Monday, March 02, 2009

Essay Writing - Part Four

Remember, you can download the entire pack here.

When you have finished the first draft, READ IT THROUGH. If you are in any doubt about the grammar, read it aloud. Have you done a spell check? Have you done a bibliography? Have you numbered and captioned the illustrations? Have you included a word count?

Avoiding Cliché
Here are some common words and phrases that are often misused:

In stark contrast: What is so stark about the contrast? Are you sure it is not just simply a bit different?

Portray: To portray something means to make a portrait of a name individual or thing. By extension, the word can be used metaphorically: thus "James' novel, Washington Square is a portrait of New York society in the 1880's. But this use of 'portray' has become a cliché, and bad writers, unaware of the metaphorical meaning, now use it relentlessly when they really mean 'represent', 'depict', 'show'.

Deeply personal: This is often used as the ultimate term of praise for any sort of artwork. But what does it mean? If you mean that the subject of the work is private life, or intimate experience then say so. It is helpful to remember that everyone experiences love, death, birth etc, but far fewer people can make good art about these experiences. If it is good art it works because it taps into the common realm of such experiences, otherwise we would not be able to understand it.

Capturing the essence: Image-makers do not capture essences of things: they make representations. Image-making is an artificial process; ideas for artworks are not hanging in the air, waiting to be 'captured': the most apparently spontaneous work may involve years of effort. talking about 'capturing essences' mystifies this effort, which should be the real subject of your analysis. Lens-based art is particularly liable to fall victim to this kind of mystification. Instead of saying, for example, that Gillanders' photograph of the poet Ian Hamilton Finlay 'captures the great mans essence', you should consider the portrait as an image which invokes other images; i.e. which deliberately places this image of MacLean in well-known traditions: the Romantic 'Great man' (e.g. Rodin's Thinker), the head of the prophet (e.g. Michaelangelo's Moses).

Essay Writing - Part Three

Remember, you can download the whole pack from here.

Your Own Ideas and Other People's

Try to avoid vague remarks: Some say... or Many think... Who exactly says or thinks this? You should be able to cite at least one specific individual, and be able to quote what it is that he or she said or thought. If quoting from a book, it is important to supply a context for the quotation. Briefly introduce the new speaker in your text: "According to the anthropologist, Joseph Campbell...", or "In 1908, Freud argued in a letter to Jung that..." This will enable your reader to orient themselves. Then comes the quote (indented and single spaced). Then, explain to the reader the significance of the quote: state explicitly why you are quoting this. Point out any contradictions or interesting implications. Very often you will be able to use this 'exit' from the quote to form a bridge to the subject or point you will be dealing with next.

Good Style
Focus on the artwork, not the artist. An excellent way to approach any still or time-based work of art is to pretend it is anonymous. This will save you from wasting time and words on irrelevant biographical detail. Imagine that all you know about a work is the year and place in which it was made. How would you start researching its meaning? You would have to look first at the culture and historical events, the movements and ideas around it.

Avoid overstatement, as in the sort of sentence that begins, "Truly, Man Ray had entered a new realm of reality..." Had he bodily left the universe or had he just started making a different kind of photographic image? And what is that "Truly" doing there? If it is not true, why say it?

You may find yourself using "Truly" and other redundant constructions ("Hopefully", "Sadly") to make your writing sound more exciting. This is unnecessary. If the event or idea you are discussing is itself interesting or important, all you have to do is describe it and let it speak for itself.

Other forms of overstatement involve making gigantic claims; e.g. "Throughout history, man has endeavored..." or "Never before in the history of photography had..." Few of us actually know enough to make a claim like this. Chances are such statements are going to be plain wrong or at best redundant. Similarly avoid starting with assertions about human nature e.g.: "Man has always used violence as a spur to progress." Has the writer undertaken a comprehensive study of all known civilisations and cultures, at all periods of human history, or are they talking nonsense? What would you think? If in doubt try putting together an opposite statement: "Throughout history man has never tried to..."; "Many/Several times before in the history of photography..."; "Man has always regarded violence as a block to progress." If any of these strike you as at least as likely to be true as the original claim, then you will know you have to change your text.

