Courses

Mandatory Classes

Academic Latin: An Introduction to Research Methodology (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA–first-year, Pre-session)
tba

Introduction to Research Resources for Medievalists (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA–first-year, Pre-session)
The course intends to introduce new medievalist students to the research resources offered by CEU in general and the Department of Medieval Studies in particular. It incorporates presentations offered by faculty members and visits of the main scholarly libraries in Budapest. Besides these, it gives an overview of the research facilities and main academic journals available for the students of our department.

Introduction to Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies (One-Year MA, Fall Term)
Two professors coordinate a lecture series by faculty members from the department, who introduce their respective areas of expertise and the research methodologies current in these fields. The course offers a systematic overview of source editions, handbooks, academic reviews, basic authorities, and research tools in different fields of medieval studies.

Introduction to Graduate Studies in History (Two-Year MA–first-year, Fall Term)
A series of lectures delivered jointly by five professors from History and five professors from Medieval Studies, plus an introductory class and a concluding session. Each lecturer will address one particular sub-discipline or sub-field in historical studies. The lectures will focus mostly on the methodological issues connected with the study of history in the particular discipline or field of studies.

Academic writing (One-Year MA, Fall Term)
Review of academic prose and critical apparatus (footnotes and bibliographies). The main assignments are six academic essays of considerable length (1,500 words per fortnight), most of which are tied to the Fall Term core classes. In addition, students prepare working bibliographies and proposed outline for their theses.

Academic Writing (Two-Year MA–first-year, Fall Term)
This course provides a review of the skills, standards, and expectations of the History and Medieval Studies Departments as regards the skills of academic writing, the documentation of sources, and oral presentations.

MA Thesis Seminar I. (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA–second-year, Fall Term)
Discussions of thesis structure. Each student presents a critique of a previous thesis. Each 1YMA student presents an outline of his/her proposed thesis. 2YMA students give a detailed report on their research activities over the summer and are encouraged to present an updated and detailed outline or an early draft of a thesis chapter.

MA Thesis Seminar II. (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA–second year, Winter Term)
Each student is required to present a draft chapter of the thesis in progress and respond to a critique by other members of the seminar and faculty and to serve as a critic of another student’s draft chapter. Each student also prepares a poster displaying his/her thesis topic. Discussions of academic writing skills oriented toward thesis preparation are a component of this class.

MA Thesis Writing Workshops (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA–second year, Spring Session)
Students and faculty members meet in small groups to discuss fine-tuning the final versions of the theses. Besides presenting their own work, students are required to become familiar with, and comment on, each other’s work.

MA Thesis Planning Seminar (Two-Year MA–first-year, Winter Term)
This course is team-taught by one instructor from the Medieval Studies and one from the History Department.  It is designed to help students work towards their prospectuses and ultimately with their theses. The course deals with the development of research questions including issues of methodology and data collection. It continues in the prospectus-writing workshops in the spring. 

MA Thesis Prospectus-writing Workshops (Two-Year MA–first-year, Spring Session)

Academic Field Trip Seminar (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA–first year, Winter Term)
The Spring Field Trip visits historical, archaeological, and cultural monuments of the region (usually for 5-6 days). The Field Trip Seminar is a preparatory course in the Winter Term which meets occasionally before the field trip. Students select topics pertinent to the field trip itinerary from a list prepared by faculty members. By the end of the Winter Term students will have researched their topics, written a 2-page paper, and prepared a supporting bibliography. This paper must be accompanied by one image (map, drawing, ground plan, chart, etc.). During the field trip each student presents a 10- to-15-minute oral report on his/her topic.

Independent Study (Two-Year MA)
6-10 credits required during two academic years
Students read important works in their area of interest in consultation with their advisors. The amount of reading will vary with the number of credits students enroll for.  PhD students with expertise close to the MA student’s thesis topic can be involved in selecting and discussing the readings.

Historiography - Theories of History (Two-Year MA 2nd year, Fall Term)
tba

Topical Survey Courses (Two-Year MA–first-year, Fall Term)
Two-Year MA–first-year students must choose two out of three classes.
These courses are team-taught by two professors, usually one from each department. They are broadly thematic and cover interrelated historical processes in medieval, early modern, and modern times. The specific content and readings in the courses vary from year to year depending on the teaching team. 

