Paper Guidelines: Scholarly Article Analysis ------------------------- Art History: Renaissance to Revolutions You should write a paper of 3-5

f 3-5 pages, double-spaced, analyzing and critiquing an article from the journal Art Bulletin (available online through TCNJs library) from 1982 to the present. Article choices are due Monday 4/2/12. Papers are due Monday 4/9/12. 90-second commercials about your papers are due Monday 4/23/12. Late papers will lose 5 points (out of 100) for every day late. Papers can be revised after submission, so turn them in on time, even if they could be improved! Expect technology to fail! Plan ahead. Exceptions will not be made for computer malfunctions. You should anticipate this project taking approximately 15 to 20 hours total.

Steps to writing your paper: 1. Find your article. Go to the TCNJ Library website and search for Art Bulletin under the Journal Titles tab. a. There are multiple databases at TCNJ that can be used to access The Art Bulletin, however, I personally find that JSTOR is the most user-friendly. The only major problem with JSTOR is that it only covers up to 2008, so if you want an article from a more recent issue, you will have to look elsewhere. b. You may want to browse the contents of the magazine, or search (make sure This Title is selected in the pull-down menu next to the search box, if youre in JSTOR) for a particular artist, period, or work. c. Pick an article related to something weve covered in this class. Thus, the topic of your article should be European and range from the proto-Renaissance (in Italy) to the 18th century. d. Read the first few sentences of the article. Ideally, you should pick an article in which the first paragraph is somewhat understandable on first or second read. Some of the articles in Art Bulletin are more accessible than others; dont spend forever trying to find one, but do try to find one that you have some innate interest in the topic and that has an interesting and comprehensible enough first paragraph that you can imagine yourself reading more of it. e. Make sure to pick a bona-fide article, not a book review, an introductory essay/front matter, or a response to an article. If you are having trouble deciding if you have found a bona-fide article, email me. 2. Email me the full citation for your article (this is one of your homework assignments for 4/2/12). I will reply to confirm if it is an acceptable article for the assignment. 3. Once youve received confirmation that your article is good to go, skim it to figure out the main points and what direction the article takes. a. Read the first paragraph and last paragraph; if there are section headings, read those and perhaps the first and last sentences of each section. b. Look for particular words (especially names of people, places, or objects) that frequently recur, make note of these and look them up if you dont know to whom/what they refer. c. Look at the images and read their captions to see what objects the author is using for visual references.

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d. Write one or two sentences summarizing, from your initial skimming, what you think the article is talking about. Use your course materials (Gardner and SmartHistory). Take notes on the following: a. Identify how your article fits into the story told in Gardner or SmartHistory i. What era(s) and/or culture(s) does it discuss? ii. What specific artists and/or objects in Gardner or SmartHistory relate to the article? iii. What do Gardner or SmartHistory say about this/these object(s)/artist(s)? b. If you quote or paraphrase information from course materials (and the article itself!), make sure to cite it correctly. See below for information on citations. Read your article thoroughly, with the background from Gardner/Smarthistory in mind. Think about the following (not all of this needs to be included in your paper in fact, you may only use two or three major elements derived from the points below but you should consider each of these questions in order to get your thinking juices flowing): a. Does the author of your article agree or disagree with anything in Gardner or Smarthistory? Does the article contradict or support the overall story from our course materials? b. What is the main argument of the article? What is the thesis statement? Try to paraphrase the thesis statement using your own words. Does this statement agree with your initial skimming? Do you need to refine your initial summary sentence(s)? c. What evidence does the author use to support the thesis statement? d. What methodologies does the author employ? In what ways? Give specific examples of places where the author uses a particular methodology. e. Why do you think the author wrote the article? Does the author make any assumptions? What biases might the author have that influenced the way the article was written? f. Why should we, as people interested in art history, want to read this article? Why is it significant? g. Do you find the authors argument convincing? Why or why not? h. Keeping in mind that this article is intended for a scholarly audience, what are its strengths and weaknesses? (i.e. making a case that the article is difficult to read or understand is probably not the most effective argument for you to make in terms of potential weaknesses) Organization. Review all of your notes. Think about what you want your paper to say. What are the main points? What is your thesis statement? How will you organize your paper? Make sure to include: a. A paragraph, of no more than four sentences, summarizing the main ideas and overall point of the article. In other words, make sure that your paper does not consist entirely of summarizing the article this summary should only take up at most 1/6 or less of your paper. b. Your own thesis statement, which concerns the main point of your critique (not the main point of the article!), as well as a basic overview of the points you will make to support your thesis/argument. Write the first draft of your paper. You wont want to use every single one of your notes in your paper just use the ones that are relevant to your main points and thesis argument. Dont include ideas that are irrelevant or extraneous tangents! Read over your draft and revise. Make corrections, change what doesnt make sense, remove and add ideas as necessary. Remove redundancies (places where you repeat yourself).

9. Take your paper to the TCNJ Writing Center or submit it to the online writing lab (OWL) (http://www.tcnj.edu/~tutoring/humanities/writing.html). This step is optional, but highly recommended! I will not correct grammar, spelling, or punctuation when I read and give feedback on your papers. 10. Submit your paper. (Due 4/9/12). 11. Create a 90-second commercial advertising your article and your paper about it: summarize (very briefly!) the point of the article, your argument about it, and compelling reasons why your viewers might be interested in it and what you have to say about it. This commercial should be in a format (video, automatically animated powerpoint, etc.) which can be played in class for our Big Picture Conference on 4/23/12. It should be between 80 and 100 seconds long.

Citations: Here are a couple of citation forms that may be useful. You may use these or any other standard accepted form of citation appropriate to an academic discipline. Journal Article: Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Book: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. For more information, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/1/ (above adapted from this site). Grading: Your paper will be graded on the following characteristics: 1. How well it uses standard written English, including correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling 2. How effectively it uses vocabulary from the course materials (particularly related to methodologies) 3. How it utilizes critical analysis to summarize, analyze, and critique the article 4. How it places the article within its cultural, political, geographical, and historical context 5. How organized it is, and whether it has a focused and effective thesis statement 6. How well it employs effective and concise argumentation 7. How well it critically examines the article, identifies its position within the broader narrative of art history, and communicates comprehension and insight into the content, approach, and methodologies of the article 8. Submission of commercial by deadline of class meeting on 4/23/12 Plagiarism: All instances of plagiarism and other academic integrity infractions will be dealt with according to the TCNJ Academic Integrity Policy, available at http://www.tcnj.edu/~academic/policy/integrity.html.