep a full record of author, title, editor if appropriate, place and date of publication, and page numbers (for printed sources), and of the library/archive where it is held, plus any other details, shelf marks and page/folio numbers necessary for unpublished sources. Make sure that you distinguish clearly in your notes between words that you have copied directly from another source, and summaries or paraphrases that you have composed yourself. When you are working on a secondary source, always record the author, title, place and date of publication at the head of your notes. For shorter pieces in books and journals, record also the full details of the publication in which the essay or article appears. Material derived from electronic media should also be carefully sourced (keep a note of the URL for anything obtained from the internet, for example, and the date you accessed it). When taking notes, do not simply copy down what the author says word for word: summarize the argument in your own words, and include page-numbers of the sections you take notes on so that you (and your eventual readers) can identify the source precisely later. If you think you might want to quote a sentence or phrase from another author in your essay or thesis, put it in quotation marks in your notes from the outset, so that there can never be any confusion between your wording and that of the other author. And if you find in a secondary source a quotation from a primary source which you want to use later, make sure you record also all the detail necessary to enable you to cite it properly in your own work, as indicated above.

2 R. Gillespie, Devoted People: Belief and Religion in Early Modern Ireland (Manchester, 1997), p. 50. 3 Thomas Jones, Hen Gwndidau Carolau a Chywyddau, cited and translated in G. Williams, Wales and the Reformation (Cardiff, 1997), p. 358.

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Penalties The Proctors regard plagiarism as a serious form of cheating, and offenders should expect to receive a severe penalty. Where plagiarism is identified in an extended essay or thesis, for example, a mark of zero may be returned, a punishment that will have a devastating result on the final degree classification. Even the lightest penalties for plagiarism will almost certainly have the effect of pulling down the candidates’ overall examination result by a class. The examiners do check all submitted work for plagiarism, and will use electronic forms of detection if necessary to identify it.

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4. COURSE STRUCTURE

The course is divided into two parts. The first part, called The Preliminary Examination, is completed and examined in your first year. You must pass Prelims in order to be allowed to proceed to the second part of the course (Finals), which occupies the second and third years.

The full regulations are set out in the Examination Regulations, the relevant sections of which are reproduced above. The Preliminary Examination FOUR papers must be offered: Paper 1: A period of General History. A choice of four options is available: (i) 370–900: The Transformation of the Ancient World (ii) 1000–1300: Medieval Christendom and its Neighbours (iii) 1400–1650: Renaissance, Recovery and Reform (iv) 1815–1914: Society, Nation and Empire Details of these papers may be found in the Handbook for the Preliminary Examination in History or on the History website at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/prelims/modhist/general/genindex.htm Paper 2: A period of Greek or Roman History. Choose from (i) Greek History c. 650–479 BC (ii) Roman History, 241-146 BC Details of these papers are given below (on pp. 14–16). Bibliographies are available in WebLearn: http://www.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/classics/teaching/ah/ Paper 3:One of the Optional Subjects specified for the Preliminary Examination in History, including two Ancient History Options on The World of Homer and Hesiod or Augustan Rome. Details of these papers may be found in the Handbook for the Preliminary Examination in History or on the History website at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/prelims/modhist/optional/index.htm

Bibliographies are available in WebLearn: http://www.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/classics/teaching/ah/

Paper 4: One of the following papers: (i) Approaches to History (as for History)

Details of this paper can be found in the Handbook for the Preliminary Examination in History and on the History website at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/prelims/modhist/paper4/approachindex.htm

(ii) Historiography: Tacitus to Weber (as for History)

Details of this paper can be found in the Handbook for the Preliminary Examination in History and on the History website at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/prelims/modhist/paper4/histindex.htm

(iii) Herodotus (with selections to be read in Greek) (as for History) Details of this paper can be found in the Handbook for the Preliminary Examination in History and on the History website at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/prelims/modhist/paper4/texts/herodindex.htm

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A bibliography is available in WebLearn: http://www.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/classics/teaching/ah//

(iv) Sallust, Jugurtha (to be read in Latin).

Details of this paper are given below. A bibliography is available in WebLearn: http://www.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/classics/teaching/ah/

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FOR GREEK AND ROMAN HISTORY PAPERS FOR THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION Up-to-date course descriptions and bibliographies for the Ancient papers are available at: http://www.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/classics/teaching/ah/ (i) Greek History, c. 650–479 BC

Our knowledge of Greek History down to the great war with Persia is based on historical allusions in the works of archaic poets, traditions handed down largely by oral transmission and preserved in Herodotus or later writers, and on the evidence of archaeology. This was a crucial period in the development of Greek culture. The great phase of Greek expansion overseas (‘colonisation’) continued during it. But in the sixth century the Greeks themselves came under pressure from their eastern neighbours, first the Lydians and then the great new power of Persia. The city-state established itself firmly as the dominant form of social organisation. Lawgivers wrote comprehensive codes – or so later Greeks believed. In many places the leisured classes developed a luxurious life-style centred on the symposium, though Sparta went the other way in the direction of austerity. Exploitation took new forms, with chattel-slavery apparently growing greatly in importance. Many cities were under the rule of ‘tyrants’ (not necessarily the hate figures they later became), but by the end of the period democracy had been established in Athens by Cleisthenes, and the first tragedies were being performed. The delight of studying the period is greatly increased by charm of the two main literary sources for it, Herodotus and the early Lyric poets.

Lectures on this period of Greek History normally take place in Michaelmas term.

(ii) Roman History, 241-146 BC

From the year after the end of the cataclysmic first Punic war to the year before the cataclysmic tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus, this period saw the Roman conquest of Greece and much of the Hellenistic east, and indeed the development of Rome into an imperial state exercising dominion throughout the Mediterranean world. It saw also the developing effects of this process, upon the Romans and, not least, upon those with whom they dealt, in Italy itself and overseas. This time marked the beginning of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic. It might be said also to have marked the end of liberty for Greece and much of the rest of the Mediterranean world: the ‘freedom of the Greeks’ was proclaimed by a Roman general in 196 BC, but in 146 BC both Corinth and Carthage were sacked and destroyed. Rome itself and Italy prospered, but wealth and empire brought tensions both within and between these. This is also a time that produced one of the greatest historians of antiquity, Polybius of Megalopolis, whose subject was the establishment of Roman dominion and the effects of this upon the lives of all the peoples involved. A contemporary of the events, and detained in Rome in the 160s and 150s, he enables (and enlivens) productive study of this period, which saw, amongst so much else, the beginnings of Roman history writing. Inquiry is aided by an increasing number of surviving inscriptions and an increasingly detailed archaeological record. Lectures on this period of Roman History normally take place in Michaelmas term. Course Description for Sallust, Jugurtha

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The text studied in Sallust’s Jugurtha is his account of Rome’s war against an African chieftain in the last decade of the second century BC. The war itself presented a serious threat to Rome’s interests in Africa which had been intense since the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC at the end of the Third Punic War. Sallust’s pamphlet gives a military and political history of the conflict in which the Roman army was at first commanded by the general Metellus; he was superseded by Gauis Marius, the first of the military dynasts of the late Republic, who defeated Jugurtha and brought the war to a successful conclusion. Sallust’s account is of interest for more than the factual details of the war. It is one of the most important historiographical documents of the late Roman Republic, written as it was in the 40s BC, when its author had experienced personal success and failure in a political career conducted in the death-throes of the Republican system of government. Sallust comments both explicitly and implicitly on the corruption of the senatorial governing class and charts, in the rise of Gaius Marius, the growing personal power of a general and politician who was the first of the series of the leaders, which later included Pompey and Caesar, who were to bring the Republic to an end. Candidates are required to comment on gobbets set in Latin but are not required to translate Latin in the examination paper.

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STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE: FINALS You must offer SIX subjects, as follows: Paper I: One of four periods of Greek or Roman History Details of these papers are given below. Paper II: Either, one of eighteen periods of General History as specified for Modern History. Details of these papers can be found in the on-line Handbook for the Final Honour School of Modern History at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/honours/history/general/index.htm Or one of seven periods of the History of the British Isles as specified for Modern History. Details of these papers can be found in the on-line Handbook for the Final Honour School of Modern History at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/honours/history/british/index.htm Paper III: A Further Subject: Choose from either a. A Further Subject in Ancient History or b. A Further Subject in Modern History Details of the Further Subjects in Ancient History are given below. Details of the Further Subjects in Modern History can be found in the on-line handbook for the Final Honour School of Modern History at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/honours/history/further/index.htm Paper IV: A Special Subject. Choose from either: a. A Special Subject in Ancient History (two papers) or b. A Special Subject in Modern History (two papers) Details of the Special Subjects in Ancient History are given below. Details of the Special Subjects in Modern History can be found in the on-line handbook for the Final Honour School of Modern History at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/honours/history/special/index.htm NB: You may choose both your Further Subject and your Special Subject from the options in Ancient History; you may choose one, but not both, of these subjects from the options in Modern History. Paper V: Disciplines of History Information on the Disciplines of History paper can be found in the on-line Handbook for the Final Honours School in Modern History at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/honours/history/disciplines/index.htm Paper VI: A thesis from original research. You must offer a thesis, to be submitted by the end of Hilary Term of your Final year, as part of your Final assessment. The thesis may be in either Ancient or Modern History. The regulations of the Main School of Modern History, Regulation VI, apply with modifications as listed in Examination Regulations. Further information and advice about the thesis is available from the Modern History on-line Final Honours School handbook at: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/honours/history/theses/index.htm

