Exhibition Research Project

Adequate / C-level Option

Components and Requirements Checklist

Exhibition Research Project

The key to success on this project is to follow instructions!

Follow these guidelines, and ask questions, so you don’t have to re-do your work.

Below are the specifications to complete and earn credit for each stage of the assignment. As you complete each part, be sure that you can check off every box on the list, otherwise will you not get credit for the assignment.

I will provide feedback at each stage of the project. I will look to see that you made a good faith effort to complete all the requirements, and offer suggestions to help you strengthen your project along the way. You may disagree with my feedback, and that’s ok, it will not hurt your chances of completing the project as long as you make the effort to respond to my feedback at the next stage. When I receive criticism on my writing that I disagree with, that simply indicates to me that I need to further clarify and justify my points to the reader. This is all part of the revision process. My role is to help you become a more effective researcher, writer, and critical thinker through this process.

Safety nets:

• You may use one of your three “tokens” to re-do an unsatisfactory assignment for credit.
• You may turn in Parts 1-3 up to 48 hours late, no questions asked. Beyond 48 hours, you must make arrangements with me to accommodate late assignments.
• These safety nets do not apply to the final revised version (Part 4)

Part 1: Research Tutorial and Proposal (Due Friday, Jan 28)

• Complete the research tutorial and plagiarism prevention module.
• Submit the proposal form with your top selection of artworks by the deadline (or within 48 hours)

Part 2: Rough drafts and sources (due Friday, Feb. 25)

A rough initial draft that introduces your paper’s theme, outlines the scholarship you have read about the topic so far, and includes one close analysis of an artwork.

• Part 2 form is complete and submitted by the deadline (or within 48 hours)
• Cites, in the body of the drafted paragraphs, any and all sources consulted (failure to do so constitutes plagiarism) –see “About citation” below

*see Part 2 form for detailed instructions

A note about citation and how to cite your sources:

• In Parts 2-3, you must to cite the sources that you use to gather information for this project, the authors whose ideas you use to develop your own writing. “Citing” means that you include a notation in the body of your writing that indicates the source—this notation is usually in parentheses at the end of a sentence (author/title). Or, you may use a footnote.[1]
• I expect to see direct quotes and ideas from authors cited by stating the author’s name (or the title of the source) to indicate where ideas/information come from: like “_author’s name_ argues, …. (source).” If there is not a clear author of your source, cite the title or organization that produced it.
• You must incorporate relevant sources (art historical, related to contemporary art and your theme), and they should refer to the sources listed in your bibliography. If a source is listed in your bibliography, but not cited in your text, then you haven’t shown that you actually used the source. Citation shows how you use your research – without it, your project is incomplete.

Part 3: Full Draft and Annotated Bibliography (due Friday, April 1)

A complete paper and artwork labels that attempts all parts of the checklist below. You will revise this to improve on it for Part 4, but it must be complete.

This “full draft” is what most students would consider a final paper that you would normally turn in, where you have attempted to do all parts of the assignment but probably haven’t edited or revised it. I have you submit it several weeks before the end of the semester because many students submit incomplete work, or have not followed the guidelines. Turning this in early gives you the opportunity, and the time, to rework and resubmit the complete assignment without it significantly lowering your grade. The best approach is to follow instructions and ask questions to clarify from the start.

• Both parts are complete and submitted by the deadline (or within 48 hours)

