FHS Dissertation

1. FHS Dissertation Lecture 1 Finding a Topic and Building a Bibliography

2. 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

3. 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’)

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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?

8. 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?

9. 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?

10. 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!

11. Nostalgia and melancholy Avant-garde and tradition Alienated subject Rethinking Neo- classicism ‘Late style’ (Adorno, Said) Schoenberg Op. 11 & Pierrot lunaire ‘Postmodern’ play: Torke Stravinsky Orpheus & Symphony in C Model Brainstorm

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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!

15. 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?

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. Library resources • Bodleian Library • Music Faculty Library • Books and Journals • Dissertations • Scores & editions • Dictionaries and research catalogues • Special collections • Microfilm collections

22. 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 Librarieswww.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/index.html

23. 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.

24. 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

25. Online resources: databases • RILM: Abstracts of music literature • RISM: Inventory of musical sources after 1600 • RIPM: Retrospective index to music periodicals Access these key databases and other online resources via: www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlip

26. 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

27. 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 !)

28. 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?

29. 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 notsufficient.

30. 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

31. 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

32. Model Timetable: Dissertation Second 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

33. Model Timetable: Dissertation Third 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

34. FHS Dissertation Next Week Writing the Dissertation: Tips and Tricks