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COURSE DESCRIPTIONS OF GREEK AND ROMAN HISTORY PAPERS FOR FINALS Up-to-date course descriptions and bibliographies for the Ancient papers are available at: http://www.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/classics/teaching/ah/ The periods of Ancient History are: a) Greek History 478-403 BC b) Greek History 403-336 BC c) Roman History 146-46 BC d) Roman History 46 BC- AD 54 (i) Greek History, 478–403 BC Victory over Persia led to the rise of the Athenian Empire, conflict between Athens and Sparta and Sparta’s eventual victory in the Peloponnesian War. These years cover the transition from archaic to classical Greece, the Periclean age of Athens, the masterpieces of art, architecture and literature which are the supreme legacies of the Greek world, the contrasting lifestyles of Sparta and democratic Athens, and the careers of Alcibiades, Socrates and their famous contemporaries. They are studied the History of Thucydides, antiquity’s most masterly analysis of empire, inter-state relations and war, which Thucydides claimed to have written, justifiably, as ‘a possession for all times’. The issue of Thucydides’ own bias and viewpoint and his shaping of his History remain among the storm centres of the study of antiquity and are of far-reaching significance for our understanding of the moral, intellectual and political changes in the Greek world. The period is also studied through inscriptions, whose context and content are a fascinating challenge to modern historians. Lectures on this period of Greek History normally take place in Michaelmas Term. ii. Greek History 403–336 BC Greek History in the years immediately after the Peloponnesian War is no longer dominated by the two super-powers, Athens and Sparta. Cities which in the fifth century had been constrained by them acquired independence; groups of small cities, such as Arcadia and Boiotia, co-ordinated their actions to become significant players in inter-city politics. Areas in which the city was not highly developed, and particularly Thessaly and then Macedon, were sufficiently united by energetic rulers to play a major role in the politics of mainland Greece, and the manipulation of relations with Persia preoccupied much of Greek diplomacy. This society gave rise to the political theorising of Plato and Aristotle. The absence of dominant cities in the fourth century is paralleled by the absence of a single dominant source. Students of this period have at their disposal two works which imitate Thucydides, Xenophon’s Hellenica and the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia, pamphlets and speeches by Isokrates and Demosthenes aimed at influencing Athenian politics, specialist studies of military matters, such as Aeneas’ Poliorcemata, and of particular cities, such as Xenophon’s account of the Spartan Constitution, and an abundance of epigraphic material. The compilations of later historians and biographers, such as Diodorus and Plutarch, who worked from earlier texts now lost to us, provide further information: through these later works we have access to contemporary accounts of high quality that illuminate the history of such places as Thebes and Syracuse. The wealth of varied information, the multiplication of sources, and the need to weave together the stories of many different cities, present a challenge quite distinct from that offered by earlier periods of Greek history. The importance of the events of the period for our understanding of Plato and Aristotle, on the one hand, and of the history of Greek art, on the other, ensures that the complexities of the study bring ample rewards. Lectures on this period of Greek History normally take place in Hilary Term.

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iii. Roman History 146 to 46 BC In 146 the Romans destroyed Carthage and Corinth. In 133 a popular tribune was beaten to death in front of the Capitol by a mob led by the High Priest. At the other end of the period, in 49 Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, and in 46 crushed his enemies at the battle of Thapsus, celebrating his victory with an unprecedented quadruple triumph. Despite repeated deeply threatening crises, Rome survived – capital of an increasingly large and organized Mediterranean-wide empire, its constantly growing populace more and more diverse, its richest citizens vastly wealthier, its cityscape more and more monumental. But the tradition of the ancestors, the rule of the aristocracy, the armies and their recruitment, the sources of wealth, the cultural horizons of the literate, the government of allies and subjects, the idea of a Roman citizen, the landscape of Italy, and Roman identity itself had all changed forever. This subject studies how. For the earlier years, from the Gracchi to the Social War, we mainly have to rely on the writings of later historians and on contemporary inscriptions, although Sallust and Cicero offer some near-contemporary illumination. But for the latter part of this period our knowledge is of a different quality from that of almost any other period of Roman history thanks to the intimate light shed by the correspondence, speeches and other works of Cicero, with strong backing from Caesar’s Gallic War and the surviving works of Sallust. Lectures on this period of Roman History normally take place in Trinity and Michaelmas Terms.

iv. Roman History 46 BC to AD 54 Beginning this period in 46 BC immediately presents us with issues of uneasy adjustment and faltering responses to shattering social and political change. The Civil War, fought from one end of the Mediterranean to another, raised problems about the nature of Urbs and Orbis, city and world, and their relations. Caesra drew his own solutions from the widest cultural range. The first years of the period set the scene for the developing drama of the transformation of every aspect of the societies of the Mediterranean world ruled from Rome, and of the identity of Rome itself, as experiment, setback and new accommodation succeeded each other in the hands of the generals of the continuing war-years, and finally, after Actium, of Augustus and his advisors. The central problems of this subject concern the dynasty, charisma and authority of the Roman Emperor, the institutions of the Roman provincial empire, and the most intensely creative age of Roman art and Latin literature, and how these were related. The sequel addresses very different rulers. Tiberius, Gaius Caligula and Claudius, whose reigns did much to shape the idea of an imperial system and its historiography, which we sample through Tacitus and the biographies of Suetonius, and the virulent satirical sketch by Seneca of Claudius’ death and deification. The subject invites consideration of the changing relations of Greek and Roman, and the increasing unity of the Mediterranean world; and also of the social and economic foundations of the Roman state in the city of Rome and in the towns and countryside of the Italy of the Georgics and Eclogues. Within Roman society, political change was accompanied by upward social mobility and by changes in the cultural representations of status, gender and power which pose complex and rich questions for the historian. Lectures on this period of Roman History normally take place in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms.

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FURTHER SUBJECTS IN ANCIENT HISTORY Ancient and Modern History students wishing to take an Ancient History Further Subject should make arrangements directly with their college tutors. Arrangements for other Further Subjects are made through the History Faculty. COURSE DESCRIPTIONS i. Athenian Democracy in the Classical Age This subject includes the constitutional, social, economic and cultural history of Athens from 462 to 321 BC. The paper will range over such topics as the workings of the Assembly and Council, military organization, the development of political leadership, the workings of the Athenian law courts, legal procedure and the law code, citizenship, theoretical attitudes to democracy and its alternatives, public festivals and public entertainments, attitudes to religion and the rights of the individual, freedom of speech, kinship organizations and the position of women, the provision of education, the status of metics, slavery, the workings of taxation and liturgy systems, the organization of trade (especially the corn trade), the characteristics of Athenian manufacturing industry and the workings of the silver mines. Opportunity is given to study the archaeology of classical Athens. Only such knowledge of external affairs is expected as is necessary for an understanding of the workings of the democracy. All texts are available in translation; the texts prescribed for special study are not examined by compulsory passages, though optional passages are set together with essay questions specifically on the texts, and candidates are expected to show knowledge of the texts in their answers. Prescribed Texts: Aristotle, Constitution of Athens (tr. P.J. Rhodes, Penguin Classics). Herodotus III. 80–2 (Loeb). Thucydides I. 31–44, 66–79, 140–5; II. 35–65; III. 35–50, 82–83; V. 43–46; VI. 8–29 ; VII.

47–97 (tr. S. Lattimore, in The Peloponnesian War Indianapolis: Hackett, 1998) Xenophon, Hellenica 1. 6 and 7; II. 3 and 4 (Loeb).

Memorabilia I. 1 and 2; III. 6 (Loeb). Revenues (tr. P.J. Rhodes, Loeb). [Xenophon], Constitution of Athens (Loeb). Andocides I (Loeb, Minor Attic Orators I). Lysias XXII, XXV (Loeb). Aeshines II (Loeb). Demosthenes VI, XIX, LIX (Loeb). Aristophanes, Wasps, Clouds, Ecclesiazusae, Acharnians 1–173, Thesmophoriazusae 295–530 (Penguin Classics). Plato, Apology, Gorgias, Protagoras 309–28 (Penguin Classics). Aeschylus, Eumenides (tr. D. Grene & R. Lattimore. The Complete Greek

Tragedies, Chicago, 1958-9). Sophocles, Antigone (tr. D. Grene & R. Lattimore. The Complete Greek

Tragedies, Chicago, 1958-9).). Euripides, Supplices (tr. D. Grene & R. Lattimore. The Complete Greek

Tragedies, Chicago, 1958-9).). C.W. Fornara, Translated Documents of Greece and Rome. I, nos. 15, 68, 75, 97,

100, 103, 106, 114, 119, 120, 128, 134, 140, 147, 155, 160, 166. P. Harding, Translated Documents of Greece and Rome II, nos. 3, 5, 9, 45, 47,

54, 55, 56, 66, 78, 82, 101, 108, 111, 121.

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ii. Politics, Society and Culture from Nero to Hadrian The subject covers the reign of Nero and the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the Flavian dynasty, and the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian which ushered in what is normally regarded as the most prosperous and peaceful period in the history of the empire. The period is documented by a remarkably rich array and variety of sources – literary, epigraphic, monumental and visual. It offers the opportunity to study the growth and development of the empire, tracing the changes in dynastic power, and the extension of Rome's rule and the processes of ‘romanization’ in both eastern and western empire. It encompasses a range of synchronic themes which focus on urbanisation, literary and visual culture, building, social and economic developments and cultural interaction in Rome, Italy and the provinces. Examples of topics studied in this course include: Emperors and the imperial court. Politics, literature and culture in the Neronian court. Literary panegyric and imperial representation. War and imperialism: narrative and iconography. Rome the cosmopolis: the empire on display. Imperial administration: the senate, the equestrian order and the emperor’s service. ‘Romanization’ and the frontiers of empire. The social world of Pliny and Tacitus. Social status and identity in life and death. Religions old and new. Rome and Judaea – conflict and the emergence of Christianity. The texts prescribed for study in translation are listed in the Examination Regulation. Attention will be given to relevant archaeological sites and monuments including the following: Nero’s Domus Aurea, the Colosseum, the Forum Pacis, The Arch of Titus, Domitian’s Palace, Trajan’s Forum, the Arch of Trajan at Beneventum, Trajan’s Column, the Great Trajanic Frieze, Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli. Candidates will be expected to study the political, social, economic and cultural history of the Roman empire in the period AD54-138. The following texts are prescribed for study in translation. Compulsory passages for comment will not be set, but candidates will be expected to show knowledge of these texts in their answers.

