Explain the significance or importance of the questions you have chosen.

Paper Guidelines for VPA 313

Summary: Each student will select an individual, community, or area of research to be investigated in depth, using original sources whenever possible. This paper will address social justice contributions and/or injustices that have shaped the cultural history of the Central Coast. These research projects will become part of the scholarship of the California Regional Art History Project at CSUMB. This paper will comprise of the eight (8) to ten (10) pages of text. (If you wish to include images, please insert them after you have determined you have written the required number of pages.)

Visual art forms to be considered in this course: painting; murals; print making; photography; cartoons; graphic novels; film; digital art new media; installation; sculpture; ceramics; architecture; public art; street art; jewelry; basketry; fashion, and fiber arts.

These guidelines are designed to help you keep on schedule and within the criteria set by the University.

The only sections you must turn in are marked as mandatory and are designated with this symbol: *

Mandatory: present to class

Pre-Proposal (due October 28)

Substantial, albeit brief paper that is a summary of your project. It must be at least one paragraph (not one long sentence) and must contain an introduction and conclusion. This is a paper in which you identify your subject or issue. You will need to isolate some questions that can be researched (so it cannot be too limited or obscure) and can be adequately explored in eight (8) to ten (10) pages (so it cannot be too broad). Provide a context for your questions. Explain the significance or importance of the questions you have chosen. Your pre-proposal/abstract will include:
A paragraph in which you explain the answer you think you will find. You may have little basis for an informed opinion at this point. That is fine and understandable. However, you will have preliminary opinions on most of the questions that interest you. List those opinions so that in evaluating your research, you will be more conscious of your assumptions.
A list of questions about your subject or issue. At this point, your questions may be quite simple. What will you need to know in order to explore your main question? What kinds of information will you need? Who, what, when, where, how, why? As you learn more about your topic, the questions that steer your research will become more refined and more complex.
A list of index entries relevant to your topic. From each index, list the subject-words pertinent to your topic. This can help you think more clearly about the direction of your paper, and it will help determine available sources.
Please note: you may only use credible sources. As Wikipedia continues to be unreliable, you may not use this site as a resource. ALL sources must be appropriately cited in the body of the paper.

Mandatory:

*The Paper Proposal/Abstract (due November 9th)

Working title: you may discard your working title on your final draft, but for now, it should be specific and focused. It will be your reader’s first indication of the direction in which you intend to travel. Be sure to include “key words” that name your issue
Working thesis: Your reading will prompt you to refine and revise your initial thinking about the subject. However, early on, you should be able to articulate a working thesis or a controlling hypothesis. Draft a tentative thesis for your paper. Ask yourself: what am I trying to explain or claim? Be sure you state your central claim in specific terms and details. Set the thesis off, in a paragraph of its own, below the title.A thesis is an argument—an opinion, conclusion, idea, or explanation that you drew from the evidence you examined and which your paper will prove. It is generally an informed and supportable (as well as refutable) opinion. A thesis is not merely a statement of fact. “The otter is the mascot for CSUMB” is not an adequate thesis, even though it is true. “The otter is an appropriate mascot for CSUMB because it manifests qualities with which the members of this university identify: uniqueness and liberality” is a thesis because it provides an explanation for a fact. A good thesis for a visual arts paper responds to questions like: why does an artwork or a place or a structure look the way it does?
A strong thesis will organize the paper for you: each paragraph’s topic should support or help prove your thesis, and the first or last sentence of a paragraph (topic and transition sentences) is the best place to state that relationship to the larger argument.

Another way to think about it is: if you had to present one meaningful opinion about the topic you chose, what would it be? Given the evidence gathered through your research, how would you convince the reader that your opinion is informed and valid?

The purpose of this assignment is to help strengthen research and analytical skills—to generate research questions and construct an argument with relevant details into a coherent whole.

Do not present an array of interesting, but unrelated, facts and descriptions. Everything in the body of the paper should meaningfully contribute to the development of your argument/thesis/position.

Research Resources: Provide full and correct bibliographic information for each. In a sentence, explain how you think they will be applicable to your topic. Any appropriate citation system can be used. ALL sources must be cited.
Mandatory:

*The Annotated Bibliography (due November 16th)

This assignment requires you to describe the sources for your research paper. Give the full bibliographic citation. Beneath each citation, write a paragraph that includes a two or three sentence summary of the text, a brief evaluation of it, and an explanation of its relevance to your topic. Remember that the most recent work in any field will refer to past scholarship in the text, footnotes, or bibliography.

Hint: When a bibliography is requested, the objective, from the point of view of the instructor, is to determine the depth, range and sophistication of your library research. This is something that is difficult to fake and ‘padding’ is easy to spot. The worth of a citation generally lies with the degree to which it is germane to your specific research topic—it must be relevant. The sophistication of the search is also evident by the range of articles and books that you discover.

Suggestions:

The Outline (should be completed by November 16th)

Review your progress on collecting data related to your research question(s). Now, revise your thesis.
Produce a written statement with your revised thesis and an outline of the evidence you plan to use in development and support of your thesis. This is a good time to practice writing sentences that summarize the relationship of a particular piece of evidence to your thesis (topic sentences). You may find it useful to cite your sources of information in this outline.
Note cards: Write out each idea and piece of evidence that you want to include in your paper on a separate note card (including the source citation). Lay out the note cards on your desk. Group cards containing similar ideas and pieces of evidence together. Then, order your cards into the sequence that best develops your argument.
Suggestions:

The rough draft (should be completed by November 18th)

Now write your paper. Introduce your topic and thesis. Consistently and carefully develop your thesis with supporting evidence gathered in your research. Present your conclusions. The body of the paper should be eight (8) to ten (10) pages long.
Use complete, grammatically correct sentences. Make sure to proof-read your work for content, grammar, and spelling (or have a friend or writing tutor read it). Check that you have included relevant topic sentences and transitional sentences.
Include relevant illustrations. You must cite the source of each illustration and refer to it in the text.
Provide a complete bibliography. Only sources cited in the paper are to be included in the full bibliography.
Consider asking a friend, classmate or writing tutor to review your paper.
Mandatory: On or before December 9th, you will submit the following items:

*Final Project and the following components (due: December 9th)

Proposal
Annotated Bibliography
Final Draft of Paper
PowerPoint presentation
Mandatory:

*Presentation of Papers: November 30th, December 7th, 9th

Presentation should be ten minutes long and illustrated with PowerPoint visuals (Five to ten slides). Please remember that you will not have time to read your entire paper. (A ten-minute presentation is five pages of typed double-spaced material.) You can either have a separate (shorter) script for your presentation or you can highlight the parts of your paper or process you find interesting. Practice before your class presentation to make sure your media works and that you stay within the time limit.

Attendance is mandatory for all the presentations.

Plagiarism, according to CSUMB standards, will not be tolerated, and will result in a failing grade.

Plagiarism is when an idea, work, or information is taken and used without giving credit to the originator or source. You may not take credit for someone else’s work. Plagiarism can take many forms, a few of which are listed below:

Plagiarism is using text of any length from someone else’s writing without proper citation.
Plagiarism is using ideas or information from a source without giving credit through proper citation to that source.
Plagiarism is letting someone else write your paper for you and claiming that work as your own.
You do not need to cite common knowledge. This is defined as information that is found in three non-related sources. For example, the capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. This is a fact that can be found in innumerable references that do not cite each other. If you are in doubt, use a citation or ask the professor for guidance. It is better to present an over-cited paper than to commit plagiarism.

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