About this major

The History major equips you to understand change, to look at things from different perspectives, and to assess diverse kinds of information.

At the heart of your first year is The History Workshop. You will join a small-group class that takes a particular time and place as the starting point for the examination of social, cultural, political, or economic change. This class introduces you to historical thinking and teaches you disciplinary skills in an intensive but informal learning environment. The History Workshop is complemented by units on world history over the past 1000 years that will provide you with a broad framework for understanding change and making comparisons.

In your second and third years, you will explore a variety of subjects - from sexuality and war to politics and culture, from the history of ideas to the history of food - in a range of times and places - spanning from the Middle Ages to the present, from Australia and China to the United States and Europe. You will have the freedom to choose which times and places you wish to focus on. As the largest history major in Australia, the University of Sydney offers a wide range of options.

The major culminates in a capstone unit that, depending on your interests, explores the theory of history, gives you the opportunity to do extensive research on a topic you choose yourself, or enables you to work with community groups and other organisations to apply your history skills beyond the classroom.

For more information on the program structure and content including unit of study information, please refer to the Arts and Social Sciences Handbook.

This major is offered by the Discipline of History.