The truth is that no culture is uniform; cultures are composed of competing and co-operating groups, who may differ radically in their views of their common situation. History tends to be produced through debate and disagreement (dialectic). Where there is slavery, for example, there will always be groups of people trying to abolish it.

Essay Writing - Part Two

Remember you can download the whole pack from here.

Notes on Writing

Explain Things Clearly
It is very important to remember that real people, not abstract nouns, are the actual cause of historical events. For example, the sentence "Industrialisation swept across Europe in the nineteenth century" is misleading on several grounds. Grammaically, Industrialisation is not something like a plague of a hurricane; it cannot literally 'sweep' anywhere. So here the author is speaking metaphorically. Is this then a good metaphor? No. What the author of the sentence really means is that, across Europe, millions of people were engaged in building factories and railways; that more and more people now worked in factories with machines, and that the common experience of urban life was radically different for these people that it had been for their grandparents. This type of metaphor is bad for a number of reasons; first it conceals the experience of these people. Worse, by making Industialisation sound like a force of nature, it conceals the political nature of the phenoenon. Finally, the sentence is bad because of its hidden assumptions about causation. It implies, first, that this particular historical change was inevitable, and, second that this change did indeed have the nuetral qualities of a force of nature, instead of being something actively created by specific groups of people, and in this case for profit.

Grammer and Style
Sentences

Keep your sentences short and to the point. use active rather than passive sentences. e.g. "Leibovitz took the photo" (active). "The photo was taken by Leibovitz" (passive). The subject of the sentence must agree in tense, number (singular or plural) and voice; avoid switching from "It says" to "They say" halfway through a sentence. Just because a phrase has some kind of verb in it does not mean it is a sentence. For example: "Combining the two forms in a new way" is not a sentence. This phrase could probably be linked to the previous sentence with a semi-colon (;) or made to stand on its own, e.g. "He/She combined the two forms in a new way."

This is not a trivial matter; sentences are units of sense and logic. If your essay is not expressed in sentences, your writing will not make sense and your points will be confused and confusing. Everyone talks naturally in short sentences, we do not mix up tenses and number. As a test, try reading your essay aloud. Never write anything you can't say.

Paragraphs
Paragraphs are the next unit of sense; a way of organising your thouts typographically, making your argument easier to follow. Typically made up of about three or four linked sentences, paragraphs are used to develop and idea, or present a logical sequence of data. The following sections of this booklet are examples of paragraphs.

Essay Writing - Part One

This is an important part of nearly every subject you study, and can help out with simple note-taking as well. Below are sectiosn from a pack I was given when we were writing out photography personal study, but it applies for all subjects. Just skip over parts that are purely subject-based. I'll have to type it into parts, so bear with me. Or, you can download the entire pack from here.

Essay Writing
Essay writing is an essential skill when articulating your thoughts and ideas. No matter how good an image maker you are, youw ill need to articulate and explain your ideas through words, whether verbally or written.

Listening and Taking Notes
The first port of call for writing an essay is listening in class. Take notes, a lesson is an interactive experience, even when the teacher is giving a long lecture. The more engaged you are, the more you will get out of it, and the easiest way of doing this is to take notes. Writing while you listen is a key skill; it enables you to remember and absorb more of what you are hearing, which generally improves your memory. When taking notes, flag up any interesting points, or things you would like to know more about. Leave spaces and questions for parts that you missed, or didn't understand. Ask the tutor to fill these points in, or expand on them. Talk to your classmates later to see how they write their notes. NEVER be afraid to ask when you don't know.

Why Reading Helps Understanding Images.
It may not be immediately evident how one can 'apply' a particular piece of reading - a theorectical text, a cultural analysis etc - to a set of pictures, or footage, or media layout. But it is always true that the more you know, the more you can see. What, exactly, we see depends on our viewpoint, and this changes the object we think we are seeing. The job of artists, scholars and critics is to interpret historical events and to evaluate what they really mean, what they appear to mean, and what they can be made to mean, from different viewpoints in culture.

