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ART 225: Italian Renaissance

Paper Two

Spring 2008

Research Paper

Write a research paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the professor. The paper should be 8-10 pages long, and follow the attached "Guidelines for Papers in Art History."

All topics must be approved by the professor. The idea you submit at this time will naturally be very general. Expect to narrow, or even change, your focus as you do more research. Schedule a meeting with the professor to throw around ideas.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TOPICS: You might start by looking at a specific artist, but usually that is too broad a subject for a short research paper. Plan to be more detailed than your textbook, at the very least. Focus your research narrowly for best results. A single work or a particular iconographic theme illustrated with two or three examples will easily suffice for this length of a paper. Don't overlook paper topics based on the social and political contexts of Renaissance work. You might focus on a patron, a single moment in time period, or the impact of an historic event.

Your topic and a preliminary bibliography on your topic is due on March 14th, in class. The format can follow the attached sheet . You may submit it earlier for quicker feedback from the professor.
 
Proposal Sheet WORD document

The paper is due April 21st, in class, if you desire to have it returned and graded by the last day of class. All papers are due on the last day of class and will be returned at the time of the final exam. This paper is worth 20% of your grade.

Be sure to examine the following resources as you put together your list of works to consult:

  1. Your textbook. As a first step, read what Paoletti has to say about your chosen topic.
     
  2. Consult general titles for more information. Hartt, Italian Renaissance Art is especially good on individual artists, and will be placed on reserve for your use. In the back of that book (p. 669 ff) is an extensive list of sources by author and general theme. Start with these titles which are known to be high quality.
     
  3. Use Allecat KEYWORD and SUBJECT search to locate titles in the Allegheny College library.
     
  4. Use Library Databases to find recent articles on your topic. See Find Books and More on the Pelletier Library webpage. Expanded Academic ASAP, FirstSearch, and ArtAbstracts are the most obvious places to start. You will need to search back at least twenty years, depending upon how you focus your work.
     
  5. Among databases JSTOR is a "must-search," because it indexes important art history journals such as Art Bulletin, Burlington Magazine, major foreign art history journals Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte and museum bulletins.
     
  6. For preliminary information, consult general reference works whose articles are signed by authors, like The Catholic Encyclopediaor the Encyclopedia of Art for information. But beware! Sources like the Wikipedia are usually inappropriate for this level of research, although they will give you a good idea of where to start and some important references in the field. If you use Wikipedia, don't forget to include it in your bibliography.
     
  7. Check the footnotes and bibliographies of the works that you find in our library for frequently-consulted titles that you should try to acquire. Our library doesn't have very extensive holdings in art history, so expect to use inter-library loan.
     
  8. Consult the professor. I might have just the thing you're looking for!
     

Amelia Carr's
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Last updated 9 March 2008