Research paper (due Friday, Apr. 20).

Your paper for this course will be based on your analysis of a single Buddhist art object or building. Try to choose something that you like and want to know more about. I encourage you to talk to me about possible paper topics. Note that you should turn in a proposal for your paper topic on Friday, Feb. 10; this should be no longer than one paragraph, and the point of turning it in is so that I can make sure that you are choosing a manageable topic.

On Wednesday, Mar. 14, you should turn copies of your annotated bibliography and research worksheets. The annotated bibliography should be a list of the sources found by this date that you plan to use in your paper, with a sentence or two explaining why it is useful in your research. (Of course, it is fine to continue to look for sources after the annotated bibliography is due.) Research worksheets can be downloaded from Blackboard; please fill one out for each library database you consult for this paper, indicating your search terms and your results. It is particularly important that you pay attention to your sources. Although looking for information on the internet is very convenient, personal or institutional web pages are not always subject to peer review in the same way as books and journal articles. Therefore, I expect the majority of your bibliography to consist of peer-reviewed books and journal articles (which can sometimes be found in online databases such as JSTOR). You should have three (3) art historical sources (not including the textbook or other readings assigned for this class) at a minimum, but ideally, you would have more than three, and you would supplement these with appropriate readings on religion, philosophy, history, literature, etc. (depending on what your topic is). Certainly, the more sources you have and the more academic they are the better: part of the point of doing a research paper is to demonstrate the amount and quality of research you did, and this is done through your bibliography. You will be learning how to find the resources on Buddhist art and architecture available through our library at the Library Research Session scheduled for Monday, Feb. 6.

The paper itself should be about 1500-2100 words (roughly five to seven pages of text, not including images or bibliography). I expect to see both a description and an analysis (including style, function, and religious and historical context) of the object or building that you choose. In addition to researching discussions of the object or building you have chosen, you may wish to do some reading about the following elements (remembering that the absence of certain characteristics is sometimes important too):

• the identity, status, and circumstances of the artist, patron, or collector, if known;
• the object’s subject matter and/or function, or the building’s function;
• where and when the object or building was made (its provenance and date);
• what the object or building is made of (its medium);
• whether the object or building is inscribed and, if so, what the inscription says;
• what other objects or buildings of the same time and place have in common with the one you are focusing on.

You should also observe and discuss formal characteristics of the object or building (including its form or composition; use of line or color; texture; rendering of space, mass, or volume; perspective; proportion or scale).

These elements might suggest the following questions, some or all of which you should attempt to answer in your paper:

• What does the subject matter suggest about the object’s or building’s significance?
• How does the object or building fit in its historical context?
• Which Buddhist sect does it belong to?
• What do the medium and formal characteristics tell you about the artistic choices of the maker, the status of the owner, or the possible reactions of viewers?
• Does an inscription reveal anything about the circumstances of the object’s creation, or the attitudes of the maker or viewers?

Develop a thesis or an argument around which to organize your writing, and put it in the first paragraph. (Note: this should not be a vague claim such as “This painting exemplifies the religious nature of Buddhist art.”) Pay attention to your language: please avoid judgmental words like “good” or “bad,” as well as overused adjectives like “nice” and “interesting.”

If you need more information about how to write an art history research paper, I advise looking at Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing about Art, a recommended book for this course. (The 2008 edition is also in the reference section of the Library.) Be sure, in addition to including a bibliography at the end of your paper, to also cite your sources throughout your paper using either footnotes (preferred in humanities courses) or parenthetical references: see A Short Guide to Writing about Art for details on how to do this. Note that bibliographic and note forms are different. If you have further questions about writing research papers, you might visit HWS Writes.

Format for written work:
One of the things you will learn in an art history class is the importance of presentation. This applies to your written work as well:

• Type all work in a 12-point font.
• Double-space.
• Leave one-inch margins on all sides.
• Number your pages.
• Staple your work.
• Put your name on every page and the date on the first page.
• Check that your spelling, grammar, and punctuation are correct—these are crucial to effective communication of your ideas. Your grade will drop if you have excessive errors.
• If you cite another source, use either parenthetical references or footnotes. (See A Note about Cheating and Plagiarism below.) Make sure that you follow a standard documentation style, ideally the one found in the Chicago Manual of Style (which is what art historians most typically use).
• Include a picture with a caption if appropriate (and please attach it to a clean sheet of paper—do not give me a loose postcard, an illustration torn from a magazine, or a copy of the book you found the picture in. Black-and-white photocopies are okay).

A note about cheating and plagiarism:
I will not tolerate any form of academic dishonesty. Not only does it destroy the trust that I have in you to do your best, it is unfair to the other students, and obviously you will not learn anything if you resort to cheating. If I find that you have cheated on a test or on a written assignment, you will receive a zero for the assignment and I will contact the Deans and/or the Committee on Standards about your case.

Now, just in case you are not clear about what plagiarism is: plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words or ideas without giving that person credit.  In application, this means that in your writing assignments, you need to cite your sources. When quoting directly from a text—say, five words or more in succession—you need to put those words in quotation marks and include a parenthetical reference or footnote citing the source. When rewriting a passage from a text in your own words, you don’t need the quotation marks but you do still need the parenthetical reference or footnote. If you don’t understand exactly what constitutes plagiarism, or how to use parenthetical references or footnotes, please ask me. I would prefer to explain what it is and how to avoid it before it happens rather than after.

Research worksheet (due Wednesday, Mar. 14).

Please fill out one of these worksheets for each library database you consult for this paper. (You can download this from Blackboard or make copies of this worksheet.)

Name:

Paper topic:

Library database (check one):
____  WorldCat                                              ____  Art Index with Full Text
____  JSTOR                                                  ____  Art Index Retrospective
____  Bibliography of Asian Studies              ____  Other: