Statues at Strasbourg Cathedral -- photo credit Coyau / Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to the library research guide for ARTH: Romanesque and Gothic Art. Use the tabs at the top to navigate from page to page.

If you're just starting your research, I recommend looking for tertiary sources (overviews) first. This will give you ideas for topics, and ideas for words to type in search boxes. Once you have ideas, then you can proceed to finding secondary sources and primary sources.

Dr. DeLancey has provided extensive information about the research project on Canvas. Here is an excerpt from the project overview:

ARTH 326: Project Overview

Topic

You will each be developing a topic of interest on which you will work all semester in a series of assignments. As long as your topic relates to art produced during the centuries we are studying for this class, and by the cultures we are studying in the class, you're set! Check the syllabus or talk with Dr. DeLancey if you have questions. We have great material to explore this semester. My hope is that this will be a chance for you to delve into something you’re excited about in connection with late Medieval art. You’ll be working on it throughout the course of the semester, so choose something you’re excited about.

If you're not sure where to start, a list of suggested topics is available on Canvas.

This may take shape differently for each of you; your topic should have a good, solid art historical grounding but may also include connections with issues you are considering or living with now. My main interest is that you can spend some time looking into a topic that’s of interest to you.

The majority of the project (60-70%) should deal with visual material.

To get you ready for the project, you will have one-on-one project meetings with Dr. DeLancey. We will also have a research workshop with Mr. Peter Catlin in Week 4. Of course, I am available to you at any point should you need any help.

 

Process

We’ll be focusing on three things:

• Identification and exploration of a topic of interest related to our course material. Hopefully this will be something you're excited to learn more about.
• Researching using:
  • What’s available from the library
  • The considerable amount of reliable information available online (documentaries, videos, digital humanities sites, and so on)
  • Your own interests as a guide
• Producing a final product which makes an argument that grows out of what you have learned from doing good research.

 

Product

You can choose your final product in order to play to your strengths:

• If you would like to propose something else, please let me know. Just make sure that whatever you propose could meet the “Common Outcomes” below.
  • People have done studio art projects; researched, cooked, and staged meals; and done other hands-on projects. If you have an idea, just talk with me! 
• Writing
• Visual or audio presentation or video (referred to below as “presentation”)
  • whatever you do needs to be accessible so if you use audio or video it must have closed captions—let Dr. DeLancey or UMW's Digital Knowledge Center know if you’d like help with that
• Digital resource

 

Formatting

• Of course, make sure to pledge every submission. Your typed name at the end of the pledge will stand in for your signature.
• Appropriate information to include at the top of the page.
• Any passages of writing should be:
  • In an appropriate font (12-point Times New Roman is a good choice)
• As always, please let me know how I can help.

 

Common Outcomes (what all projects need to do and have)

All projects will need to:

• have as their subject visual material, including art, architecture, and visual culture
• explore a clear, focused topic which goes beyond rehearsing information in the textbook or other introductory readings and is grounded in excellent secondary source scholarship
• show good critical thinking and use good evidence, both of which should result in good content and argumentation make use of written primary source material
• make solid use of appropriate scholarly sources (see more in Project FAQs).  All projects should make use of:
  • scholarly books
  • scholarly journal articles
  • appropriate digital humanities sites as relevant