This programme provides students with an in-depth grounding in three cognate subject areas: Classics, English, and History. Students who take this course will benefit from cross-disciplinary study of literature, history, and culture from antiquity to the present day. The first three years of the programme focus on training and building expertise and skills in the three disciplinary areas. In English students will learn the skills of close readings and textual analysis in different genres, in History they will study the working methods of historians in Ireland and the world from the fall of Rome to the modern period, and in Classics they will use literary and historical analysis along with the evidence of art and archaeology to reconstruct the lost worlds of the Greek and Roman past. It is expected that on completion of the third year students will have accumulated 45 credits in each subject area. Interdisciplinarity will be emphasized in Stage 3, with a core seminar on a key theme (e.g. writing lives, the idea of Europe, rhetoric, disasters, revolution and rebellion). The focus of the final year will be the dissertation, work placement or study abroad exchange. It is envisioned that the use of programme electives will enable students to graduate with the necessary 60 credits to satisfy Teaching Council requirements for all three subjects.

The Single Subject Major in History is designed to provide students with an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the past, and the research skills with which to pursue that knowledge and understanding. It is aimed at anyone who has an interest in history, and no prior qualification in the discipline is required. What we do expect is that students approach the subject in an inquisitive and critical way, and are prepared to consider the history of Ireland and the world from a variety of perspectives. A particular feature of the Single Subject Major is that students are introduced from an early stage to how professional historians conduct research, and given the opportunity to pursue their own research. 

The syllabus takes in the entire sweep of history, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the present, and embraces all aspects of human experience. This includes conflict and political change, the lives of individuals and the fortunes of nations and civilisations. It also includes how people lived, how they thought and how they expressed themselves. The study of history, then, overlaps with the study of such subjects as gender, medicine, the media, religion and literature. Students learn through a combination of lectures, seminars and independent study. Emphasis is placed on students working in small groups with active researchers in the field. 

The objective is not only to learn what happened in the past. It is also about identifying and evaluating historical evidence, and about posing questions and framing answers based their consideration. The Single Subject Major, therefore, allows you to deepen your study of history, while teaching skills that are valuable in any career you choose.

1 - Use skills of inquiry, research, critical thinking, and problem solving to pursue and evaluate knowledge.
2 - Challenge assumptions and develop creative solutions to problems including through the independent pursuit of knowledge and making connections between different disciplinary approaches and methods.
3 - Demonstrate effective communication, digital expertise, collaboration and leadership skills to convert decisions and commitments into action.
4 - Understand the ethical implications of ideas, communications, and actions including demonstrated awareness of the historical and cultural construction of knowledge systems and traditions
5 - Understand the relevance and contribution of the Humanities to contemporary society and cultural practice including an ability to articulate the links between past and present as well as the influence of the past on shaping community and societal structures and beliefs.
6 - Articulate advocacy of human, social and cultural values with a propensity towards and awareness of the value of life-long learning, an understanding of how to learn, including an appreciation of the complexity of ideas, of societies, cultures and language.

History is obviously an enormous subject - which is why some students choose to study it as a single subject. The range of modules takes you from the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of barbarian kingdoms to the impact of US foreign policy in the 20th century.

It is not essential to have studied History to Leaving Certificate. If you read widely and have a good interest in general knowledge, your overall examination performance in English, for example, will offer a fair guide to your aptitude for history. See subject description for History.

In your first year (called Stage 1) you take 12 modules over two semesters. You must study core modules in History and typically two or three other subjects including up to two modules from outside the BA Programme area.

Stage 2 students progress with a major in History. Students also take four elective modules from within or outside their main subject area at Stages 2 and 3 of their degree programme.

In Stage 1 you will be introduced to a range of modules focusing on European and Irish history across a period of almost 2,000 years.

In Stage 2 you will take six core (compulsory) modules and choose from a range of optional modules spanning the Rise of the Asian Tigers, 20th Century Italy, The Age of Mohammed, and a variety of Irish periods including the Vikings, the Normans, Cromwell and the Stuarts, Irish Emigration and the Celtic Literary Revival.

Stage 2 also includes a dissertation in an area of interest to you. You will be shown how to plan a research strategy, how to find primary materials and how to write a major (10,000 word) research dissertation. Completing a substantial piece of primary research is both a challenge and a reward.

You may apply to study abroad for either a semester or a year through the Erasmus programme or on a non-EU exchange. UCD has over 200 Erasmus partners in Europe and an increasing number of non-EU exchange agreements with universities in the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan and elsewhere.

Please click here to visit the Erasmus section of the International Office website.

The year abroad takes place when you have accumulated at least 110 credits and satisfied any subject prerequisites, adding a fourth year to the BA programme and turning it into a BA International.

A strong focus on the fluent articulation and analysis of ideas means students on this course will gain numerous transferrable skills, highly valued by employers. 

This programme prepares students for graduate study in many areas, including: Classics, English, History, Film, Drama, Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Education, Archives.

Graduates can find employment in:

 

• Broadcasting and Journalism


• Business


• Civil Service


• Law


• Publishing


• Public Relations


• Politics


• Research


• Teaching


• Marketing


• Policymaking


• Tourism


• Heritage

Graduates are also eligible to apply for UCD MA programmes in History, which include specialisms in Irish, European, International and Medieval History, Public History and History of Medicine.

UCD Arts & Humanities Programme Office,
Newman Building,
Belfield,
Dublin 4
Tel: +353 1 716 8321/8102
Web: www.ucd.ie/ahss

Students are pre-registered to 10 core modules (50 credits). Students should then choose 1 option module (5 credits) and 1 elective module (5 credits).
It is recommended that students spread their credit workload evenly between Trimester 1 and Trimester 2.

Students take 4 core modules (20 credits) consisting of one module from each of the pathway subjects and one BA Humanities skills module. Students should also choose 6 optional modules (30 credits), and may take 2 elective modules (10 credits) or 1 elective plus HUM20030.

Students who remain in UCD for the full year in stage 3 should select at least 15 credits in each pathway subject. In the case of History and English this means one 10-credit module plus one 5-credit module. For Classics this means three 5-credit modules. Students should also choose one module from the additional options list of non-pathway modules and may also take two electives. Any students on a trimester exchange or internship in stage 3 should choose a minimum of 5 credits from all three subjects for one trimester, to total 25 credits.

All students take a core module (10 credits). Students can choose to take a 20 credit dissertation option (which comprises a 5 credit research skills module in either English or History AND a 15 credit dissertation) plus 20 credits of taught option modules, or simply 40 credits of taught option modules. Students must take at least 10 credits in two out of the three pathway subjects. In the case of English and History, this means one 10-credit module; in the case of Classics, this means two 5-credit modules. Students may take two elective modules (10 credits).



All students are strongly advised to balance their workload evenly across both trimesters. This means you should pick 30 credits in autumn (Trimester 1) and 30 credits in spring (Trimester 2)