art history paper

GUIDELINES FOR PAPER

The guidelines set forth in this explanation must be adhered to precisely or your grade will suffer. Where there are no guidelines use your own initiative and intuition. These are not only research papers where you must do careful reading, on site viewing, internet, and library work; these are primarily critiques where you set forth your own views and opinions of the subjects covered.

Content: This paper is to be a comparison or analysis; your opinions regarding the subject(s) are important. The facts and figures are used as back up material. Photographs, photo-copies or drawings of subjects are required.

Subject: Keep it simple! You never want to choose a subject too broad to be able to do a good job. For example, instead of selecting "The influence of Greek Architecture on American Architecture", you would want to write on some specific aspect of that period. "The influence of the Temple of Athena Parthenos on the old Mellon Bank Building" would be more suitable, easier to define, and take less time to research.

Length of Paper: The term paper will be at least four (4) pages, plus a cover sheet. The important thing is to completely cover the subject(s) selected in its entirety.

Format: Use the standard academic paper format (MLA) with footnotes, bibliography etc. Remember, every good paper has an introduction where the basic problem you are going to solve or subject to be covered is defined, a body where the actual research is indicated, and a conclusion or summation of the ideas presented to show you have done what you set out to do in the introduction. Write in standard English, not slang. Have someone proofread your work before submission, and be sure to check your spelling.

Research: Remember that people are good resources as well as books, magazines, and the internet: Quotes from artists, architects and engineers are acceptable.

Bibliography: Include ALL resources verbal, written, or recorded. Wikipedia is not a reliable source for information, therefore, steer clear of this website laced with opinions with no factual relevance to back it up!

Some sample topics: the human body in art, objects related to religious ritual, narrative in art, sacred spaces (religious architecture and sites), how art (including architecture) conveys power and authority, patrons and their goals in commissioning specific works of art (including architecture), how did a specific culture relate to their gods, should museums return art collected by dubious means, how did cathedral building develop, problems in restoring/preserving ancient art or the Greek concept of beauty/proportion.

The paper is due on December 8, 2018(although it can be submitted earlier).