District-Wide Art Appreciation Assignment Step 1: Individual Research Paper (15 points) Write a paper on the art object you chose at the DMA. The purpose of your paper is to inform the reader about your work of art, about the artist if known, about the culture and historical time in which it was produced, and about what you believe the object was used for or what the artist intended her viewers to think or feel when they viewed the work. Your format can be as simple as 5 paragraphs: Paragraph 1: Introduction In this paragraph, tell the reader what artwork you have selected, and refer them to the image in your Appendix. First, tell us the artist, title, date, size of the work. Then tell them what it was that drew you to this piece – why did it interest you? Then tell the reader what you will be discussing in the paper by writing a thesis statement that goes something like this: “In this paper, I will describe the work and provide context about the artist, the culture, and the context of the historical period when it was produced.” Paragraph 2: Description of the Artwork In this paragraph, fully and completely describe the work you’ve chosen. Then start to describe: What is the subject of the work? What materials is it made from? What methods did the artist likely use to produce the work of art? How big or small is it? What colors are represented? Are there lines? Shapes? Does the work feature symmetry, balance, asymmetry, organic shapes, geometric shapes? Is it representational, non-representational, or abstract? What about light and shadows? Finally, what did you notice first? What did you notice after looking at the work for a long time? Has the artist utilized focal points to draw your eye?  These questions can serve as starting points, but you can also refer to your textbook between pages 178 and 185. Paragraph 3: Information about the Artist, the Culture, the Historical Context, the Object’s Use The content of this paragraph will highly vary based upon the work you’ve chosen and might include religious, historical, and biographical analyses. If your artist is known, tell your reader something about them – maybe when they lived, where they lived and worked, some work they’re known for, interesting or important details of their lives. As a reader, I don’t care what their birthday is or the day they died, but I’m generally interested in the years they lived, where they lived and worked, and those kinds of details. For a short paper like this, you have to be selective about the information you’ll present. A great starting point is the information card on the wall, which you can use as one of your sources. You will use citations in this paragraph whenever you paraphrase a source, use information you had to look up, or use a quote. The correct way to do this is like this: Here I’m using my own words to tell you what Boyer said in his article (Boyer p445). Notice where I put the period. If I quote Boyer, I write it like this: Boyer ...

1. District-Wide Art Appreciation Assignment
Step 1:
Individual Research Paper (15 points)
Write a paper on the art object you chose at the DMA. The
purpose of your paper is to
inform the reader about your work of art,
about the artist if known, about the culture and historical time
in which it was produced, and about what you believe the object
was used for or what the artist intended her viewers to think or
feel when they viewed the work.
Your format can be as simple as 5 paragraphs:
Paragraph 1: Introduction
In this paragraph, tell the reader what artwork you have
selected, and refer them to the image in your Appendix. First,
tell us the artist, title, date, size of the work. Then tell them
what it was that drew you to this piece – why did it interest
you? Then tell the reader what you will be discussing in the
paper by writing a thesis statement that goes something like
this: “In this paper, I will describe the work and provide context
about the artist, the culture, and the context of the historical
period when it was produced.”
Paragraph 2: Description of the Artwork
In this paragraph, fully and completely describe the work
you’ve chosen. Then start to describe: What is the subject of the
work? What materials is it made from? What methods did the

2. artist likely use to produce the work of art? How big or small is
it? What colors are represented? Are there lines? Shapes? Does
the work feature symmetry, balance, asymmetry, organic
shapes, geometric shapes? Is it representational, non-
representational, or abstract? What about light and shadows?
Finally, what did you notice first? What did you notice after
looking at the work for a long time? Has the artist utilized focal
points to draw your eye?
These questions can serve as starting points, but you can also
refer to your textbook between pages 178 and 185.
Paragraph 3: Information about the Artist, the Culture, the
Historical Context, the Object’s Use
The content of this paragraph will highly vary based upon the
work you’ve chosen and might include religious, historical, and
biographical analyses. If your artist is known, tell your reader
something about them – maybe when they lived, where they
lived and worked, some work they’re known for, interesting or
important details of their lives. As a reader, I don’t care what
their birthday is or the day they died, but I’m generally
interested in the years they lived, where they lived and worked,
and those kinds of details. For a short paper like this, you have
to be selective about the information you’ll present. A great
starting point is the information card on the wall, which you can
use as one of your sources.
You will use citations in this paragraph whenever you
paraphrase a source, use information you had to look up, or use
a quote. The correct way to do this is like this: Here I’m using
my own words to tell you what Boyer said in his article (Boyer
p445). Notice where I put the period. If I quote Boyer, I write it
like this: Boyer writes, “Van Gogh probably did not commit
suicide according to new research” (Boyer, p568). Notice where
the quotation marks and the period goes.

3. Paragraph 4: Analysis
This paragraph can serve many purposes depending on your
image. Let’s say you chose a portrait of someone. How has the
artist portrayed the person? What are they wearing? What
objects are depicted with them? You may have put these details
in your description. In this paragraph, you speculate as to why
the artist chose those objects and that costume. This analysis
will probably include information about your object’s culture
and historical time period. How was the object meant to be
viewed? Used? What artistic choices did the artist make to help
fulfill this use? Are the subject matter or the materials choice
related to the culture or to the historical period? How?
You will probably also use sources in this paragraph too.
Paragraph 5: Evaluation and Conclusion
This paragraph is the place where you will tell your reader
about your reaction to the work of art. Was the artist successful
in portraying what he or she wanted you to see? (The words
“successful” / “unsuccessful” or “effective” / “ineffective”
would probably appear in this paragraph.) Did the work speak to
you personally? What elements of it called to you? Did you
enjoy the artwork visually? Intellectually? Have your initial
assumptions about it changed through your research? And
finally, your conclusion should reiterate your thesis from the
first paragraph and show the reader how you have supported it.
Style Guidelines for Writing the Paper:
· Length: 2 full pages, with some text on a third page
· Font Size: 12 point

4. · Use a header for your name, title of paper, and course
name/number
· A minimum of 3 MLA parenthetical citations must appear in
the body of your paper
· Create a Works Cited page as a separate final page (doesn’t
count towards the two page minimum)
· Attach an image of your artwork after the Works Cited page
· Your total paper will have at least 5 pages:
3 pages of text (2 full pages, 1 partial page)
Works Cited
Appendix A (your image)
If you have a question how to do a citation in your text or on
the Works cited page, go to the MLS Style Guide at
PurdueOWL:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/11/
Source ideas:
Your textbook would be 1 great source! Almost all objects at
the Dallas Museum of Art have photos and brief descriptions
online. Google “dallas museum of art