Comments on: Expanding Interests

By: From One War to Another - Thompson-Werk

From One War to Another - Thompson-Werk — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 17:13:02 +0000

[...] in January, I discussed my growing fascination with the Vietnam War. Last week I officially changed my [...]

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 05:41:30 +0000

Ah, I apologize for the misunderstanding. Typically PhD course work lasts for about two years, averaging three courses per semester. It is a challenge for sure. I am not sure what the length requirement is, but I think it is around five chapters. To be honest, I have not begun to worry that far a head, yet.

By: Ross

Ross — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:26:49 +0000

I actually meant overall. Is it 3 years like over here, though we can go to 4 for writing up purposes, though that is getting frowned upon by the research boards, or 4? Have you started research your thesis or do you leave that until after your exams? I am jsut wondering because if you are only doing it for 3 years then 2 years to do your thesis seems like a challenge. What is the word limit on the thesis?

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:37:55 +0000

Hi Jakob, that makes a lot sense. I agree with both you and Ross, the slight differences are the confusing bit.

Ross, well I have only completed one week of my second semester. However, all of my courses seem interesting. Besides the Vietnam War course, I am taking a standard War & Society class and the second half of American historiography. Typically most courses meet for about three hours once a week and last for fourteen weeks.

By: Ross

Ross — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:46:26 +0000

Jakob I think you used the right word there ‘confuse’! It is interesting to see the two systems in action though.

Robert how long is your course?

By: Jakob

Jakob — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:32:41 +0000

In the UK you tend to specialise rather earlier than in the US, so a UK taught masters is similar to the pre-comps phase of a US PhD, with the addition of a 15-20 Kword dissertation. Both systems have their advantages, but like the common language, the differences can confuse…

By: My first two weeks… « Thoughts on Military History

My first two weeks… « Thoughts on Military History — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:18:47 +0000

[...] Not so for me. Doing a History PhD in the UK, compared with those in the US (See Robert’s topic on the course he is doing in his first year), is very loose and structured by yourself. I have no [...]

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:54:48 +0000

I see, well that certainly makes sense. My MA program in Canada was similar in that we could chose between three program tracks. We could take all courses, courses and major research paper (two semesters of coursework prior to research), and courses and thesis (like the previous option but a year longer in length).

Got to love the issues with funding no matter where you go.

By: Ross

Ross — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:50:19 +0000

Over here MA students do too. I am an oddity as I did a research MPhil, due to distance.

Normally students do an MA then start the MPhil/PhD process. When I graduated in December I was one of two MPhil graduands. It is not very common and at Birmingham there are even two forms of MPhil, a taught version with a smaller thesis and a straight research degree; the one I did. The taught one concentrates on research and historiography.

I suspect that if they do the research training that is offered, our uni does a Training Needs Analysis for each new students, then they do submit work though this usually forms the basis of their lit review and then part of the introduction to their thesis. It seems a bit more flexible over here but it is being tightened up as there is more pressure to ensure that students complete PhD’s as the funding bodies need to see that there money is well spent.

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:39:42 +0000

Interesting. Over here both MA and PhD students need to do coursework prior to writing a thesis. My case might not be the norm since I did my MA elsewhere. If I had stayed at the same university, more of my MA classes would meet the PhD course requirements.