Tacitus, Annals XIII-XVI, Histories, I, IV, Agricola. Suetonius, Lives of Nero, Vespasian, Domitian. Josephus, Jewish War II, VII (Loeb). Pliny, Letters I-X, Panegyrics. Dio Chrysostom, Orations 38-51 (Loeb). Juvenal, Satires III, VI. Historia Augusta, Life of Hadrian. R. K Sherk, The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian (Translated Documents of Greece and Rome 6) nos. 61-200.

iii. Religions in the Greek and Roman World C. 31 BC – AD 312 The aim of the course is to study the workings and concepts of Greek and Roman religions, including relevant aspects of Judaism and Christianity and other elective cults, between around 31 BC and AD 312. You will be encouraged to be familiar with the relevant literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence. The texts prescribed for study in translation are included in the bibliography on WebLearn. During the Roman imperial period, notions of the divine and the human and the relationship between them, and of the framework of those relationships, changed dramatically in many different ways. As Greek and Roman cultures altered, as the Roman empire promoted contact, mobility and social change, as attitudes to time and space, history, ethics and community shifted, an extraordinary variety of new ways of religious thinking and behaving came into being. These changes include profound transformations in thinking about the divine in philosophy and literature; the role of religion in displaced and diaspora communities, and especially in Jewish ones; the religious order of the Roman state; the formation of new religious allegiances out of old; and new types of religious competition, conflict and self-definition. The evidence for these changes in literature, art, papyri, inscriptions and material culture is rich, diverse and fascinating, and the issues among the most important in ancient

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history. How do we model cultural change? What part does psychology play in history? Does the social anthropology of religion offer important insights to the historian? How can the historian use visual representations, artefacts, and the study of space? How do we link the history of ideas to other forms of historical narrative? Mithraic cave, curse-tablet, synagogue, and sacred spring – who used them and why? Isis, Jesus, Jupiter and Taranis – who worshipped them and how? The subject takes you from Augustus praying to the Greek Fates at the Secular Games, and Ovid on Anna Perenna, through the fall of the Second Temple and the martyrdom of Felicity and Perpetua, to Aurelian’s temple of the Unconquered Sun and Constantine’s vision at the Milvian Bridge. The examination will consist of one picture question and three essay questions. Lectures for this topic normally take place in Hilary Term. iv. The Greek and the Mediterranean World 950-500 BC This course explores, through the archaeological evidence, the period during which Greek society expanded rapidly from relative isolation and poverty to a fully-fledged structure of flourishing city-states. As recent controversial claims have highlighted, contacts with the non-Greek world played a vital role in this period: trading posts were established in the Levant and later in Egypt, colonies were sent out to Sicily, Italy, North Africa and the area of the Black Sea, and hostile pressure was increasingly faced from Anatolia and Persia. A major part of the course is devoted to the reciprocal relations of the Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples, as traced through the movement of Greek and imported goods and through Greek reactions to, and uses of, foreign motifs and conventions. Those taking the subject should become familiar with the material evidence (lectures on the main artefact types are provided), and with the most important sites (Lefkandi, Zagora, Delphi, Al Mina, Naukratis, Cyrene, Syracuse, Pithecusae). Emphasis is placed on the problems of interpreting the evidence and the critical assessment of the general picture based on it. The approach is more historical than art-historical, and will be most interesting to those who are intrigued by the bridge between the physical object and abstract deduction. An ability to read ancient or modern foreign languages is not requisite.

v. Art under the Roman Empire, AD 14-337 The long imperial Roman peace has left the densest and most varied record of artistic and visual representation of any period of antiquity, and at the height of the empire more cities, communities, and individuals than ever before came to invest in the ‘classical’ culture of monumental representation. The course studies the art and visual culture of the Roman empire in its physical, social, and historical contexts. The period saw the creation of a new imperial iconography – the good emperor portrayed in exemplary roles and activities at peace and war. These images were deployed in a wide range of media and contexts in Rome and around the empire, where the imperial image competed with a variety of other representations, from the public monuments of city aristocrats to the tombs of wealthy freed slaves. The course studies the way in which Roman images, self-representation, and art were moulded by their local contexts and functions and by the concerns and values of their target viewers and ‘user-groups’. Students learn about major monuments in Rome and Italy and other leading centres of the empire (such as Aphrodisias, Athens, Epheus, and Lepcis Magna) and about the main strands and contexts of representation in the eastern and western provinces. They will become familiar with the main media and categories of surviving images – statues, portraits busts, historical reliefs, funerary monuments, cameos, wallpaintings, mosaics, silverware, and coins and learn how to analyse and interpret Roman art and images in well-documented contexts and how to assess the relation between written and visual evidence.

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SPECIAL SUBJECTS IN ANCIENT HISTORY

Ancient and Modern History students wishing to take an Ancient History Special Subject should make arrangements directly with their college tutors. Arrangements for other Special Subjects are made through the History Faculty.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

i. Alexander the Great and his Early Successors (336 BC–302 BC)

Aged twenty-five, Alexander the Great defeated the combined might of the Persian Empire and became the richest ruler in the world. As the self-proclaimed successor to Achilles, he led an army which grew to be bigger than any known again in antiquity and reached India in his ambition to march to the edge of the world. When he died, aged thirty-two, he left his generals with conquests from India to Egypt, no designated heir and an uncertain tradition of his plans. This subject explores the controversial personality and resources of the conqueror, the impact of his conquests on Asia, the nature and importance of Macedonian tradition and the image and achievements of his early successors. The relationship and authority of the surviving sources pose large questions of interpretation on which depend our judgement of the major figures’ abilities and achievements. The career which changed the scope of Greek history is still a matter of dispute both for its immediate legacy and for the evidence on which it rests.

Teaching includes eight sessions of a university class held in Michaelmas Term in which students reading Greats and Ancient and Modern History participate in discussions of the set texts and inscriptions. The examination consists of two papers: an essay paper (on which you have to answer both on Alexander and the successors) and a gobbet paper on the set texts in translation, in which optional passages in Greek will be set from Arrian, Anabasis VII (Loeb, Brunt).

Prescribed Texts

Arrian, Anabasis (Loeb Brunt). [Demosthenes] XVII (Loeb). Diodorus Siculus, XVI.89, 91–5 ; XVII.5–7, 16–21, 32, 47–8, 62–3, 69–73, 76–7, 93–5, 100–

1, 108–11, 113–15, 117–18; XVIII, the whole, XIX. 12–64, 66–8, 77–100, 105; XX. 19–21, 27–8, 37, 45–53, 81–99, 100–3, 106–13 (Loeb).

Plutarch, Lives of Alexander, Eumenes and Demetrios 1–27 (Loeb). The inscriptions translated in a dossier available from the Classics Office and on WebLearn, and the texts in P. Harding, Translated Documents of Greece and Rome 2: From the End of the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Ipsus (Cambridge, 1989) Nos. 123, 125, 126, 128, 129, 132, 133, 136, 138.

Optional passages in Greek for comment will be set from:

Arrian, Anabasis VII (Loeb, Brunt).

ii. Cicero: Politics and Thought in the Late Republic This subject examines both the private and public life and the varied literary output of Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of the major political figures of the later Roman Republic and one of the greatest writers Rome ever produced. As Cicero’s letters and speeches are the major source for the political history of his time and his rhetorical and philosophical treatises the principal evidence for the cultural history of the period, the man is inevitably studied in historical context.

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The emphasis is, however, on studying Cicero himself in the round. His writings show him thinking about the major political issues of his time, such as the nature of the Roman constitution and of Roman imperialism, but they also reveal his religious and moral attitudes. They show him concerned with his political and literary ambitions, but also with the management of his property and of his difficult relatives. Above all, they show him anxious to believe and demonstrate the value of a broad and liberal education to the orator and statesman. One can study how he tried to apply his theoretical knowledge to his practical life and to use his practical experience to develop theories less abstract than those of the Greek models he used.

The texts prescribed for the subject include, besides a representative selection of Cicero’s own writings, some letters addressed to him by other notable figures of the time, such as Caesar, Cato and Brutus, a contemporary biography of Atticus, who was Cicero’s closest friend and favourite addressee, and an account by the historian Sallust of the conspiracy that Cicero helped to suppress in his consulship. A knowledge of Latin is not required for this subject. All of the prescribed texts are in translation and good translations of all the set texts and good commentaries on most of them are readily available. One paper of the examination consists of passages for comment, and there is the option of doing some passages set in Latin. Prescribed Texts: Sallust, Catilina (Loeb). Cicero, In Verrem (Actio I) (Loeb). De Imperio Cn. Pompei (Loeb). Pro Sestio 97–137 (Loeb). In M. Antonium Philippica XI (Loeb). Pro Murena (Loeb). In Catilinam IV (Loeb).

Epistulae ad Atticum I. 1, 2, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19; II. 1, 3, 16, 18; IV. 1, 3, 5; V. 16 and 21 ; VI. 1 and 2; VII. 7, 9, 11; VIII. 3 and 11; IX. 6A, 10, 11A, 18; X. 8(incl. A and B); XI. 6; XII. 21 and 40; XIII. 19 and 52; XIV.1, 12, 13, 13A and B; XV. 1A and 11; XVI. 7, 8 and 11 (Loeb). Epistulae ad Familiares I. 1, 8, 9; II. 12; III. 6 and 7; IV. 4, 5; V. 1, 2, 7, 12; VI. 6; VII. 3, 5, 30; VIII. 1, 5, 6, 8, 13, 14, 16; IX. 16 and 17; X. 24 and 28; XI. 3, 20, 27, 28; XII. 3 and 5; XIII. 1 and 9; XIV. 4; XV. 1, 4, 5, 6, 16, 19; XVI. 12 (Loeb). Epistulae ad Quintum fratrem II. 3, 15; III. 5 and 6 (Loeb). Epistulae ad M. Brutum 17, 25 (Loeb). Brutus 301–33 (Loeb). De Oratore I. 137–59, 185–203; II. 30–8 (Loeb). Orator 113–20, 140–6 (Loeb). De Re Publica I.1–18, 58–71 (Loeb). De Legibus II. 1–33 ; III. 1–49 (Loeb). Tusculanae Disputationes I.1–8 (Loeb). De Divinatione II. 1–24; 136–50 (Loeb). De Natura Deorum I. 1–13 ; III. 1–10 (Loeb). De Officiis I. 1–60 ; II. 1–29. 44–60, 73–89 tr. Griffin and Atkins (Cambridge).

Cornelius Nepos, Atticus (Loeb). Optional passages in Latin for comment will be set from:

In Catilinam I (Loeb). De Finibus I 1–12 (OCT).

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5. CHOOSING YOUR OPTIONS For Prelims, your college tutor may expect you to have made a preliminary decision, by correspondence, about your period of Greek or Roman History before you come up, so that you can be given some introductory reading in advance. The choice of other options should be discussed with your tutors when you arrive. In particular, you will want to take advice as to whether it is more sensible to concentrate your papers in either Greek or Roman History, or to mix them; this will depend on your interests and background knowledge. There is no formal language requirement for admission to this course and the Optional Subjects are not studied in the original languages. Of the possible choices for paper 4, Herodotus and Sallust do require study of texts in the original Greek and Latin and if you do not have any knowledge of either of these languages, your choice will be limited to the other two topics (Approaches to History or Historiography: Tacitus to Weber). You may be able to learn some Greek and/or Latin during the course, but you will probably not be able to learn enough from scratch to do the Prelims papers at the end of your first year. However, a good GCSE in Latin or Greek will give you an adequate basis to tackle the Sallust or Herodotus papers. Depending on the choices available to you, you will do either two papers in Ancient History and two papers in Modern History or three papers in Ancient History and one paper in Modern History or three papers in Modern History and one paper in Ancient History. For Finals, the same considerations apply about mixing subjects. It is possible to do a Roman History period having done Greek History for the Preliminary Examination, or vice versa, but it may be more sensible to concentrate your interests. Likewise, across the range of ancient and modern periods, you may want to range very widely, doing a period of Greek or Roman history at one end of the chronological range and a nineteenth- or twentieth-century General History period at the other; or you might prefer to confine yourself to periods and topics which all fall in the period before AD 900. As regards the balance of your choice between Ancient and Modern History (the chronological dividing line for the purposes of the syllabus is AD 285), the flexibility lies in the options you choose for your Further and Special Subject and whether you choose to write your compulsory thesis on Ancient or Modern History. However please note that one of the Further and Special Subjects may fall within Ancient History and both may do so. You may also choose to do an additional thesis in either Modern or Ancient History (see section 6).

