Tutor feedback for my assignment 6 took the form of a video chat.

I spent time this month on my first attempt at a literature review so received tutor feedback on that attempt. My literature review was based around a section of Barthes Camera Lucida. I didn’t attempt to review the whole book but instead focussed on his ideas which was similar to the background and reason for my own research.

• I was advised not to embed other sources into my treatment of the original source. Instead  keep the treatment of sources separate but after I have discussed each source it is appropriate to also discuss where they converge or diverge from previously discussed sources. If the source extends the previous source’s argument, then this is something you can flag up at the beginnig of the subsequent source’s treatment before elaborating on the particulars of the source.
• Trim my detail on biography of Barthes’s family and instead be brutal in summarising. A simple statement along lines of “Barthes’s life was been framed through loss” is sufficient to give context around Barthes and his attitude to death.
• Crucially, if I spend too much time (and word count) there is less space left to consider the theory.

I also received helpful feedback on my creative test pieces. One important point which struck me was that some of my work seen as being literal and some more philosophical. Literal work allows less space for the audience to form their own ideas and opinions and to make their own sense of my work. My tutor described this as beginning and ending with the description of the idea. This isn’t always something I find easy as there is an element here about losing control and of ownership of the ideas behind my work.I will make a conscious effort to consider this literal/philosophical divide.