1. Completed papers should be typewritten and double-spaced, using 1" margins and a 10 or 12 point type. You can adjust margins and type size, but professors are rarely thus fooled about the length of your paper. Staple all sheets together.
    
2. Spelling counts, so use the computer spelling checker.
    
3. All papers should include a bibliography. Include all of the works you consulted for the paper, even if you do not cite them directly. Use the MLA format, listing authors alphabetically by last name.
    
4. Art-historical writing usually uses footnotes or end notes to document sources, NOT in-text parenthetical citation. Consult any standard style guide for the form here. However, If you are more comfortable with the MLA format of in-text citation, you may use it instead.
    
5. Illustrations are optional; if I cannot find a visual reference in my own library, I will ask you for help. If you do decide to include illustrations, please observe the following rules:
   1. Number them consecutively as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.
   2. Include a "List of Illustrations" as a separate sheet. This lists consists of the figure captions that include, if possible, artist (or, for anonymous works, the school), title, date, medium, size (height precedes width), and present location.
      N.B.: It is optional to include the caption again on the same page as the figure.
   3. Include the source of each illustration for each figure.
   4. For the neatest presentation, trim extraneous material away from your xerox copy of the illustration and remount the figure on a separate sheet of paper. Spray Mount fixative is available in the Art Store and works well for this process. It is very tacky to include another author's caption along with the figure. Write your own!
       

   Sample caption: Figure 1: Piero della Francesca, Enthroned Madonna and Saints Adored by Federico da Montefeltro, 1472-74, oil on panel, 8' 2" x 5'7", Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. Illustrated in John Paoletti et al., Art in Renaissance Italy (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1997), p. 281.

   
    
6. Staple your pages together in the following order:
   1. Cover page (optional)
      Paper heading should include the paper title, your name and Honor Code signature. Details like class and date are optional.
   2. Text
   3. Endnotes, if applicable
   4. Bibliography
   5. List of Illustrations (optional)
   6. Illustrations (optional)
   
    
7. If you have any questions, please ask the professor for clarification. The following text, available in the bookstore, might also be useful: Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing About Art.

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http://merlin.allegheny.edu/employee/a/acarr/paper.html
Posted April 28, 2003