OCA Tutor led hangout 24th October 2019

Tutor Led Group Work HE6  Contextual Studies and Body of Work

This session was presented by Ariadne Xenou through a slide show with questions and a discussion following the presentation.

I pulled out a number of points from the presentation which I think will be useful personally and to give a flavour of the presentation to the OCA student hangout group I belong to.

• Don't separate the approach - BOW and CS
• Be analytical - show the big picture through micro details. Microstories and methodology are important
• Eloquence is key
• Grand narrative (the overarching theme of your project) Look at what interests you and break it down into why it interests you. Then put those components under the microscope. A grand narrative can be changeable. Is there a grader narrative than the grand narrative? Need to understand the context. Have a statement to test - what is your issue and why do you want to talk about it? A micro narrative stops you making the work too big.
• Research questions to ask: How can I tell (something you are looking to find) How do I know (something you need to test - look at other photographers etc.) What information is out there on the topic? (grand narrative and smaller threads) What are the connections of the topic? (threads, sift out the stuff that's not relevant) Why is it important? (ask about everything - be critical and qualify what you have discovered. If you can't back it up, re-consider the answer)
• Clarify and identify key aspects of terms of your subject and question all the time.
• Research question - like a wave - it changes all the time
• Research must be valuable - know why you are engaging with it. 
• Make specific notes explaining how it relates to your work. How does it relate to your previous source. How do these recurring themes fit together?

I fed some points back to the student hangout group on 30th October 2019.