MFA research support
1. Quick Guide
Topic
For those new to academic writing or even if it’s just been a while, here is a simple formula for focusing your research interests and formulating your research question or thesis topic:
Formula 1: A/B/C and their use of material / concept / history / religion / rhetoric in A/B/C (Artist or film or project etc.)
Formula 2: The concept of A/B/C in the work of A/B/C.
Research question sample: How is A/B/C using material / concept / history / religion / rhetoric to reach a specific audience/express a specific concern / agenda etc.?
Research in arts can be:
• supportive of practice: For instance when clarifying a preliminary question,
e.g. exploring the history of a specific insane asylum for a piece on hysteria
• contextualizing the practice: An exploration of similar, related, or opposing practices, e.g. researching how current photographic projects are treating issues of land use in relation to your own photo project on suburbia in Berlin.
• practice based: When the artistic practice is identical with the research,
e.g. developing a healing dance ritual in a context of performance working with trauma and body memory.
Methods can be:
• experiential, e.g in phenomenology
• experimental, e.g in physics
• opinion based, e.g. interview, questionnaire
• hermeneutical, e.g. text analysis, quantitative/qualitative content analysis
• observational: e.g. case study, participant observation in Anthropology
• practice based: the (artistic) practice is the research
Methodology is your set of methods, your paradigms, the rationale for the methods you employ, in the case of a systematic investigation: the system. It seems best to explain early on in the introduction where you are coming from with your methodology and your framework of beliefs to give the reader a context for your methodology.
2. MFA Supporting Guide to Writing your Research Paper
by Klaus Knoll Enjoy!
First and foremost: This is here for you, not the other way around. The process of storing, repeating and revising ideas, commonly known as writing, is not just the product of thought but very much part of the process of thinking itself. Writing will always help structuring the inner voice. Once you learn to do it from that perspective you might find that this intense and interwoven process is relevant to your art work, your life in general.
Plan Your Paper
You already have a plan from your application. It will experience many alterations, shifts, expansions, contractions, variations. Your paper may in the end look nothing like the plan you handed in half a year ago. This is alright. You and your faculty will document this process along the way. The main point of your research paper at Transart Institute is to inform your art work, to put it in a wider context than your world and that of your colleagues, and to help you to become more articulate about it, fostering dialogue and the exchange of ideas and to make you more versed in arguing your points whatever they are. More than anything, make sure that they are Your Points.
Create an Argument
Always explain where you are coming from, ideologically, epistemologically and personally. Give your frame/s of reference. A traditional “good research paper” will contain an introduction, a body and a conclusion. But in reality, all research is an argument that somebody brings forward. Be clear about what that argument is and what your supporting facts, ideas, arguments, assumptions etc. are. Once a month or so, write a thesis statement to make sure you can still explain in a sentence or two what it all is about.
Tame the Sources
Before you head off into the joys of the library, develop a system for taking notes and for tracking both kinds of quotes: the word-by-word quote and the paraphrased idea, when you present, summarize, praise, oppose, classify in your own words what someone else wrote. A particularly straightforward and low-tech approach is a notebook with divided pages where both kinds of quotes and all source information (the bibliographical stuff) go on the left, your ideas, expansions, impressions, screams, sighs, the supporting and opposing ideas that come to your mind go on the right. This can be just as easily done in most word editing programs. It’s hard to conceive a simpler and/or more effective system to keep track of what is yours and what’s someone else’s. It will also very quickly help you clarify your thinking. Together with your faculty, choose and strictly follow a citation system. Transart Institute recommends either Harvard or the Chicago Style Manual. If you have questions about how to quote sources, ask your faculty and ask them early on.
Draft and Revise Your Paper
Start with an outline. Otherwise a lot of excess baggage goes into your paper and will then need to be edited out again. Also, superfluous points muddy your paper and your thinking. Your outline is your map, without it you may get lost and you don’t have very much time to get there. Check your latest thesis statement against your research plan. Are you still researching what you planned? Make an outline with every draft. Follow it strictly. Revise it for the next draft. Much of the drafting and revising is done in the virtual classroom and enjoys the input of your faculty. There is nothing wrong with getting input from your peers either. Allow plenty of time. Writing under pressure is not everybody’s delight.
