Module VISU3032: Dissertation

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures

VISU3032: Dissertation

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• A special subject from List A in the Programme Regulations for the BA Visual Arts and Film programme (VA01 / VA02)

Excluded Combination of Modules

• Any other dissertation module in any other academic department.

Aims

• To provide students with the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of one aspect of their studies by researching and writing an extensive piece of work in English in an area in which the department can offer research supervision.
• To cultivate independent, research-led learning.
• To provide project-management experience of planning, documenting, and writing an extended piece of work in English (12,000 words).
• To increase students’ facility in expressing themselves in English fluently, accurately, and at a suitable academic level, and in presenting and referencing their work according to the conventions of academic writing.
• To provide invaluable practice for those students wishing to progress to postgraduate study.
• The Dissertation in Visual Arts and Film seeks to enhance the employability of students by allowing them to demonstrate their ability as independent learners and researchers in the context of an extended research project that dovetails with the University’s principles for the development of the taught curriculum. Skills will be developed specifically through an extended enquiry-led activity that will provide students with the competences to succeed in the world of work and the ability to manage their own intellectual and professional development. By focusing specifically on questions of relevant research interest, students will develop as international citizens so that they can make a positive contribution to an increasingly globalized society.

Content

• The dissertation involves researching and writing an extended piece of work on a topic for which the department can offer research supervision. Students will thus be working closely with an expert in the field.
• In order to be assigned one of their proposed dissertation topics, students will have to register for the relevant corequisite module at Level 3. The precise topic of the Dissertation is to be determined by negotiation with the supervisor, and is subject to the approval of the Dissertation Coordinator and the availability of an appropriate supervisor.
• The process of dissertation allocation begins in the third week of June when students submit two 100-word proposals outlining topics on which they would like to work, having consulted the list of supervisors available for the next academic year. Since module choices are also likely to be affected by the allocated dissertation topic, the student will also be asked to rank optional module choices corresponding to each proposal.
• When students return to Durham in their final year, their subject will be defined and the dissertation title approved by the supervisor and the Dissertation Coordinator. Students will submit their dissertation in the first week of the third term.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module, the student will have greatly enhanced knowledge of a specialised subject. S/he will be familiar with both primary and secondary sources, and with the wider debates surrounding the images, films, or other visual artefacts that form the main subject of the dissertation.

• The student will have further developed their ability to express complex ideas in a suitable register.
• The student will also develop a number of skills specific to the topic of their dissertation, which may include, by way of illustration:
• the ability to offer sustained close reading and analysis of particular images, films, or other cultural artefacts, including the ability to recognise and appreciate the significance of particular formal/stylistic devices and structures;
• the ability to situate images and/or other artefacts in relation to the context and circumstances of their production, plus the ability to appreciate their enduring ability to inform cultural studies;
• the ability to draw on critical theoretical discourse to situate their research within the broader debates and methodologies of the critical humanities.

• The student will have acquired skill and practice in researching a subject using primary and secondary sources, planning a coherent argument with the evidence to support it, presenting these arguments clearly and cogently in a sustained piece of writing, conforming to the norms of academic referencing.
• The student will have developed long-term project-management skills, including the ability to oversee the execution of a project from conception to completion.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Preparation for the Dissertation begins level 1, with modules covering research skills and critical methodology. There are four further lectures on Dissertation skills in the final year.
• Students are entitled to a total of 4.5 hours of supervision time. This may include one or more group seminars, but will include a total of at least 3 hours of one-to-one supervision meetings. The length of each meeting may vary between 20 and 40 minutes, according to the needs of each student at different phases of the project. Students will see their supervisor at least twice in each of the first two terms.
• After each supervision, it is the responsibility of the student to use the Dissertation Supervision Monitoring form to write a brief summary of the key points discussed and submit it electronically to the supervisor for possible further comment.
• In the second half of Michaelmas term (week 6 or 7, deadline to be agreed between student and supervisor), students must submit to their supervisor a plan comprising: 1) the proposed title of the dissertation; 2) a draft abstract; 3) an outline of the proposed structure of the dissertation; 4) an annotated preliminary bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The total length should not exceed 3 A4 pages. Students whose projects may require vetting by the MLAC Ethics Committee (for example, if they plan to use surveys, interviews or potentially confidential data) are required to flag this up in the same submission, referring to the guidelines set out in the Dissertation Handbook.
• Students are required to submit to their supervisor up to three extracts from their dissertation, totalling approximately 2500 words. The precise arrangements (number of submissions, length of each, time of submission) are to be agreed between the supervisor and the student, but the last instalment must be submitted in time for feedback to be given before the end of Epiphany term.
• The supervisor will comment in writing on both the plan and the extracts within two weeks of submission. Submissions will also be discussed in supervision meetings.
• Assessment of the dissertation will evaluate students’ ability to assimilate, understand, and analyse critically the primary and secondary material associated with their dissertation topic, also their ability to present a sustained argument with suitable evidence, and to express themselves fluently and accurately in English, paying due attention to the relevant conventions of academic writing. Students will also be expected to produce a full and proper bibliography.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

1. Plan to be submitted to the supervisor by a date in week 6 or 7 of Michaelmas term to be agreed with the supervisor. This should be a single document (no more than 3 pages of A4) comprising: i) draft abstract; ii) outline of the proposed structure of the dissertation; iii) annotated preliminary bibliography; iv) a paragraph outlining any potential ethical issues to be encountered in the research process. 2. A total of 1500 words of draft material extracted from the dissertation, presented as one or two submissions at times agreed with the supervisor.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University