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FHS Dissertation. Lecture 1 Finding a Topic and Building a Bibliography. What is a Dissertation?. A Dissertation is a piece of writing of between 8000 and 10000 words, inc. footnotes but not including bibliography Over 12 months’ work: final hand-in Week 2 of Trinity 2011 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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FHS Dissertation
Lecture 1Finding a Topic and Building a
Bibliography
What is a Dissertation?
A Dissertation is a piece of writing of between 8000 and 10000 words, inc. footnotes but not including bibliography
Over 12 months’ work: final hand-in Week 2 of Trinity 2011
Further information in FHS Course Handbook
These Powerpoint slides available shortly in Nick Attfield’s Weblearn room
Assessment Criteria
A First-Class FHS Dissertation …
This dissertation will display some original thought, a critical approach to its sources and a good knowledge of the relevant scholarly field. It will be a well-conceived and independent project which has been well executed. There will be clear evidence that the candidate is aware of pertinent issues in its chosen area of musicology and has a very good command of the literature. It will be very well presented and written in a clear and engaging manner.
You can find this information in your FHS Handbook and on Weblearn (in the ‘Faculty Student Area’)
Assessment Criteria
An outstanding First-Class Dissertation…
In both conception and execution, this dissertation will display a high degree of original thought, a refined and critical approach to its sources and a wide knowledge of the relevant scholarly field. It may even be of publishable quality. It will show an impressive awareness of pertinent issues in its chosen area of musicology, and an authoritative command of the literature. It will be faultlessly presented and written in a clear and engaging manner.
In other words …
A successful dissertation:
is focused on a clear topic displays good knowledge of the
relevant literature and repertoire has a central argument is well organised and presented
Finding a Topic
Choose a topic that excites you and that feels like *yours* Remember you will be living with it for a while!
Your starting point could be: a piece of music a composer a performer or performance tradition a repertoire a historical period or a geographical location a text a writer an issue
Finding a Topic
What kind of study do you want it to be? analytical critical editorial historical/historiographical political or sociological a mixture of the above, or something else
entirely? – utilising non-musical skills?
Finding a Topic Next, start to read around the topic and
approach – find out what work has already been done in this area
What is the current state of scholarship? Who are the key thinkers? What
backgrounds do they come from? What might be driving them?
Finding an Angle
What angle might you take on the topic?
What can you contribute to debates? What’s missing in the literature? What
biases does it have? Does it fail to raise or answer any key questions you have?
Finding an Angle Begin to refine your topic and
angle Are they too broad or too narrow?
Remember: 8000-10000 words only! Refine further:
Do more reading; take more notes Narrow your field of investigation, if
necessary Brainstorm!
Model Brainstorm
Avant-gardeand tradition
‘Late style’(Adorno,
Said)
‘Postmodern’play:Torke
StravinskyOrpheus &
Symphony in C
SchoenbergOp. 11
& Pierrot lunaire
Alienatedsubject
Nostalgiaand
melancholy
RethinkingNeo-
classicism
Next Steps
Produce some preliminary plans from your brainstorm
Discuss plans with tutor (and peers?)
Begin to think about a title Start work on your bibliography
Finding a Title
A good title:
indicates clearly the central focus of the essay
engages the reader and encourages him/her to read on
is unambiguous helps you to write the essay
Finding a Title
Look for models in recent issues of academic journals
An exam-style question does not usually make a good essay/dissertation title
Consider using a quotation in the title Try out a number of possible options Use of the colon is not compulsory!
Finding a Title
Some (good and not-so-good) examples for discussion
Schumann’s Symphonies ‘All they say or do is theatre’:
Music, Text and Drama in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress
How is the Concept of Postmodernism Relevant to Recent Music?
Finding a Title
Some (good and not-so-good) examples for discussion
The Reinvention of Early Music A History of Opera from Monteverdi
to MacMillan Rethinking Mozart’s Piano Sonatas:
the Bodleian’s Albi Rosenthal Collection
The Bibliography
Why is the bibliography important?
It helps you define and refine your topic It helps you keep an eye on your own
progress as you go along It locates your work within the context
of existing scholarship It enables you to avoid a topic that has
already been written about
The Bibliography
What should the bibliography contain?
All the materials that you have consulted and that have informed your work, whether or not you refer to them directly in the body of the essay
Full references according to best professional practice
The Bibliography
What should the bibliography not contain?
