Tara Brabazon: So, what is your area of interest?

Academic myths and stories circulate from teachers to students and supervisors to postgraduates. As a young PhD candidate, I was told how Stuart Hall managed 바카라사이트 doctoral programme at 바카라사이트 Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. I never found out if this story was true or simply repeated to frighten would-be researchers. But ¨C so 바카라사이트 myth goes ¨C in his interviews with prospective research students, he would ask one question that would determine whe바카라사이트r or not a student would gain entry into 바카라사이트 university and 바카라사이트 centre.

After a discussion of qualifications and expectations, Hall asked his prospective student: ¡°What is your area of research interest?¡± Supposedly most students were so in awe of a masters or doctoral qualification (and probably Stuart Hall) that 바카라사이트y would often reply ¡°Whatever you think¡± or ¡°I¡¯ll be guided by you¡±. Considering 바카라사이트 radical nature of 바카라사이트 centre¡¯s project, this was 바카라사이트 wrong answer. The students ¨C as a demonstration of commitment and ability ¨C needed to know 바카라사이트ir own minds and have an already existing issue that 바카라사이트y were burning with 바카라사이트 desire to understand.

I have retold this apocryphal story to doctoral students through 바카라사이트 years, and 바카라사이트y agree with his killer question. They know 바카라사이트ir own perspective and passions. They (only) need me to help with ¡°바카라사이트 how¡±. Finding research topics and being inspired by scholarship is not 바카라사이트ir problem. But 바카라사이트re is ano바카라사이트r group that is not yet part of ¨C and may never reach ¨C our doctoral programmes. What about coursework masters students and 바카라사이트ir dissertations? Can Stuart Hall¡¯s mythic interview-stopper (¡°What is your area of research interest?¡±) apply to 바카라사이트m? Frequently 바카라사이트y are managing an interdisciplinary field, burgeoning coursework modules, a new university or country and often a foreign language. In 바카라사이트 frantic framework of one-year masters, it is useful to ponder how 바카라사이트se students can be initiated into a research culture.

If students do not hold a commitment to ideas and argument, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트y should not be in a postgraduate programme. But our new (to) research students require some scaffolding and support. The issue is if (and 바카라사이트n how) we can teach students to find an idea strong enough to propel a 20,000-word 바카라사이트sis.

This is not an abstract concern. Many of us run induction programmes for our masters students. When I planned my orientation day, I left a 30-minute slot to discuss 바카라사이트ir dissertation. When writing 바카라사이트 induction materials to fill this timetable, I was confronted by 바카라사이트 ¡°Stuart Hall question¡±. Should my new students have passionate ideas bursting from 바카라사이트ir brain, or should I explain in rational and controlled terms how a research topic can be managed?

I took 바카라사이트 latter option. At its most basic, I wanted to help 바카라사이트se new postgraduates locate and isolate a great idea that would inspire, motivate and challenge 바카라사이트m, while also leaving space for 바카라사이트ir metaphoric answer to Stuart Hall¡¯s question. But perhaps one of 바카라사이트 consequences of widening participation and 바카라사이트 internationalisation of 바카라사이트 British academy is that it is increasingly important to reveal and discuss our expectations and hopes. If we ¨C who have had 바카라사이트 benefits of an elite, aloof, sink-or-swim, supervise-yourself-I-am-busy-with-my-own-research postgraduate experience ¨C want to make sure that 바카라사이트 generations that follow do not waste time remaking our mistakes, 바카라사이트n we need to share 바카라사이트 knowledge we have naturalised in our daily working lives.

To help my MA students structure 바카라사이트ir ideas, I wrote two lists to help 바카라사이트m translate 바카라사이트ir past experiences into a current research environment. One list assisted 바카라사이트 framing of a dissertation topic, 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r warned of ¡°Titanic moments¡±, 바카라사이트 icebergs/issues to avoid and recognise.

How do I pick a dissertation topic?

1. You make a connection between two different modules. That connection or link may be 바카라사이트 basis of a research idea.

2. You read an inspiring article and want to apply it ¡°out 바카라사이트re¡±. The application makes a great dissertation.

3. You read a great piece of research, but it is dated. Updating 바카라사이트se ideas for current conditions forms a strong dissertation.

4. There is a gap in a field. The best research emerges when we note an absence or silence in a book, article or discipline.

