Undergraduate Course: Fine Art Dissertation (HIAR10005)

Course Outline
School	Edinburgh College of Art	College	College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 5 Undergraduate)
Course type	Dissertation	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	40	ECTS Credits	20
Summary	In their fifth year students write a dissertation of between 8,000 and 10,000 words on a subject chosen by the student and approved by staff in History of Art. There is a general meeting for students on the writing of dissertations in Semester 2 of their third year. Following this meeting, each student is invited to identify a provisional topic, which they submit to the History of Art office. Students will then be allocated a supervisor. Once the topic and supervisor are confirmed, students should contact their supervisor to discuss preliminary reading. During their fourth year all students attend three general group meetings on the writing of dissertations. The first meeting provides advice on dissertation research and writing. The second meeting advises students on the writing up and presentation of dissertations. The third meeting will be a general Q&A on any questions and/or problems that may arise nearer the deadline. Students are encouraged to submit a plan plus sample of text (up to 2,000 words) for formative feedback from their supervisor by a set date, agreed with their supervisor. The text sample may either be in the form of one, 2,000 word sample, or two smaller portions, submitted at separate dates, of up to 1,000 words each. This will be agreed with your supervisor. Students are entitled to a maximum of four individual meetings with their supervisor. The first meeting is to discuss the topic and possible structures and ideas for further reading. The second meeting is to discuss a written plan. The third meeting is to continue discussing your progress, and to review a written sample. The fourth optional meeting will be to discuss any questions or problems arising in the final stages of writing up. Students are responsible for arranging these meetings. There are no fixed times but the first two meetings are normally in Semester 1 and the second two meetings are normally in Semester 2. The dissertation must be submitted by a set date near the start of Semester 2 of the student's fifth year.
Course description	Not entered

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites	Students MUST have passed: History of Art 2A Reason, Romance, Revolution: Art from 1700 to 1900 (HIAR08027) AND History of Art 2B From Modernism and the Avant-Gardes to Postmodernism and Globalisation (HIAR08028)	Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2023/24, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Full Year
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 400 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 2, Dissertation/Project Supervision Hours 3, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 387 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	1 Dissertation of between 8000 and 10000 words
Feedback	Feedback is provided to students on a plan and writing sample(s) of up to 2,500 words. The date for this varies, and is agreed between student and supervisor.
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
The final year dissertation provides students with an opportunity for sustained independent work on a topic of their own choosing. This allows them to look more deeply into an aspect of a topic studied in their taught courses or to investigate a suitable subject not covered in formal teaching, providing that supervision can be provided. General meetings and individual meetings with the supervisor provide advice on independent research and the collection, assessment, organisation and presentation of material. Work on the dissertation encourages students to develop their skills in the independent use of published material, libraries and bibliographical resources. They are also likely to be working with visual evidence in the original and may well have to learn how to make effective use of the resources of galleries or museums. Supervised dissertation work provides experience in finding, selecting and analysing various types of sources and encourages students to develop a more critical approach to both primary and secondary sources. The selection and refinement of the dissertation topic provides useful experience in independent thinking. The dissertation is the longest piece of assessed writing that students are called on to prepare for their degree and, as such, gives them experience in the structuring of a sustained argument and in the assessment and effective deployment of evidence. A history of art dissertation normally requires the use of visual evidence, which provides students with an opportunity to develop their skills in the selection and use of illustrations. Students also gain experience in the presenting text and illustrations neatly, accurately and in accordance with a set of guidelines. The skills gained in successful work on a history of art dissertation are generally applicable but they are also a useful preparation for postgraduate work in the field.