Materials that have no bearing on the essay/dissertation
Materials you have not consulted Materials you have not read
Resources
First stages: finding materials and preparing the bibliography
Library resources Online resources Catalogues and databases Scores and manuscripts Audio and video materials Other materials
Library resources Bodleian Library Music Faculty Library
Books and Journals Dissertations Scores & editions Dictionaries and research
catalogues Special collections Microfilm collections
Library resources College and other specialist
libraries in Oxford e.g., Taylor Institution Library
(modern languages), Pitt Rivers Museum (ethnography)
British Library (www.bl.uk) COPAC – British and Irish
university libraries portal www.copac.ac.uk
European Libraries www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/index.html
Online resources: general First ports of call
The New Grove Online www.grovemusic.com
Audio resources Naxos online www.naxosmusiclibrary.com Classical music internal.oxford.classical.com
General sources of information Royal Holloway Golden Pages
www2.rhbnc.ac.uk/Music/Links/index.html includes lists of conferences, dissertation
abstracts, composer home pages, etc.
Online resources: journals
JSTOR www.jstor.org Remember that JSTOR doesn’t have
everything! Use in conjunction with paper copies and other databases, e.g. …
Current periodicals (not on JSTOR) Access via
www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/eresources
Online resources: databases
RILM: Abstracts of music literature RISM: Inventory of musical sources
after 1600 RIPM: Retrospective index to music
periodicalsAccess these key databases and other
online resources via:www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip
Online resources: beware!
Treat with great caution: Wikipedia (it’s not moderated or
checked) Other unmoderated sites Other unattributed articles In some instances blogs, Facebook
pages and other online ‘ephemera’ can provide, for example, supporting anecdotal evidence, but handle with care and signal its status clearly
Other resources
Non-commercial audio and video Specialist libraries and research
centres National Sound Archive (part of the
British Library) www.bl.uk/nsa BBC and other broadcasters Video materials are increasingly
accessible online (YouTube !)
Other resources Ethnographic fieldwork: is this
necessary? Do you have access permission? Plan well in advance.
Sociological / psychological fieldwork: is this necessary? Do you have access permission? Plan well in advance. Questions of confidentiality.
Oral histories: how do you gain access to subjects? Plan questions well in advance. How will you record responses?
Plagiarism Plagiarism is intellectual theft – the
representation of the ideas of others as your own
Make sure you acknowledge fully in footnotes all material you have taken from other sources (including online material), whether or not you have quoted it directly. An entry in the bibliography is not sufficient.
University Plagiarism Code
All undergraduate and graduate students must carefully read regulations 3, 4 and 5 in the Proctors’ Disciplinary Regulations for University Examinations below. These make it clear that you must always indicate to the examiners when you have drawn on the work of others; other people’s original ideas and methods should be clearly distinguished from your own, and other people’s words, illustrations, diagrams etc. should be clearly indicated regardless of whether they are copied exactly, paraphrased, or adapted. Failure to acknowledge your sources by clear citation and referencing constitutes plagiarism. The University reserves the right to use software applications to screen any individual’s submitted work for matches either to published sources or to other submitted work. In some examinations, all candidates are asked to submit an electronic copy of essays, dissertations etc. for screening by ‘Turnitin’. Any matches might indicate either plagiarism or collusion. Although the use of electronic resources by students in their academic work is encouraged, you should remember that the regulations on plagiarism apply to on-line material and other digital material just as much as to printed material.
Guidance about the use of source-materials and the preparation of written work is given in departments’ literature and on their web-sites, and is explained by tutors and supervisors. If you are unclear about how to take notes or use web-sourced material properly, or what is acceptable practice when writing your essay, project report, thesis, etc., please ask for advice.
If university examiners believe that material submitted by a candidate may be plagiarised, they will refer the matter to the Proctors. The Proctors will suspend a student’s examination while they fully investigate such cases (including interviewing the student). If they consider that a breach of the Disciplinary Regulations has occurred, the Proctors are empowered to refer the matter to the Student Disciplinary Panel. Where plagiarism is proven, it will be dealt with severely: in the most extreme cases, this can result in the student’s career at Oxford being ended by expulsion from the University.
See: http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/proctors/info/pam/section9.shtml#_Toc95
Overlap Do not be overly vexed by this matter! It is highly likely that your topic will
emerge from courses you have taken Concerns about overlap should not
prevent you from writing a dissertation on the topic of your choice
Just be careful not to rely unduly on your dissertation in a final unseen paper
Model Timetable: DissertationSecond Year
Hilary Term: preliminary discussions about topic with your tutor; identify potential supervisor
Easter Vacation: initial planning and basic bibliographic research; drafting of outline research proposal
Trinity Term Week 4: submission of title, outline, bibliography and name of supervisor to Music Faculty
Long Vacation: preparation of bibliography, undertake main body of research, visit libraries and archives
Model Timetable: DissertationThird Year
Michaelmas Term: drafting of key sections Christmas Vacation: preparation of first
complete draft of dissertation Hilary Term: discussion of preliminary draft
with supervisor; make changes, additions, etc. Easter Vacation: preparation of final version,
collation of music examples, etc. Trinity Term Week 2: submission of finished
dissertation to Examination Schools
FHS Dissertation
Next WeekWriting the Dissertation: Tips and Tricks