(Either APA or MLA)
RESEARCH PROJECT INFORMATION
Major Research Project
Let me remind you that this is a major research project, at least five pages in length, and should include bibliography, and photographs when appropriate. The bibliography and photographs should not be used in the total page count. Please review the options below about selecting a topic. You should really select something that interests YOU, so please select a topic that you are interested in or somehow connects to your major.
OVERVIEW
The purpose of the project is to allow you to embark upon in-depth research into one facet of art or architecture from a historical period and then tie your findings to our contemporary world. We are looking to make connections between the past and our current perspectives, ideals, beliefs, designs, and experiences. Think of this as an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of historical art forms as well as an opportunity to showcase your ability to use appropriate art historical vocabulary.
This project will require you to select one of the topics below, watch one of the below documentary videos, and complete a research paper based on your topic.
You will need to utilize at least 5 scholarly sources in your final paper. Your paper should be written in APA or MLA format, and in-text citations should be used. Please double space and use 12pt ft in either Ariel or Times New Roman font.
Guidelines for Writing
an Art History Research Paper
I. Organization
This research paper project takes
on the form of analytical research. You
should set up a problem or argument, then provide evidence to support whatever
position you, the writer, have chosen. Select your artwork(s) and try to decide
what you want to say about them. When
you write, you should use not only written references, but also you own
experiences and ideas of the artwork(s).
Any paper follows a basic
structure of an introduction, body or argument, and conclusion. The
introduction should not exceed 2 or 3 paragraphs, in which you set out the
scope of the problem you will examine, your procedure, and reasons for the
project. In the body of the paper you present the argument methodically,
supplying evidence in the form of examples and quotes where needed. The
conclusion can either summarize your findings or open the problem up for
further exploration while presenting some of your conclusions.
II. Citing
Sources or References
In the course of writing your
paper, you will naturally rely on the works of other writers to supply your
evidence unless you are conducting interviews, in which case you still have to
cite your sources. Whenever you use a piece of information that is not common
knowledge and is drawn from an outside source, you must cite it in the form of
an intratextual reference, footnote, or endnote. For the purposes of an art
history paper, the format used by the Art
Bulletin is considered to be standard.
A. Intratextual
references
These are inserted immediately following the
information drawn from the outside source, whether it be a quote, observation
or information obtained through someone else’s research. They include the
author’s name, date of work if you have more than one source by the same
author, and page number within parentheses. Because they tend to be
distracting, intratextual references are
not commonly used in art historical writing.
Example: “Jack and Jill went
up the hill” (Goose, 4).
B. Footnotes
or Endnotes
The only difference between a footnote and endnote
is where they appear in your paper. A footnote appears on the bottom of the
same page as the reference. Endnotes are listed at the end of the document. The
choice mostly depends on whether your software has a footnote function or if
you have to keep track by hand, in which case the endnote system is easier.
All the following examples come
from Art Bulletin
Example: Single author text
1. James Clifford, The Predicament of Culture:
Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Cambridge, MA and
London, 1988, 11.
Please note punctuation and that
page number is not preceded by ‘p.’ or ‘pp.’ The title is either underlined or
italicized, not bold-face or any other combination.
Example: Essay from an anthology
2. Russell Ferguson,
“Invisible Center,” In Out There:
Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures.
Russell Ferguson et al., ed., New York, 1990, 9.
Example: Article from Journal or
Periodical
3.
Anthony dePalma, “A Scholar Finds Huck
Finn’s Voice in Twain’s Writing about a Black Youth,” New York Times, July 7, 1992, A16.
4.
David Craven, “Abstract Expressionism and
Third World Art: A Post-Colonial Approach to ‘American’ Art,” Oxford Art Journal, XIV, no. 1, 1990, 44-65.
5.
George Schuyler, “The Negro Art
Hokum,” The Nation, June 16, 1926,
repr. in Nathan Huggins, ed., Voices from the
Harlem Renaissance. New York, 1976, 309-12.
Example: Essay from Exhibition Catalogue
6.
