One of the most attractive characteristics of this programme is its flexibility.
In Years 1 and 2 your pre-honours years you will choose option courses from a wide range of disciplines in addition to your core subjects of Scottish Literature and History.
As well as broadening your education and skill set this may enable you to change the focus of your programme in Years 3 and 4 your honours years.
Year 1
Scottish Literature
You will take two Literary Studies courses which will introduce you to the essential skills needed for the critical close reading of the core literary genres of:
poetry
drama
prose
You will read works of literature written in English from around the world and encounter a range of ideas about the nature and purpose of literary study.
History
Typically ranging from the Middle Ages to the present Year 1 History courses are broad survey courses designed to prepare you for more specialised study later in the programme.
You will take one of these courses and a compulsory course in the methods and skills required for historical research.
Option courses
You will complete your Year 1 studies with option courses chosen from a wide range offered by the University of Edinburgh.
You can for example opt to study a language in its cultural context. We offer one of the widest range of languages of any UK university. The majority are suitable for complete beginners.
Other options include but are not limited to courses in:
business economics and informatics
politics social policy and social anthropology
art and architectural history
history classics and archaeology
Celtic and Scottish ethnology
linguistics and language sciences
philosophy divinity and law
Year 2
Scottish Literature
You will be introduced to the study of Scottish literature in its cultural and historical contexts focusing on a selection of major periods.
These courses will explore the relationship between literary texts and the construction of national international and imperial cultures.
History
As in Year 1 History courses are broad surveys designed to prepare you for more specialised study in Years 3 and 4.
Extending your range geographically and chronologically these courses currently cover various periods and themes in American European British Scottish and global history.
You will choose one of them and take a compulsory course on historiography.
Option courses
As in Year 1 you will choose from a range of option courses.
Year 3
You can start to specialise and choose courses that explore different periods topics and approaches according to your area of interest.
If you intend to do a dissertation in History we recommend taking a course where you will engage with historical skills and methods.
Year 4
You will choose further courses according to your areas of interest and write an independent dissertation.
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