A Survival Guide Dave Toulson 25/4/2017 The Research Project A Survival Guide Dave Toulson 25/4/2017

Today we’ll be discussing… The two most important things to remember What makes a good research project How to start Different approaches Questions

Don’t Panic

K.I.S.S

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID Not the terrible American glam Rock band* Rather Keep It Simple Stupid This works for a lot of work at University but is even more important on the digital project. *Seriously if you listen to KISS un-ironically or know someone who does please seek help.

Bad Idea http://www.theworldsworstwebsiteever.com/ -Too much going on. -Really not clear what the site is about

Good Idea

Where to Begin Your project serves your research not the other way round. Pick a topic area you are actually interested in.

6 Steps to Success 1) Pick a topic you are interested in 2) Pick a rough research question 3) Find three primary sources 4) Find five secondary sources 5) Does your rough research question match your sources. If not alter question accordingly 6) Decide how to present your argument

1) Topic: Popular Music and Politics 2) Rough Question: Was Popular music a revolutionary force in the twentieth century 3) Primary sources: MRC, Rock’s Back Pages etc 4) Secondary Sources: Loads 5) Change to focus on punk 6) Decide how to do it

Getting Started Go to myportfolio.warwick.ac.uk

A Demonstration

Different Approaches There are a number of ways to do this task However it would be good to have your primary sources embedded in some way (this also frees up words for your word count)

Mostly Text and Images It is perfectly legitimate to do the research project through text and images. Be strategic with your images. Make sure you analyse and don’t simply describe the sources.

Podcast and Videocast II: Electric Boogaloo You might want to re visit some of the skills you developed in the podcast task This can possibly serve different sources (film/television clips or music) better than just text

Podcast and Videocast Reminders Importance of vocal expression and clarity. Image selection, and transition choices Not overdone Background music? Or silence?

Other (Complicated) Approaches Digital History (see previous years presentation) Visualising history (graphs, text analysis etc) I’m happier to talk through these approaches on a 1-1 basis. Remember the golden rule of K.I.S.S.

To Conclude You will be creating a web-page on myportfolio, even if it is mostly text We’d expect 95% of you to include some images (e.g. of the primary sources) A few of you will do all or part of your project as a video E.g. using wevideo to speak over images E.g. video-casting yourself reflecting on the project

Any questions?