See the syllabus for full information. Here are some excerpts from the syllabus:

One Group Presentation (10% worth of final grade): Students (ideally 5 students in one group) will prepare an 8-minute-long presentation (plus 2 min Q &A) about an unknown work of art that has not been presented in class lectures. 

You need to create a slideshow file (approx. 7 slides) with the following information:

• Slide 1: Title of the presentation, image of the artwork with caption (name of artist, title, medium, size, location), name of presenters, presentation date.
• Slide 2: Short Bio of artist (if known)
• Slide 3: Introduction of the stylistic period
• Slide 4: Detailed visual analysis (multiple slides are fine, please add caption for the images)
• Slide 5: Interpretation (meaning, function, commissioner, significance, etc., use bullet points)
• Slide 6: Comparison to a work of art drawn from class lecture or textbook (please add name of artist, title, medium, size, location for both images)
• Slide 7: Bibliography [emphasis added]

One Group Paper (10% worth of final grade): You are essentially writing a scholarly paper on the unknown work of art that you will present in class with your group members. However, this paper is not a presentation script; it must be written in an academic format with proper footnotes and a bibliography. This assignment focuses on looking and writing and requires you to rely primarily on your own visual observations, followed by concise research.

Classify your work of art using appropriate art-historical terminology from your textbook or class discussions. In addition to using material from lectures and readings, you may consult up to three written sources for your research. To avoid plagiarism, you must document all sources properly using footnotes and include a bibliography [emphasis added].

Important Restrictions:

• DO NOT USE random online sources. Use only peer-reviewed journals, scholarly articles, and reliable databases available through the Simpson Library’s Research Database.
• Acceptable references include Britannica, Oxford Art Online, and essays on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
• Avoid Wikipedia and non-scholarly blogs or websites, as they are often inaccurate and lack author credibility.
• Museum websites may be used, but you must not copy or quote their visual analysis. All descriptions and analyses must be your own.
• Do NOT use ChatGPT, AI tools, or similar automated sources for visual analysis or research.  

• September 24: Groups 1 & 2
• October 22: Groups 3 & 4
• November 5: Groups 5 & 6
• November 12: Groups 7 & 8
• November 24: Groups 9 & 10
• December 3: Groups 11, 12, 13, 14, & 15

Dates may change. Check Canvas for current information.

• Step 1: Find an artwork
• Step 2: Find background information
• Step 3: Find books and articles
• Step 4: Cite your sources

You need to find an artwork to study, and you need high-resolution pictures of that artwork.

Here are four options for finding high-resolution pictures of artworks. I recommend trying all three options.

Option 1: The textbook

Asian Art by Dorinda Neave, Lara Blanchard, and Marika Sardar. Available in Simpson Library.

The syllabus says "It’s ok to pull out something from the textbook if not discussed before."

Option 2: JSTOR

Option 3: Google Arts & Culture

Google Arts & Culture is a site that provides free access to images of artworks and cultural artifacts. Here are several ways to browse this site:

Option 4: Museum websites

Many art museums, but not all, provide high-resolution pictures of artworks in their collections. Here is a list (from Wikipedia) of museums that have large collections of Asian art. For each museum, go to that museum's official website to view items in its collection.

• Note: The syllabus says "Museum websites may be used, but you must not copy or quote their visual analysis. All descriptions and analyses must be your own."

After you have selected an artwork that you'd like to write about, the next step is to find basic background information about the context of the artwork.

• For example, you might look for background information about the artist, or about the art medium, or about an art movement that the work is part of, or about the time and place in which the artwork was created.

Don't cite background information. Instead, read it and take notes, and use those notes to find sources you can cite. (The reason why you shouldn't cite background information is that it merely repeats information from other sources. It's better to cite those original sources.)

Wikipedia is a common source of background information, but Wikipedia can be edited by anyone. If you'd like to read background information written by actual experts, use the books in the Reference section on the first floor of Simpson Library. I particularly recommend these books:

After you've read background information, and written down a few clues to follow up on, the next step is to type those clues in search boxes to find scholarly sources.

To find scholarly sources through Simpson Library, use the search box on the library homepage, which searches the physical contents of the library and most of the electronic databases, all at the same time.

I recommend trying both broad search terms and narrow search terms:

• Broad search terms are things like "Chinese art" or "brush painting." They usually find books, which cover broad topics.
• Narrow search terms are things like artworks, artists, art periods, or art movements. They usually find articles, which cover narrow topics.
  • Note: You'll find more results when you search for famous artists than when you search for lesser-known artists.

The library search box finds results from all subject areas, not just art. If you only want to find sources that are related to art, use the Art databases.

If you just want to browse the shelves and see what books the library has, go to these areas in the library:

• East Asian art: N 7336 through N 7379 (2nd floor)
• East Asian history: DS 701 through DS 999 (3rd floor)

For the Museum Paper, your citations must follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Use these tools to help you with Chicago style:

The library provides guides to doing research in every subject that's taught at UMW. Here is the guide to doing research in Art & Art History.