The group tutorial this week (lead by Gareth Polmeer) is about exploring questions of critical interpretation and approaches to writing, research and analysis and to help demystify some of the central ideas around using theory in your writing.
Preparation
To prepare for this tutorial, some reading: There Are No Visual Media (Mitchell, 2005).
Its 4500 words, and about the length of the research paper we need to write, and also similarly structured.
There Are No Visual Media
I found the writing style of the paper to be ‘unusual’. It was a mix of formal and colloquial, and like others I am used to working with text that is far more formal.
The Discussion
The discussion with Gareth looked at There Are No Visual Media and how it could relate to the research paper we need to write. Out of this the following were highlights for me.
The abstract can be written with a number of considerations in mind. In this example, it is about setting out a problematic, rather than giving any hints at resolutions. The abstract is synoptic. One might have added a few more lines about the general arguments to be made.
Some interesting links to do with “invisible” matter:
INVISIBLE — Art about the Unseen, 1957-2012
In terms of the research paper, do we need to arrive at any conclusions… can the question(s) raised be left open? One can have room for some speculation, but it is nevertheless advisable, for this context, to formulate a position.
Thoughts
While this was an interesting tutorial, I suspect things will be clearer (or more confusing) when I start writing the paper in ernest… I am currently floundering around trying to find an artist or two who work in the field I’m looking at.
comments powered by Disqus