essay
Topic Statement and Definition:
Your topic is related to the art work or thematic focus of your paper. You should have a thesis statement
which more specifically tells the reader what you intend to do or discuss in your paper. Your topic
should have been approved by me before you begin working on the paper itself.
Description of Artwork/Artist Chosen for Paper:
Whether you deal with a theme or a specific art work, you should describe it in detail and the reasons
for studying it. This is usually part of the introduction, following from your initial statement and
paragraph about the overall focus of the paper.
Context and Analysis:
Context includes several things and varies depending on your topic. In the case of an art historical or
humanities paper, the context may be material about the historic period in question, the artist’s
background, previous approaches to analysis of your question, interpretations of the work, and so on. It
should only be included if it helps to explain your subsequent analysis of the art work. Your paper is an
in-depth study of a single work, the analysis is precisely that: an analysis of the art work, from a formal
point of view (what it looks like, its composition, its style, its visual characteristics) and from the point of
view of the interpretations you have chosen to focus on.
Significance and Conclusion:
Here you discuss the importance, meaning and value of the particular artwork or thematic question
chosen for this paper. This is also where you should include your own point of view which is either
related to these positions or rejects them for reasons related to their failure as critical theories. This is
an important part of the paper precisely because it is where you tell the reader what you, in contrast to
other people, think.
Writing Style and Organization:
• Grammar is correct; spelling is correct
• Paper is well-organized and understandable
• More than one source of information is used to arrive at a new point of view
• Proper citations with footnotes and quotation marks, when appropriate; very long quotations should
be summarized and given credit
Do not plagiarize! You are allowed to use the ideas of other writers – if you give a citation. Putting it into
your own words is important and is more than just changing one word. But you should avoid quoting
needlessly. Basic facts do not need to be quoted; neither do descriptions. You can describe things with
your own words. If the description you read brought your attention to something you hadn’t noticed,
then tell the reader that.
Format:
Paper should be 12 pt font, standard margins, double spaced. It should be at least 5 pages total. Include
a title page and give your paper a title. Page length does not include Title pages or Bibliography.
Pictures:
You are encouraged to include images in your paper, however, these will not count against paper length.
Make sure your images are labeled appropriately.
Notes and Bibliography Examples:
You must include at least 4 Bibliographic sources in your paper. Your textbook can count as 1 source.
Ideally, the remaining sources will be a mix of formats (journals, books, websites, video). Use Wikipedia
as a resource, but DO NOT cite Wikipedia. Follow the citations to find original articles, websites, etc.
The Chicago Manual Documentation style is described below. You may use your textbook as one source
for your paper. Other sources can include academic articles, art books, museum websites, etc. You may
use Wikipedia as a reference, however, do not cite Wikipedia by itself. Refer to the link and citations in
the Wiki page for additional external sources.
Book: One author
Note style:
1. Wendy Doniger, Splitting the Difference (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), 65.
Bibliography style:
Doniger, Wendy. Splitting the Difference. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Note the differences here – in particular, the note has a page number at the end. The bibliographic entry
does not, assuming that you used more than one page in the book.
Two authors
Note:
6. Guy Cowlishaw and Robin Dunbar, Primate Conservation Biology (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 2000), 104–7.
Bibliography:
Cowlishaw, Guy, and Robin Dunbar. Primate Conservation Biology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
2000.
Article in a print journal
Note:
8. John Maynard Smith, “The Origin of Altruism,” Nature 393 (1998): 639.
Bib:
Smith, John Maynard. “The Origin of Altruism.” Nature 393 (1998): 639–40.
Resources for further types of citations:
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
Presentation Guidelines:
• Presentations will be 6-8 minutes in length. You will discuss the main points of your paper –
presenting the artist and artwork you chose to the class.
• Prepare a paper or notecards with your talking points
• Have a PowerPoint containing at least the artwork you’ll be talking about. You may also include
other images such as photos of the artist, process or related work. You may show related
content such as video however, make sure the clips are short and be prepared to talk over them
if necessary. Be conscious of the time requirement. Do not use video to explain your point for
you. This is your research topic so be prepared to present it verbally.
• Practice your presentation and make sure you are staying within the time limit.
• Be excited about your topic! If you’re excited, we will be more interested in hearing about it.
Presentation Day:
Presentations will be selected in a random order so you need to arrive to class each day during
Presentation Week ready to go since you do not know which day you will be presenting. If you are called
to do your presentation and you are not present that day or are not prepared to give your talk, you will
lose points. We will take a moment after each presentation for the audience to ask questions.