Helen Taschian, Art 1A: Visual Literacy Spring 2024
Research Paper Due: Thursday, May 9 by 11:30PM PT (Upload to Canvas).
The Assignment: Write a 9-10 page formal research paper on the work of Ed Ruscha (b. 1937, Omaha, NE.). Use relevant research materials available at Davidson Library, and any articles that you might find useful in the course reader to clarify your assertions. We will discuss the paper in depth in lecture and section. There are books about his artistic practice on reserve at the library, and there are a lot of scholarly journal articles about his work that you can download from our articles databases.
About Ed Ruscha:
Ed Ruscha has consistently held up a mirror to American society by transforming some of its defining attributes—from consumer culture and popular entertainment to the ever-changing urban landscape—into the very subject of his art. In 1956, Ruscha left Oklahoma City to study commercial art in Los Angeles, where he drew inspiration from the city’s architectural landscape—parking lots, urban streets, and apartment buildings—and colloquial language.
LACMA Exhibition (We will visit LACMA on Saturday, April 20): As his first comprehensive, cross-media retrospective in over 20 years, ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN traces Ruscha’s methods and familiar subjects throughout his career and underscores the many remarkable contributions he has made well beyond the boundaries of the art world. The exhibition includes his early works produced while traveling through Europe, his installations—such as the Chocolate Room and the Course of Empire presented at the Venice Biennale in 1970 and 2005, respectively—and his ceaseless photographic documentation of the streets of Los Angeles beginning in 1965.
Artist's website: https://edruscha.com
Be sure you use at least 10 different scholarly research sources (including peer-reviewed journal articles, journal articles, monographs, art exhibition catalogues and scholarly books) and make a minimum of 10-15 citations. Remember that this is a formal research paper, not a personal response paper.
Paper Format:
- 9-10 pages of text (this does NOT include the cover page, bibliography or images)
- Double-spaced
- Cover page
- Footnotes or endnotes
- Bibliography
- Images (at the end of the paper)
- Use at least 10 different research sources (including peer reviewed journal articles, books, exhibition catalogs, monographs, etc.)
- Use at least 10-15 citations
GENERAL TIPS ON WRITING YOUR PAPER:
1. The selection of a good thesis and supporting examples is an important part of producing a good paper. Be selective. The paper is about how to look closely at works of art and how your evaluation of objects and images is expanded by the specific context in which they are presented.
2. Write primarily with nouns and verbs. Avoid unnecessary (especially vague and imprecise) adjectives and adverbs.
3. Revise and rewrite. Proofread your work. Do not rely solely on "spell check."
4. Use the dictionary to refer to words you do not fully understand.
5. Do not overstate, or excessively use qualifiers (such as very, rather, little, etc.).
6. Use orthodox diction and accurate spelling. ("Its" is possessive; "It's" is a contraction for "it is," "Its' " doesn't exist. "Their" is possessive, "They're" is a contraction of "they are," There is declarative).
7. Be clear. Make references clearly. (Do not use the word "this" as the subject of a sentence).
8. Do not let your opinions get in the way of your writing.
9. Avoid using Wikipedia, blogs, newspaper articles and other materials that are not scholarly. These ARE NOT appropriate materials for a formal research paper.
10. Get to the point quickly. Concentrate on quality of writing not quantity of words.
11. For help writing the paper contact CLAS at 893-3269. They have a writing lab that will help you with papers, and will even proofread your papers. They also offer help specifically to students for whom English is a second language. CLAS site: http://www.clas.sa.ucsb.edu/
12. For help with formatting MLA and Chicago citations, visit Purdue Owl: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html
13. Carefully review the course policy on plagiarism and academic misconduct (see Syllabus). Any act of plagiarism or academic misconduct will result in failing Art 1A, and will result in disciplinary action from the Office of Student Conduct.
14. Refer to the UCSB Library Art 1A Research Page:
http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/art1a
15. Contact Heather Nisen, the Art & Architecture Librarian, for help finding research materials: hnisen@ucsb.edu (805) 893-3026
1) Do I have the proper number of citations and sources?
2) Did I properly format my citations using MLA or Chicago?
3) Do I have a properly formatted formal bibliography?
4) Did I adhere to the proper paper length?
5) Do I have a clear, and specific thesis statement?
6) Does my thesis statement specifically relate to the final draft of my paper?
7) Did I run spell check (repeatedly)?
8) Did I carefully edit to make sure that I used proper grammar, and were my tenses consistent?
9) Did I formulate clear arguments and substantiate all of my claims with clear and concrete examples?
10) Did I avoid sweeping generalizations and vague assertions?
11) Did I use casual colloquial language in my formal research paper? If so, find more precise ways to describe the point being made.
12) Did I use scholarly research sources such as peer-reviewed journal articles, scholarly articles and books rather than sources such as blogs, Wikipedia, encyclopedias etc (that are not acceptable sources for a formal research paper).
13) Did I properly cite quotes and summaries of other people's intellectual property (footnotes and in-text citations)?
14) Did I avoid excessive biographical information about the artist? Instead I should only include biographical information that is directly relevant to their artistic practice.
15) Would anyone reading my paper understand what I am trying to convey, or do I need to more clearly define the scope of my research and ultimately the point of my paper?
16) Did I place the pictures at the end of my paper? If I embedded them in the text, I need to remove them and place them at the end of my paper.
17) Did I remember to put my name, perm number and section time on my paper?
18) Did I remember to frequently save, backup and email drafts of my paper to myself (just in case my computer crashes)?
19) When I had questions, or needed help, did I reach out to my TA, professor or CLAS?
