Research paper.

Your research project for this course will give you an opportunity to take some of the ideas that we will be talking about in class and explore them in greater depth. My only requirement is that the project consider connections between landscape and art or architecture in China or Japan. You might choose to investigate a single artist’s or designer’s body of work, or a group of paintings or gardens with related themes. I encourage you to talk to me about possible paper topics. Note that you should turn in a proposal for your paper topic on Wednesday, Feb. 15; 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. 28, you should turn in 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 five (5) art historical sources (not including the textbook or other readings assigned for this class) at a minimum, but ideally, you would have more than five, 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.

For the research stage of the project, I suggest that you consult WorldCat, JSTOR, the Bibliography of Asian Studies, and the Art Index (all online databases on the Library’s web page, under “Find Articles”). Note: for these online resources, you must be connected to the HWS campus network. You should also look at the books on reserve for our course at the Library (not only their contents but also their bibliographies), as well as resources that I suggest in footnotes on some of your daily handouts (typically beginning “Want to know more…?”). You may also wish to locate evidence in sources that discuss art, history, literature, philosophy, religion, etc.

Your completed paper will be due Wednesday, April 25. The text of the paper, not including illustrations and bibliography, should be 3000-4500 words in length. If you need more information about how to write an art history paper, I recommend looking at Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing about Art. (The 2008 edition is in the reference section of the Library.) If you have further questions about writing research papers, you might visit the HWS Writes website.

Breakdown of grades for research project:
Proposal: 1%
Annotated bibliography: 4%
Research paper: 20%

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:

1. Type all work in a 12-point font.
2. Double-space.
3. Leave one-inch margins on all sides.
4. Number your pages.
5. Staple your work.
6. Put your name on every page and the date on the first page.
7. 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.
8. 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).
9. 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: