Mark Cousins: PhD Research Methods

This course is concerned to propose a sequence of tasks which deal very concretely with the practicalities of research. It is not a theoretical account of research but a detailed account of the issues that need to be considered and incorporated into the domestic engine of the work.

  1. The overall characterisation of PhD work as a process of editing.
  2. The function of an outline throughout the PhD.
  3. The creation of different files and their relation to research notes.
  4. The housework of the PhD.
  5. The divisions of the text – the relation of outline to chapters and from chapters to paragraph and from paragraph to sentence.
  6. The notion of converting the ‘academic’ into the argument, what we will call the subjective.
  7. The footnote, the bibliography, the appendix and images.
  8. The writing of the text.

The sessions will take place Fridays at 11.00am starting on 6 October in the PhD Studio.