Site visit essay 3-4 pages
Site Visit Guidelines
Overview: By the end of the semester, you will be required to visit a site or museum exhibit in the city and write an analysis of it, worth 15% of your overall grade. Your site visit options are listed below--please note that they are time sensitive. They’ve been selected because they coincide with particular content we are doing on particular weeks.
Note that there are many options listed here—you only do one site visit paper for the semester.
Requirements: Papers should be 3-4 pages, typed, double-spaced, with 12-pt font and normal (1 inch) margins. Your paper should contain 3 main things:
1) A description/analysis of the place you chose--if it’s a memorial, some description of when it was created and by whom; if it’s a museum exhibit, some overview of what the exhibit is about
2) for outdoor sites and memorials, an analysis of its impact--what feeling do you get being there? How are other visitors interacting with the place?
For museum exhibitions, choose 1 object to focus on --it’ll be up to you to use the exhibition text to make sure it is an object from a relevant time period--and give a detailed analysis of the object: what is made of? What is it used for? Why might the curator have put it in this exhibition?
3) A discussion of this site or object as a way of looking at New York--what does someone learn about the city by going to this place or looking at this object? How does it confirm or challenge what we’ve read as a class?
Handing It In: Papers should be uploaded to Blackboard by 5 p.m. on the due date. Please attach it as a word doc.
Citation Requirements: Your paper does not have a required amount of sources, but it is likely that you’ll write a more effective paper if you contextualize your site using some of our readings from class. You might want to find an additional source about your site for more information. If you’re referring to an object, include its caption in your paper--the name and date that are featured in the exhibition text.
You are not required to include a separate works cited page for this assignment, but you should cite your sources using footnotes. My personal preference is Turabian Style, but if you have another recognized citation format (MLA, APA) that you are comfortable with, feel free to use that. This website can help! http://www.citationmachine.net/
Full List of Options
--Check ahead of time for directions, site hours, and prices. Most of these are free or suggested donation, but it’s always good to double check!
Port City at the Museum of the City of New York
--this exhibition covers many time periods; when you go in, make sure to focus on the section that pertains to the time period you’re talking about. For example, don’t do an object from the section that covers the 1890s in order to satisfy an assignment about the Dutch in New Amsterdam.
--you can submit a paper using this gallery until March 15th
World City at the Museum of the City of New York
--same as above--make sure to go to the section about the specific time period you’re writing about
--you can submit a paper using this gallery between March 22nd and May 15th.
Activist New York at the Museum of the City of New York
--same as above--make sure to go to the section about the specific time period you’re writing about. This gallery has material ranging from the 1650s to the present.
--you can submit a paper using this gallery any time during the semester; February 1st at the earliest and May 15th at the latest.
Germ City at the Museum of the City of New York
--this gallery covers the 1800s through the present.
--you can submit a paper using this gallery between February 22nd and May 15th
--you can submit a paper about this site between February 1st and February 22nd
--**This is a National Park Service site and will not be available unless the government shutdown ends**
--you can submit a paper about this site between February 22nd and March 8th
The Luce Center at the New York Historical Society
--The permanent collection at the New York Historical Society has objects from many different time periods--make sure you’ve chosen an object that’s relevant to the topic you’re discussing in your paper.
--you can submit a paper about this site between February 22nd and April 20th
Design and the Just City at the Center for Architecture
--you can submit a paper about this site between May 1st and May 15th
**If there’s another museum exhibition or outdoor site/memorial you’d like to write your paper about, I’ll consider it, but you’ll need to email me a one paragraph proposal first: what’s the location, why do you want to write your paper about it, how do you feel it fits in with the class?**