Hum3

Applied Humanities

Research Two Works Start Your Research 3 Module Three: Examining the Humanities / Page 3.1.3 Start Your Research On this page: 0 of 1 attempted (0%) Objective: Learn strategies for researching the works of art, music, or literature that you’ll be discussing in your exploration document.

Have you ever wondered why the search for more information is called “research”? I did, so I looked it up in the dictionary and found out that the word “research” first showed up in English in the late 16th century:

From obsolete French recerche (noun), recercher (verb), from Old French re- (expressing intensive force) + cerchier ‘to search’.

Continuing our investigation, we see that the word “search” is also rooted in cerchier:

From Middle English: This is from the Old French verb cerchier from late Latin circare ‘go round’, from Latin circus ‘circle’. The main semantic strands are ‘explore thoroughly’ (search the premises) and ‘try to find’ (search out the truth), both of which have been present from the start.

In research (late 16th century) the prefix re- is an intensifier of the meaning. (Cresswell, 2010, p. 390)

So the prefix re- in this case doesn’t mean “to do again” as it does in a word such as “rewrite.” Instead it intensifies the meaning—somewhat like saying “really search.”

I love that “search” comes from the Latin word for “go round.” That’s what most research feels like to me—I start with a question and then circle around related sources. When the question is very direct (e.g., “When was the artist Mark Rothko born?”), we say we “looked it up.” But when the question is complex (e.g., “What was Rothko trying to say with his paintings of floating rectangles?”), we’re not likely to find a single source with a direct and compelling answer. Instead, we typically read one opinion after another, perhaps an essay by an art historian, an article by a contemporary critic, and ideally an interview with the actual artist. Each of these sources offers a different perspective, and the only thing holding them all together is the question at the center. We circle that question, seeing it from different angles, to find an answer we find compelling. That is research.

To share the findings of your research with others, you can discuss them with people, write them up in a paper, or (as you’ll do in this course) create a presentation. In any of these situations, you don’t have to ask your audience to read everything you read or chase down every idea you had along the way. Like someone who circled a building to find the entrance, you’ve already done the hard work and can now walk your friends directly to the door. Research can be a meandering exploration, feeling at times like an Easter egg hunt. But when it’s time to share your findings, you should do so as directly as possible, like an expert waiter serving a meal.

Your Questions

So what kinds of questions will you be trying to answer with your research? Here are some examples:

What is this artifact’s place in the history of art and the development of music, literature, or visual arts? What is known about the artist? What is known about the cultural context in which the work was created? What themes are presented in this cultural artifact? How does this work present these themes? What is remarkable about this work? How is it shaped by its artistic medium (music, literature, painting, sculpture, etc.)? Do other people see it the way I do? Do other people see, hear, or read things in this work that I haven’t noticed before? Where can I find credible information to inform my exploration of this work and its themes?

Identity

Presumably, you know the identity of the works you are analyzing. But suppose you don’t. Maybe you opted for an unlisted second artifact because you saw this stamp and really want to find out more about the work depicted.

You can, of course, begin with a search engine like Google. You can Google “Mark Rothko,” the name across the bottom of the stamp, to learn that this is the name of the artist. If you click on Images on the search’s results page, you’ll see that Rothko painted many other sets of rectangles, too. Google “Rothko stamp” and you’ll get some semi- relevant links, including uspsstamps.tumblr.com, which gives the name of the work: Orange and Yellow (1956). Now you know the artist’s name and the title and can likely use Google and your library to find more information.

Music is much harder to describe in a text search, but an app like Shazam can identify commercially distributed music with amazing accuracy. Shazam has indexed the audio files from billions of recordings. When you record and upload a sample of a song, it runs the sample through its database and tries to match it to an indexed recording. Keep in mind that Shazam can only match a sample to recorded music that it has indexed, so it can’t identify a tune you hum or a song being performed live. But it’s still a great way to identify the music you hear around you.

It’s rare to find much disagreement about the identity of a work, but be aware that there are many reproductions of famous works. A Google Images search for “Mona Lisa” summons thumbnails of the original painting along with a variety of reproductions, some of which are by famous artists and are housed in museums, even though they’re not the original. As you research, take the time to be sure you’re looking at the exact work you’ve chosen to analyze.

Music is even trickier, because you’re often looking for a performance of a composition, and every performer is free to interpret the work differently. Take Vivaldi’s “Spring” for example. When I search for it in Spotify, one of the first hits is from an album titled Classics for Baby Sleep. I have nothing against sleeping babies, but this performance is different than the performances you’ll be reading about as you review scholarly sources written about this work. The first truly relevant link I see in Spotify appears as “Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), Op…” It’s hard to know that this piece is “Spring” unless you hover over the title to see the full name: Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), Op. 8 - Concerto No. 1 in E Major, RV 269, “La primavera” (Spring): II. Largo e pianissimo sempre. Not the catchiest of titles. I can see why it is so often abbreviated to just “Spring.”

The point is, you’ll want to seek out a traditional performance if you want the commentary you read about the work to make sense.

Describe

To describe a work, it is helpful to begin without any input other than the work itself. Look at it, read it, or listen to it carefully. What do you perceive? Write it down. You know you’ll soon be looking at what other experts have said about it, so think of this step as a game: How many details can you identify before you consult the scholars?

When you’re ready, go ahead and consult the scholars, reading about what they have noticed. Usually they’ll have picked up on a few things you didn’t—if not in the formal characteristics of the work, then at least in the meaning of those things.

Analyze, Contextualize, and Interpret

These steps are much better performed by people with extensive expertise. Thankfully, we can lean on the expertise of others who have spent years analyzing, contextualizing, and interpreting works of art. These people are often employed as art historians, art critics, professors, or museum staff members. When they write for their colleagues, they publish in journals and use their most technical language. But when they write for the public, they tend to focus on only the most important pieces, writing in a way that those of us who don’t hold PhDs in the arts can understand. These writings for the public are often the best place to start.

For musical performances, search the web for the composer or work and the phrase “program notes” to look for professionally authored background information on the piece. For example, typing “Appalachian Spring program notes” into Google yields results from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and so on—all scholarly and accessible resources.

Evaluate

Here, we return to your personal encounter with the art. While the focus is on your own reaction to the work, it’s helpful to note whether this reaction or your evaluation of the work is consistent with the evaluation of others.

POLL QUESTION

Which part of the research process seems most challenging to you?

No Admittance Without ID

Regardless of which questions you’re researching, you want to make sure you can identify any particular source you’re looking at. Who is the author, and what are his or her credentials? Are these credentials appropriate to the subject matter?

finding good sources about my artifacts

understanding my sources, especially if they were written for a professional

audience

keeping track of what I read and where I read it

working my sources into my exploration document and presentation with

proper formatting

If an author’s name is not familiar to you, search online to find out what else the author has written and what others have said about his or her work. If you can, locate an author bio to read more about the author’s education and experience with the subject matter. If the author does not appear to be a professional or lacks significant experience, you will want to find a more credible source.

A good rule of thumb is to think in terms of the APA format you’ll use to list your references. If you can’t gather all that information from what you’re reading, then what you’re reading is probably not a suitable source.

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