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