ART 601 & 602: SENIOR PROJECT IN ART HISTORY
I. TIMETABLE
Each senior is required to submit a senior project proposal which includes an outline of the scope of the project, a preliminary bibliography, and a projected thesis. These documents will be reviewed by the Art Department faculty. The student will then defend and discuss this proposal in front of the Senior Project Board. This Board must contain three members from the Art Department, and one faculty member from outside the department. Exceptions will be made by approval of the Art Department.
The senior project will normally be carried out over the entire course of the senior year. In the Fall, the senior will enroll in Art 601, Senior Project I: Art History, for 2 semester credit-hours, Credit/Non-Credit. In this course, the student will prepare the proposal, thesis and preliminary bibliography and begin work on the project. In the Spring, the student will enroll in Art 602, Senior Project II: Art History, for 4 semester credit-hours, which will include writing and completion of the senior project.
A timetable for submission of the final Project and its defense will be made part of the Proposal. Each year, the Art Department will establish deadlines for the receipt and defense of the completed project. There is nothing to prevent a student from planning a deadline earlier than those dates. In general, the Senior Project Board will expect to have at least a week to review the completed project, and the defense of the project should take place during the last week of classes. It is the responsibility of the student to schedule the time and date of the oral defense of the project, which lasts for one hour. The Art Seminar Room (Doane Arts 103) must be booked through the Art Department Secretary.
II. GRADING
The student will receive two grades for the senior project. Art 601, taken on a pass-fail basis, will be considered successfully completed when the student's Proposal is accepted by the Art Department faculty. The grade for Art 602 will be the grade on the Senior Project itself and will be determined by the Senior Project Board. It will be based on the student's research and knowledge of field, quality of execution and presentation of the senior project itself, and the oral defense of the project. Throughout the course of the Project, the student is expected to consult the Advisor / First Reader regularly, on a schedule to be determined between them.
III. FORMAT
Writing in art history generally follows the MLA Handbook and The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Early consultation of such guides can reduce the need for rewriting. A copy of the "Style Sheet" of the Art Bulletin is available from the department and is generally useful in dealing with problems specific to writing about art.
All manuscripts must be in English, typewritten, double-spaced on one side of the paper only, on sheets 8 1/2" x 11" of regular weight, with left margins of 1 1/4" (for binding) and 1" on all other sides. The use of word processors is encouraged, but only letter-quality printing will be accepted.
Number all pages in the upper right-hand corner, starting with the first page of Chapter I as page 1. Preceding pages should be numbered in lower case Roman numerals, with the unnumbered title page counting as i.
Material to be printed in italics should be underlined in the typescript, if italic printing is not available. This includes titles of works of art, titles of books, poems and periodical publications, and technical terms or phrases in a foreign language. It does not include direct quaotations in a foreign language, foreign titles preceding proper names, place names, names of builidngs or words anglicized by usage.
Foreign language quotations of more than a line or two in the text of the manuscript should be translated into English unless the language per se is of direct importance; the original text may be included in a footnote only if it is unpublished, difficult of access or of philological relevance to the paper.
The completed work should contain the following, in this order:
Title Page
Preface (with acknowledgements)
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Text
Endnotes (if applicable)
Bibliography
Illustrations.
Footnote or Endnote references in the text should be clearly designated by means of superior figures placed after punctuation. As in the MLA Handbook, all references to publications should be cited in full at the first appearance in each chapter. In general, the Latin op cit. is no longer used; subsequent references to the same work may be cited in short form. The use of ibid to refer the reader to the same work, same page as in the directly preceding note may be useful, but its use is left to individual preference. The most important principles to keep in mind in composing references are clarity and consistency.
At the end of the paper, a bibliography should give the full form of all references cited.
Referring to Works of Art:
Goldman gives the following common-sense advice about citing works of art in a paper.
