Step 1 of the cycle: Choosing a topic (and Study plan)

Recently, each time I have a spark of curiosity for something in my practice I’ve been jotting it down in my notebook/ phone to analyse later (and so I don’t forget). After reading through the hand book I have summarised the following points to help me look deeper at these topics and narrow down an inquiry topic. Coupled with looking back at my mind map from Module One to refresh myself on what areas make up my practice.

• Write down in brief terms what you want to find out about
• Why are you interested in it (how does it link to my practise)
• How researching it will benefit my practice going forward

Then the additional points to help myself out later in the process

• Write any preconceptions/ assumptions you have about the topic
• If possible, try and write any alternative perspectives you think people may have (which is also part of your assumptions)
• Are there any struggles/ hindrances with researching this topic?
• It may be worth doing a brief search into the topic to see if my topic is too vague

This is my initial plan for this week’s study. My later step/alongside it is to:

• Continue to work my way through some of the recommendations on the reading list
• Start researching and reading literature relevant to the topic
• Research Methodology
• Look into MORE forms and other paperwork that needs completing (I saw that previous module 2 students advised looking into them early on in the process to have a better chance of understanding them)

As mentioned previously, I am studying whilst on a cruise ship, the limited access to wifi is therefore challenging for example I couldn’t attend the discussion on ‘Big questions- little wonders’ as my 4G wasn’t strong enough in Greenock; however I’m hoping to catch up on it, if it is uploaded to the MyUnihub page. I understand I’m really going to have to work hard to not get behind on the workload and plan in advance when I need to get work finished by. For module one I was furloughed due to the pandemic and had the luxury of all the time I wanted. I’ve also learnt from myself in Module one that I am much more motivated working little and often than large chunks; so I’ve categorised my time in 3 different ways:

• Port Days - Research, blogging & calls (as I am more likely to have access to 4G/ better internet connection)
• Sea Days - Writing day, Academic & blogs
• Show Days - Reading (I find show days a bit more taxing and limited in time available so if I can at least fit in reading that will be beneficial)

My next step is to work through the points above with the topics I’ve jotted down; potentially blog about them to receive feedback from my peers and hopefully narrow down an inquiry topic so I can move onto Step 2: Literature & Art research