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6. THESES

You must offer a thesis (in either Ancient or Modern History). There is time set aside in the syllabus for you to do the bulk of the work towards your thesis during your last Hilary Term, although you may want to start much earlier than that. The regulations relating to the thesis are found in the regulations for the Modern History Main School, Regulations VI, A thesis from original research. These, and guidelines to help you both fulfil the requirements and produce a successful thesis, are available from the Modern History on-line handbook (http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/honours/history/theses/index.htm). The main points to note here are: 1. You will start discussing possible thesis topics with your college tutor in the Trinity Term of your second year, who will arrange a specialist adviser for your topic if necessary. 2. You may have up to five hours of meetings with your tutor or specialist adviser. You may have the first session before the summer vacation after your second year, so that you can discuss books and archives you can look at over the summer. 3. In Michaelmas Term of your final year you will need a further meeting with your thesis adviser to finalize your thesis title and draft a short synopsis (no longer than 250 words) of the thesis topic and proposed method of investigation. This will be included with the formal submission of your thesis title which must be made by Friday of Sixth Week in Michaelmas Term. Note that if you are doing a thesis concerning the period before AD285, this counts as Ancient History and the title must be approved by the Chairman of Examiners, Honour School of Ancient and Modern History, rather than Chairman of Examiners, Honour School of History. 4. You will probably do most work on your thesis during the Christmas vacation and the Hilary Term. You can have advisory meetings in Hilary Term and your advisor can comment generally on a first draft. 5. The word limit is 12,000 words, including footnotes but excluding bibliography. 6. The deadline for handing in the thesis is noon on the Friday of Week 8 of your final Hilary Term. Some general points: 1. The examiners cannot read your mind: explain in your introduction what you are going to do, and in what follows present your argument, step by step, in as sharp a focus as you can achieve. 2. Examiners will notice if you try to fudge issues or sweep difficulties aside; it is much better to be candid about them, and to show that you appreciate the force of counter-arguments. 3. Bad spelling and bad grammar do not help to convey an overall impression of clarity and competence; and word-processing carries dangers of its own to the inexperienced, such as half-revised sentences leaving gibberish, sections continually re-edited rather than re-written, and spell-checks leaving errors which happen to generate new words. 4. Your bibliography should list all the works to which you refer, plus any others which you have found particularly valuable. 5. There are penalties for late submission, including not marking the thesis, or dropping a class. If there are genuine or extraordinary reasons why submission might be delayed, you must inform the Proctors via your college authorities in advance. You will be asked to provide supporting medical or other evidence to justify the delay.

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6. For ease of reference, copied below are the full guidelines for the thesis from the Modern History handbook: THE UNDERGRADUATE COMPULSORY THESIS 1) GENERAL 1) Every undergraduate taking the BA in Single Subject Modern History must submit a thesis as

part of the fulfilment of their Final Examination. In the course of Trinity Term of the second year they are required to meet with a college tutor and, where appropriate, specialist adviser in order to discuss a possible thesis topic (see Timetable below).

2) The thesis, which will represent a single unit in the Final Honours Examination, and represent

one seventh of the total marks, should not be longer than 12,000 words, including footnotes, but excluding bibliography and, in cases for which specific permission has been obtained from the Chairman of Examiners, appendices. When passages are quoted in a language other than English and an English translation provided, only the original quotation and not the translation should be counted towards the word limit.

3) ‘All candidates must submit two copies of their thesis, addressed to the Chairman of

Examiners, Honour School of Ancient and Modern History, Examination Schools, Oxford, not later than noon on Friday of Eighth Week of the Hilary Term of the year in which they are presenting themselves for Examination. Where a candidate for any written examination in which a thesis (or other exercise) may be, or is required to be, submitted as part of that examination wishes on some reasonable grounds to be permitted to present such thesis (or other exercise) later than the date prescribed by any statute, or regulation, the procedure shall be as follows:

(a) the candidate shall apply in writing through the Senior Tutor to the Proctors for such permission enclosing the grounds for the applications;

(b) the Proctors shall consult the chairman of examiners about any such application and shall then decide whether or not to grant permission.’

4) Each thesis must include a bibliography, listing all materials, documents, book and articles

used in its preparation. The bibliography should give clear and accurate details of locations, places and dates of publication. Only primary and secondary works actually read should be included. In the text, all quotations or evidence or ideas derived directly from books, articles or documents should be acknowledged precisely in footnote references. Advice on appropriate style of bibliography and references will be found below. Poor presentation in these matters (for instance the inability of examiners to identify a book or to locate a quotation) may be penalized.

5) Avoidance of plagiarism. (See chapter 3 above)

6) The student should not make substantial use of the material submitted in their thesis in

answering questions on other papers in the Final Honours School (with the exception of Disciplines of History), and should avoid any obvious duplication of material and/or arguments between the thesis and the Special Subject extended essay.

7) Authorship. Each thesis must be accompanied by a certificate, signed by the candidate and

by his or her College history tutor, making the following declaration in exactly the form indicated. Forms for this purpose are available from the History Faculty Office or the Faculty website.

I declare the following: (i) the essay I am submitting is entirely my own work, (ii) no substantial portion of it has been presented for any other degree course or examination,

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(iii) it does not exceed 12,000 words in length, including footnotes, but excluding bibliography, any appendices for which specific permission has been obtained, and any English translations of passages quoted in another language, (iv) I have spent no more than five hours in preparatory or advisory meetings with my College History Tutor or thesis adviser, (v) only the first draft of the thesis has been seen by my thesis adviser.

8) Format. All theses must be typed or word-processed on A4 paper, in double spacing and with a left-hand margin of one-and-a-half inches and all other margins of at least one inch. Two copies should be submitted, and they should be printed in not less than an 11-point typeface, and should be bound securely, though not necessarily in hard-covers. A ring-binding or other secure soft-binding will be acceptable. Do not put your name on your thesis (as opposed to the accompanying certificate mentioned above), only your candidate number.

GUIDELINES FOR PRODUCING A SYNOPSIS FOR A THESIS FOR THE FINAL HONOUR SCHOOL OF HISTORY

The synopsis is intended to clarify for the Chair of Examiners the field of your dissertation, the questions it will address, and the methods and sources it will use to do this; it will also thereby help you crystallize your thoughts well in advance of Hilary Term. As the synopsis may not be longer than 250 words, it must be succinct, and focused on these essentials; and it must therefore have been properly thought-through, rather than offering general preliminary ideas as to a possible field of exploration. 1 The synopsis should locate the area of study in which the thesis falls, in terms of both themes and location in time and space; e.g. ‘gender aspects of early modern witchcraft’ or ‘the role of technology in modern warfare’. 2 It should then define precisely the problem or problems which the thesis will seek to address. This may arise from discussion of the sources, or of the historiography, or both; but whatever the case, the thesis must be directed towards discussion of a clearly-defined problem. It is not enough to indicate the general field in which exploration will take place. 3 Often the problem will be defined by reference to existing historiography: either the issue will not have been addressed (or not adequately so) by current writing on the subject, in which case it should be made clear exactly what has and has not been done; or, the thesis will address an argument which has been put forward but which needs further testing or indeed challenging. Either way, the historiographical context needs to be spelt out clearly. 4 The synopsis must then identify the sources which will be used to address the problem, and thus also the precise area of study in terms of time and place (which may have been explained under 2). The methods by which these sources will help address the problem should also be explained as precisely as possible. 5 The title should describe the field of the thesis as precisely but also as succinctly as possible. It has not been customary for thesis titles to be framed as questions. In practice thesis-topics are refined in the process of research, as the sources themselves suggest new questions, and thinking about problems leads one to look at new sources. (And students commonly only fulfil a part of the agenda they had originally set themselves.) Note that the actual theses are not measured against the submitted synopses. It is nevertheless important for the Examiners to have a clear idea of what you are planning at this stage, so that they can identify suitable examiners in advance of submission; changes of topic are rarely so radical as to require different examiners. Moreover, you need to start research with a

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topic which has been as clearly defined and thought-through as it can be, so as to be sure that your topic is viable and will not fall apart in Hilary Term once you begin to probe it properly.

NOTES FOR WRITERS OF THESES

The incentive and challenges in writing a thesis

The thesis is potentially a very exciting element of the Final Honour School. It offers you the opportunity to engage in primary research on a subject of your own choosing, and to arrive at conclusions which are entirely your own, not a synthesis of the conclusions of others. It enables you to work as a historical scholar in your own right and to get a taste of the kind of academic work undertaken professionally by your tutors. Some undergraduate theses are so good that they are ready to be published virtually as they stand. Almost all give their authors considerable personal satisfaction, and will be looked back on with pride long after the authors have left Oxford and, in most cases, the study of history.

However it is necessary to recognize that a thesis requires commitment, and a very high level of personal motivation and organization. You will have the opportunity to consult with tutors who can help advise you on bibliographical or structural problems, but the burden of time-management and effective working falls on you. Most of you will be given the Hilary Term of your third year to research and write up your thesis. It is essential to recognize that eight weeks is not a long time for such an exercise. The student who wastes 4-6 weeks of the term in pursuit of unrealistic research goals, or who has not thought through the initial practicalities of the thesis subject before the beginning of term, above all the students who fritters away half or more of the term not getting down to serious work, will have huge, probably insurmountable, problems in pulling together an adequate thesis in the remainder of the term. It is important to be aware that the Examiners will judge a thesis against the amount of work that a diligent undergraduate could be expected to have done over a full academic term. An intellectually vacuous submission, based on obviously limited reading and amounting to little more than a longer version of a tutorial term-essay, will be heavily penalized. It is possible to gain exceptionally high marks for a thesis, and some students who do not excel in closed examination papers demonstrate spectacular prowess in such work submitted in their own time. But it is also possible to gain far worse marks for a bad thesis than for a moderately poor performance in a three-hour paper. The exercise is challenging, and intentionally so. For those who continue their eduction in Oxford or elsewhere as graduate historians, the thesis will represent a first opportunity to test their abilities as creative and independent researchers, able to define and explore a historical problem on a large scale. For others a successfully-accomplished thesis is a clear indication to employers and the outside world that they possess a capacity for organization, self-discipline and the ability to structure a substantial and complex piece of research very largely on their own initiative.

