Transcript FHS Dissertation

FHS Dissertation
Lecture 2
Writing the Dissertation: Tips and
Tricks
Structure
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What kind of structure are you going to
use?
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Argument-and-evidence (‘front-loaded’)
Teleological narrative (‘end-loaded’)
Compare-and-contrast
Theme-and-variations
Case studies
Structure
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Think about dissertation ‘dramaturgy’:
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How many sections/chapters?
What does each section claim to do?
How does each advance or nuance the
argument?
Where’s the highpoint?
Draw up a bare-bones structure before
you start writing
Paragraph Structure
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Try ‘blocking’ each section by paragraph
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How many paragraphs?
What does each one aim to do?
How long is each?
Do their ideas follow logically?
How are they weighted?
Paragraph Structure
‘So with regrets, for they are formidable players, I
must dismiss the recordings of Nathaniel Rosen
and Ralph Kirshbaum. They are not helpful now.
The conventions to which they adhere have been
exhausted of their meaning. […] Virtually
everything is too loud. One laughs, but
mirthlessly, at the second Bourree in the Fourth
or the second Gavotte in the Sixth. What is
meant to mince galumphs.’
(From Taruskin, ‘Six times Six: A Bach Suite Selection’)
Sentence Structure
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Think about sentence length…
…and sentence weighting
Is there enough variety of rhythm?
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Read it out loud!
Sentence Structure
‘So with regrets, for they are formidable players, I
must dismiss the recordings of Nathaniel Rosen
and Ralph Kirshbaum. They are not helpful now.
The conventions to which they adhere have been
exhausted of their meaning. […] Virtually
everything is too loud. One laughs, but
mirthlessly, at the second Bourree in the Fourth
or the second Gavotte in the Sixth. What is
meant to mince galumphs.’
(From Taruskin, ‘Six times Six: A Bach Suite Selection’)
Sentence Structure (bad)
‘They are formidable players, so with regrets I must
dismiss the recordings of Nathaniel Rosen and
Ralph Kirshbaum. They are not helpful now. The
conventions to which they adhere have been
exhausted of their meaning. […] Their playing is
all too loud. The second Bourree in the Fourth or
the second Gavotte in the Sixth makes one
laugh, but mirthlessly. The mincing quality is
made into a galumph.’
Voice
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What kind of voice are you going to
use?
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‘Disembodied narrator’ (‘Mozart was a composer.
In 1782 he wrote an opera…’)
‘Plural’ (‘Let us consider Mozart. We know him as
a composer…’)
‘First-Person’ (‘I want to talk about Mozart…’)
Occasional use of second-person? (‘You know
when you’ve heard a piece of Mozart’)
Voice
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Match your voice to what it is you want
to say
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Most likely: ‘narrator’ or ‘we’, as these tend
to fit a serious subject best
Don’t be afraid to experiment a little with
voice: a decent reader will excise any
mismatch that results
Be wary of the passive voice
Introductions
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Introduce ‘yourself’ (your ‘voice’) and
your topic…
…then your angle on your topic,
perhaps with a brief consideration of
current scholarship on this area
Should be attention-grabbing; should
generate interest in the topic
Introductions
‘The research that I have been undertaking has
led me into a minefield laden with
controversy shrouded in an atmosphere of
near silence upon an aspect of a particular
composer’s art which is at the centre of his
musical creativity. My concern has been with
rhythm, and the composer has been Mozart…’
Introductions
‘I would like to begin in modern-day Paris, a
place that, for me, is itself not without a
certain exotic resonance. And in particular, I
would like to begin in the modern-day
Parisian archive, where anyone looking for
evidence of an interest in ‘l’Orient’ among
French composers … is likely to experience
the scholarly equivalent of vertigo.’
Introductions
‘Francis Poulenc was born on the threshold of the
twentieth century, a century which was to see
profound and unprecedented developments and
changes in all aspects of human experience. During
the sixty-four years of his life he was to witness two
calamitous World Wars, the occupation and liberation
of his homeland, huge advances in science and
medicine and the development of world-wide
communications.’
Introductions
‘The monopoly of the long famous “Popular concerts” exists
no more, very fair rivals of these old classical concerts
now exist in places a long way from the centre of London.
It is all a satisfactory indication of the increasing spread of
good music among our people’
The ‘Popular Concerts’ to which the anonymous author
of this passage refers were those given at St. James’s
Hall, Piccadilly, in the centre of London’s West End…
Introductions
‘On 28 April 1976, Paul Sacher – conductor,
industrialist, and patron of music – celebrated
his seventieth birthday. To mark the
occasion, a number of social and musical
events were held. The festivities opened on
April 23 with Pierre Boulez conducting the
Basel Chamber Orchestra in a concert of his
own works…’
Conclusions
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Don’t just say what you said again!
