Amongst the many facilities which are located close to the Department is the National Library of Wales, one of the five copyright libraries in the United Kingdom. History students make extensive use of its resources especially in their third year when they write their dissertation. The basic aims of the History syllabus at Aberystwyth are to communicate to you the variety and excitement of current approaches to the academic study of History, and to teach you to understand and communicate the lessons of the past and their relation to the present. Teaching in the Department is conducted through lectures, seminars and individual tutorials. Each week every student is expected to attend one or two seminars, of about ten students, and to do preparatory work for them.
Students also submit essays on a regular basis.
Assessment is through a combination of unseen examinations, take away papers and written work, including a dissertation. The purpose of the first year in History is to introduce you immediately and directly to problems of historical analysis and interpretation. You can also choose from a range of specialist modules, which might include, for instance, Barbarian Europe, The Black Death or the First World War. You meet your tutors each week in lectures and in fortnightly seminars. History is a module on historical method called historians and the writing of history .