Graduate Research Seminar 2014/2015

This trimester will be concerned with

a) Making an entry into the EMO and

b) Writing a project proposal.

This seminar is parallel to your classes with Aymeric every second Monday.

In this class, over the next month, there will be an emphasis on writing the Media Object entry.

On the 17/11 you will begin your proposal writing in earnest and the work you have been doing with Aymeric on your final project and proposal will Segway into this class. The remaining six weeks of this trimester will be devoted to writing the proposal and planning the thesis.

On that date we will review your proposal and thesis ideas.

17/09

• How Aymeric and Steve’s class work together

• Discuss proposal and thesis in general

• Discuss media object

• Identify and make notes for the media object

24/09

• Review draft of Media Objects in groups

1/10

• Tutorials and groups review Media Objects

15/10

• Publish Media Objects = give presentation

With Aymeric on Monday 03/11 you will

• Group review of the project proposal = bring in your work from Aymeric's class

5/11

• Group review of the project proposal

12/11

• Group review of the project proposal

19/11

• Final review of project proposal

• Plan thesis outline and thesis abstract

26/11 DEADLINE project proposal

• Final changes

01/12-02/12

• Project Proposal assessments

Part 2: 2015

• Weekly sessions in small reading groups and individual tuition sessions in which we plan, review progress of your thesis and set achievable aims for the next week. Timetable to spend the whole of each Wednesday working on your thesis.

• Make a reading and writing timetable. Stick to it.

  In this trimester you will give a short lecture on a 'media object' of their choice and write an entry for the encyclopedia. Your media object might be a physical, digital object, a technique, transaction or cultural trope - but a 'media object' you particularly value and have a particular fondness for.  This is the continuation of an ongoing project which began in 2013. The aim in the context of this seminar is to give you the opportunity to articulate the influence of a particular media object on your final project.

EMO link here [[1]]

general notes for next year

1) Communication - Think of the reader. It is not safe to assume they have knowledge of what you are writing about. Even if they do have knowledge this needs to be contextualized. Generally people appreciate clarity.

2) Description - Remember to describe the texts you are citing (synopsis of relevant arguments) and the things you are discussing (your own work, the work of others).

3) Citation - give appropriate acknowledgment of the text/work you are citing. Do not leave it to the end of the process to place citations, as your texts grow more complex and longer this becomes a tedious task so give citations as you go. Use the Harvard method.

4) Notation - always take notes and log your sources. The alphabet code is an excellent memory storage system - use it.

5) Identify and eliminate bad habits as you go - this saves time. Examples: its/it's / i/I

6) Bibliography

n) stop wiki sloppiness - this is the page through which we communicate so always make a link to the latest version on this page

Next trimester you will begin your thesis:

NOTES ON WRITING A THESIS

The written thesis is a crucial part of any Master Project and needs to be carefully planned from the start. What follows are some notes to guide you in the construction of your thesis, according to a chosen format. Make use of the guidance available in other informational documents – including the PZI Programme Handbook and the PZI Proposal Guide.

I. THESIS AIMS

The main purpose of the thesis is to articulate in writing issues, questions and ideas that inform or shape your practice.

Think of the thesis, regardless of what form it takes, as a parallel activity to the body of work you are developing for your graduation – a parallel text supported by images. The thesis can combine different kinds of discourse, each of which may have different, yet overlapping, functions (see examples under “Thesis Formats” below). With your writing tutor, you will establish which form of writing is most appropriate for your practice, develop a relationship between writing and practice, and learn to consider your writing as an integral part of your practice, as a medium of reflection and production.

II. THESIS Formats

The written thesis is produced in parallel to a Graduate project. It is meant to demonstrate your ability to articulate aesthetic and critical issues that emerge from your practice, as well as historical and theoretical contexts that you are responding to and are aiming to shape. The horizon of the written thesis, like the Graduate project you exhibit as a requirement for graduation, is that it is suitable for publication (i.e. to be read by professionals, peers, and a broader public). The role of the written thesis in relation to exhibited Graduate Project may vary:

1) It can take the form of a report on practice and research. Here, "research" has an open definition, but one that you must be able to articulate clearly. It will be presented alongside a body of work that is directly addressed in the report.

2) It can take the form of an analytical essay exploring related artistic, theoretical, historical and critical issues and practices that inform your practice, without necessarily referring to your work directly. The essay will, however, be evaluated against the exhibited body of work, and you will be asked to articulate in the Project Proposal and in the final assessment how your written thesis informs the aesthetic, theoretical and technical choices in your body of work.

3) The presentation of a text as a body of work is possible, but requires close consultation with your advising tutors and your writing tutors. With this option, you will have to establish whether your Graduate Project and thesis are one and the same, or whether they form two distinct components. The form that your text may take is more open, but you are required to demonstrate research, as well as critical and theoretical mastery of the concepts that inform the choice of form.

4) A combination of options 1), 2) or 3) is also possible, in which case the text as body of work is distinct from the part that constitutes a report or an analytical essay. In this case, the roles of the different textual materials comprising your thesis should be clearly articulated in your Project Proposal.

Examples of what the different formats could include, are:

• a descriptive account of developing ideas, processes and products, along with an analytical critique of your work and its formative processes • a narrative that traces a web of relationships – contextualizing your work in relation to other practitioners, practices and artworks, situating your work within relevant theoretical, philosophical, aesthetic and other fields of knowledge • an in-depth reflection on an artistic, literary, historical, critical or other practice which is inspirational to your own • a more creative or poetic discourse that that may be analogous to, or have structural affinities with, your body of work – shedding light on the themes, methods and visual signs that you have been exploring • a series of diagrams, tables and visualizations charting the progress of ideas and forms using textual alongside other material • a piece of artistic writing experimenting with formats of creative writing, authorship or publishing

III. THESIS REQUIREMENTS

The thesis presented as part requirement for the award of the Master of Media Design and Communication degree is normally equivalent to not fewer than 7,000 words and not more than 8,000 words. In the case that you choose to combine your Graduate Project and thesis, meaning your entire Graduate Project is text-based, the number of words appropriate to your writing will have to be determined with the Course Director, your advising tutors and your writing tutor.

With the report on practice and research (option 1) you are required:

• to provide an analytical account of the development of your work (thinking processes as well as material processes) in relation to the aims and objectives identified in your Project Proposal • to locate your work in relation to appropriate contexts (for example: relevant theories, ideas, historical and/or contemporary art and design practices) • to evaluate critically your body of work as a whole, against clearly formulated criteria

With the analytical essay (option 2) the requirements are very similar:

• to provide an analytical account of the development of artistic practice, theoretical, historical or cultural phenomena (thinking processes as well as material processes) in relation to the aims and objectives identified in your Graduate Project Proposal • to create appropriate contexts for your practice (for example by writing about relevant theories, ideas, historical or contemporary art and design practices) • to evaluate critically your body of work as a whole, against clearly formulated criteria

With the text as a body of work (option 3) the requirements are again somewhat similar:

• to demonstrate, by way of your artistic or experimental writing, an analytical approach to the development of artistic practice, theoretical, historical or cultural phenomena (thinking processes as well as material processes) in relation to the aims and objectives identified in your Project Proposal • to create appropriate contexts for your practice (for example by supplementing your work with an experimental form of writing which develops relevant theories, ideas, historical or contemporary art and design practices) • to evaluate critically your body of work as a whole, against clearly formulated criteria

However, you will need to provide a preface or appendix if your approach does not perform the above.

Graduate Research Seminar Archive