Gerardo Mosquera, “Modernity and Africania:
Wifredo Lam on his Island,” in Wifredo
Lam. exh. cat., Barcelona, 1993, 174.
If you cite the same work
immediately following the first citation:
7.
Ibid.
If the second note follows
immediately but has a different page number:
8.
Ibid., 175.
If you repeat a source later in
the notes with other sources in between:
9.
dePalma, A17.
All footnotes are numbered
successively. You do not repeat the number of the earlier citation.
10.
Internet sources should have the author of the
page (if known), the title of the page, and the address and date searched.
III. Illustrations
You should include a reproduction
of any work of art that you discuss in your paper. The proper form for this is
to cut the photocopied image out and paste it onto another sheet of paper or to
scan the image in by computer. Under the image you should have the following
information:
• the
illustration or figure number that you have assigned it in the text.
• artist’s
name, title underlined or italicized (not in quotation marks), and
the date of the work. This information can either be included in the text at
the time you discuss the work or be placed under the illustration or in a
separate list of illustrations at the end of the paper.
• source
of illustration. This resembles footnote form: author, title of publication,
place of publication, date and page or plate number. If from a periodical, just
follow that form.
IV. Bibliography
The bibliography is a list of all
the works you have consulted for the writing of the paper, including those
which were not cited in your footnotes, but not including those that you
checked out of the library but didn’t end up using because they didn’t really
relate to your topic but your bibliography looks awfully short with just two
works on it.
Bibliographies are not numbered.
They are always in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. More than one
entry by the same author is indicated by a line.
Examples of bibliographic form from Art Bulletin
Bois, Y.-A., “Painting as
Trauma,” Art in America, LXXVI, no. 6,
June, 130-41, 172-73.
_____, 1992, “The Semiology
of Cubism,” in Picasso and Braque: A
Symposium. I. Zelansky, ed., New York, 169-208.
Buci Glucksmann, C.,
“Catastrophic Utopia: The Feminine as Allegory of the Modern,” in The Making of the Modern Body: Sexuality and
Society in the Nineteenth Century. C. Gallagher and T. Laqueur, ed.,
Berkeley, 1987, 220-29.
Daix, P., 1993, Picasso: Life and Art. H. O. Emmet, trans.,
New York.
Once again, Internet sources
should have the author of the page (if known), the title of the page and date
searched. You can alternatively put the date of publication after the place
of publication. The important
thing is to be internally consistent. Choose a format and stick to it.
V. General
Points and Frequent Errors
1.
Watch for the difference between ‘effect’ and ‘affect.’ Generally if it’s a verb you want ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ for
a noun. Generally. If you’re not sure, look it up in the dictionary.
2.
Note well the difference between the contraction
of ‘it is’–it’s–and the possessive
pronoun its. The possessive pronoun
has no apostrophe.
3.
Look for repeated words and terms. It may seem
that ‘painting’ has no synonyms. It does. Another word that art-writers tend to
overuse is ‘influence.’ Try to find a more precise word to describe what you
mean.
Example: Degas’s paintings were a big influence on José Fulano.
Compare to: José Fulano used Degas’s treatment of
young ballerinas as the basis for his studies of salsa dancers.
4.
Try to avoid the passive voice.
5. Note
the difference between single quotation marks (‘ ‘) and double (“
“). Single ones denote a word or phrase
itself, not what it means. Example: I wrote about the verb ‘to be.’ Double
quotation marks denote a quote or set off a phrase for its meaning. He likes to
play “good cop” to her “bad cop.”
6.
‘Feel’ and ‘believe’ mean different things. In a
research paper, you generally mean ‘believe’ rather than ‘feel.’ Example: I believe that the artist made such ugly
paintings to express his feelings
about the ugliness of the world. Or: I felt
a sudden pain in my head when I looked at his painting.
7.
‘Medium’ is singular. ‘Media’ is plural.
8.
PROOFREAD!
9.
Any other pet peeves of your instructor as noted
by that person.