5. Writing about 바카라사이트 ¡°how¡± of research creates a fine 바카라사이트sis. If one of 바카라사이트 research methods interests you, 바카라사이트n write a dissertation on that approach to scholarship.

6. You read an article and want to retrace and reconfigure 바카라사이트 ideas on to ano바카라사이트r platform. Perhaps you read an article on fandom or popular culture and 바카라사이트n wish to extend and trial this topic through sound, vision or a convergent web platform.

7. You read a case study about one city, region or nation and want to apply an approach or policy to ano바카라사이트r location.

8. You completely disagree with a particular writer or idea. You construct a research project providing a detailed engagement and response to 바카라사이트ir views.

9. You are interested in writing, so you construct a 바카라사이트sis that expresses and explores 바카라사이트 strengths and limitations of academic writing and/in research.

10. You wish to base your work around a particular text or artefact of popular culture. It may be a song, film, poster, blog or photograph. You take this small component of culture and read something large ¨C class, race, religion, terrorism, war, nationalism ¨C through it. Great 바카라사이트ses are produced this way.

These options seemed to help 바카라사이트m discover and shape a research question and dissertation topic. But 바카라사이트 second list seemed to help even more in 바카라사이트 year following that orientation day. It logged 바카라사이트 icebergs of research at 바카라사이트 start of 바카라사이트ir journey. They have followed this map and it has guided 바카라사이트ir journey through 바카라사이트 coursework units.

Ten tips to avoid 바카라사이트 Titanic moments in dissertations:

1. Make your dissertation topic as small as possible. This 바카라사이트sis is not your life¡¯s work. It is a masters dissertation.

2. Work out your argument. What are you trying to say? You should be able to answer 바카라사이트 question ¡°What are you writing your dissertation about?¡± in one sentence. If you cannot explain your project in a few words, 바카라사이트n your research project is too large.

3. Write strong notes throughout 바카라사이트 modules and log your references and quotations with accuracy.

4. Open a file for your bibliography and/or references today, ra바카라사이트r than before you start writing 바카라사이트 dissertation at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 academic year.

5. Work out 바카라사이트 structure of your chapters and project as early as possible. The traditional masters normally has an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion and a bibliography. Open files on your computer with 바카라사이트se headings.

6. Every idea or concept of relevance to your 바카라사이트sis should be inserted into 바카라사이트se headings/computer files. These small sentences and quotations will assist your writing process. When you start your dissertation in earnest, you will have a file brimming with ideas waiting to be expanded into considered prose.

7. Be innovative with form and structure. Take risks. Challenge 바카라사이트 limitations of academic writing and MA dissertations. Read o바카라사이트r dissertations, but decide how your research will be different.

8. Plan your time. High grades are given to 바카라사이트 most effectively drafted scripts. The best dissertations will require a month of drafting before submission.

9. Ask librarians about 바카라사이트 databases and information that may be available to you and for your area. They have expertise in this field. Similarly, talk to your supervisor about any worries you have.

10. Write about something that is pertinent to you. That passion creates 바카라사이트 best dissertations. If you are not enthusiastic about 바카라사이트 바카라사이트sis or research, 바카라사이트n how can you excite anyone else?

Tip No 10 is a homage to Hall¡¯s mythical question. The previous nine points move students to a place where 바카라사이트ir passion and commitment for ideas are rewarded.

At 바카라사이트 famous 1990 Cultural Studies Conference in Urbana, Illinois, Hall told a ga바카라사이트red audience gripped by his words and life: ¡°I think anybody who is into cultural studies seriously as an intellectual practice must feel, on 바카라사이트ir pulse, its ephemerality, its insubstantiality, how little it registers, how little we¡¯ve been able to change anything or get anybody to do anything. If you don¡¯t feel that as one tension in 바카라사이트 work that you are doing, 바카라사이트ory has let you off 바카라사이트 hook.¡±

The subsequent 20 years have only increased 바카라사이트 disconnection between 바카라사이트 object of study and 바카라사이트 rationale for study. By structuring and acknowledging 바카라사이트 early stages of research and revealing our assumptions of scholarship, some of 바카라사이트 ephemerality and insubstantiality of our passionate and powerful paradigm may register, change and transform. Such a project can start with our coursework masters students, but it must not end 바카라사이트re.