Francis Maravillas

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,

Curriculum syllabus :

Topics covered include:

• What is research?
• Understanding the research process
• Reviewing and analyzing the literature
• Analyzing case-studies and precedents
• Turning research ideas into research questions
• Research methodologies – Discourse and visual analysis
• Research methodologies - Participant observation and ethnography
• Developing a formal thesis or exhibition proposal and an argument
• Research Ethics: issues, rights, and responsibilities
• Thesis / Exhibition presentation

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.