III. A research paper and class
presentation (30%)
Your research paper should examine a
particular feminist artist or art historian who captures your interest. You will
need to search and
investigate multiple sources of information other than your personal
knowledge, classroom discussions, or the textbooks assigned in the
course. You will want to try to find original monographs on the particular artist as
well as scholarly critiques found on the work and your own reasoned opinion.
It is expected that you will support your opinions with those of
scholars who have also written about the work. Please
remember our library might not have books on the artists you wish to
research, and our slide library also might not have slides you may need
to illustrate the finer points of your research. The papers will be
presented the last few weeks of the course. I suggest you use the
Women Artists in the 20th and 21st Century [one of our textbooks] as a
main resource for discovering artists.
The
following assignments (due dates are listed in the calendar) are added
together for the grade: 1) topic justification , 2) progress
report including a bibliography, 3) the presentation-a fifteen
to thirty minute oral presentation on the topic during a class period, and 4) the
written paper-due on the day you present the paper. Please keep the
deadlines; chaos is the resulting problem when you believe you do
not have to hold to deadlines. Consequently, if you do not follow the
deadlines your grade will be penalized.
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Topic Justification:
This assignment is
a one page topic justification that explores your topic for this paper and
also include some of the beginning questions you hope to explore with
the topic. Before you select a topic, do a literature search in the library and see how much information you can
find on this particular artist/art historian/critic. This is
important as the person you select will be the focus of your
research for the whole semester. At this time you will also give me
the date (see below) you want to give your presentation to the class.
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Progress Report and
Bibliography:
For this report you
will need to give me a summary of the progress of your research on your
topic and a bibliography. The bibliography
must have the entire list of sources you are using in your paper. You
must have at least 3 to 5 separate sources beyond your textbooks
and any dictionary or encyclopedia you may discover. I am not saying
you cannot use these resources but, they should be considered course 'texts'
and cannot count in the 3-5 separate sources. The due date is such to
keep you moving through the research effort. I expect scholarly research
for this paper. Scholars in the field must write the sources. Internet
sources must be evaluated for scholarship or they will NOT be considered
valid. Without valid resources your research is not considered valid.
Make certain if you find yourself researching using Internet sources that
you understand the intricacies of evaluation of web sources. If you need
some help with this, please ask.
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Final Presentation/and
Written Paper:
Your written
research paper is due the day you present. This semester we will set
aside time in the last two weeks of the course to present your research to the class. The
presentation is a main component of the course, so, plan well. I'm
always willing to help you think about how to be more prepared to stand
in front of the room and talk to your colleagues so ask for help if you
need it. I generally use PowerPoint presentation to deliver the images.
If you need help with that please ask me.
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Slides for your presentation (if you need them):
Students
find great resources for images on the www [see the resource lists].
If you cannot find your artist's works on-line and you have reproduction
of the works we can scan them in the Mac Lab. However, this cannot be
done overnight so, I will need at least two weeks advance notice to
arrange for someone to help you with the scanner.
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Writing
Suggestions:
Effective writing
depends as much on clarity and readability as on content. Grammar and
diction, usage and sentence structure are important considerations, as are
the mechanics of writing/spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and so
on. Organization is particularly pertinent to clarity and readability.
Please remember you
must fully document borrowed opinions or theories from your sources. You
may choose to repeat a statement from a given source word for word in your
paper. As a quotation, it will require an introduction and quotation
marks. If you choose to summarize, paraphrase, or quote a statement in your work
it will still be necessary for you to give credit to the author from whom
you obtained the idea (e.g. a footnote). You must give credit to authors for specific ideas
and information you take from them. Not to do so is to negate your own
abilities. The presentation of ideas and statements or theories of others
as your own is plagiarism, and is unacceptable. A plagiarized paper means
failure in the course along with other penalties (see the Scots’ Guide).
Your research paper is
not a collection of theories or opinions given by experts in the field,
but a carefully written presentation of your idea (or perhaps a series
of ideas) that rely on other sources for verification, clarification,
and strength. Include your thesis statement toward the beginning of the
paper, and a conclusion toward the end.
I recommend The
Bedford Handbook, by Diana Hacker or any writing handbook that has
Chicago Style for students who have difficulty in formatting the
research paper. Use Chicago Style.
You may also find
Chicago style on-line at
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html.
Lastly, I am always willing to proof your efforts in advance, look at
web sites for valid sources, and give general advice for this effort. I
do need a week to be able to give competent feedback on your writing.
My best advice to you is start early, hence the topic and bibliographic
due dates. This will help you understand
your topic and it will advantage you later in the semester when you
become busy with other courses. Top
