HY458      One Unit
LSE-Columbia University Double Degree Dissertation

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

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Requisites

Additional requisites:

During their first year at Columbia University, students will identify a topic for the dissertation and will submit a detailed dissertation proposal form to their LSE supervisor. They will also have undertaken substantial research over the course of the summer, have written a Dissertation Research Report before arriving at LSE and be in a position to talk in a detailed manner with regards to their dissertation. These and the completion of other formal requirements for year one of the Double Degree will be needed before students can proceed to the second year of the programme at LSE.

The individual dissertation will be supervised and assessed at LSE in accordance with the Department's MSc regulations. It will be in the form of a thesis of no more than 15,000 words. HY458 is an occasional dissertation workshop, which complements students’ individual work on their dissertations by offering group sessions focusing on methods and approaches, preparing for academic presentations, and writing support for work in progress.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.

Students will be requested to submit a Dissertation Research Report for discussion with their supervisors in the Autumn Term. 

Students may find the following introductory surveys helpful: Berger, Feldner and Passmore, Writing History; D Cannadine (Ed), What is History now?; Iggers, Georg, Supriya Mukherjee and Quingjia E. Wang, ‘Historical Thought and Historiography: Current Trends’, pp. 39-47 in Wright, James D. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2015) [doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.62028-7];  L Jordanova, History in Practice; M Bloch, The Historian's Craft; R G Collingwood, The Idea of History.

Dissertation (100%, 15000 words)