If someone wanted to learn to write history, but didn't want to become a historian, which online master's program would you recommend? Assume money is not a factor.
The HES ALM, History allows two "history electives" in all degree plans, and an additional one "history elective" for a total of three if the student takes a the capstone track rather than the thesis track. In HES style, "history electives" means "electives allowed for a history degree," and there's a huge list spanning widely across disciplines. "History electives" available this academic year include CREA E-101R Writing a Nonfiction Book CREA E-118R Advanced Creative Nonfiction CREA E-159 What Writers Can Learn from Shakespeare CREA S-72 Writing the Short Personal Essay ENGL E-234 Art of the Personal Essay EXPO E-42A Writing in the Humanities EXPO E-105 Essentials of Editing
Write history, as in creative non-fiction books for a popular audience? Or as in a paper that might be published by an academic journal in history? Or something thing?
Or for revisionists to hone their skills in "creative re-writing" of history? Yeah - I can see that. There's call for that in a lot of countries... new versions of history written-to-order, for new school textbooks.
I think it depends on what your definition of "write history" is. I did my BA in History at ASU, and certainly learned enough to be able to write a publishable article in History. I'd assume the MA program is similar (although expensive). The History professors at ASU are top notch.
The distinction I'm making is between writing history and learning about it. The methods, not the content.
UNISA's MA in History is not a taught degree. It is research-only. One does a dissertation proposal in the first year and then writes it in years 2 and 3. Handy if you're already well-steeped in the research methods relevant to one's field. Otherwise, one is still stuck with learning them somehow.
Coursera has a course in research methods in the social sciences, as well as several related to writing. If a degree is the main goal the Coursera courses may not be useful, but they might give an idea of what is expected.