Research Paper

• Paper is the full length, 1,000-1,500 words (direct quotations from other sources are not counted toward the word count, because they are not your words)
• The paper has a title that gives some sense of the overall theme
• Shows evidence that you have made good use of feedback on Part 2, developing your ideas from the thoughts in your initial draft. This must show that you have tried to make the changes I told you would be necessary to complete a successful project in my feedback.
• Structured as a formal research paper–with introduction including your thesis or essential research question, supporting body paragraphs, and concluding paragraph.
• The paper is logically organized. Writing, in general, follows a logical structured order.
• Introduction paragraph outlines the issues at stake, the artworks under consideration, and provides a clear thesis statement OR set of research questions or concerns that explain the paper’s purpose to the reader. This can be direct: “this paper analyzes__works of art__in order to argue__,” for example.
• Makes a coherent argument or demonstrates an overall point using both visual analysis and scholarly research as evidence.
• The paper’s clearly stated thesis or essential research question is pursued in a focused and organized manner throughout the body of the paper.
• Includes detailed visual and contextual analysis of your 2 specific artworks (included in the class exhibition) related to the theme or central question.
• Demonstrates comparative analysis skills by connecting the 2 artworks from our exhibition to 1 or 2 art historical examples—other works of art by Black artists that connect with the overall theme.
• Demonstrates visual analysis skills, pointing to specific features (both formal/stylistic elements and subject matter) of the artworks under consideration as evidence for the argument or to answer the overall research question.
• Demonstrates that research was conducted to connect the artworks under investigation to historical styles, philosophical concerns, cultural or political issues and events. Consults reliable sources to learn about what others have said about these issues and expresses some critical thought about it.
• Cites, in the body of the text (not just the bibliography), at least 4 reliable sources related to contemporary art and your theme that have clearly been used to develop your argument (including museum websites, arts journalism, textbooks – all are reliable but not scholarly).
• Cites (also in the body of the text using footnotes or in-text citation) any and all sources consulted—failure to do so constitutes plagiarism and will result in no credit.
• Concluding paragraph overviews the importance of the points made in the paper, offering an extension of the key issues rather than simply reiterating the same points again.
• Includes an annotated bibliography listing all sources you have cited, including brief descriptions of their arguments and usefulness (not included in paper word count)
• Includes images of all artworks discussed – these are listed as “Figures” in the body of your text or at the end. You can refer to them in the text by artist, title, as well as (Fig. 1), (Fig. 2), etc.

Artworks and Interpretive statements:

• Each text is 200-250 words (these will likely be similar to what is in your paper, but edited to be concise and direct for the purposes of a wall text)
• Gives a brief description of the work’s visual qualities and subject matter, demonstrating visual analysis skills by pointing to relevant features and their visual effects.
• Discusses the artwork in relation to its historical context, any related art historical movements or concepts, and relevant cultural and political issues that affected its production, as well as how we view it today.
• Interpretations (the ideas you express about the artworks and what they mean) are backed up with visual evidence and research.
• Focus on the context of the work—these include minimal biographical information about the artist (there is plenty of biographical information on the Johnson Collection’s website that viewers can access). The text is focused on your interpretation and on how the art works in relation to larger cultural, social, political, and/or art historical concerns that will help viewers engage more deeply with the object.

On feedback:

I will evaluate and offer my feedback on your drafts considering how fully they meet the assignment requirements and how well they demonstrate visual analysis, research, and conceptual development. Satisfactory projects will show that you made a good faith effort to complete every component of the project. If your paper is incomplete, I will give you feedback to help you complete it to earn the C grade you’re aiming for.

For a C, you do not have to revise your full research paper, but you are required to revise your 2 artwork interpretations using my feedback if you want them to be included in our exhibition. If you do not want your artworks in the exhibition, completing step 3 above is your final step.

Optional Part 4: Final Revised Artwork labels (with track changes) – due Friday, April 29

• Turn on “Track Changes” in Word (under the Review tab at the top) so that I can see the changes made from your draft to your final paper. The other way to achieve this is to “compare documents” in Word or PDF, the program will combine your draft and final versions and show what changes were made—turn in this compared version.

• Complete and submitted by the deadline (no 48-hour late window)
• The 2 Individual artwork statements include all specifications listed for Part 3 above
• Shows track changes where revisions have been made from drafts (if there are no track changes, I will assume no revisions have been made)
• Text is copy-edited, including very few (if any) spelling and grammatical errors.
• Includes audio files of you reading your 2 wall texts (I will create a separate dropbox for you to upload these larger files).

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[1] like this! Go to the “references” tab at the top of word and click insert footnote to cite this way