Proposal Guidelines.

Aims: You must show what it is that you intend to create, why you intend to do it and how you intend to complete it. At this stage your aims may be embryonic and will almost certainly alter slightly when you re-focus after your research and experimentation.

Specific Individual Outcomes: What specific outcomes do you intend (at this stage) to produce? What material pieces will you have at the end of the project? Again, these might need to alter slightly after you re-focus, but do not expect to dramatically change your project into a whole new one! Try to set outcomes for yourself that will be appropriate and have scope for being effective and perhaps innovative.

Research & Methodology: Give an overview of where and how you intend to research (be specific) and how you intend to generate ideas from this. Book titles, primary sites and so on should be listed. Clearly you will need to do a literature review and to arm yourself with information about the topic before you begin to draw up your proposal.

Learning Outcomes: Carefully read the learning outcomes for the module before you start – see Moodle. Consider how will you make ongoing checks that you are providing work that will meet the learning outcomes at BA(Hons) level? You also need to organise your schedule and your practical work in such a way that you are allowing yourself opportunities to evidence achievement of the learning outcomes. Do not ignore any – build chances to complete them into your programme.

Testing Outcomes: Show how you will apply a method to test the appropriateness and effectiveness of your work in progress. In other words, how are you going to demonstrate that you are evaluating and then acting upon those evaluations to improve the work? You must apply some critical theory to your work at all stages, from deconstructing and concluding from your research, right through your developmental and realisation work. You might want to use semiotics or the gaze, or bring an ideological investigation to bear upon your work. You can use as many theories as you want, but make sure that they are appropriate, useful and that you are using them fluently.

Experimentation: At this stage, where and perhaps how do you envisage that you might carry out experimentation and exploratory work? How do you think this will help you?

Reflection: How will you evidence continual reflection upon your practice? This can be linked to your evaluations of your work, but should also be trying to understand how and where you have learnt about yourself and your practice.

Professional Practice (Portfolio): How will you account for professional practice, including backing work up and creating portfolio pieces?

Production Schedule: draw up a schedule of work, with dates. You must include dates or stages when you will evidence your on going work to your tutors.

Contingency Planning: Show how you will account for revisions to your plan in the event of problems or challenges to your schedule and the smooth accomplishment of work. Be prepared!