How To Read
We all think we know how to read, but reading with an essay in mind requires preparation and concentration. Again, note-taking is essential. After the fifth book or article, few people will remember the first unless they've made notes. Copy out quotations you find striking or illuminating, note the details of images as you find them. Come equipped with post-it notes and index cards. Get used to carrying a book; read it on the bus or over coffee. Read a newspaper, ideally one with arts coverage and in-depth articles. Keep pen and paper with you so you can jot down ideas and references as you go. Get a decent dictionary and look up words that you don't know, and write them down as you go. The complete Oxford English Dictionary will also tell you when a word was first used, and what it meant then. Use the Dictionary of National Biography, or the Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought to find out the correct names of people and the definitions of more complicated terms such as Modernism or Industrialisation. These methods are probably quicker than looking them up on the Internet. only use the references from the Internet from reliable sources such as University websites or Google Scholar

Quotes To Illustarte/Accompany Your Work

I've found, through my time at college, that my photography teacher loves it if I use quotes by a photographer, any photographer, to illustarte my point. So, here's a selection of photographer quotes to help aid your study.

"Photography has become one of the principal devices for experiencing something."
Laurence Van der Zee

"Approach the subject on tip-toe, even if it is still life."
Henri Cartier-Bresson

"...the perfect combination of lighting, form, organisation and emotion, all working together to form the perfect image."
Henri Cartier-Bresson on his theory of "the decisive moment"

"I take photographs to report and inform, to raise awareness and promote understanding."
Sebastiao Salgado

"Photography, when in the hands of the ruling classes, can never be trusted to tell the truth."
Bertoldt Brecht

"An image is an accumulation of time, comprehended instantly."

Tapies

"Like so many documents from war, it (the photograph) was chnged with illustartion and then ended up as a symbol."
Susan Meiselas

"The problem is how to select that silver, that thousandth of a second that is meaningful, out of the whole. Which stones will keep their colour once they've been pulled from the water."
Paul Graham

"Art isn't about providing answers is it? It's more about questions - asking thought-provoking, unexpected unarticulated questions."
Paul Graham

"From today, painting is dead!"
Paul Delaroche, on the announcement of the invention of photography in 1839

"It is important to see what is invisible to others."
Robert frank

"If your pictures aren't good enough then you aren't close enough."
Robert Capaa

"No image is just perceived. It is comprehended, interpreted, even inverted, by the individual observer who invests it with a precises siginificance."
Victor Burgin

"The art is what remains when the occasion has faded."
Eve Arnold

For more, visit brainyquotes

Researching A Photographer/Artist Guide

First Paragraph:
(About the photographer/artist)

Briefly describe when and where s/he worked; which country/city etc; his/her training; the cultural background e.g. if an artist, which art movement are/were they most involved in?; who or what s/he worked for e.g. self, magazine, news agency; the type of photography/art produced e.g. landscape, portrait fashion ...

Second Paragraph:
(About their work)

The photographer's/artist's general approach to making photographs/art; what kind of subject matter/genre?; equipment used, if known; what format - square frame, horizontal, vertical; colour or black and white; focussing method; composition methods; any links with you own work?

Third Paragraph:
(Your analysis)

Analysis of individual image; bullet points can be used; remember to link back to an image of your own with one by your chosen photographer/artist

Use bold titles or sub-titles
Highlight or underline names
Highlight or underline key points
Be concise
Use good quality scans/photocopies

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Exam Questions

Here are some Psychology and Crime past exam questions for you to get stuck into. I personally find these really useful, expecially if you work with your teacher by getting them to mark your answers. They make a really good revision tool, rather than learning 20 pages of notes. You can download a pack of exam questions here.

