The Work of Art

Research Paper Assignment

This term you will have the opportunity to examine closely a
particular movement or genre in art as the focus of your research
paper. This could involve any kind or aspect of art that interests
you, i.e., music, visual art, dance, architecture, cultural/communal
art.the list is endless. Each of you will need to get approval
from me as to the area that you have chosen so that there is no
duplication and also so that the topic is manageable within a 5-7
page paper. The overall question (which would result in your
thesis) that your paper needs to address is: How is this art
movement a reflection of its culture and time? I must
emphasis that your thesis needs to be your own original idea that
you develop throughout your paper. This is not merely an
informational paper.
In order to fully answer this question you will need to have
specific sections of your paper that address the following ideas.
Explanation of the art itself which would include its origins,
its unique aspects and key artists within this movement.
How this art movement is/was both a reflection of the culture
and/or a challenge to the existing cultural norms.
How this art movement has impacted other art movements
which coincided with it or followed it.

This paper will be 5-7 pages word processed. You need a

minimum of 7 refereed sources. You can use either MLA or APA
document style. I would choose the documentation style that
you will be using predominantly in your college career.
Next Thursday, Jan. 21st, Kris Kern out library liaison will visit
our class to help introduce to the various sources and
databases available through the PSU library. I STRONGLY urge

you to come to class with two or three movements that you are
considering. The clearer you are on where you are going the
more helpful the session will be.
On Thursday, Jan. 28th, you will need to hand in a research
prospectus which is a 1-2 page document which contains: Your
thesis (this should not be a question or a mere statement of a
topic), a tentative outline of your papers organization and an
annotated bibliography of the sources you intend to you. There
are very helpful links on d2l which should help you get clarity
on each of these aspects. In the annotated bibliography, I
would like you to briefly summarize the source and how you
intend to use it in your paper.
On Thursday, Feb. 18th, your polished draft is due. A polished
draft is NOT a rough draft. By this point, you should have a
clearly articulated thesis and, for the most part, fully developed
essay including a Works Cited or Bibliography Page. I will be
conferencing with each of you on your polished drafts. If you
fail to hand in your paper on time, you will not receive a
conference from me as I need time to read and respond
to the papers.
Your final draft is due Tues. March 8th. On this day, you will also
produce a poster session of your research paper. This poster
session will provide a synopsis of your paper with specific
examples/images of this particular movement.
Please note that if you are dealing with a movement that would
benefit by handing in your paper electronically, that would be
fine. For example, if you need to incorporate sound or videos
that would be beneficial in showing your movement then you
should consider submitting your paper electronically.
Your grade on this is broken down as follows:

Research Prospectus
Polished Draft
Final Draft

5%
10%
15%