This interdisciplinary MA, designed for those with a background in History or Literary studies, provides an opportunity to explore nineteenth-century society and culture from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Taught by members of staff in History, English and Modern Languages, the topics covered extend across the entire breadth of the 'long nineteenth century' from 1789 to 1914, encompassing a variety of countries and national perspectives.

The core module uses four revolutions of the nineteenth century - French, scientific, gender and industrial - as an introduction to different methodological approaches. You choose from a variety of option modules covering different geographical and disciplinary perspectives. This gives you the opportunity to engage in specialised work on topics which interest you. You will work with an exciting range of sources looking at a selection from novels and poetry through newspapers, letters and memoirs to artwork, music and artefacts, examining them in detail at the interface between historical and literary methods and approaches. 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. You will also have access to the rich and well-supported resources in the University Of Sheffield Library including full runs of major nineteenth-century periodicals. If you are interested in going on to doctoral research, you will receive guidance on how to put together a PhD proposal.

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 this period. The analytical skills you acquire together with an advanced knowledge of this period the will equip you for careers in business, government, the civil service and public administration as well as for further study in your chosen field.

The MA is run in association with Sheffield's Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies, an interdisciplinary Centre of research excellence that encompasses scholars from across the university and which has strong established links to the Sheffield City Archives, the Ruskin Museum, the Mappin Art Gallery and the Weston Park Museum.

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.

Nineteenth 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.