Whenever an art object or monument is mentioned, the author should provide as complete identifying information as possible. A reference to "Bellini's Madonna" is useless (which Madonna painting by which Bellini?). The ideal citation, usually placed in a footnote so as not to interrupt the text with technical details, will give the full name of the artist, the title of the work, the date assigned to it, the material or technique (oil on canvas, fresco, bronze, lithography, mixed media) and its dimensions, the present location of the work:
Paul Cezanne, Mt. St. Victoire from Bibemus Quarry. ca. 1898. Oil on canvas. 25 1/2" x 32". Baltimore Museum of Art.
Some works, of course, will not need such ample documentation. Michelangelo need not be referred to by his full name; the cathedral at Chartres need not have its material or technique cited; the dimensions of a manuscript miniature probably will not be essential; citing the location of the Louvre is unnecessary.1
IV. ILLUSTRATIONS
Although high quality illustrations are of vital importance to the full understanding of the thesis, their value must be weighed against the trouble and expense of obtaining them. Illustrations made part of the final Project must be legible, archivally stable, and fully acknowledged.
The most desirable illustrations are high quality photographs made from the original object and reproduced on archival quality papers. High quality photographs may also be taken from already published work. In the case of plans, graphics, and similar monochromatic works of design, high quality xeroxes are ideal. Various computer imaging resources are being developed and made available at Allegheny College, offering another possibility for illustrating the thesis. High quality xeroxes of photographs or computer graphics might also be appropriate, with permission from the Project Board.
In general, color photographs are expensive and, often, archivally unsound. The decision to use color reproductions should be made only after careful consideration with the advisor.
Under some circumstances, which must be approved by the Project Board, a set of slides or original drawings may be submitted in lieu of photographs.
Illustrating your Project may be time-consuming and you should consult with your advisor at a very early phase in order to accommodate the inevitable problems. The Audio-Visual department of the library is willing to photograph, or assist you in photographing, source materials. Because of the time required to locate images, shoot, develop and print, you must allow at least 4-5 weeks for the entire process, whether you utilize college resources or your own. Do not imagine that you are an exception to this rule.
Pictures, like texts, are copyrighted. Your use of them as illustration is only permissible because your work is unpublished, uncirculated, and undertaken for educational and scholarly purposes. If you have other plans for your work, please take this into consideration as you obtain illustrations.
Picture sources must be acknowledged. In the list of illustrations, you must provide a full caption for each figure, including the source from which the picture was taken and the copyright holder. Not every image cited in the text need be illustrated, but every one cited should be fully referenced in a footnote, as discussed above.
V. COPIES
For purposes of evaluation and defense, each member of the Senior Project Board should receive a copy of the manuscript in its final form with xeroxes of the illustrations. The final, corrected copy of the Project, to be retained by the Art Department, will contain the original illustrations.
WARNING: Once photographs are mounted on the pages, it is very difficult to make any corrections. Do not mount pictures until the final copy is prepared and the pages are numbered. The project will be considered incomplete until the final copy has been received by the Art Department.
It may be appropriate to make additional copies of your project for the college library and interested parties. Some funds are available for this purpose. Please consult your advisor at an early stage for consideration of this possibility.
VI. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
There are several publications that are useful in researching and preparing a paper in art history. Please note that our discipline has not accepted the parenthetical style of citation that is approved by the MLA. The Chicago Manual of Style includes guidelines for almost every conceivable situation that might occur in the writing of the senior project.
College Art Association Art Bulletin Style Guide. (11 January 1997) Available at: http://www.collegeart.org/caa/publications/AB/ABStyleGuide.html
University of Chicago. Press. The Chicago Manual of Style. 14th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Earlier editions are useful, but this one addressessituations using electronic sources.
Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing about Art. 5th ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1997.
Jones, Lois Swan. Art Research Methods and Resources. A Guide to Finding Art Information. rev. and enl. ed. Dubuque: Kenall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1984.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Goldman, Reading and Writing in the Arts: A Handbook. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1978, pp. 159-160. ?? Art History Guidelines
Rev. 14 Jan 1998
