OUGD501: Context of Practice 2 - Dissertation or Extended Written Piece: Library Research Lecture

Key Words

• Focus
• Relevance

• Try to come up with a well defined title

Examples of Titles

• The role of costume within the film "A Taste of Honey"
• Did western society ever need cars; are they a necessity and how have they contributed to the formation of the urban environment - A bit vague
• An analysis of the relationship between national based branding, national identity ans stereotyping
• Documentary photography: does it ever truthfully represent reality?
• An investigation into 'expressionistic' and 'realistic' lighting in film
• What role does the graphic designer play in the modern music industry

• Visualise your title, break it down

Primary & Secondary

• Primary research - gathering your own original data
• Secondary research (Scholarship) - reading up on the subject, making use of the research and findings of other for corroboration, disagreement, triangulation, theoretical underpinning etc.

Research Methods

• Visual practice, experiment, interest &enquiry (research and critical diaries) 
• Questionnaires (qualitative/quantitative)
• Interviews
• Case Study
• Site Visits
• Literature search

Literature Search 1

• Books
• Journals
• Websites / Blogs / On-line forums
• Videos / DVDs
• CDs / Tape Cassettes / Vinyl Recordings
• TV / Radio
• Newspapers / Maps / Reports
• Printed Ephemera

Literature Search 2

• Knowing where to look most effectively
• Effective use of catalogues - Narrowing and broadening search terms, using related terms, browsing using Dewey Decimal classification
• Use of contents page and index
• Reading the introduction or abstract
• Using a book's own bibliography to inform further reading

Book Search

• Leeds College of Art Library - http://library.leeds-art.ac.uk
• Leeds Metropolitan University Library - www.leedsmet.ac.uk/lis
• University of Leeds (SCONUL) - www.leeds.ac.uk/library
• The British Library in Boston Spa - www.bl.uk
• COPAC - http://copac.ac.uk

Journal Search 1

InfoTrac 

• A store of online magazine articles
• http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/leedscad

JSTOR

• a store of online magazine articles
• only available on college computers

Art Full Text

• Journal index + some full text articles available

Internet Search 1

Athens

• Store of password protected sites
• each student who wishes to access this will need a password

WGSN

• A database of fashion information and trends

Google Scholar

• Full text PDF articles available 
• http://scholar.google.co.uk

Library eStudio

• Learning Resources
• Links to how to Harvard Reference
• FAQs

Two Tips

• Don't bite off more than you can chew (keep the topic and title focused and manageable)
• Create a sense of momentum (note taking, writing a draft section when you can, keeping your bibliography up to date)