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Cultural Theory + Critical Studies

A guide to resources on cultural theory and critical studies. Includes tips on incorporating theory into your research and practice, suggested readings, critical journals, and databases.

How to incorporate theory into your research and practice

A theoretical framework provides a lens that you can use in your research paper or project to talk about art and culture. A theoretical framework connects your ideas to broader areas of knowledge, allowing you to participate in a scholarly conversation and focus on the aspects of your work that you consider important. Building on theory and relating it to your work encourages you and your readers to think more critically about your topic.

How to Develop a Theoretical Framework

  1. Examine your thesis
  2. Brainstorm aspects of your research or project that bring up questions
  3. Do a literature review to see how other scholars have addressed your topic. You can look in course readings, or library resources, including those listed in this guide.
  4. Consider how the theory you have selected relates to your thesis

Things to Keep in Mind

  1. Make sure you can clearly describe the concepts that make up the theory
  2. Make sure the theory makes sense for the context of your paper
     

A digital illustration reading "Cultural Theory + Critical Studies" with an image of a book with an image of colourful shapes and black wiggles representing text, resembling an art textbook. text on a blue background reads "Develop A Theoretical Framework: Examine your thesis, Brainstorm aspects of your project that bring up questions, review how other scholars have addressed your topic, consider how your research relates to your thesis" with different shapes from the first image as bullet points Text on a blue background reads: "Things to Keep in Mind: Make sure you can clearly describe your theory, make sure the theory makes sense for the context of your paper" with two shapes as the bullet points, and two shapes at the bottom of the page

Images by Keimi Nakashima-Ochoa, CC BY-NC-SA

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