Long Essay Guidance Week 13

Long Essay: Deadline: 12 noon Wednesday, Week 2 Summer Term (1st May) Word Count: 4,500 (bibliography, appendix and footnotes not included) Submission: Electronic copy via Tabula (Microsoft Word Document) Penalties if late or over word count. If you need an extension you will need to formally request one from the director of undergraduate studies via Tabula.

Question Personal Choice – question is your own creation. Any issue relating to gender in Britain between 1790 and 1939. Use lecture topics as a way of narrowing down which ‘theme’ to focus initial reading on. The narrower the question the better.

Avoid broad questions: How did the role of women change in the 20th century? What contribution did women make to the Enlightenment? Why did women receive the vote in 1918?

Questions need a clear focus. To what extent does women’s poetry of the First World War demonstrate a change in the concept of gender? Did the ‘English governess’ support or challenge bourgeois gender ideals? How radical were Dorothea Beale’s ideas on education? What does Gender History add to our understanding of the 1926 General Strike? Has Emmeline Pankhurst’s legacy overshadowed the work of Emily Wilding Davison?

Typical Structure Introduction: Set out aims and objectives. Why did you select the question and why is it important? Which primary sources will you be consulting? Literature review: set out key themes/debates of relevant historiography and how these may frame your analysis. Main body: Analysis of themes/case studies/people/events etc. Here is an opportunity to make your essay original. Conclusions: bringing your analysis back to the wider literature and how this challenges/supports other debates?

Secondary Reading Select a lecture theme. Use seminar reading as starting point. Look at Bibliography in back of books. There may also be reading lists on other relevant modules (e.g. Britain in the Twentieth Century; Feminism and Social Change; Crime and Punishment etc) Use the Bibliography of British and Irish History for further research and an overview of what has been written on the subject (access via library catalogue).

Primary sources: Published Novels Poems Autobiographies Diaries Memoirs Source Books Films Newsreels e.g. Pathe

Primary Sources: Archival Modern Records Centre Local Records Offices/Archives Museums or national records centre Primary Sources: Online Many archives have digital collections (inc. MRC) newspapers, pamphlets, books, Hansard all available.

Questions?