Good and Indifferent Theses The hallmark of a good thesis is precisely that it should contain a thesis, a consecutive argument or set of arguments on its topic. Apart from showing a sound grasp of the secondary literature on the field and period and an awareness of the problems of the topic, the writer deploys the evidence of the sources to support a general argument. It is made clear in the text how the writer has approached the topic, what conclusions have been reached and, if appropriate, how the approach and conclusions are related to or diverge from the views of other historians. The good thesis is well written and properly and consistently presented. (Guidance on format is provided below.) Good presentation is usually combined with high quality of analysis and intellectual grip on the sources that form a key element in the thesis. Conversely, careless or unclear writing, misspelling and misquotation of sources often go with an uncertain focus on the topic. It is commonly supposed that a Schools thesis must be based largely or in part upon unpublished manuscript sources. This may be the case but is not essential. The nature of the topic and the approach

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adopted will generally govern the kind of sources used. There is no particular virtue in the use of an unpublished primary source for its own sake; and a source does not cease to be primary because it has been ‘published’ in some form (e.g. Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, Parliamentary Papers, editions of medieval chronicles and charters, a work of literature, philosophy or political thought), nor because it has been translated from another language into English. What is essential is that the author should use the sources intelligently and accurately. A thesis should therefore show a competent grasp of relevant sources both primary and secondary; and it will use primary sources not merely for illustrative purposes but as coherently-marshalled evidence to support the author’s arguments. It should also show how those arguments relate to the wider historiography of the field within which it falls.

The choice of subject requires careful thought. It is unwise to choose a topic so large or well-trodden that you cannot write anything original about it on the basis of the analysis of relevant primary sources within the permitted length. It may be unsatisfying to choose a subject so restricted that your conclusions appear to have little relevance to any wider historical question. Many of the best theses succeed by showing how detailed reassessment of a subject of manageable size can shed light on the great issues debated by the historians of any particular period or society.

If your research requires you to travel to visit libraries and archives, you may apply to the Colin Matthew Fund for a grant. See below, section 16 of this Handbook. If you need to consult manuscripts or rare books in the Bodleian and its associated libraries, please download the permission form from the website and ask your tutor or adviser to sign it. Do bear in mind that historical evidence will not, in general, speak for itself. The ‘truth’ will not emerge through the simple piling up of research material. While you are doing the research, you should also be thinking about how you will shape the materials into an argument. A good historian is constantly testing, modifying and rejecting hypotheses about the significance of the material that s/he is examining. Research, while sometimes frustrating, is instantly stimulating; collecting it can become an end in itself. But the historian who stops thinking during research has ceased to be an historian. Hence planning for the thesis should start as early as possible; some plans may well need to be discarded until the most feasible and convincing one has been found. It is always best to assume that the thesis will take longer and require more intellectual engagement than anticipated: a good thesis will certainly require more than one draft of parts if not of the whole. Plenty of time should be allowed for getting the final typed version into presentable form. The deadline for the submission of the thesis is not flexible, and hasty and careless final production can undermine a strong and interesting thesis.

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GUIDANCE ON THE PRESENTATION AND FORMAT OF THESES THESE GUIDELINES DOUBLE FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS WRITING THE EXTENDED ESSAY FOR PAPER II OF THE SPECIAL SUBJECT, AND SHOULD BE ADHERED TO IN ALL RESPECTS FOR BOTH PIECES OF SUBMITTED WORK 1. A 12,000-word thesis typed double-spaced on A4 size paper will normally take up 36 pages if

printed in 12 -point print; a 6,000 word extended essay will take up 18 pages on the same basis. 2. Pagination

Pagination should run through consecutively from beginning to end and include any appendices, bibliography etc. Cross-references should include page numbers.

3. Order of contents

After the title-page should normally follow in sequence, all these elements except the bibliography counting towards the word limit:

(a) ‘Table of Contents’. This should show in sequence, with page numbers, the subdivisions of the thesis. The titles of any chapters and appendices should be given. Such a table may well be unnecessary in an extended essay.

(b) List of abbreviations (if any: use only for frequently-cited sources). (c) Preface or Introduction. This should be used to call the examiners’ attention to the aims and

broad argument(s) of the work, along with any relevant points about sources, historiographical context, and obligations to other historians’ work. This too may not be needed in an extended essay.

(d) The thesis or extended essay divided into chapters, if applicable. Each chapter should have a

clear descriptive title.

(e) Conclusion. A few hundred words summarizing the conclusions and their implications.

(f) Bibliography. This is essential, and should be sensibly selective. It should include everything cited in the thesis or extended essay, and omit nothing which has been important in producing it. But it should not necessarily include everything which may have been read or consulted.

4. Quotations

Quotations from verse, if of more than one line, should be indented and in single spacing; quotations from prose should run on in the text if they do not exceed two or three lines, otherwise they too should be indented and in single spacing. Inverted commas are not necessary when the quotation is indented. Otherwise use single inverted commas except for quotations within quotations, which are distinguished by double inverted commas.

Quotations should keep the spelling used in the original documents and not be modernized. When quotations include contracted forms, the contractions should normally be extended and the extension indicated by square brackets. Normally, quotations from a foreign language source should be presented in the body of the text in the original. The tutor’s advice should be followed in case of doubt as to whether to provide translations. When translations are given in addition to the quotation in the original language, the translations do not count towards the word limit.

5. Underlining/Italics

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Underlining or italics should be used:

(a) For the titles of books, plays and periodicals.

(b) For technical terms or phrases in languages other than English (but not for

quotations or complete sentences).

(c) For the following abbreviations, if used (there is much to be said for avoiding or anglicizing many of them): a. (anno), cap., c. (circa), e.g., ibid., idem, infra, passim, post, supra, versus, v. (vide), viz.

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6. Capitals

Capitals should be used as sparingly as possible. They should be used for institutions and corporate bodies when the name is the official title or part of the official title; but for titles and dignities of individuals only when those are followed by the person’s name: thus ‘Duke William of Normandy’, but ‘William, duke of Normandy’, ‘the duke’.

7. Dates

Dates should be given in the form: 13 October 1966; and unless the contrary is indicated it is to be assumed that the date refers to the year beginning on 1 January. Double dates in Old and New Style should be given in the form: 11/22 July 1705. In footnotes, names of months may be abbreviated: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May., June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec., but they should not be abbreviated in the text itself.

8. Footnote references

The purpose of a reference is to enable the reader to turn up the evidence for any quotation or statement. But judgement must be used in deciding whether a reference needs to be given or not. A reference need not be given for a familiar quotation used for purely literary purposes, nor for a statement of fact which no reader would question. Any reference given must be precise. Footnotes should be concise: they count towards the overall word-limit. The practice of putting into footnotes information which cannot be digested in the text should be avoided. Notes should be printed at the foot of the page in single spacing. Footnote numbers should begin a new series with each chapter.

Footnote numbers in the text should be superior and not bracketed. 9. Form of references

The style of references should be consistent throughout any piece of work. You should use the following conventions, giving the reference in the full form in the first footnote in which you cite it and abbreviating it thereafter.

Book:

A.G. Dickens, Lollards and Protestants in the Diocese of York, 1509-1558 (London, 1959), pp. 126-31.

Thereafter: Dickens, Lollards and Protestants, pp. 126-31.

Multi-volume book:

W. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, 4th edn (2 vols, Oxford, 1906), ii, 15-18. Thereafter: Stubbs, Constitutional History, ii, 15-18 [note the absence of pp.] Edition:

The Estate Book of Henry de Bray, ed. D. Willis (Camden Soc., 3rd Ser., 27, 1916), p. 5.

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Thereafter: Estate Book of Henry de Bray, p. 5.

Article:

R.W.D. Boyce, ‘Imperial Dreams and National Realities: Britain, Canada and the Struggle for a Pacific Telegraph Cable, 1879-1902’, English Historical Review, 115 (2000), pp. 52-3 [or EHR, 115 (2000), pp. 52-3 if you have defined EHR as English Historical Review in your list of abbreviations]. Thereafter: Boyce, ‘Imperial Dreams’, pp. 52-3.

Essay in an edited volume:

G.D. Ramsay, ‘The Foreign Policy of Elizabeth I’, in C.A. Haigh (ed.), The Reign of Elizabeth I (London and Basingstoke, 1984), pp. 154-7.

Thereafter: Ramsay, ‘Foreign Policy’, pp. 154-7.

In citing books and articles you may refer to authors by first name and surname, rather than initials and surname, if this is the convention in the field of your thesis or extended essay.

Manuscripts:

‘Speculum virginum’, British Library, MS Arundel 44, fo. 3v. [or BL, MS Arundel 44, fo. 3v if you have defined BL as British Library in your list of abbreviations]

Collections of papers:

British Library, Add. MS 29132, fo. 434. It may be helpful, or necessary to avoid confusion, to add brief descriptions at first mention to give the reader some indication of the nature of the sources referred to, thus: British Library, Add. MS 29132 (Hastings Papers), fo. 434: Clive to Hastings, 1 Aug. 1771. Thereafter contract to: BL, Add. MS 29132, fo. 434. Other examples would be PRO, STAC 8/104/20 (Star Chamber Proccedings, James I, Cripple and wife v. Lambe et al., 1619). Wiltshire Record Office, D1/39/1/26 (Bishop of Salisbury, Instance Act Book, 1596-8), fos 227v-8r.

In any case, such fuller definitions of archival classes or collections of papers used should be given in the bibliography.

Ancient and medieval authors:

Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, iii. 25 (ed. Plummer, p. 181). [give details of which edition you have used in the bibliography]

The Bible:

Gen. xv. 24. Parliamentary papers and debates:

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Parliamentary Papers, 1810, xlvi (125), p. 6. Hansard, 3rd series, 1832, xi. 602.

Unpublished theses and typescripts:

J.A. Bossy, ‘Elizabethan Catholicism: the Link with France’ (Cambridge Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1961), p. 80. Thereafter: Bossy, ‘Elizabethan Catholicism’, p. 80.

Film and television:

Orlando (Screenplay Sally Potter, Dir. Sally Potter, 1992) Our Mutual Friend (Screenplay Sandy Welch, Dir. Julian Farino, 1998), Episode 1

Websites: Give the title, URL and date viewed: ‘Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address’, [http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc2.6p1.jpg] (29 July, 2004).

Interviews: Tony Blair interview, 2 May 1997 [, p. 3 if transcribed]. Ibid. should be used instead of the author and short title when (but only when) the reference repeats the last or the only reference in the previous note. Care is necessary here, because when adding or moving references it is easy for Ibid. to become separated from the source to which it is intended to refer.

Op. Cit. should not be used.