Review and Finish Your Paper
Use a spell checker but be aware of its limitations. E.g. the spell checker can’t tell you whether it’s “it’s” or “its”. A style guide can. Also, have someone else proof read your paper. Check thesis statement and conclusion for coherency. Imagine explaining your paper to someone at a party in 30 seconds. If you can’t do it there’s a good chance your argument needs further clarification. Do clarify it and an interesting and enriching exchange of ideas will surely follow.
3. MFA Written Element Guidelines Outlined by Geoff Cox, Wolfgang Suetzl, and Thomas Zummer
1. Preface
Motivation: At the beginning of your paper, demonstrate the motivation for your interest in your particular research topic in a concise manner. What is it that aroused your interest? Is it a particular problem, or work, book, or experience? This helps to engage your readers, let them to get to know you, and also contextualizes your work.
2. Introduction
• Hypothesis: The hypothesis concerns the initial premise of your research. What will you address? What do you assume as given or as possible? What follows from your premise? What do you want to prove?
• Research Question: The research question is the question you want to respond to, as it is what organises your research. It is of key significance because it orients your work in a particular direction, builds up a momentum, and prevents you from getting lost among general statements. You return to the research question at the end of your paper.
• Methodology: How will you conduct your research, address your topic, and provide access to relevant materials and references for your reader. It is here that considerations of form and style become important, as you inform your reader about your hypothesis, the method you will use to proceed, and lead them further into your topic.
3. Argument
• Framing your research question. Development of your argument.
• Examination of topic (s), and evidence.
• Sources and Resources: Your readers should be able to access the sources that you have used to frame your argument and ground the validity of your claims. This ensures that your work is transparent, i.e. that it is open for others to engage in and to examine. Your sources – books, articles, interviews, online sources, works – should be listed in an appendix. If you use primary sources such as interviews, an (edited) transcript can be included in the appendix. You can also make such sources available for scrutiny by uploading them on the internet as digital files, and providing a link.
• Readability: Terms that are important in your text should be consistent and have the same meaning throughout, and should therefore be appropriately defined (in the proper place, i.e., footnotes or a glossary). Please be concise and clear, keep in mind the public that you are writing for.
4. Text
The main body of the paper should provide an introduction to the subject matter you want to deal with, and prepare your main argument. It is important to be clear and concise, and to avoid fillers and repetitions. In the main part of the paper, it is a good idea to provide points of orientation – particularly at the end/beginning of chapters or sections. Let the reader know at which point in the overall narrative you stand, what comes next, etc. At the end of longer or complex arguments, and before taking the next step, a brief summary will be helpful to your readers. With regard to the form of footnotes, bibliographies, glossaries, etc., please refer to the Chicago Manual of Style.
5. Conclusion
• Summary of your research.
• Conclusion to your initial research questions.
• Other questions or speculations that have emerged. At the end of the text, you should revisit your original question and determine if you have been able to answer it. If that is not the case, let your readers know why. Is
there a different question or set of questions that could be asked? What new questions or conclusions emerge from your research?
6. Apparatus
Footnotes, Citations, Quotes, Extracts, Epigraphs, Index, Glossary.
Note: Although the research project should serve your art project work (and vice versa), it should be remembered that it is in itself a creative task. Good luck, work well, and we will look forward to your papers.
4. For Further Help
https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/
Biographies + Artist Statements
Biography
An artist biography is essentially a very brief summary of how you got to where you are in life. It generally consists of one to two paragraphs and is usually around one half of a page. A biography consists of information such as where you went to school, what degrees you have, when you earned them, if you’ve led any workshops or participated in any workshops, major exhibitions where your artwork has been exhibited and any major collections that your work is a part of. A biography is a quick summary of your resume.
1. Go through your resume and highlight your most important accomplishments such as getting your art degree, where you got it from and when. Highlight any major awards and any major collections your work is a part of. Highlight significant workshops you have participated in and any major shows, especially recent solo exhibitions.