(a) People, Places and Production (Topics in Comparative Economic and Social History) 

(b) Power, Subordination and Negotiation (Topics in the Comparative History of Institutions and Politics)  

(c) Beliefs, Practices, Images and Representations (Topics in Comparative Religious and Cultural History)  

Core Classes (CC) (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA, Fall term and Winter Term)
MA students are required to choose one of these courses plus its tutorial in each term.
Core classes offer a broad but in-depth coverage within the area, introducing background knowledge and recent developments in research trends. The goal of these courses is for students to develop an intimate familiarity with the subject, mastering research problems and skills. They have an increased reading load and should be the primary class a student focuses on during any given term. They may be team-taught. In this component of the core class, the teacher will be the more active party (by providing the lecture, answering questions, guiding the discussion).

Tutorial Element of the Core Classes (One-Year MA, Two-Year MA, Fall term and Winter Term)
Tutorials are discussions informed by the weekly reading assignments. While core classes cover substantial thematic ground in considerable depth, tutorials allow for discussions of historiographic traditions, methodologies, and hands-on approaches (for instance, learning to read a seal, coin or analyse primary documentary source materials). Tutorials are a chance for students to discuss and question the contents of the assigned readings. A tutorial may be taught by the same faculty member who runs the core class, by another faculty member, or by a PhD student. Tutorials can consist of a second meeting per week of the whole group, or participants in the core class may meet in smaller interest groups. In the tutorial component of the core class the students will be the more active party (by reporting on their reading and raising difficulties in interpretation for discussion). The goal of tutorials is close familiarity with the secondary literature, methods of historiography, current approaches and research methodologies, etc.

Sources of Historical Studies (SHS) (Two-Year MA, Fall term and Winter term)
For Two-Year MA students one SHS is requires per academic year, for One-Year MA and PhD students it is elective.
 Each course is 1 credit (6 weeks in duration). These courses cover ancillary disciplines and fields and are taught from as multidisciplinary a perspective as possible. These classes are aimed at a non-specialist or beginner audience and are meant to familiarize students with vocabulary and literature on the topic. Students are advised NOT to sign up for courses in which they already have expertise (for instance, an art historian should not take the SHS class on architecture nor an archaeologist an introduction to archaeology). If a student desires to take a class in an area where he or she already is knowledgeable it is preferable to take it for audit. Check the schedule of classes to see what is offered each semester.

Medieval Studies Doctoral Colloquium (PhD)
tba

Research Methodology Classes (PhD)
tba

Elective Classes (MA and PhD, Fall term and Winter term)

These classes are usually two credits. In the Spring Session each elective class is one credit, and during that periode MA students must choose minimum 2 elective classes.These courses, unlike core classes, focus on more restricted topics with increased attention to advanced methodology applied to sensible case studies. Any core area class (without tutorials) can be chosen as an elective class by students registered in a different core area.

Others

Source Language Training Classes (MA, PhD)
See: http://sourcelanguages.ceu.hu/

Advanced Source Language Practice (Text Seminars) and Textual Skills (PhD)
One-Year MA and Two-Year MA students are explicitly encouraged to attend
The department offers Text Seminars, i.e., advanced source reading groups, every term in the source languages of medieval studies at CEU. See the current offerings in the course lists. The emphasis of these Text Seminars is not on grammar teaching – those students who are eligible to attend will have sufficient knowledge of grammar and vocabulary – but on content and context. Usually a small group of dedicated students and faculty, members of the seminar, will thoroughly investigate and discuss problems of the original text, line by line, with special emphasis on establishing a common vocabulary in English regarding technical and theoretical terms and concepts.
Students who can demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the source language most relevant for their thesis work and do not wish to acquire another source language or participate in advanced source reading may meet their credit requirements by enrolling in any other elective or core class (without tutorial), in agreement with their supervisors.

Crosslisted Elective Classes
tba

General rules for all courses:

Attendance and class participation count 10% toward the final grade; missing two classes out of twelve or one out of six without a valid explanation will result automatically in a failing grade.

MA students may attend courses marked as part of the PhD curriculum with the permission of the instructor except Medieval Studies Doctoral Colloquim.