Assignment objectives:
To expand your knowledge beyond the information provided in this course through independent research (a life-long-learning skill)
To practice your research skills of searching in library databases and properly citing sources according to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS)
To practice your critical-thinking skills (building upon our in-class discussions of texts).
Prompt:
Step 1: Pick one designer covered in the lectures already presented in class.
John Flaxman
Thomas Chippendale
Charles Percier
Thomas Hope
Joseph Paxton
John La Farge
Margaret Macdonald
Cándido Villalobos
Hector Guimard
Prosper Ricard
William Morris
Raymond Loewy
Margarete Schuette-Lihotzky
Lester Beall
Peter Behrens
Charles Holden
Jean Dunand (French, 1877-1942)
René Lalique (French, 1860-1945)
Charles-Edouard Jeanneret
Amédée Ozenfant
Gerrit Rietveld
Aleksandr Rodchenko
Lyubov Popova
Jan Tschihold
Mehemed Fehmy Agha
Step 2: Find a scholarly article in the library’s databases written about that designer’s work (any aspect or phase you are interested in) and published between 2000 and the present. A scholarly article will give citations for its claims (footnotes or endnotes) and present original findings or make an original argument. So, even though some use endnotes or footnotes, encyclopedia articles do not count. The article must be substantive, at least ten pages long.
Note: it might take you a while to find one that interests you and that you understand well. Budget time for the exploratory search. Also, enjoy it. There is much interesting information you will discover along the way.
I recommend using the JStor dabatase to find articles in this subject area. You can use OneSearch to expand the possibilities, but avoid articles from fields, like medicine, or journals, like medical journals (e.g.: JAMA), which may not be sufficiently relevant to the history of design—at least not for the purposes of this assignment.
Step 3: Write an essay in which you critically evaluate whether or not you find the author’s argument convincing.
Suggested organization:
Introduction: Briefly paraphrase (no quoting) the author’s main argument (conclusion). Say whether or not you found it convincing.
Body parts (each being one or more paragraphs):
Evaluate whether or not the argument is fair or biased: You might consider whether or not the tone (attitude) of the writer is overly emotional and dramatic, or if the argument is obviously one-sided, not considering alternate explanations or perspectives that a reasonable or informed person would think of or be aware of.
Evaluate whether or not the author supports their conclusion with sufficient evidence and logic: In each paragraph of this body part, point out strong or weak points of the author’s evidence or logic and support your evaluation with evidence from the author’s text and any other information you bring to your evaluation of that author’s point of evidence or logic.
Here is a handy guide (from https://learn.lexiconic.net/argumentevaluation.htm) for evaluating evidence and logic:
“Are the given premises reliable and relevant? Are they thoroughly explained?
Does the author make contradictory points?
Does the author make concessions to alternative views without explaining why they are nevertheless subordinate to his/her main view?
Do the premises themselves require further justification? (That is, do they beg the question?)
Is the movement from premise to conclusion logical? Does the argument contain gaps in reasoning or logical fallacies? Along with begging the question (above), here are some other common errors you may find:
ad hominem
hasty generalization
ignoring the burden of proof
non sequitur
sincerity fallacy
slippery slope
straw man “
Conclusion. Whatever you say, do not repeat the Introduction. Say something new that is rooted in the body of your essay. The conclusion can be a place to reflect on the larger significance of what you’ve pointed out throughout the body.
Throughout the body of your essay, properly cite the relevant parts of your article when appropriate and in the notes-bibliography style recommended by the CMoS. (See http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html) for a quick reference guide). Another guide students have found helpful: https://www.scribbr.com/category/chicago-style/.
Even though there is only one source, at the end of your paper, provide a properly formatted bibliography entitled “Bibliography.” The bibliography need not be on a separate page. Do not bother with a title page, even though the Chicago style mentions it.
How to insert endnotes or footnotes: You should insert endnotes or footnotes at the end of the sentence or group of sentences in which you present the information from the source. When you get to the end of the sentence where you want to insert a footnote or endnote, place your cursor at that location. Your word-processing program should have a menu that allows you to “Insert—footnote.” Most likely, you’ll be able to choose whether you want to generate a footnote or endnote. Choose which one you want. Automatically, one will appear, and you will write your citation in proper CMoS format there.
Do not drop in a computer-generated citation of your source(s). These often don’t distinguish between note and bibliography formats.
Note: The bibliography should be the final part of your paper, after the endnotes, if you have those, or footnotes, if those appear on your last page.
Essential to doing a good job on this assignment:
Always maintain the distinction between your words and ideas and the author’s. This means that you must avoid running your words together with a quotation from the author. The reader must always know who is speaking and whether statements about the subject of the author’s text are yours or the author’s.
Example of a bad practice:
Raymond Loewy then “decided to….”
Example of a better practice:
As AuthorFirstname Lastname points out, Raymond Loewy then “decided to….”
Your job is to evaluate the author’s argument. That means that your thesis has to address whether or not you think the author did a convincing job. A brief summary of the author’s argument is not a thesis. It is a necessary part of the thesis paragraph, but not the thesis itself. The thesis must be your statement in the introductory paragraph about whether or not you believe the author’s argument is convincing.
When presenting your brief summary of the author’s argument in your introductory paragraph, avoid quoting from the author here. Here, it is best to paraphrase the author’s argument, keeping all of the words in your introduction your own. This enables you to better control the pacing of information you present to the reader. Quotations from the author often require contextualization. They assume information that you cannot provide easily and in the proper order in the introduction. Also, it is important, as the author of your own essay, to establish your own voice in the introduction.
For all body parts: Avoid beginning them with summaries of the author’s argument or parts of it. You should lead paragraphs with statements of your evaluation. What the author says can be used as evidence for your point, but first make your point. Otherwise, the reader thinks they are reading a summary of another author’s argument rather than a critical evaluation of it.
Remember that your thesis should not decide whether or not you agree with the author’s main argument. The thesis should instead decide whether or not you believe the author has effectively supported that argument. You don’t have to personally agree with an author’s conclusion to concede that it was well argued. At the same time, you might agree with an author’s conclusion and think that the author does not make a good case for it.
Never refer to the author of an article by their first name. The first reference to the author should be to Firstname Lastname and each reference thereafter should be to Lastname.
Your CMoS citation formatting should make this point obvious, but seeing this mistake in countless student papers, I am compelled to underline the point: Article titles go in quotation marks, not italics. Journal titles and book titles go in italics.
When handing in your essay:
Your text must be double-spaced, 12-point font, with one-inch margins.
Upload it to Canvas in the specified folder.
Make sure you get a message from TurnItIn that says your submission was successful. If you don’t receive that message, the paper did not upload. Try again until you get this message. If you continue to have no success, use a library computer and try again.
NOTE: Ultimately, it is your responsibility to make sure your work gets to me. If your paper won’t show up on Canvas, you must immediately email it to me as a backup so that you get credit for on-time submission. If you do not do this, I must assume you have no plans to turn the assignment in and will accept 0 points. I will not pursue you to turn in your assignment.