Make a succinct summary of your point (like
an abstract?)
A great opportunity to address anything you
didn’t have space for
A chance to point forward: where could you
and scholarship go from here?
Avoid ‘I hope’ or ‘I have tried’ sort of ending
Presenting the bibliography
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Arrange alphabetically by author
surname
Under normal circumstances do not
separate books and articles
Sometimes it can be helpful to organise
the bibliography into sub-categories,
e.g., primary and secondary sources
Look for models in any published book
Presenting the bibliography
Book
Author or Editor, Title (Place: Publisher,
Year).
e.g.,
Cross, Jonathan, The Stravinsky Legacy
(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1998).
Presenting the bibliography
Article in Journal
Author, ‘Article title’, Journal,
Volume/Issue (Year), Start-End Pages.
e.g.,
Jackson, Timothy L., ‘Aspects of sexuality
and structure in the later symphonies of
Tchaikovsky’, Music Analysis, 14/1
(1995), 3-25.
Presenting the bibliography
Chapter in Book
Author, ‘Chapter title’, in Editor Name (ed.),
Title (Place: Publisher, Year), Start-End
Pages.
e.g.,
Kallberg, Jeffrey, ‘The problem of repetition and
return in Chopin’s mazurkas’, in Jim Samson
(ed.), Chopin Studies (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1988), 1-23.
Presenting the bibliography
Online source
Author, ‘Title’, Website URL (accessed Date).
e.g.,
Williams, Bronwyn T., ‘ “A Puzzle To the Rest of
Us”: Who Is a “Reader” Anyway?’ Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 47/8
http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_i
ndex.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/jaal/504_column_lit/index.html
(accessed 10 January 2010).
The Bibliography
Sample entries
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Albright, Daniel, Untwisting the Serpent: Modernism in Music, Literature,
and Other Arts (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).
Barthes, Roland, Mythologies, selected & trans. Annette Lavers (London:
Vintage, 1993). Originally pub. in French (Paris: Editions de Seuil,
1957).
Beard, David, ‘An analysis and sketch study of the early instrumental
music of Sir Harrison Birtwistle (c.1957–77)’ (DPhil dissertation, Oxford
University, 2000).
_____, ‘The endless parade: competing narratives in recent Birtwistle
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studies’, Music Analysis, 23/1 (2004), 89–127.
Courtney, Cathy (ed.), Jocelyn Herbert: a Theatre Workbook (London: Art
Books International, 1993).
Griffiths, Dai, ‘Genre: grammar school boy music’, repr. in Derek B. Scott
(ed.), Music, Culture and Society: a Reader (Oxford: OUP, 2000), 143–
5.
Footnotes
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Any specific information or ideas that are taken from
other sources, whether or not you are quoting
directly from them, must be fully and clearly
referenced
References best appear in a numbered sequence of
footnotes at the foot of the relevant page. Use MSWord function (or equivalent) to help you.
[Insert>Reference>Footnote]
Footnotes
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Example 1
Here is the first reference in the text.1 ‘Here is a
quotation from a different text.’ 2 Then follows
another reference to the first item.3 And another.4
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1. Nancy B. Reich, Clara Schumann: the Artist and the Woman (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1989), 113.
2. Gerd Neuhaus (ed.), The Marriage Diaries of Robert and Clara Schumann,
trans., with a preface, Peter Ostwald (London: Robson Books, 1994), 123.
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3. Reich, Clara Schumann, 117.
4. Ibid., 118.
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Examples, figures etc.
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Copy examples and figures clearly, and
insert into the text at the most relevant
point
Number them clearly
As your essay is for examination
purposes only, you do not need to seek
permission to use copyright material
Make time for Sibelius!
Final tips: Remember to Read!
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Read as many good authors as possible (musical and
non-musical)
Read the work of your peers (if they’ll let you)
Flick through old dissertations in the library
Flick through guides to writing
 e.g. D. Kern Holoman, Writing about Music: A
Stylesheet, 2nd edn (Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 2008).
Final tips
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Don’t feel you must start writing at the beginning
Break the project into manageable sections
If you reach a block, put that part to one side and try
working on a different aspect of the project
Don’t be afraid to ask for help: tutors, library staff,
etc.
Allow plenty of time for re-drafting
Allow time to read through the final version
Allow enough time for final ‘assembly’ of text,
inserting examples, checking references and printing
Enjoy it!
FHS Dissertation
• For further advice, refer to your FHS handbooks
• These Powerpoint presentations will be available
for consultation on Weblearn in Nick Attfield’s rooms
• [email protected]