The shocking terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq underlined both the limits and the reach of American power in the modern world. These events have highlighted the urgent need for greater critical understanding of the formative political, social, economic, and intellectual trends in American history.

The MA in American history gives you the opportunity to study the historical development of the United States from the first encounter between Europeans and Native Americans in the colonial period through to the end of the Cold War. You will take a team-taught core course that introduces you to major themes in American historiography.

Thereafter you will choose from option modules taught by experienced members of staff whose research interests feed directly into their teaching at postgraduate level. As well as developing your understanding of the salient issues in American history from the colonial through the modern eras, this MA develops your awareness of the historiography and your confidence in working with primary source materials. If you are interested in going on to doctoral research, you will receive guidance on how to put together a PhD proposal. Meanwhile, you will receive the regular and supportive supervision needed to help you define the topic of your dissertation and pursue it through to a successful conclusion.

This MA serves as a firm foundation for further research in this area but is also appropriate for those with a more general enthusiasm for early modern history. The analytical skills you acquire together with an advanced knowledge of early modern history will equip you for careers in business, government, the civil service and public administration as well as for further study in your chosen field.

If you are planning to pursue doctoral study after your MA, an optional module, PhD proposal, allows you to devise and refine a research proposal, following the guidelines and advice set out by the funding councils, particularly the AHRC. Another distinctive module on this programme is the Work Placement scheme.

Work Placement Scheme

This opportunity to acquire vocational experience is a unique feature of the Sheffield MA. A taught module entitled Work Placement provides an opportunity to develop history-specific vocational skills in a working environment. Examples of recent placements include archive work for a local archaeological consultancy company, exhibition research and design for English Heritage, working with teachers in Sheffield schools, cataloguing small collections in the Sheffield Archives, working in the Humanities Research Institute on Old Bailey criminal records, devising a publicity strategy, analysing digitised material, and designing online learning environments for school children studying history.