Section A

1.a) Outline one technique used to produce an offender profile [6 marks]
1.b) Evaluate the effectiveness of techniques used to produce and offender profile [10 marks]

2.a) Describe one study of the social psychology of the criminal [6 marks]
2.b) Evaluate methods used to investigate the social psychology of the criminal [10 marks]

3.a) Describe one laboratory study of eyewitness testimony [6 marks]
3.b) Compare and contrast the laboratory method tro study eyewitness testimony with one alternative method [10 marks]

4.a) Describe one study which demonstrates the development of moral and legal judgement in children [6 marks]
4.b) Discuss the use of children in psychological studies of crime [10 marks]

Section B

1.a) Describe what psychologists have found out about crime-victim interaction [10 marks[
1.b) Evaluate what psychologists have found out about crime-victim interaction [16 marks]
1.c) The police are trying to design a leaflet to encourage people to report crime. Using your knowledge of crime-victim interaction to suggest what factors they should consider. Give reasons for your answer [8 marks]

2.a) Describe what psychologists have found out about the psychology of testimony [10 marks]
2.b) Evaluate what psychologists have found out about the psychology of testimony [16 marks]
2.c) Using your psychological knowledge, suggest ways of helping a witness recall the scenen of an armed robbery [8 marks]

3.a) Describe the jury decision-making process [ 10 marks]
3.b) Discuss the jury decision-making process [16 marks]
3.c) If you were a member of a jury, suggest what rules you mae make for yourself to prevent you from making the wrong decision. Give reasons for your answers [8 marks]

4.a) Consider psychological studies of offender profiling [10 marks]
4.b) Evaluate psychological studies of offender profiling [16 marks]
4.c) Suggest what aims of profiling should be. Give reasons for your answer [8 marks]

Websites

Some websites to aid your revision, whether you're taking your SATs, GCSEs or A Levels.

{SATs}
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/
http://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/y6_sat_revision.htm
http://www.satsguide.co.uk/
http://www.icteachers.co.uk/children/children_sats.htm
http://www.satsrevision.co.uk/
http://www.buzzin.net/
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/revision/
http://www.revisionaid.co.uk/directory.php?cat=ks3Main

{GCSEs}
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/
http://www.s-cool.co.uk/gcse.html
http://www.revisiontime.com/gCSE.htm
http://www.courseworkbank.co.uk/GCSE/
http://www.revision-notes.co.uk/GCSE/index.html
http://www.revisionworld.co.uk/gcse
http://revisioncentre.co.uk/gcse/index.html
http://www.revisionaid.co.uk/directory.php?cat=ks4Main
http://www.examstutor.com/

{A Levels}
http://www.s-cool.co.uk/alevel.html
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/
http://www.revisiontime.com/aLevel.htm
http://www.courseworkbank.co.uk/AS__A2_and_A-Level/
http://www.revision-notes.co.uk/A_Level/index.html
http://www.revisionworld.co.uk/alevel
http://www.projectalevel.co.uk/
http://www.revisionaid.co.uk/directory.php?cat=alevelMain
http://www.examstutor.com/

Discord - Art Exam Theme

This is quite a personal post, because I'm unsure whether this is a national theme, a district theme, or a world-wide theme. But it's my exam project for Photography this year, as well as all the art subjects, and I'm completely stuck on it. Not one clue as to what to do. So if this helps just one person, I know the purpose of this blog is working.

Discord - Ideas and Photographers

Friction / Difference / Opposing Sides / Groups / Ethnicity / War / Terrorism / Surveillance / Censorship ...
Erica Baum, Robert Capa, Don McCullum, Thomas Hirschhorn, Banksy, Sea Synder, Peter Kennard, Guy Tillim, Sarah Pickering, Geert van Kesteren, Simon Norfolk

Anger / Family / Relationships / Disharmony / Internal Conflicts / Mind-Body / Exclusion ...
Tracy Emin, Jo Spence, Nan Golding, Richard Billingham, Larry Clarke, Jim Goldberg, Diane Arbus, Robert Frank

