Essay Briefing Notes: Part 1

7/31/2019 Essay Briefing Notes: Part 1

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CONTEXTUAL STUDIES: PHOTOGRAPHY

ESSAY BRIEF 1.


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LO1 A growing understanding of critical ideas regarding

perception, meaning, and communication.

LO2 A growing appreciation of the application and operation ofconcepts of visual communication to both historical and

contemporary practice particularly in photography.

LO3 A developing knowledge of theoretical cultural ideas and

perspectives and their importance in both historical andcontemporary practice

LO4 Developing essential academic skills to support, explore,and expand concepts, support critical analysis, the

understanding and development of ideas and theirexpression in verbal and written form.


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The four titles are,,,,

Happy Families: Family portraits tell us very little about theindividual family, far more about what society believes the ideal

family should be. Discuss and debate this statement with reference toone photographic image from the 19th century and one from a

contemporary photographer (work produced in the last 30 years).


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In what ways can photographic images of the American West be

regarded as expressions of spiritual belief. Discuss with reference

to the works of at least two photographers or painters.


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Why is photography so powerful and so problematic in relation

to the idea of representation? Discuss either using examples of

portrait photography or photojournalism.


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How can the gaze construct our relationship to an image and

convey meaning. Discuss in relation to the painting Las Meninas byVelasquez and Thomas Struths Museo del Prado and Audience/

Hermitage series.


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THE ESSAY MUST BE 1500 WORDS LONG WITH VISUAL

EXAMPLES, APPROPRIATE REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY.

REFERENCING AND BIBLIOGRAPHY MUST FOLLOW UCAACADEMIC CONVENTIONS BY USING THE HARVARD SYSTEM

OF REFERENCING SEE STUDY GUIDES FOR INSTRUCTIONS.

IT MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY THROUGH TURNITIN

(SEE MYUCA FOR GUIDANCE)

THIS ESSAY CONTRIBUTES 30% TOWARDS THE OVERALL MARK FOR THIS UNIT.


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DATE FOR HANDING IN WORK: MONDAY 7TH JANUARY BY

12 MIDDAY

FAILURE TO SUBMIT WORK CAN LEAD TO FAILURE OF THIS UNIT

AND MAY JEOPARDISE PROGRESSION ON THE COURSE.

IF YOU ARE HAVING DIFFICULTIES TALK TO YOUR TUTORS AS

SOON AS POSSIBLE TO ASK FOR ADDITIONAL SUPPORT OR APPLYFOR EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES TO BE TAKEN INTO

ACCOUNT.


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Essay project timeline

Briefing: Wed 24th October.

Supporting workshops

Wed 24th October

Friday 2nd November Select your essay topic and haveconducted preliminary research.

Monday 12th November You should have the outline of youressay structure and arguments

Hand in 7th January.


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ESSAY PARTICULARS

*Make sure you answer the question!

*Make sure you adhere to the word count as you will be penalised for going

significantly under or over.

*Always reference your sources when quoting. This is essential. Use Harvardstyle ofreferencing.

*At the end of your essay produce a bibliography; a list of all the books you have read

to produce the essay (even if you havent quoted from them). This is essential.

Neither footnotes / endnotes nor bibliography count towards the final word count.

*Be aware of plagiarism please refer to smyUCA for guidance on this issue.

When using pictures make sure you include their producer (artist / photographer), their

title and their date. If they are of a specific material or size, include this also (i.e.,marble, 24 foot high etc.). Also make sure it is clear to what pictures you are referring

to in the text when using images in your essay. It may be useful to label them

numerically, i.e. fig.1. (If doing this, also be sure to still include photographer, title, datewith the image itself)


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FINAL TIPS:

Always have a good starting point:

If given a choice of questions, try and choose the one that either speaks to you or that you

think presents the real challenge (i.e. gets you worked up about the issues).

If asked to write on a subject of your choice pick a topic that you really want to cover, notone that you think is relevant but a little dull. Dont be afraid of the obscure and the personal

they are always more rewarding

Always do the research:

Trying to write a presentation or essay on the night before deadline is a recipe for stress

ulcers and heart attacks. Any essay is always 90% research with 10% of the time spent

writing up the research into an essay. (This is obviously an exaggeration time should be left

to write and rewrite the piece!)

Always PLAN the research:

A very simple point, but if you can structure the research well, the essay can easily mirror it,thus telling the story of your research (the interesting bits at least). Think about opposing

positions, about non-agreeing photographers / writers, about using many different sourcesthat you can pull together into a grand plan, an argument that takes us through the story of

the research.

Always use an introduction and a conclusion:

Documents

Essay Briefing Notes: Part 1