10. Bibliography

The bibliography should be divided into (A) Manuscript Sources, (B) Printed Sources, (C) any other sources (websites, interviews etc) and the printed sources should be divided into (1) Primary Sources, (2) Secondary Sources. Manuscript sources should be listed according to the places in which they are found. Printed sources should be listed alphabetically, by surname of author. Anonymous printed sources should be listed alphabetically by the first word of the title (excluding the articles ‘The’, ‘An’ or their foreign equivalents).

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7. EXAMINATIONS It is your personal responsibility to enter for University examinations, and if you enter, or change your options, after the due date, you must pay a late fee and gain the examiners’ consent. Entry is through colleges. The forms are kept in college offices, which may advertise times for applying. The University deadlines are listed each year in Examination Regulations. The starting dates of examinations are announced each year in Examination Regulations and the University Diary. Preliminary Examination normally take place in the ninth week of Trinity Term and Finals in the fifth week of Trinity Term. Working to these dates the examiners issue a timetable a month or two before each examination; it is posted in the Examination Schools, and probably also in your college lodge. About a month before the examiners send a memorandum to all candidates about the conduct of the examination. When planning your examination strategy, it is sensible to keep before your mind the nature of the examination method which the University uses (the conventional method in British higher education over the last two centuries). If the examiners allowed you to set the questions, you could prepare good answers in a few months; by setting the questions themselves, they ensure that a candidate cannot be adequately prepared without study over the whole course. They will therefore not be interested in answers which in any way are off the point, and they will severely penalize ‘short weight’ – too few properly written out answers. The examiners are looking for your own ideas and convictions, and you mustn’t be shy of presenting them as your own: whether you are conscious of having inherited them from somebody else doesn’t matter one way or the other. When you have selected a question, work out what it means and decide what you think is the answer to it. Then, putting pen to paper, state the answer and defend it; or, if you think there is no answer, explain why not. Abstain from background material. Don’t write too much: many of those who run out of time have themselves to blame for being distracted into irrelevance. Good examinees emerge from the examination room with most of their knowledge undisplayed. At University examinations, including vivas, you must wear academic dress with ‘sub-fusc’ clothing. Academic dress is a gown, and a regulation cap or mortar board (must be mortar board for men). Sub-fusc clothing is: for women, a dark skirt or trousers, a white blouse, black tie, black tights or stockings and shoes, and, if desired, a dark coat; for men, a dark suit and socks, black shoes, a white bow tie, and plain white shirt and collar. There are special University regulations on the typing of illegible scripts. (NB: ‘the cost of typing and invigilation shall not be a charge on university funds’), on the use of computers (where permitted) in examinations, on disabled candidates, on candidates unable to take papers on certain days for religious reasons, and on the use (where permitted) of calculators in examinations; see the Examination Regulations. If your native language is not English, you may request to use your own bilingual dictionary during examinations. The request must go to the Proctors through your college, usually your Senior Tutor. The examiners report your marks to your college tutor, who will normally pass them on to you. If you have any problems connected with University examinations which you want to take further, never approach the examiners directly: always communicate through your Senior Tutor. This applies to complaints too (although every student has a statutory right to consult the Proctors directly on any matter at any time in their Oxford career – see section on complaints procedures).

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CRITERIA FOR MARKING EXAMINATION QUESTIONS IN ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY

These criteria will be used in marking all three-hour question papers in both public examinations (Prelims; Schools), and in the marking of College Collections. The Preliminary Examination in History and its Joint Schools is not classified. It is designed to ensure that students are sufficiently prepared to proceed to the Honours degree in the second and third years. To this end, all four papers must receive marks of 40 or above (Honours standard). Any paper on which a candidate receives a mark of less than 40 must be re-taken. Candidates who receive appropriate marks at this second attempt may remain on the Honours course in Ancient and Modern History. Candidates who do well in the Preliminary examination, achieving two First Class marks and a high overall average mark on the four papers, will be awarded Distinctions by the Examiners. Mark band

Value for Schools classification

Description

86-100 Honours First A script marked in this range will be truly outstanding in terms of the first-class criteria set out below. Such marks will be used rarely, and for work that shows remarkable originality of mind and depth of understanding.

70-85 Honours First A script awarded a first-class will always be felt to have engaged closely with the questions, even if it approaches them from an unanticipated angle. A first-class mark may be awarded on more than one set of criteria. The argument may be highly incisive, and sophisticated. There may be a wealth of information, showing exceptional knowledge and understanding of the issues involved. The approach may be original, suggesting novel ways of considering the material or issues. Many first-class scripts will combine elements of all three. First class scripts will combine elegance and clarity of style, and cogency of organization.

60-69 Honours Upper Second (2.i)

Work showing evidence of a good and well-based engagement with the questions. The scripts will display a good command of the necessary amount of information needed to sustain their arguments, and good understanding of the relevant material. Essays will be presented in a clearly-argued, well illustrated and relevant fashion.

50-59 Honours Lower Second (2.ii)

Scripts awarded marks in this category will have shown some evidence of intelligent preparation and application, and will involve solidly competent work. But scripts may lack focus on the exact questions set, breadth of reference, or organizational skills that might have secured 2.i marks. They may contain too much indiscriminate information, or factual errors and inaccuracies. Clumsy prose style, and errors of syntax and spelling may also lead to a 2.ii mark. Individual essays that are competent but pre-packaged answers that bear a limited relation to the question set may also be given 2.ii marks.

40-49 Honours Third Scripts awarded a third class mark will have displayed a few of the qualities expected of a successful Honours candidate, such as the ability to see the point of a question, to deploy relevant information, and to proceed through a structure of reasoned argument to a coherent conclusion. However, none of these qualities will be displayed either consistently, or at a particularly high level, and the script may be marred by irrelevance, incoherence, error, and poor presentation.

30-39 Pass Degree A modicum of appropriate knowledge will be displayed, but answers will be marred by high levels of factual error and irrelevance. Muddled ideas or uncritical and superficial generalization will detract from the

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coherence and organization of argument. The writing will be weakened by errors of syntax or vocabulary and by passages that degenerate into incoherence.

Below 30 Fail A script may fail for a number of reasons. The candidate may not observe the rubrics concerning the number or type of questions to be taken. Answers may be irrelevant, failing to engage with the questions set. Errors of fact – or a lack of specific facts – may characterize the script. Presentation may be of a very poor quality.

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CRITERIA FOR MARKING THESES AND EXTENDED ESSAYS IN ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY

These criteria will be used in marking all theses and extended essays in public examinations. Mark band

Value for Schools classification

Description

70-100 Honours First Work judged first-class will show cogency of argument and sharpness of focus on the title chosen or question set. It will display a sophisticated and critical understanding of the place of its subject in the historiography of the field and a skilled and sensitive use of primary sources or set texts. It will be precise in its handling of detail and clear and consistent in its presentation. Originality of argument, fluency of exposition and the mastery of unusually wide or difficult bodies of source material will also be rewarded.

60-69 Honours Upper Second (2.i)

Work showing evidence of thorough research and coherent exposition of an argument with reference to the chosen title or question. It will display a good command of the material from primary sources or set texts needed to sustain the argument and a good and critical understanding of the relevant secondary literature. It will be presented in a clear and consistent style.

50-59 Honours Lower Second (2.ii)

Work showing evidence of intelligent preparation, application and solid competence. It may lack the focus on the title chosen or question set, breadth of reference to primary sources, set texts or secondary sources, or clarity of structure that might have secured 2.i marks. It may contain too much indiscriminate information, or factual errors and inaccuracies. Clumsy prose style, errors of syntax and spelling and incompleteness or inconsistency of referencing may also lead to a 2.ii mark.

40-49 Honours Third Work awarded a third class mark will have displayed a few of the qualities expected of a successful Honours candidate, such as the ability to see the point of a title or question, to deploy relevant information from primary and secondary sources, and to proceed through a structure of reasoned argument to a coherent conclusion. However, none of these qualities will be displayed either consistently, or at a particular high level, and the work may be marred by a measure of irrelevance, incoherence and error, or by poor presentation.

30-39 Pass Degree

A modicum of appropriate knowledge will be displayed, but work will be marred by high levels of factual error and irrelevance. Muddled ideas or uncritical and superficial generalization will detract from the coherence and organization of argument. Primary sources may be used very intermittently or incompetently. The writing will be weakened by errors of syntax or vocabulary and by passages that degenerate into incoherence.

Below 30

Fail Work may fail for a number of reasons. Its content may be plagiarized. The candidate may not observe the rubrics concerning the length or form of the thesis or extended essay. Arguments may be irrelevant, failing to engage with the title chosen or question set. Errors of fact, a lack of specific information, or the absence or gross mishandling of primary sources may characterize the work. Presentation may be of a very poor quality.

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8. ILLNESS If illness interferes seriously with your academic work, make sure that your tutors know the fact. If at all possible choose a Fellow or Lecturer of your college, preferably your Academic Tutor, Moral Tutor or College Adviser, in whom to confide; otherwise it will be difficult for the college to help. Help may involve: excusing you tutorials for a period; sending you home; asking the University to grant you dispensation from that term’s residence (to qualify for the BA you must reside and study in Oxford for nine terms – or six if you have Senior Status – and a term for that purpose means forty-two nights); or permitting you to go out of residence for a number of terms, with consequent negotiations with your funding body. If illness has interfered with preparation for a University examination, or has affected you during the examination itself, your college must report the fact to the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors, who will pass the information to your examiners ‘if, in their opinion, it is likely to assist the examiners in the performance of their duties’. Your college also reports to the Proctors if illness or disability has prevented you from attending part of a University examination, or makes it desirable that you should be examined in a special place or at a special time. The college officer concerned is the Senior Tutor. You must deal with your Senior Tutor, never with the examiners. Give the Senior Tutor as much notice as possible; in particular, examinations specially invigilated in a special place (usually your college) take a lot of organizing. If you anticipate difficulties (e.g. in the case of dyslexia), you should inform your tutor at the beginning of the term of the examination. Probably you will need a medical certificate; college doctors have the appropriate University forms.

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9. TUTORS

Anybody to whom you go for tutorials or college classes counts as one of your tutors. Over the whole course you will certainly be taught by several different tutors. Some will be tutorial Fellows or Lecturers of your own college; but some may be tutorial Fellows or Lecturers of other colleges; or Research Fellows, or graduate students. The overall responsibility for giving or arranging your tuition will lie with tutorial Fellows or Lecturers of your own college. Behind them stands the Senior Tutor (or in some colleges Director of Undergraduate Studies), who carries the final responsibility for seeing that proper arrangements are made if one of these people is absent through illness or on leave. It will probably be a rule of your college that you call on these in-college tutors at the beginning of term to arrange tuition, and at the end of term to arrange vacation reading and the next term’s subjects. In any case it is a very good idea to pay such calls, if necessary on your own initiative. Also, you may be assigned a ‘Moral Tutor’ or ‘College Adviser’ who may or may not be the same person as your academic tutor; you should feel free to talk to him or her about academic or personal matters.

