assignments

Your assignment is in three stages.

STAGE 1
Choose a key moment from the 50 year history of Doctor Who on television and in your WordPress blog, write a 500 word explanation of what is so important about it. Your reasons may be personal or geeky, but you must discuss your choice both in terms of its relevance to the program and by situating it within cultural, historical and discursive contexts. Examples are available to view on the main Doctor Who by Design page. There will be a demonstration in week 2 and drafts will be reviewed in week 5.  You will then submit a 200-300 word edited version. This final version must be referenced using Harvard Referencing.

STAGE 2
In week 8 (25th November) you will present your essay idea to the class for feedback and help. You should prepare by typing a paragraph of your essay idea (see STAGE 3 below) which sets out your aims (what you are trying to argue) and your research needs e.g. which academic Doctor Who chapters and which non-Doctor Who academic texts you will use and why.

STAGE 3
Finally, you should hand in a short essay (1,000 words) of your choice based on Doctor Who and some aspect of design. This could be, for example, about Doctor Who the design of monsters (e.g. Cybermen); costume; music; the character of the Doctor etc. You will need to research your essay by looking at Doctor Who as well as key debates in your chosen field of design. For example, if your theme is Costume Design, you may for example decide to look at the costume of character Danny Pink and also look at theory on costume design. Or if your subject is TARDIS design, you may want to look at episodes that feature the Doctor’s ship as well as key debates on how space is configured. Or if want to look at Cybermen, then you should research relevant appearances of them in TV (and /or) other medium (like cartoons or books) as well as looking at key debates on 'cyberspace' or 'posthuman'. The structure of your essay should reflect the needs of academic writing: the introduction will explain your ideas and methods; the next couple of paragraphs will introduce your research; you will then analyse and discuss your case study in light of the key debates you have researched; finally you will conclude with your main points. Harvard Referencing must be used and a full bibliography submitted.

Remember, you can find Doctor Who texts by searching this database which is themed by subject area. Most of these books are online or in the library.