Research project.

Paper proposal: 1% of overall grade for course, due Friday, Feb. 14.

Your paper for this course will be based on your analysis of a single Chinese work of art or building created between 1850 and the present. I encourage you to come talk to me about possible paper topics. Your proposal should be no longer than one paragraph. It must indicate which work of art or architecture you intend to research; it would also be helpful to know what aspect(s) of it you plan to research, but that is optional.

Research worksheets: 2% of overall grade for course, due Wednesday, Mar. 4.

As soon as your topic is approved, you should start working on your research. Keep track of your research using research worksheets, available on Canvas; please fill one out for each library database you consult for this paper, indicating your search terms and your results (including any search terms that lead to no results at all). You will need to turn in these worksheets.

In addition to looking for written discussions of the work of art or building you have chosen, you may wish to read about similar works of art or architecture, the artist and/or patron (if identified), artistic trends in the historical period and geographical region, and related materials (literature, philosophical texts, religious texts, etc.) to help with your analysis. I suggest that you consult SingleSearch, WorldCat, JSTOR, the Bibliography of Asian Studies, the Art Index, and Project Muse (all linked from the Library’s web page under “SingleSearch,” “Find a Database,” and “Search WorldCat”). For these online resources, you must be connected to the HWS campus network. For images, you should explore ARTstor and some of the links available online (in Canvas, see the page titled Links).

Here are some elements that you may want to research (remembering that the absence of certain characteristics is sometimes important too):

• the formal elements, subject matter, and/or function of a work of art or building;
• the identity, status, and circumstances of the artist and/or patron;
• where and when the work of art or building was created;
• the medium used to create a work of art or architecture;
• what other works of art or architectural sites of the same time and place have in common with those you are focusing on;
• subjects, ideas, or themes referred to in the work of art or architecture.

Annotated bibliography: 5% of overall course grade, due Friday, Mar. 27.

Once you have completed your preliminary research, consider which sources you intend to use in your paper, and use them to create an annotated bibliography. It is important to consider the quality of your sources. Personal or institutional web pages are not always subject to peer review in the same way as books and journal articles, and I expect the majority of your bibliography to consist of peer-reviewed books and journal articles (which can sometimes be found in the Library’s online resources). Your completed project should consult five (5) sources at a minimum, primarily art historical sources supplemented with appropriate readings on religion, philosophy, history, literature, anthropology, etc. (depending on what your topic is); ideally, you would have found most of your sources by the time the bibliography is due (though of course it is fine to continue to conduct research after that). The more academic sources you have the better: part of the point of doing a research paper is to demonstrate the amount and quality of research you did.

For the annotated bibliography, you will need to list the best, most relevant sources in alphabetical order by author, using hanging indentation. Each entry must include the following items:

1. bibliographic information for each source, formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style (see this page);
2. a sentence or two explaining why the source is useful in understanding your topic;
3. a sample quote from the source, with the correct citation in footnote or parenthetical reference form;
4. a paraphrase of the sample quote, with the correct citation in footnote or parenthetical reference form.

Paper draft: 7% of overall grade for course, due Friday, Apr. 10.

As you read your sources, take notes, and start incorporating what you are learning into a draft of the research paper. The draft will be submitted for a grade, and you will receive comments from me that should help you to improve your final paper. I cannot guarantee that I will have time to give feedback on any drafts submitted after the deadline above. As you work on your draft, keep in mind that the final version of the paper should be about 1500–2100 words (roughly five to seven pages of text, not including images or bibliography) and should cite at least five sources.

In addition to your research, it would be fine for you to incorporate your own observation of formal characteristics of the work of art or building you are writing about (e.g., form or composition; qualities of line or color; surface treatment; representation of space, mass or volume; the viewer’s vantage point; qualities of proportion or scale) as a way of explaining the artistic choices of makers, the status of owners, or the possible reactions of viewers. This is not strictly necessary, however.

Your research and/or observations might suggest the following questions, some or all of which you should attempt to answer in your paper, and might serve as the basis for a thesis:

• How does the work of art or building fit in its historical context?
• What does the subject matter (if applicable) suggest about the object’s significance?
• What is the intended function of the work of art or building?
• What do the medium and formal characteristics tell you about the artistic choices of the maker, the status of the owner (if applicable), or the possible reactions of viewers or visitors?
• Does an inscription (if applicable) reveal anything about the circumstances of the object’s creation, or the attitudes of the maker or viewers?

Develop a thesis and argument around which to organize your writing. You should explain your thesis in your introductory paragraph; present evidence that supports your thesis (such as your own observations or information that you find in your research) in the body paragraphs, with each paragraph focusing on one idea; and reiterate your argument briefly in a concluding paragraph.

Research paper: 15% of overall grade for course, due Friday, Apr. 24.

For the final version of the paper, I expect you to revise the draft as appropriate, incorporating any comments that I made on it. Again, it should be about 1500–2100 words (roughly five to seven pages of text, not including images or bibliography) and should cite at least five sources.

If you need more information about how to write an art history research paper, or how to do formal analysis of art or architecture, I suggest looking at Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing about Art, a recommended book for this course. Be sure to cite sources throughout your paper using either footnotes or parenthetical references in Chicago-style citation. Then, create a list of Works Cited at the end of your paper that includes citations for any sources that you cited in bibliographic format, listing them in alphabetical order by author and using hanging indentation. (Don’t include annotations from the annotated bibliography here, and don’t list any sources that you didn’t actually cite.) Remember that footnote, parenthetical reference, and bibliographic formats are all different. If you have further questions about writing response papers, you might visit the HWS Writes website.