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Research Skills in History of Art - HOA00112M

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  • Department: History of Art
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: M
  • Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
    • See module specification for other years: 2024-25

Module summary

This module equips students to research and write module essays and start thinking about the dissertation, i.e. equipped with the skills to begin guided independent research.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2023-24

Module aims

The purpose of this module is to

  • provide guidance regarding expectations for MA work and advanced scholarly research

  • familiarise you with archival, bibliographic and art historical resources

  • introduce a range of methodologies and insights from the forefront of the discipline

  • demonstrate ways of adopting and adapting methodologies to suit your own developing interests

  • equip you with an awareness of transferable skills and how these can be applied in professional contexts

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, you should have acquired

  • ability to work with archival, bibliographic and art historical resources relevant to your own research

  • ability to deploy appropriate scholarly conventions in your own work

  • critical awareness of how methodologies and research trends in the discipline have challenged assumptions and interpretations of art historical objects

  • knowledge of how to apply and adapt methodologies appropriate to your own research

  • confidence to develop independent research within the context of previous scholarship

  • understanding of how art historical skills can be applied in professional contexts

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 100

Module feedback

You will receive feedback on assessed work within the timeframes set out by the University - please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information.

The purpose of feedback is to help you to improve your future work. If you do not understand your feedback or want to talk about your ideas further, you are warmly encouraged to meet your Supervisor during their Office Hours.

Indicative reading

  • Cohen, Meredith. “Visualizing the Unknown in the Digital Era of Art History.” The Art Bulletin 104, no. 2 (2022): 6-19.
  • Emerling, Jae. Theory for Art History. London: Routledge, 2005.
  • Fernie, Eric, ed. Art History and Its Methods. London: Phaidon Press Ltd, 1995.
  • Hatt, Michael, and Charlotte Klonk. Art History: A Critical Introduction to its Methods. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006.
  • Jordanova, Ludmilla. The Look of the Past: Visual and Material Evidence in Historical Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
  • Nelson, Robert, and Richard Shiff, eds. Critical Terms for Art History. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
  • Preziosi, Donald, ed. The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Taylor, Paul. Condition: The Aging of Art. London: Paul Holberton Publishing, 2015.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.