Hi Jennifer - this is an intriguing dissertation topic and well done on doing some thorough research on the topic. Having looked through your slides and pro formas I have a few suggestions, which I think may enhance you research. Firstly, although Alain de Botton is a very good and persuasive writer, he has no formal expertise in psychology, art or medicine (his academic career was based around history and philosophy). As such I'd have reservations about using his book as a central text. As an alternative I would suggest 'Art therapy theories : a critical introduction' by Professor Susan Hogan, which you can get from Canterbury by placing a hold on it (if you're not sure how to do this, ask at the Gateway desk in the Library). Details of the title are here As your subject is linked to medicine and psychology, it's also important to have up to date information. Medical fields and best practice within them are constantly developing, so I would suggest trying to focus on the last ten years if possible. You can set date filters in the catalogue to do this - this link is to an example search covering 2007 - 2017: 2007 2017
For research on medical and therapeutic subjects, journals will definitely be your friend. Journal articles will deal with case studies of therapies, the theory of art therapies, evaluations of art therapy’s efficacy etc. I’d recommend that you use the Library’s online journal search to look for relevant articles. If you can describe what you’re looking for in as much detail as possible that will help as journal article content is very specific. For example, you may want to search for “art therapy” and Freud, or “art therapy” and Jung if you’re interested in Freudian and Jungian approaches. PubMed is another good resource for journal articles and studies on medicine. I’ve created an example search here so you can see what’s available. You should see a ‘systematic review’ mentioned in the first article. A systemic review is a study that pulls together data from dozens or hundreds of other scientific studies, so is about as thorough and reliable as medical research can get – I’d recommend using systematic reviews if possible. Google Scholar is another useful resource for finding journal articles. When you search, if you see ‘Access via UCA’ ‘HTML’ or ‘PDF’ next to the article title, then you can read if for free. Other articles will need a subscription. I’ve created an example search here Finally, as therapy and art create very personal experiences, both as patient and practioner, it might be worth finding some interview studies that look at the practice and effectiveness of art therapy – try out this search and see what you think. If you want to talk through any of this, or if you want any help with searching for journal articles, I’m available for tutorials on Wednesday and Friday this week. Andrew
Hi Jennifer - this is an intriguing dissertation topic and well done on doing some thorough research on the topic. Having looked through your slides and pro formas I have a few suggestions, which I think may enhance you research.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, although Alain de Botton is a very good and persuasive writer, he has no formal expertise in psychology, art or medicine (his academic career was based around history and philosophy). As such I'd have reservations about using his book as a central text. As an alternative I would suggest 'Art therapy theories : a critical introduction' by Professor Susan Hogan, which you can get from Canterbury by placing a hold on it (if you're not sure how to do this, ask at the Gateway desk in the Library). Details of the title are here
As your subject is linked to medicine and psychology, it's also important to have up to date information. Medical fields and best practice within them are constantly developing, so I would suggest trying to focus on the last ten years if possible. You can set date filters in the catalogue to do this - this link is to an example search covering 2007 - 2017: 2007 2017
For research on medical and therapeutic subjects, journals will definitely be your friend. Journal articles will deal with case studies of therapies, the theory of art therapies, evaluations of art therapy’s efficacy etc. I’d recommend that you use the Library’s online journal search to look for relevant articles. If you can describe what you’re looking for in as much detail as possible that will help as journal article content is very specific. For example, you may want to search for “art therapy” and Freud, or “art therapy” and Jung if you’re interested in Freudian and Jungian approaches.
ReplyDeletePubMed is another good resource for journal articles and studies on medicine. I’ve created an example search here so you can see what’s available. You should see a ‘systematic review’ mentioned in the first article. A systemic review is a study that pulls together data from dozens or hundreds of other scientific studies, so is about as thorough and reliable as medical research can get – I’d recommend using systematic reviews if possible.
Google Scholar is another useful resource for finding journal articles. When you search, if you see ‘Access via UCA’ ‘HTML’ or ‘PDF’ next to the article title, then you can read if for free. Other articles will need a subscription. I’ve created an example search here
Finally, as therapy and art create very personal experiences, both as patient and practioner, it might be worth finding some interview studies that look at the practice and effectiveness of art therapy – try out this search and see what you think.
If you want to talk through any of this, or if you want any help with searching for journal articles, I’m available for tutorials on Wednesday and Friday this week.
Andrew