• Inactive for Year: 2024/25

• Module Leader(s): Professor Kirsten Gibson
• Lecturer: Dr Julia Partington, Ms Nancy Kerr Elliott, Dr Adam Behr, Dr Jane Nolan

• Owning School: Arts & Cultures
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

Researching Music introduces students to a range of different types of advanced music research and helps them develop the necessary knowledge and skills to independently devise, design, and manage the process of undertaking and completing a 60-credit music research project. Students explore what it means to do music research and how to design, focus, articulate and manage a large-scale music research project across professional scholarly and sector-facing fields. By the end of the module, students will have developed a proposal for their Music Research Project, providing the foundations for the next stage of their research. Students also explore ethical and health and safety considerations for undertaking music research will and complete the ethical clearance process for their Music Research Project as part of this module. In short, the module aims to facilitate students to become postgraduate level researchers.

Outline Of Syllabus

The topics covered address research development and project management skills for music scholars and practitioners, preparing students for their 60-credit project. They may include the following:

- Introduction to different kinds of research projects within music;
- Designing and focussing a project;
- Developing relevant research techniques;
- Understanding and applying relevant methodologies;
- Building a bibliography and sourcing research materials;
- Effective reading and notetaking techniques;
- Critical thinking and evaluating sources;
- Professional writing and citation practices;
- The research process and project management;
- Ethics and health and safety;
- Devising and writing a project proposal.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The present-in-person and non-synchronous lecture materials work together to convey knowledge about designing, planning, and successfully undertaking a large-scale research project in music. Non-synchronous materials will include learning materials relevant to different types of final project. (K1–4; S1–4)

Present-in-person small-group teaching consolidates learning from the lectures and supports students to develop the broad research skills and issues introduced in the lectures in ways that are relevant to their chosen field of study or approach. (K1–4; S1–4)

The drop-in sessions provide opportunities for students to seek individual guidance from the module leader as they progress through the module. (S1-4)

The assessment strategy allows students to enhance skills needed to conduct a 60-credit research project in music. (K1–4; S1–4)

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Assessment 1 (20%)
The mid-semester project pitch tests oral presentation skills and provides feedforward at the mid-point of the module as students begin to devise and focus their individual final project ideas. The task assessment criteria are as follows:
1) Clear and focussed overview of the underpinning research question or problem the student will explore in their final project (K3, S1)
2) Demonstration of understanding of appropriate methodological approach that will be applied to explore the research question (K2)
3) Explanation of ethical issues that will need to be considered when designing and undertaking the proposed research (K2)

Assessment 2 (80%)
The 3,000-word research proposal must set out a clear rationale for the proposed project including:
1) an abstract summarising the proposed research project;
2) research and/or sector context in which the project sits;
3) research questions that will be explored through the project;
4) methodology or approach to the proposed project;
5) a bibliography;
6) a research plan and provisional timeline;
7) ethical approval checklist.



The proposal is assessed as follows:
1) Critical quality and clear articulation of the proposed project including how it aligns to the scholarly and/or sectoral contexts in which the research sits and the underpinning questions it will explore. (K3, K4, S1, S3)
2) Identification of relevant methodological and/or theoretical frameworks that will be applied in the proposed research, and recognition of ethical considerations the research will raise. (K1, K2)
3) Evidence that the research context, questions and methodological framework are informed by primary and secondary source research, underpinned by professional citation practices and bibliography. (K1, K4, S1, S2)
4) Coherence and structure of the proposal including appropriate academic tone for postgraduate research. (S1)
5) Clear and feasible plan, to manage the research process effectively, including devising a plan for implementing and producing the proposed research project on time. (S4)

Reading Lists

• MUS8020's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• MUS8020's Timetable