Ellie Goodson, History BA
Ellie is a third-year history student. She explains how a favourite module inspired her dissertation topic, the skills she's gained, and future career goals.
Why did you choose to study history?
"I didn’t used to like history until I got into the summer between year 10 and 11. I didn’t do a history GCSE, but during that summer I just started watching history documentaries and I was like ‘Oh, I really like this!’. The more I started watching them, the more I developed an interest in history.
A year goes by and I do history at A level and I just completely fell in love. I knew history was what I wanted to do at university, it was the thing for me."
What’s been your favourite module and why?
I did a module in year two called ‘Rethinking the Tudors’, with Matt Hefferan. I did the Tudors at A level, so I liked the idea of doing a re-think of it, where you flip everything on its head.
"I absolutely loved that module and it was the reason I ended up doing my dissertation on the Tudors."
What’s been the most enjoyable part of your course?
"Attending the lectures in a big lecture theatre, it was really cool being able to do that. When there’s hundreds of you in there, it’s so cool. It’s so different from school."
What’s your dissertation on?
"It’s about Mary Tudor and how she projected power using visual symbols, and whether she did it innovatively or if she followed the tradition. It’s a trick question, is the answer, as she did both!
I looked at her procession into London, her coronation and her wedding, and how on those three big occasions she uses visual symbols – like the jewellery and clothes she wore – to project power. There’s no other historian who has ever accredited her with that, even though it’s clearly there in the primary sources.
It didn’t feel like a chore to do, I was doing all the reading because I was enjoying it. It was great fun to research and I’m very proud of what I’ve submitted."
Did you have that interest in British history prior to your course?
"It was when I came to Nottingham, and specifically when I did that year two module on the Tudors. Before that, I liked lots of bits of history and didn’t have one thing that was my big interest. It was definitely coming to uni, and doing that second-year module that led me to where I am now."
My dissertation is definitely a big feminist piece, as Mary was England’s first ever sole queen. There were a lot of people who weren’t sure about her because they didn’t like a lady being in power – arguably they still don’t – so it’s looking at British history through a feminist lens.
What are the main skills that you’ve gained from your degree?
"Being able to do an extended piece of writing and making it come out clearly and not jumping back and forth. It’s being able to take all this reading and research and putting it onto paper in nice clear words.
It is my hope that I can go into an academic kind of career where I continue researching and writing essays. It’s what I like doing, so if I get paid to do it one day I’ll be happy as anything!"
Any staff shout outs?
"Matt Hefferan, my dissertation supervisor, has been absolutely incredible. We sometimes just meet and enthuse about my topic and get excited talking about it, he’s been great.
Also David Gehring helped me out a lot in second-year. I nearly dropped out of uni and he helped me stay here and keep going. He’s just full of so much positivity and enjoyment and it’s very contagious when you meet him."
What are your career plans?
"In a perfect world I would be an academic researcher. That’s a long distance, future plan! I also like the idea of maybe going into archiving or academic publishing. I have a few little job routes that I like the idea of, it’s just seeing where life takes me and which one I end up in.
It’s my aim to do a masters here at Nottingham in history, then I want to go into the working world for a bit and come back later for a PhD.
Archiving and publishing both need a postgraduate degree, so my next step is to get my masters and then move on from there."
What does success look like to you?
"Being happy. Overall, whatever I do with my life, if I’m going to be successful I’m going to be happy with what I’m doing."
Any top tips for those considering studying history?
Reading lots of historical work is a really good way to help you understand how you should structure and write a historical essay. It wasn't really something that hit me until about third year, but it's like the more I read, the more I understood.
"I got the flow of what a good history essay is like because a lot of academic papers and history will follow the same type of structure and flow. My big thing would be do the reading, and don’t just look at the content, but the structure as well."
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