Bibliography and illustrations on a topic of your choice

Assignment: Write a 1– 2 pg. paper including proper citations, footnotes or endnotes, bibliography and illustrations on a topic of your choice. Approach: The topic you choose to research may be from the textbook or you may choose an artist or theme discussed from the presentations. Regardless, your research should go well beyond the text. Research the artist, the era, and the style and compile a useful bibliography. Your bibliography should include at least 3 or more books or articles in addition to the text. The first part of your research should be effective note taking as you form a thesis for your paper. What do you want to say about your topic? You’ll figure that out during your research. You may want to consider among other things: the theme of the work or works you choose to investigate, the style, the composition, the figurative and/or abstract elements, the artist’s handling of light, space, color, texture, etc. Also consider the context. Remember art is not created in a vacuum. How does this piece or pieces you write about relate to other works created during this period, to other works done by the artist? What are the social, political, religious, spiritual themes, etc? Do you want to examine your subject from a particular point of view or use one of the methodologies we discussed?rnrnYou might want to open your paper with why you chose your subject. What drew you to it? Did you draw conclusions about it initially that were later confirmed, expanded or refuted by your research?rnrnThe beginning of your paper should include an introduction where you state the overall theme of the paper. Keep in mind that a research paper such as this should take the form of an argument. Your introduction should state your argument and the main body of your paper should then include the interpretive part of your essay that should be fairly extensive and critical. The paper should end with a conclusion and summation, perhaps explaining some important feature of the work that you have come to understand through your observation and research. Be sure to credit all sources of information that were used in your research. Again, you will have to go beyond the text. Use standard footnote or endnote form and include a bibliography, list of illustrations, etc.rnrnGUIDELINES:rnrn1) Papers must contain: a) Title page with title, name, course and section number b)rnrnText – typed with appropriate margins, c) Footnotes or endnotes in standard form if you use them (see below), d) Bibliography, e) List of illustrations andrnrn illustrations. Hand in original but please, please, make and keep a copy just inrnrncase my briefcase gets stolen. (It’s happened!)rnrn2) As you start your research, and before you actually begin writing think about thernrntheme of the paper. Establish your approach, your point of view and state in clearly then develop it in the main body of your paper. Present your arguments in a logical way.rnrn3) Find a balance between stating facts or information and giving your own analysis. Your sources will have different points of view and reach different conclusions about the work. Part of the point of research is to evaluate these various points of view and come to your own opinion. There is a difference between just your opinion and informed commentary. Any generalizations you make should be supported by references to details and documented facts.rnrn4) It is your responsibility to avoid plagiarism even unintentional plagiarism. Always cite sources of information as well as ideas and of course direct quotations. You don’t have to cite information that’s “common knowledge”. A good rule of thumb in knowing if information is common knowledge is if you see the same information in three or more sources, it’s probably not necessary to cite it. If it’s an original idea, however, you must cite the source or else it’s plagiarism. Your first reference to the source should be fully cited, abbreviated citations for subsequent notes. For example:rnrn1. Arthur C. Danto, “Encounters and Reflections: Art in the Historical Present” (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990) pp. 24 – 26rnrnDanto, “Encounters”, pg. 36rnrnUnderline, italicize or put quotations around titles of works of art.