FIN8018 - Art History Research Project

• Offered for Year: 2025/26

• Module Leader(s): Dr Edward Juler

• Owning School: School of Arts and Cultures
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

• Capacity limit: 100 student places

Semesters

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

Aims

The Art History Research Project offers students the opportunity for in-depth engagement with a specialised topic of their choice. It enables students to apply advanced research skills and critical analysis in a sustained piece of self-directed writing on a focused art historical topic defined by them in regular discussion with tutors. The topic(s) will relate to the discipline of Art History (and cognate fields) and lead to an independent thesis or extended piece of writing which represents the student’s critical understanding of said topic within a suitable methodological framework which reflects the current state-of-play of the discipline.

The module encourages students to apply interdisciplinary approaches relevant to contemporary academic concerns. Structured tutorial supervision and seminars/workshops will help students develop a clear understanding of their subject and research skills appropriate to producing an independent piece of writing on a specialist, in-depth topic in Art History. This includes a detailed awareness of the appropriate scholarship and theory, advanced critical thinking and the analysis of both primary and secondary sources.

For the purposes of the module, 'Art History' is understood to embrace a wide range of possible approaches and subject areas decided in consultation with your supervisor. By ‘research project’, the module allows students to produce a long-form piece of sustained writing, in the form of an 8000-word paper, modelled on a journal article. In short, the aim of this module is to develop students as advanced art history scholars.

Outline Of Syllabus

The course begins with an introductory seminar and subsequent seminars/workshops will discuss critical skills relevant to developing a self-directed research project in Art History (such as planning, note-taking and writing). Students are allocated a supervisor based upon the subject(s) they intend to research. The supervisor works closely with the student in regular one-to-one tutorials, providing them with bespoke advice on the project and feedback on the research process and writing.

The module has a series of deadlines to ensure that students keep up to date with the research and writing by submitting plans and work at regular intervals throughout the academic year. The Art History Research Project handbook contains additional information relating to the syllabus and the supervisory framework.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The module uses a combination of Scheduled Learning and Independent Study to build key competencies and skills in the ability to produce self-directed research, apply critical analysis and the written articulation of key concepts and ideas.

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities

Introductory Lecture: This teaching activity will introduce students to the module and brief them about the knowledge learning outcomes, assessment and teaching methods.

Seminars and workshops: This is a key component of the module through which students prepare for independent study and consolidate learning through engaging with set readings, directed tasks and peer-to-peer interaction. Seminars will be supported by online content such as set readings and worksheets. (K3, K4, S3, S5, S8)

One-to-one tutorials: Regular in-person tutorials with a designated supervisor help students critically identify, design and develop their self-directed research project into a sustained piece or portfolio of writing. The tutorials will allow students to define their aims, define their subject area and show their grasp of the material involved. They will provide students guidance on the research, content, structure and presentation, and offer critical feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the project. (K2, K5, S2, S4)

Guided Independent Study

Guided Independent Study enables students to deepen core skills in planning and implementing self-directed research (including identifying an appropriate topic, undertaking a literature review and preparing a critical bibliography), developing an appropriate research methodology, time-management and critical thinking, and producing an extended piece of writing which reflect best academic practice in Art History. (K1, K2, S1, S6, S7)

Assessment Methods

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

Other Assessment

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The Art History Research project provides students with the most appropriate means of demonstrating sustained scholarship, research, understanding, critical knowledge and ability in academic writing within the field of Art History. The assessment is an 8000-word piece of sustained, independent writing which uses the standard form of an academic journal article as its template. Students engage in self-initiated study to develop a title, research question(s) and methodology and are supported to do so through small-group teaching and regular one-to-one tutorials with a supervisor.

The size and scope of the research project is discipline-appropriate in approximating the length of professional scholarly articles in academic journals and enables the assessment of subject knowledge, theoretical understanding and students' ability to independently design, conduct and reflect on their own self-directed research. The assessment fosters independent learning, research skills, critical reflection, in-depth subject knowledge, time-management and writing proficiency. The final piece of self-directed writing will include an introduction, chapters, conclusion and bibliography, and provide research questions, theoretical framework, methodology, research findings and critical analysis.

Additional task-specific assessment criteria:

• Evidence of identifying and understanding of a topic/research problem within contemporary Art History evidenced through a sustained analysis of the research questions, methods, findings and context, including an explanation of the rationale underpinning the project. (K1, K3, K4, K5)
• Quality of the theoretical and methodological framework as well as the criticality of the argument, and how theory and method can be deployed in addressing the research questions and the analysis of findings/evidence. (K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7)
• Awareness and utilisation of scholarship in developing a suitable academic frame through which to examine the research questions, evidenced via appropriate in-text referencing/citations, quotations and bibliography. (K1, K2, K3, S1, S3, S4, S5)
• The ability to draw upon a range of primary and secondary sources. (K2, K4, S5)
• Coherency of the written work, including using an appropriate academic tone for postgraduate-level research in Art History, fluency of argument, suitability of research questions, clarity of structure, effective display of evidence/data/findings as well as general spelling and grammar. (K3, K4, K5, S2, S3, S6, S7, S8)

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/