On Saturday 9 April a workshop was held in the Department of Visual Arts for postgraduate students and staff in the Arts Cluster. More than 50 people attended. Prof Benda Hofmeyr from the Department of Philosophy gave guidelines on how to write a research proposal and how to use argumentation and rhetoric effectively in academic writing. She intrigued her audience when she used the example of Hitchcock and the popular ‘romcom’ film to illustrate her points about keeping readers interested. Prof Jeanne van Eeden from Visual Arts spoke generally about preparing for postgraduate study, both mentally and physically (maybe feng shui your workspace?). Lastly, Dr Duncan Reyburn from Visual Arts spoke about the art of writing well and made striking analogies between music and the written word that inspired the audience to think about writing as a craft and art.

The event was sponsored by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation and forms part of the Department of Visual Arts Faculty Research Theme, Visual Technologies: Critical Encounters.