Read Writing in Art History https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/art-history/
Select an artwork or artist that connects to your own identity (cultural, social, ethnic, gender, sexuality, etc.) The artist/artwork that you select needs to come from outside of the textbook and assigned readings but can be from anywhere in the world. Stay within the course date ranges (approximately 1400 – 1945). To find artworks, you should use websites like (https://artsandculture.google.com/). and SmarthistoryLinks (https://smarthistory.org/)
Write a short paragraph describing the artwork/artist you have selected and explain why this artist or artwork should be taught in this course. This will form the basis of your thesis statement in the final project.
Include an image of the artwork that you have selected, plus the information about the image (artist [if known], title, date, culture and/or period.) If you have selected an artist, please include an image of their work with identifying information.
Part II: Share Your Sources
Good research needs support from good sources. Good sources do not often appear in blind internet searches. This portion of the assignment will introduce you to the resources available to you as a student to guide you in your research journey. We are fortunate to have access to books and several databases through our affiliation with NOVA. Let’s learn where to find them!
Use this Research Resource Guide Links to an external site.to access credible academic sources. The menu on the left includes categories: “Top Databases,” “Books & eBooks”, “Videos & Images”, etc. Spend significant time researching your topic and finding sources you can use.
Review Research and Citation Resources provided by the Purdue Writing LabLinks to an external site.. In this course, you will use the MLA style for all citations. It is important you familiarize yourself and/or review this citation style. This is the time to let your instructor know if you are unsure how to use citations so that you can work together to ensure you are crediting your sources within your paper.
Select three sources. At least one source should be a book and one should be an article. Explain how you plan on using these sources in your research and include their citation.
use one of the picture from the smarthistory and explain why choose this picture for my final research paper.
exmaple: I am researching Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels (see above). I chose Nancy Holt because she’s not included in the textbook, even though her husband (Robert Smithson) is in our textbook. I think that her work is just as important as Smithson’s and should be more widely known. I connect with her identity as a woman working in the arts space.
Here are three sources I can use in my research project:
Morrill, Rebecca, et al. Great Women Artists. Edited by Rebecca Morrill et al., Phaidon, 2019.
This work includes a brief overview of Nancy Holt’s life and work, which will be useful for the introduction to my project.
Summers, Francis. “Holt, Nancy.” Grove Art Online. 28. Oxford University Press. Date of access 5 Jun. 2023,
This short article includes biographical information for Holt. However, most useful for my paper are the other sources listed at the bottom of the article.
Young, Allison. “Re-Mapping Land Art: Earthworks, Borderlands, Ecology,” in Reframing Art History, Smarthistory, December 17, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/reframing-art-history/re-mapping-land-art-earthworks-borderlands-ecology/Links to an external site..
