This MA provides an opportunity to study one of the most exciting fields of interdisciplinary historical research in Britain and North America, the period c.1650-1850. Taught in association with members of staff in the Department of English Literature, it focuses on the interface between historical and literary approaches to text, culture and society, although the aim is to explore new ways of analyzing this period using a range of approaches. Examining a variety of sources, ranging from novels and poetry, through newspapers, court records and letters, to paintings and artefacts – many of them available in Sheffield – this MA covers both Britain and America during this period of rapid and substantial change.

You take our core eighteenth-century module in which students of both Literature and History discuss key themes. You then select from a large number of optional modules from both disciplines, in which you work with experts on a range of topics, including sex, crime, consumption, material culture and the family. You then build on this work in your dissertation, for which you will receive the regular and supportive supervision needed to help you define your topic and pursue it through to a successful conclusion. If you are interested in going on to doctoral research, you will receive guidance on how to put together a PhD proposal.

The MA meets the research and training needs of those intending to progress to doctoral study, but is also appropriate for those with a more general enthusiasm for the eighteenth century. For all students, it offers the chance to take a fresh perspective on this fascinating period during which – for contemporaries, and for many modern scholars – the modern world came into being. The analytical skills you acquire, together with an advanced knowledge of this period, will equip you for careers in teaching, journalism, writing, heritage management or areas such as 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.

The University has an active group of researchers working in this area. MA students are invited to take part in the informal activities of the Eighteenth Century Studies Group. An MA Reading Weekend is a voluntary part of the programme, where staff and students come together to read and talk in a relaxed and informal environment in the Peak District.

Eighteenth Century Studies Group

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.