Editing Reading, Writing & Research Methodologies - handbook information

3.5 Reading, Writing, and Research Methodologies Seminar

The Reading, Writing, and Research Methodologies Seminar is tailored towards developing your research methods within the first year of your academic studies. By establishing a solid foundation of research skills, it will eventually prepare you for your Graduate research in the second year. Through reading core theoretical texts on media, you will establish a common vocabulary and set of references to work from. You will learn the practice of classic ‘essayistic methodologies’, including close reading, annotation, description and notation. You will learn to survey a body of literature, filter what is relevant to your research and create comparative pieces of analysis. The seminar will help you establish methodical drafting processes for your texts, where you can develop your ideas further and structure your use of notes and references.

The course takes as axiomatic that the perceived division between ‘practice’ and ‘theory’ is essentially an illusion. All of these elements come together to enhance your Self-directed Research and will aid you in establishing your body of research in your final year, enhance your capacity to write your Graduate Project Proposal and Thesis. Lastly, it will introduce critical tools that allow for the analysis, contextualization and articulation of your own practice.

Learning Outcomes:

You will be assessed on the various reading, writing, analysis exercises you will be given during the course.

! provide skills to analyse a body of texts (film, literature, theory, practices)

! impart the value of surveying a broad set of references in order to focus on specific themes, issues or concerns based on being informed

! establish a common language or set of references by reading core theoretical or historical texts on media, its cultures and context

! to teach methods of expository writing while showing speculative possibilities through writing

Assessment Criteria:

• You will be assessed on your capacity to:

• Intelligibly express your ideas, thoughts and reflections in written English

• Articulate in writing a clear direction of your graduate project by being able to identify complex and coherent questions, concepts and appropriate forms

• Clearly structure and analyse an argument

• Use relevant source material and references

• Research texts and practices and reflect upon them analytically

• Synthesize different forms of knowledge in a coherent, imaginative and distinctive way.

• Position ones own views within a broader context

• Recognize and perform the appropriate mode of address within a given context

• Engage in active dialogue about your written work with others