Nightmares / Dreams / Memories / Fact-Fiction / A;ternate Personalities / Parallel Universes ...
Gregory Crewdson, Duane Michals, Olafur Eliasson, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall, Sphy Rickett, Paul Pfeiffer, Tacita Dean, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Sueng Woo Back, Philip Lorca diCorcia

Opposites / Dark-Light / Good-Evil / Life-Death / Past-Present ...
Douglas Gordon, John Stezaker, Idris Khan, Garry Fabian Miller, Muireann Brady, Willie Doherty, Ralph Gibson

Other Ideas:

Conflict / Yin-Yang / Hostility / Warfare / Destruction / Decay / Resurrection / Restoration / Protection / Defence / Religious Controversy / Corrosion / Dereliction / Worn Paint / Dispute / Erosion / Pollution / Tension / Friction / Graffeti / Rusty Armour / Ruins / Wrecks / Scrapyards / Refue / Disused Farm Equipment / Derelict Factories-Buildings / Quarries / Buliding Sites / Docklands / Roadworks / Divergence / Barriers / Fissures / Splits / Fractures / Wrestling / Fighting / Arguing / Clashing / Noise / Disharmony / Dissonance / Contrasting Colours / Black-White / Rough-Smooth / Transparent-Opaque / Fatique / Degrading / Strength-Weakness / Clutter-Mess-Junk / Abandoned / Empty-Busy / Arguments / Out Of Place / Appearance / Tattoos / Piercings / Fashion / Beauty-Ugly / Fashioable-Unfashonable / Young-Old / Disfigurement / Normal-Unnormal / Before-After / Protests / Politics / Posters / Messages / TV Images / Composition / Unbalanced / Rips / Tears / Contrast / Mistakes

Other Artists/Photographers:

Josef Beuys, Kurt Schwitters , Paul Nash , Peter Howson, Escher, Howard Hodgkin, Piet Mondrian, Bridget Riley, Frank Auerbach, Giovanni Piranesi, Emily Carr, David Prentice, Beverly Pepper, Graham Sutherland, Edward Burtynsky, Ford Madox Brown, Elainede Kooning, Steve Slimm, Julian Beesley, Susan Rothenberg, William de Kooning, Gillian Ayers, Barbara Rae, Gilbert and George, Vanessa Bell, Peter Blake, Marg Cassat, Velásquez, Cecilia Beaux, Augustas John, Helen Turner, Stanley Spencer, J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, Henri Rousseau, George Stubbs, Ana Mendieta, Annetter Messager, Devrouax and Purnell, Enric Miralles, Leonardo Da Vinci, Luigi Colani, Jane Jacobs, Oscar Newman, Paco Rabanne, Alexander McQueen, Dai Rees, Aiveen Daly, Eileen Grey, Bruce Nauman, Immo Klink, Daniele Buetti, Marlene Dumas, Kilian Breier, Aaron Siskind, Mark Wallinger, MArc Augé, Julian Opie, Alan Fletcher, Emily Mary Osborn, Grace Hartigan, Joan Miro, Florine Stettheimer, Marcel Duchamp, Rist Pipilotti

Other:

'Unpleasantness or quarrelling between people'
'A lack of agreement or harmony (as between persons, ideas or things)'
'Active quarrelling or conflict resulting from discord among persons or fractions'
'A combination of musical sounds that strikes the ear harshly'
'A harsh or unpleasant sound'

Reference Material:

www.tate.org.uk
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
www.iniva.org
www.artsmia.org
www.walkerart.org
www.getty.edu
www.moma.org
www.metmuseum.org
www.sfmoma.org
www.cnac-gp.fr
www.guggenheim.org
www.vam.ac.uk
www.craftscouncil.org.uk
www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk
www.nmpft.org.uk
www.photonet.org.uk
www.bfi.org.uk
www.icograda.org
www.theaoi.com

Another Award!



1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link..
2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I got given this by the lovely HavenLayouts so I'd like to thank her for that!

Once I know sites, I will tag them!

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