Guidelines for Writing Art History Research Papers

Writing a paper for an art history course is similar to the analytical, research-based
papers that you may have written in English literature courses or history courses.
Although art historical research and writing does include the analysis of written
documents, there are distinctive differences between art history writing and other
disciplines because the primary documents are works of art. A key reference guide for
researching and analyzing works of art and for writing art history papers is the 10th
edition (or later) of Sylvan Barnets work, A Short Guide to Writing about Art. Barnet
directs students through the steps of thinking about a research topic, collecting
information, and then writing and documenting a paper.
A website with helpful tips for writing art history papers is posted by the University of
North Carolina,
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/art-history/
Wesleyan University Writing Center has a useful guide for finding online writing
resources,
http://www.wesleyan.edu/writing/workshop/resourcesforstudents.html
The following are basic guidelines that you must use when documenting research
papers for any art history class at UALR. Solid, thoughtful research and correct
documentation of the sources used in this research (i.e., footnotes/endnotes,
bibliography, and illustrations**) are essential. Additionally, these Guidelines remind
students about plagiarism, a serious academic offense.

Paper Format
Research papers should be in a 12-point font, double-spaced. Ample margins should be
left for the instructors comments. All margins should be one inch to allow for
comments. Number all pages. The cover sheet for the paper should include the
following information: title of paper, your name, course title and number, course
instructor, and date paper is submitted. A simple presentation of a paper is sufficient.
Staple the pages together at the upper left or put them in a simple three-ring folder or
binder. Do not put individual pages in plastic sleeves.

Documentation of Resources
The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), as described in the most recent edition of Sylvan
Barnets A Short Guide to Writing about Art is the department standard. Although you
may have used MLA style for English papers or other disciplines, the Chicago Style
is required for all students taking art history courses at UALR. There are significant

differences between MLA style and Chicago Style. A Quick Guide for the Chicago
Manual of Stylefootnote and bibliography format is
foundhttp://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html.The footnote
examples are numbered and the bibliography example is last. Please note that the
place of publication and the publisher are enclosed in parentheses in the footnote, but
they are not in parentheses in the bibliography. Examples of CMS for some types of
note and bibliography references are given below in this Guideline. Arabic numbers are
used for footnotes. Some word processing programs may have Roman numerals as a
choice, but the standard is Arabic numbers. The use of super script numbers, as given
in examples below, is the standard in UALR art history papers.

A. Print
The chapter Manuscript Form in the Barnet book (10th edition or later) provides
models for the correct forms for footnotes/endnotes and the bibliography. For example,
the note form for the FIRST REFERENCE to a book with a single author is:
1
Bruce Cole, Italian Art 1250-1550 (New York: New York University Press, 1971), 134.
But the BIBLIOGRAPHIC FORM for that same book is:
Cole, Bruce. Italian Art 1250-1550. New York: New York University Press. 1971.
The FIRST REFERENCE to a journal article (in a periodical that is paginated by
volume) with a single author in a footnote is:
2
Anne H. Van Buren, Madame Czannes Fashions and the Dates of Her Portraits, Art
Quarterly 29 (1966): 199.
The FIRST REFERENCE to a journal article (in a periodical that is paginated by
volume) with a single author in the BIBLIOGRAPHY is:
Van Buren, Anne H. Madame Czannes Fashions and the Dates of Her Portraits. Art
Quarterly 29 (1966): 185-204.
If you reference an article that you found through an electronic database such as
JSTOR, you do not include the url for JSTOR or the date accessed in either the footnote
or the bibliography. This is because the article is one that was originally printed in a
hard-copy journal; what you located through JSTOR is simply a copy of printed pages.
Your citation follows the same format for an article in a bound volume that you may
have pulled from the library shelves. If, however, you use an article that originally was
in an electronic format and is available only on-line, then follow the non-print forms
listed below.

B. Non-Print

Citations for Internet sources such as online journals or scholarly web sites should
follow the form described in Barnets chapter, Writing a Research Paper. For example,
the footnote or endnote reference given by Barnet for a web site is:
Nigel Strudwick, Egyptology Resources, with the assistance of The Isaac Newton
Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge University, 1994, revised 16 June
3

2008,http://www.newton.ac.uk/egypt/, 24 July 2008.

If you use microform or microfilm resources, consult the most recent edition of Kate
Turabian, A Manual of Term Paper, Theses and Dissertations. A copy of Turabian is
available at the reference desk in the main library.

C. Visual Documentation (Illustrations)

Art history papers require visual documentation such as photographs, photocopies, or
scanned images of the art works you discuss. In the chapter Manuscript Form in A
Short Guide to Writing about Art, Barnet explains how to identify illustrations or
figures in the text of your paper and how to caption the visual material. Each
photograph, photocopy, or scanned image should appear on a single sheet of paper
unless two images and their captions will fit on a single sheet of paper with one inch
margins on all sides. Note also that the title of a work of art is always italicized. Within
the text, the reference to the illustration is enclosed in parentheses and placed at the
end of the sentence. A period for the sentence comes after the parenthetical reference
to the illustration. For UALR art history papers, illustrations are placed at the end of the
paper, not within the text. Illustration are not supplied as a Powerpoint presentation or
as separate .jpgs submitted in an electronic format.
Edvard Munchs painting The Scream, dated 1893, represents a highly personal,
expressive response to an experience the artist had while walking one evening (Figure
1).
The caption that accompanies the illustration at the end of the paper would read:
Figure 1. Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893. Tempera and casein on cardboard, 36 x
29 (91.3 x 73.7 cm). Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, Norway.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a form of thievery and is illegal. According to Websters New World
Dictionary, to plagiarize is to take and pass off as ones own the ideas, writings, etc. of
another. Barnet has some useful guidelines for acknowledging sources in his chapter
Manuscript Form; review them so that you will not be mguilty of theft. Another useful
website regarding plagiarism is provided by Cornell
University,http://plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu/tutorial/index.cfm

Plagiarism is a serious offense, and students should understand that checking papers
for plagiarized content is easy to do with Internet resources. Plagiarism will be reported
as academic dishonesty to the Dean of Students; see Section VI of the Student
Handbook which cites plagiarism as a specific violation. Take care that you fully and
accurately acknowledge the source of another author, whether you are quoting the
material verbatim or paraphrasing. Borrowing the idea of another author by merely
changing some or even all of your sources words does not allow you to claim the ideas
as your own. You must credit both direct quotes and your paraphrases. Again, Barnets
chapter Manuscript Form sets out clear guidelines for avoiding plagiarism.