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=MA VISUAL ARTS=  MA Full Time 2008 Research Paper Documents attached below:

Research Paper Lecture Notes (3rd December 2008) Harvard Convention of Citation and Bibliographical Construction Research Paper Brief

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Word count: 3000/5000 words Deadline: Wed, 25th February 2009 Topic: ‘issue or theoretical concern that is central to your practice….but does not refer directly to your own practical work’ ––– In order to write a successful paper, please….

-Choose an issue you want to research and write about and that is important to your practice -Don't leave the writing to the last minute –– Rationale behind the brief: Why write a research paper?

1. To deepen your understanding of a theoretical/critical issue that is central to your practice/profession.

2. To understand more clearly your own ideas/beliefs and move beyond subjective assertions (non-critical notions such as ‘liking’ and ‘interesting’) to informed judgment.

3. To learn how to articulate your opinion in a recognisable and accessible way within the intellectual community in which you are now operating:

standardised protocols of academic writing to ensure intelligibility/comparability/ transparency/intellectual rigour…

4. Your MA is a research degree…should be aiming for an ‘original contribution to knowledge’. Moving beyond description and discursive modes of writing.

5. Ability to research and write formally integral to any MA Level of study.

–– Further considerations: The relation between writing/research and practice

Developing a critical dialogue within your practice: its contemporary and historical context. Art is not created in a vacuum or by instinct alone. The context in which you practice helps constitute its meaning, value, use…This paper should help develop an engagement with that context.

- Contexts are, arguably, generated rather than found.

Theory can be a stimulus (or trigger) to the production of work and not simply its post-production explanation.

Language is important to the explanation, justification and promotion of work. This paper can be used to aid the acquisition of an appropriate critical language. –– The Research Question

This should be a question or identify a specific research issue in the context of visual/material culture.

Your question, if possible, should introduce the relevant issue(s)/ concepts the paper addresses.

It should be clear and unambiguous. A badly constructed research question often leads to a poorly written and ill-focused research paper.

Your question should create the right expectation in the reader. It identifies what you are interested in and indicates why someone should be interested in it too. –– Process of formulating a question:

1. Find a broad subject area

2. Narrow this interest to a specific topic

3. Question that topic from several viewpoints

4. Choose the question whose answer is the most significant to you


 * Better not to attempt an all-encompassing narrative spanning centuries of art production and interpretation.

why you consider this topic to be an important and significant cultural issue and derive your research question from this. –– Example of imprecise question:
 * If you are having trouble narrowing your subject area ask yourself

‘This paper addresses the issue of appropriation.’

what issue? in which context? (music, literature….) which artists are relevant? how will it be answered?

what is this paper about? –– compare

This paper addresses the issue of appropriation. (Broad and Very Unclear)

with

Through the art of Dubuffet and Tapies this paper examines the epistemic and ethical implications of appropriating visual languages from other culture (Good and can be further defined in the abstract) –– Another Example:

By contrasting the work of Rineke Dijkstra and Philip Lorca diCorcia this paper will argue that the consent of the photographed subject is central to an ethics of photographing others. This analysis will take place within Emmanuel Levinas’ philosophy of ‘care’ for the other.

(more specific still with clear indication of the research issue and position argued for and the theoretical context in which argued) –– Two Basic Structures of a Research Question: Researching issue A / by contrasting the practice of y and z / in order to find out B

Or

Contrasting x and y / in order to research issue A / in order to find out B

- what you are writing about (topic) I am researching… [x and y]

what you don’t know about it (question) because of… [A]

why you want to know about it (rationale) in order to understand about… [B]

A = CONSENT y & z = Photographers B = ETHICS –– The Abstract

An Abstract is a summary of your research paper. It should be about 2/300 words in length and should include the following:

A brief explanation of the question/topic and the problem it addresses.

A brief description of the practical, theoretical and historical context in which the question is situated.

A brief explanation as to how you are going to answer that question. Eg. the research methods and theories you will use.

A statement concerning the aim or result of your research. Eg. what your research hopes/does prove and the limits o including the conclusions reached. It gives a snapshot of the paper to a prospective reader. ––
 * An Abstract is not an introduction but an overview of the entire paper

Basic Structure of an Abstract:

Problem - Context - Solution/Conclusion

or

Context - Problem - Solution/Conclusion

+ 5 KEY WORDS ––

Some characteristics of a successful research paper :

- A specific question is identified and contextualised within a critical framework

= research

- Research material is edited to present a coherent argument

= synthesis of information - finding connections between new and existing research material/ thoughts

- Develop your own informed judgment in relation to the research undertaken to produce an independent conclusion

= transformation of information - criticality - independent conclusion

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Some things to avoid:

Describe rather than critically analyse your topic

Claim something and not justify it

Practice of ‘Quilting’ - that is, quote endlessly to no apparent purpose

‘Subjective’ justification - be aware of the status of the claims you are making

Plagiarise (stealing others’ ideas)

- Not use the Harvard Convention of Citation

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Sources:

1. One good source is worth more than many mediocre ones.

2. One good secondary or introductory source can be worth more than the source itself.

3. Wikipedia and the academy

4. Choosing good sources is often dependent on having a clear sense of the question you are addressing.

5. Keep a record of your sources from the beginning of your research for bibliographical and citation purposes.

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HOW TO RESEARCH FOR SOURCES?

Library + Online Journals (Athens and JSTOR)

Search Engines: Key Words

Check the Bibliographies of Books

Good Book Shops + Good Publishers

Speakers at Conferences

Research academics at important institutions

On-line course content (MIT)

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References:

Booth, W.C. Colomb, C.G. & Williams, J.M. (1995) The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Grix, J. (2001) Demystifying Postgraduate Research: From MA to PhD. Birmingham: University of Birmingham

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 * WILSON ROAD LECTURE HALL**

WEDNESDAY 0930-1030

FOLLOW UP PATHWAY SEMINARS 1030 -1130 IN STUDIOS

This programme is common to all Pathways and forms the core lecture programme during the first 12 weeks establishing the theoretical and professional contexts for research and scholarship that will become articulated through your creative practice. This programme is designed to help locate your own Project in relation to a more specific knowledge and understanding in the Visual Arts.

The Critical Skills Lectures introduce the field of research and scholarship while the Critical Frameworks opens the plurality of the field of contemporary practice. You will investigate and challenge these positions to establish your own voice. The work of creative practitioners is fore-grounded throughout the programmed along with a supportive reading list and additional study references.

An integral part of this section is the establishment of a broad understanding of an array of research methodologies existent within and/or relating to art and design production. While critical practice focuses on the social, cultural, political, historical contexts of creative engagement such methodologies offer the structure in which to develop and articulate your particular research interests within the field. This will constitute the underlining academic nature of individual research, its relation to current and/or historical practices as well as theoretical frameworks. Ultimately such methodologies will inform your final submissions whether in the production of artifacts or essays and dissertations.

Critical Skills Lectures: introduce the field of research and scholarship

• Research- based practice 24th September • Research Methods and Contexts 2nd October • Writing and Research 8th October • Critical engagement and Theory 15th October