2. List the information that you want to include in your biography. Then start writing out sentences briefly describing each point. Usually you start with where you went to school and when and what type of degree you earned. Then you write about the exhibitions, workshops and collections. Finally you end with where you currently are….are you taking additional art classes? Are you working on a grant? Are you working on a major commission?
Excerpt from: http://www.icc.edu/art/writingAnArtistBiography.asp
Artist Statements
Suggested outline for one page statement:
Paragraph 1: Introduction and summary (possible format) Answer the following questions in 3-5 sentences:
• What content/phenomenon/principle/politics drives your work?
• What field(s) and/or discipline(s) do you see your practice aligned with?
• What medium or mediums are employed in your practice?
• What message, if any, would you like your work to communicate to the viewer? (This message could be political, cultural, personal, etc.)
Paragraph 2: Specific details of particular works that expand and build on what you describe in Paragraph 1
• Describe 2-4 of your recent works (1-2 sentences per work) in the context of how this work fits into your general area/discipline of interest.
• Describe the context (gallery, film festival, furniture show, public park, bar?) that best fits your work, particularly if you work in a non-gallery context.
• If you have been drawn to your medium for any political/personal/cultural reasons, define those. For example, if your work is primarily shown online try to describe why you are drawn to the Internet as exhibition space.
Paragraph 3: Current projects in progress and future work
• Describe your current work in progress and how it expands the previous body of work. Try to describe this work in 2-3 sentences.
• If you see your work developing in a different or more focused direction in the future describe in detail that transformation or change.
Artist Statement Tips
From How to Write An Artist’s Statement That Doesn’t Suck by Hannah Piper Burns. Online at: http://theabundantartist.com/how-to-write-an-artists-statementthat-doesnt-suck/
(…) Here are five tips for improving any artist statement:
1. Start Off With a Bang
Almost every artist statement I have ever read starts out with the words “My work is”, “My painting/drawing/sculpture/video/performance is inspired by”, or “In my work”. I hereby call an official moratorium on all of these openers! In a competitive field like this one, you need to stand out from the pack. When a dealer or curator or jury or grant committee flips through page after page of statements, you want yours to be a breath of fresh air.
2. Less is More
Seriously! My own artist statement is six healthy sentences long. I find that many artists hide behind verbosity, as if the more they write, the closer they can get to the truth. But if people need to read paragraph after paragraph, they might think your work can’t hold up on its own, and that is a big-time kiss of death. A big part of what I do with other people’s artist statements is trim sentences and words like so much fat off of a steak. Nobody, from dealers to curators to your audience to your own mother, wants to read a novel to get a gist of the work. So keep it short and sweet!
3. Learn to Love Language
Short doesn’t have to mean content-less: Maximize your impact with unique, fascinating verbiage. You’re an artist, after all! Make sure you have both long and short sentences, which create a syncopated rhythm that is enjoyable to read. Please, whenever possible, use active rather than passive tense, and find verbs and adjectives that really strike to the heart of what it is you do. Thesaurus.com, Dictionary.com, and Etymonline are your friends. Personally, I always love statements that utilize onomatopoeia, like “ooze”, “slither”, “flush”, et cetera. Which brings me to my next point:
4. The Words Should Match the Work
Is your work whimsical? Or is it violent? What is the scale? Make sure your prose reflects the qualities of what it describes. Using verbs and adjectives that really match the qualities of your creative output will create a statement that both excites and informs. Have you found a great quote from an artist, writer, philosopher, or theologian that you feel speaks to your process, form, or content? Consider using it as an introduction to your statement, or even as the statement itself! I recommend looking for inspiration online or in the art theory books gathering dust on your shelves.
5. Get a Second Opinion
Just like when we make artwork, sometimes we are so involved in the process of writing a statement that it can be hard to be objective. Make sure you get a fresh pair of eyes to look over your statement before you publish it or send it out. Try reading it aloud while showing some images or clips. That why, you can get a better sense of the rhythm and flow of the prose while your critic can see how well the words actually match the work.