This course is designed to help students develop knowledge and skills in conducting an independent research project and to complete an intelligible, well documented and persuasive thesis and exhibition project. It will introduce students to research theories and methodologies, and their associated means of analysis, particularly those relevant to students’ research projects. Students will develop an understanding of the research process, from the development of a research question, through to writing and submitting a research proposal. Each student will receive guidance in developing a research or project proposal that includes a topic of research, research problem / question, its rationale and significance, background and literature review, precedent analysis, research approach and method. The course is organized around a structured progression from beginning research, through processes of managing that research, to project design and thesis writing,
Indicative references
Barnet, S (2005), A Short Guide to Writing About Art, Pearson Longman, New York
Becker, H. S. (1986) ‘Terrorised by the literature’, in Writing for Social Scientists: how to start and finish your thesis, book or article, University of Chicago Press, pp. 135-149
Booth, W et al (2003), The Craft of Research, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Carrier, D (2003), Writing about Visual Art, Allworth Press, New York
Eco, U (2015), How to Write a Thesis, MIT Press, Boston
Oliver, P (2010) A Student’s Guide to Resrarch Ethics, Mcgraw-Hill, Berkshire
Pink, S. (2009) Doing Sensory Ethnography, 2nd edn, Sage Publications, London
Rose, G. (2012) Visual Methodologies, 3rd edn, Sage Publications, London.
