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+--- Thread: Choosing a dissertation topic (/showthread.php?tid=1043)
Choosing a dissertation topic - mercenary - 28th July 2008
Hear hear! Redearth. A wholly underused resource by the academic community I feel. It would make me feel loads better about the years of hard graft put in if someone ever actually read my reports.
Choosing a dissertation topic - Pippyn - 8th August 2008
Sorry for the late reply, been away.
Cheers to Red Earth, Oasis sounds a fantastic resource (just read an article in BA Jul/Aug 2008 pp 36 "A Professional Mockery") In agreement with Mercenary, the article completely slates how underused and undervalued it is. I've never heard about it before, and I can't recall ever being guided there by any of our lecturers - I guess they just love their own peer reviewed journals far too much...
Mercenary, you have my sympathy and if any of your reports are related to my vast list of interests above, I'd gladly read them
So cheers once again guys - you've been invaulable
"Kids, go get a proper job and don't take mine" - Derek Alexander
Choosing a dissertation topic - BAJR Host - 8th August 2008
OASIS... is underused... and under-advertised...
here is the link...
funny thing is, i find it hard myself to find the damn reprots..
here is OASIS main page... buts not where you search reports.
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/project/oasis/
here is where you do it...
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/library/greylit/
well hidden... but great!
"I don't have an archaeological imagination.."
Borekickers
Choosing a dissertation topic - Anna Stocks - 8th August 2008
You can also search the data collated by the English Heritage funded Archaeological Investigations Project at:
http://csweb.bournemouth.ac.uk/aip/aipintro.htm
This data resource has information on the majority of the grey literature produced since 1990, and can be searched by county, archaeological period, investigation type etc etc. Each record normally has a summary of the results of the archaeological fieldwork undertaken. You can also download the information in a variety of formats.
Choosing a dissertation topic - RedEarth - 8th August 2008
Quote:quote:Originally posted by Pippyn
Sorry for the late reply, been away.
Cheers to Red Earth, Oasis sounds a fantastic resource (just read an article in BA Jul/Aug 2008 pp 36 "A Professional Mockery") In agreement with Mercenary, the article completely slates how underused and undervalued it is. I've never heard about it before, and I can't recall ever being guided there by any of our lecturers - I guess they just love their own peer reviewed journals far too much...
I've been looking forward to reading that article, and once it's available on their website I will, if I can resist buying a copy in the meantime. I get the impression it's a case academia verse the developer funded, but I could be wrong. I could produce a pretty long list of academic work still to be published 20-25 years after is was carried out. I don't imagine there was a brief saying it had to be published within a set period of time like there is for developer funded work. Another topic maybe, once I've read it!
Choosing a dissertation topic - oldgirl - 8th August 2008
And there is also the point that all that grey literature is available from the SMRs/HERs from the commercial side, so it's not like it wasn't available even before OASIS and AIP. It just wasn't easy to get hold of.
Choosing a dissertation topic - RedEarth - 8th August 2008
Quote:quote:Originally posted by oldgirl
And there is also the point that all that grey literature is available from the SMRs/HERs from the commercial side, so it's not like it wasn't available even before OASIS and AIP. It just wasn't easy to get hold of.
Certainly easily available if you are working in the area.
I couldn't resist and bought a copy - quite an interesting read, one I would certainly suggest everyone in commercial archaeology should see (then stand back and wait for the response)! I hope it isn't reflective of the views of academics in general. A new topic may have presented itself, for next week at least...
Choosing a dissertation topic - oldgirl - 8th August 2008
Quote:quote:Originally posted by RedEarth
Quote:quote:Originally posted by oldgirl
And there is also the point that all that grey literature is available from the SMRs/HERs from the commercial side, so it's not like it wasn't available even before OASIS and AIP. It just wasn't easy to get hold of.
Certainly easily available if you are working in the area.
I couldn't resist and bought a copy - quite an interesting read, one I would certainly suggest everyone in commercial archaeology should see (then stand back and wait for the response)! I hope it isn't reflective of the views of academics in general. A new topic may have presented itself, for next week at least...
I agree if you were working in the area, I think I probably meant it wasn't always easy to know what had happened.
Oh dear, I think I will have to NOT read it. It probably won't do the old blood pressure much good then......
Choosing a dissertation topic - Pippyn - 9th August 2008
Quote:quote:
Oh dear, I think I will have to NOT read it. It probably won't do the old blood pressure much good then......
Oldgirl, it's worth the read...but true, your health is much more important!
Honestly, I can say I was compelety dumbstruck by it...I can't believe that sort of thing goes on - if it happens there, in such an archaeologically rich area then it MUST go on elsewhere. Ah, to live in an ideal world...
Anyways - I think it would make for a very interesting new topic
"Kids, go get a proper job and don't take mine" - Derek Alexander
Choosing a dissertation topic - John Walford - 10th August 2008
I am familliar with the site discussed in a 'Professional Mockery', having assisted with the academic dig for some years (and also being a former resident of the area). Most of the commercial work discussed in the artical is fairly recent, and there may be hope that the results will filter through in due course, but there is a major problem with access to Thames Water's reservoir evaluation data. This project was undertaken in the 1990's, but the reports have still, nearly a decade later, not been released to the public domain. I would imagine that this is because Thames Water are facing so much hostility with regard to the proposed reservoir that they don't want to release the data and give protesters another stick to beat them with. Unfortunately they seem to be acting within their rights, so there is little that can be done about it.
Incidently, the academic project does have a fairly good publication record. Interim reports appear every year in South Midlands Archaeology (CBA 9), and are also on the project website at http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/research/research_projects/marcham
John
"Hidden wisdom and buried treasure, what use is there in either?" (Ecclesiasticus ch20 v30)