Colleges have different rules about when term ‘begins’. The official start is Sunday of First Week of Full Term, but you will certainly be expected back before then, and you should ensure that by the Sunday you know who your tutors for the term will be, have met or corresponded with them, and have been set work and assigned tutorial times by them. If you would like a change of tutor, say so if it is not embarrassing; otherwise don’t just do nothing, but take the problem to someone else in your college – your Moral Tutor/College Adviser, the Senior Tutor, the Women’s Adviser, the Chaplain, or even the Head of College, if your difficulty is serious. Most such problems arise from a personality clash that has proved intractable; but since in a university of Oxford’s size there are likely to be alternative tutors for nearly all your subjects, there is no point in putting up with a relationship which is impeding your academic progress. In these circumstances you can usually expect a change, but not necessarily to the particular tutor whom you would prefer. At the end of each term you can expect a formal report, perhaps with the Head of College and perhaps with your tutors. These are intended to be two-way exchanges: if you have concerns about your work or your tuition, do not hesitate to say so.

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10. THE CLASSICS AND HISTORY OFFICES

The Classics Centre (Tel. (2)88385) is at 66 St Giles (opposite St John’s College). It is open from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm and from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm, Mondays to Fridays.

The office can also provide information about scholarships, grants, prizes, study tours, summer schools, conferences and seminars in and outside Oxford. This information is usually advertised on the two noticeboards outside the offices, but further details can often be obtained from the office staff.

Past examination papers are to be found on the web: http://oxam.ox.ac.uk/pls/oxam/main

Bibliographies for all ancient history and archaeology papers and dossiers of epigraphical material, texts and translations for Ancient and Modern History are to be found on Weblearn (http://www.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/classics/teaching/ah/). In case of difficulty, the Classics Office has hard copies. The offices of the Faculty of History are situated in the Old Boys’ School, George Street, the History Faculty Library is situated in Broad Street, at the junction of Catte Street and Holywell Street (Tel: (2)77262). The opening hours are from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday and the staff can provide bibliographies which may also be found on the History website at (http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/bibliographies/bibliographies.htm) relating to British and General Periods, Optional, Further and Special Subjects in Modern History as well as information relevant to grants, prizes, etc.

There are common rooms in the History Faculty and in the Classics Centre.

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11. THE ADMINISTRATION The administration of Ancient History lies with the Board of the Faculty of Classics and that of History with the Board of the Faculty of History. These bodies are elected, like the other Faculty Boards in the University, by and from members of their associated Faculties. The Classics Faculty comprises the Sub-faculties of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology and of Classical Languages and Literature. The Faculty Boards meet twice each term, and the Sub-faculties meet once or twice each term. Matters relating specifically to the Joint School of Ancient and Modern History are dealt with by the Joint Standing Committee for Ancient and Modern History which is made up of Senior Members of the Sub-Faculty of Ancient History and the Faculty of History. The Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee for 2007-8 is Dr. Simon Price, of the Faculty of Classics. The Joint Standing Committee meets every term in Week 4. For details of student representation, please see the section on Feedback and Complaints Procedures.

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12. FEEDBACK AND COMPLAINTS PROCEDURES The University, the parent Faculties, and your college are always glad to receive comments (good or bad) about your experience of studying in Oxford. There are a number of channels open to you to express your opinions or register any complaints you might have. These are: 1. By completing a Lecture and Class Questionnaire; 2. By referring an issue to a student representative on the Undergraduate Joint Consultative Committees for History or Classics; 3. By following complaints procedures within the Faculties, your college or via the University Proctors.

1. Lecture and Class Questionnaires Lecturers and class leaders will make questionnaires available to you and ask you to complete and return them – please do so! The results are reported to the Chairmen of the Faculty’s Undergraduate Studies Committee (History). Any issues are discussed and dealt with through appropriate channels – sometimes this leads to changes in emphases or how lectures are delivered. In addition, questionnaires are also available to download from the History Faculty website: (http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/currentunder/feedback.htm) 2. The Undergraduate Joint Consultative Committee Both the History Faculty and the Classics Faculty have a Joint Consultative Committee made up of Senior Members and student members elected through the colleges. Your college should have a History and a Classics representative who either attend the UJCC or help select the student members. The UJCCs are important means of gaining student feedback so that courses can be improved – such issues as lecture clashes, extra language provision and library opening hours have all been addressed. The History representatives for 2007-8 are Laurence Smith (Balliol), Cheryl Mason (Greyfriars) and Hannah Bilson (Keble). For details of Classics representatives contact the Administrator of the Classics Office. 3. Student complaints procedures 1. The University, the Humanities Division and the Faculties of Classics and History all hope that provision made for students at all stages of their programme of study will make the need for complaints (about that provision) or appeals (against the outcomes of any form of assessment) infrequent. 2. However, all those concerned believe that it is important for students to be clear about how to raise a concern or make a complaint, and how to appeal against the outcome of assessment. The following guidance attempts to provide such information. 3. Nothing in this guidance precludes an informal discussion with the person immediately responsible for the issue that you wish to complain about (and who may not be one of the individuals identified below). This is often the simplest way to achieve a satisfactory resolution. 4. Many sources of advice are available within colleges, within the faculty and from bodies like OUSU or the Counselling Service, which have extensive experience in advising students. You may wish to take advice from one of these sources before pursuing your complaint. 5. General areas of concern about provision affecting students as a whole should, of course, continue to be raised through Joint Consultative Committees or via student representation on the faculty’s committees. Complaints 6. If your concern or complaint relates to teaching or other provision made by the faculty, then you should raise it with the chairman of the Standing Committee. Within the two faculties he will attempt to resolve your concern/complaint informally. 7. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome, then you may take your concern further by making a formal complaint to the University Proctors. A complaint may cover aspects of teaching and learning (e.g. teaching facilities, supervision arrangements, etc.), and non-academic issues (e.g. support

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services, library services, university accommodation, university clubs and societies, etc.). A complaint to the Proctors should be made only if attempts at informal resolution have been unsuccessful. The procedures adopted by the Proctors for the consideration of complaints and appeals are described in the Proctors and Assessor’s Memorandum [http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/proctors/pam/] and the relevant Council regulations [http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/regulations/] 8. If your concern or complaint relates to teaching or other provision made by your college, then you should raise it either with your tutor or with your Senior Tutor. Your college will also be able to explain how to take your complaint further if you are dissatisfied with the outcome of its consideration. Academic appeals 9. An appeal is defined as a formal questioning of a decision on an academic matter made by the responsible academic body. 10. For undergraduate courses, a concern which might lead to an appeal should be raised with your college authorities and the individual responsible for overseeing your work. It must not be raised directly with examiners. If it is not possible to clear up your concern in this way, you may put your concern in writing and submit it to the Proctors via the Senior Tutor of your college. As noted above, the procedures adopted by the Proctors in relation to complaints and appeals are on the web [http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/regulations/]. 9. Please remember in connection with all the cases in paragraphs 9 - 11 that: (a) The Proctors are not empowered to challenge the academic judgement of examiners or academic bodies. (b) The Proctors can consider whether the procedures for reaching an academic decision were properly followed; i.e. whether there was a significant procedural administrative error; whether there is evidence of bias or inadequate assessment; whether the examiners failed to take into account special factors affecting a candidate’s performance. (c) On no account should you contact your examiners directly. 10. The Proctors will indicate what further action you can take if you are dissatisfied with the outcome of a complaint or appeal considered by them. 4. Complaints about Equal Opportunities Both parent Faculties subscribe to the University’s Equal Opportunities Statement: Students, set out in Appendix A of the Proctors’ and Assessor’s Memorandum. If you feel during the course of your studies you have not been treated according to the procedure, you may use the students’ complaints procedure via the Proctors, who will advise you. 5. Harassment In common with other universities, Oxford regards harassment as unacceptable behaviour and has introduced a Code of Practice designed to protect its students, staff and other people for whom it has a special responsibility. For purposes of this code, harassment is regarded as unwarranted behaviour which disrupts the work or reduces the quality of life of another person. Such harassment could involve a single act or a series of acts of bullying, verbal or physical abuse, ill-treatment, unwelcome sexual advances; or otherwise creating or maintaining a hostile studying, working or social environment. The University’s Code of Practice on Harassment is available at http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/eop/har/harcode2.shtml, and is formally drawn to the attention of student members of the University. The Proctors appoint Senior Members to a University Advisory Panel on harassment. As explained in the Code, these advisers may be approached by any student or members of staff in the University suffering from harassment, as defined in the Code. The Panel has also prepared a pamphlet, Harassment: what it is and how you can deal with it. Copies are available from the Proctors’ Office or from JCR Welfare Officers or OUSU. Some colleges have appointed special advisers or advisory

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panels to respond to complaints or harassment. If your college has no special arrangements, people you might approach within college could include the dean, tutor for women, or chaplain. Contact numbers: The Proctors’ Office telephone (2)80190

Advisory Panel on Harassment telephone (2)70760

The History Faculty operates the University’s Code of Practice Relating to Harassment. Undergraduates who feel that they have been subject to harassment in a Faculty context may wish to contact one of the Faculty Advisers. The History Faculty Advisers for the academic year 2007-8 are: Dr Simon Skinner Tel. (2)77731 Second officer to be appointed

The Classics Faculty Advisers for the academic year 2007-8 are: Dr. Matthew Leigh, St. Anne’s College Tel. (2)74845 Dr. Ellen Rice, Wolfson College Tel. (2)74070

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13. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

The History and Classics Faculties are committed to ensuring that disabled students are not treated less favourably than other students, and to provide reasonable adjustment to provision where disabled students might otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage. For students who have declared a disability on entry to the University, the Faculty will have been informed if any special arrangements have to be made. Students who think that adjustments in Faculty teaching, learning facilities or assessment may need to be made should raise the matter first with their college tutor, who will ensure that the appropriate people in the Faculty are informed. Details of accessibility of the different premises of the History Faculty are available from the Faculty Administrator ([email protected]). For Classics please contact Helen McGregor at the Classics Centre, 66 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LU (Tel: 288388 or email [email protected]). Further information on Faculty arrangements can be found in the main school handbooks. General advice about provision for students with disabilities at Oxford University and how best to ensure that all appropriate bodies are informed, can be found on the University's Disability Services website at http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/eop .

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14. LIBRARIES Libraries

The library provision in Oxford University is very good but rather complex. Classics students will need to use a variety of libraries during their time in Oxford. Your local College library will have a good selection of books which can be borrowed. A more extensive range of books will be available from the relevant University libraries. Brief information about each of these libraries is listed below. Looking at the web page, picking up a paper guide or asking the library staff can provide you with further information about specific services or the rules and regulations of each library.

Admission

The University card, which is distributed by your College, will be required to enter and/or to borrow books or order items from closed stacks. The best policy is to always carry your University card with you when you go to a library. (If you lose your University card, request a replacement as soon as possible from your College).

Induction

There are induction sessions for all Classics students during Noughth week. You will be taught how to use OLIS, the computerised Oxford University library catalogue, and OxLIP, the local interface to a large selection of subject databases and internet resources (including online journals; see further below). You will receive further instructions from your College about the timing of these sessions.

Finding books

Begin by checking the OLIS catalogue (http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/olis/) for items listed on your reading lists. Ask library staff for assistance if you cannot find the books you need. Ask the library staff how to suggest new purchases if the item is not in Oxford.

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Finding journal articles

First look for the title of the journal you need in the OLIS catalogue. You may find that it exists both in hard copy and in an electronic version which you can access remotely. Online journals are accessed through OxLIP (http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip/. If it is not there, ask if there is a separate paper list. Feel free to ask library staff for further information and assistance!

Electronic Resources Oxford subscribes to a substantial number of electronic datasets and online periodicals. The gateway to this is known as OxLIP (http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip/index.html). Perseus (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/) provides you with Greek and Latin texts and on-line reading tools, as well as many illustrations of classical sites and objects. The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG, http://www.tlg.uci.edu/) enables you to read and search all the Greek texts you are likely to want. Cetedoc (http://www.breolis.net) and the Bibliotheca Teubneriana Latina enables you to read and search Latin texts. For online journal articles, see OxLIP (http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip/. The History Faculty Library is primarily an undergraduate lending library for the use of students taking the Honour School of History and the associated joint schools. It is situated at the junction of Catte Street and Holywell Street. Opening hours during term are Monday to Friday 9.00 am–7.00 pm, Saturday 10.00 am–1.00 pm, and during the vacation Monday to Friday, 9.00 am–5.30 pm. Details of the admissions procedure may be obtained from the library staff. Take your University Card with you as this will be needed when you register. The Sackler Library is a new institution which was formally opened in September 2001; its construction has been made possible by a generous benefaction. It is located in 1 St John Street, close to the Ashmolean Museum: the entrance is through a doorway in a rotunda almost immediately on your right as you enter St John Street from Beaumont Street. Within its walls has been gathered a massive collection of books originally housed separately in several different libraries. It is an open shelf library indispensable to anyone studying Ancient History, Archaeology and Art; it is also extremely useful to those studying Literature or Philology. Within it there is a special lending library with multiple copies (the Classics Lending Library), focussed on works important for the various courses. Library hours are 9.00 am to 10.00 pm on Mondays to Fridays, and 10.00 am to 5.00 pm on Saturdays. To be admitted to the library you must register by producing your University Card. Photocopiers are available. Students may borrow up to 9 items from the combined collections with a minimum of six items in any category (main library book, main library periodical, CLL book, CLL article). Books may be borrowed for one week, and can be renewed 3 times. Books from the special lending library may be borrowed for vacations. All loans are recalled by Thursday of Eighth Week, and although books may be borrowed during the vacations, no borrowed book may be taken out of Oxford. The Bodleian Library In order to use the Bodleian, you must be admitted: admission is through your college office, normally on your first arrival. Most of what you want for Ancient History will be on the open shelves, primarily in the Lower Reading Room of the Old Library. Modern History periodicals are also in the Old Library in the Upper Reading Room and the major open-shelf collection of books on Modern History is in the Radcliffe Camera. Both are open Monday to Friday, 9.00 am to 10.00 pm (7.00 pm or sometimes 5.00 pm in vacations) and Saturday 10.00 am to 5.00 pm, except for closed periods of about ten days at Christmas, four days at Easter, the day of Encaenia, and the late August Bank Holiday Monday. There are, too, numerous other reading rooms, each with a

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selection of books and periodicals on open shelves. Most of Bodley’s holdings, however, are kept in stacks. Works may be ordered from the stack to any reading room, but delivery time is likely to be two to three hours; so advance planning is recommended. University-wide library information is on the World Wide Web at: http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk

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15. COMPUTING Most colleges have a computer room, with software for word-processing and other applications, connections to the central university machines and the Internet, and printers. Your priority tasks during the first year should be familiarising yourself with electronic mail, developing your word-processing skills, and learning to use OLIS to its full potential. Many students will already be familiar with electronic mail and word processing; for those who are not the Oxford University Computing Service (13, Banbury Road; tel. (2)83434; e-mail: [email protected]) runs courses on elementary word-processing, electronic mail for beginners, and computing for the terrified. You will be notified through your College of induction sessions run by the Bodleian Library which offer an introduction to OLIS. It is important to realise that OLIS can do more than provide details of the location of books: you can use the subject keyword facility to generate your own bibliography. Students should be aware of the extensive networked databases offered through Oxlip; access through machines in College Libraries and Computing Rooms, Faculty Libraries, and the Bodleian. You may also use Oxlip on your own computer. Click on ‘Title List’ for a full list. Among the most useful is the Royal Historical Society Bibliography of works on the history of Britain, Ireland, and the British Overseas. This database comprises 250,000 records (books, journal articles, and articles in books) searchable by subject matter and time period. Students may find it helpful for supplementing bibliographies on British history provided by tutors or for checking references to articles. Other important networked resources for historians include the Dictionary of National Biography (an updated version, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography was published in September 2004), Historical Abstracts (summaries of many articles searchable by subject as well as author), the Bodleian pre-1920 catalogue (for earlier works, and probably particularly useful for writing dissertations). Another useful resource is provided by the somewhat discouragingly entitled Web of Science (formerly BIDS) which offers a high-level journal awareness service including the opportunity to search for book reviews. Many of the resources available online have to be accessed using a computer connected to the University network or require a personal ATHENS username and password. You need to register online with OUCS to obtain a personal ATHENS username and password (http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk). There are some useful gateways which will take you to the numerous online resources. Among the most useful are NISS, HUMBUL and the Institute of Historical Research in London. Students can access these from the History Faculty web-site which is to be found at http://www.history.ox.ac.uk. The web-site also contains the Handbooks for Preliminary Examination and for the Final Honour School, the current Lecture List, and bibliographies for the great majority of courses on the syllabus. For some subjects, such as the Optional Subject, ‘Gunpowder, Compass and Printing Press’, there are also links to electronic versions of the set texts. For those wishing for further information about electronic resources for historians, including guidance on networked databases, training sessions will be offered in Michaelmas term by the History Faculty Library staff. Ask a member of staff for details and for registration. Slightly more advanced courses are available through Jayne Plant in the Upper Reading Room of the Radcliffe Camera (tel: 277203; e-mail: [email protected]). She will arrange short courses for small groups at your request, although you may find these more useful in your second year when you will be embarking on independent research for your undergraduate thesis. The attention of undergraduates is drawn to the University Rules for Computer Use, available on the University website at: http://www.ict.ox.ac.uk/oxford/rules/ All users of University network and IT facilities are bound by these rules.

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16. SCHOLARSHIPS, PRIZES AND GRANTS After your first year, or after Prelims, you may be eligible for a scholarship or exhibition from your college, on academic criteria which the college decides and applies. The University administers a number of trust scholarships. All are listed in the University’s Statutes, Decrees and Regulations (the ‘blue book’), which you can consult in your college office or a library. University prizes are listed in a supplement of the University Gazette each year. Those which particularly concern Ancient and Modern History are as follows:

1. Arnold Ancient Historical Essay Prize (£500). To be awarded for the best performance in Ancient History papers in the Final Honour School.

2. Arnold Modern Historical Essay Prize (£500) for the best thesis on a subject in

Modern History (after AD 285).

3. Barclay Head Prize for Ancient Numismatics (£100). For a dissertation or essay on a subject in numismatics before AD 400.

4. C.E. Stevens and Charles Oldham Scholarships in Classical Studies (C.E. Stevens

Scholarship about £350; approximately 14 Charles Oldham Scholarships, about £250). These are travel scholarships and application forms are available from the Assistant to the Secretary, Board of the Faculty of Classics, Classics Centre.

Grants for special purposes such as research travel, or for hardship, are available from many colleges to their members. There are also two more general schemes:

1. Access Funds are provided by the state to give financial help to full-time ‘home’

undergraduates and postgraduates where access to higher or further education might be inhibited by financial considerations, or where students, for whatever reasons, including disabilities, face financial difficulties. Applications should be made to your college.

2. The University’s Committee on Student Hardship makes grants and loans for relief of financial hardship, which must have been unforeseeable at the time of admission. It meets once a term, and application forms, which are held in your college office, must be completed and in the hands of a designated college officer, probably the Senior Tutor, before a designated time, probably in the Fourth Week (First Week in Trinity Term).

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17. TAKING YOUR DEGREE Once you have satisfied the Examiners, you may ‘supplicate’ for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, that is, ask to be presented to the Vice-Chancellor or the Vice-Chancellor’s deputy, either in person or in absentia as you choose. Your college presents you, and you must apply through it. If you wish to be presented in person, you must apply many months in advance: there are about a dozen ceremonies each year (usually in the Sheldonian Theatre), but they are heavily booked. Your college will supply you with up to three tickets which admit guests to a degree ceremony, and will probably invite you, and possibly your guests, to lunch on the day. Dress is sub-fusc, and you must also make sure that you have, perhaps by loan from your college, an undergraduate gown, mortar board or cap, and also a BA gown and hood. The same procedure applies to the degree of MA, for which you may supplicate – together with or after your BA – in or after your twenty-first term from matriculation.

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18. AFTERWARDS The summer of your penultimate year is probably a good time to start thinking about what you will do after Finals. The Careers Service at 56 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PA (Tel: (2)74646; Fax: (2)74653) is at the disposal of all students, while studying and for four years after they leave Oxford. It is open from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm on Mondays to Fridays and from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm on Saturdays during Full Term. If you are thinking of further study, mention it to your tutors by the beginning of your final year at the latest. Most postgraduate applications (to the northern hemisphere including to Oxford University) have to be submitted by November or January. Overseas fellowships and scholarships may have closing dates as early as November. The Arts and Humanities Research Council Postgraduate Awards also have strict deadlines. Please contact the History Faculty Graduate Office early in your final Michaelmas Term for advice about timing your application. T:\faculty office\Handbooks\Jt schools hbks 2007-8\A&M handbook 2007-8 draft.doc 12th September 2007