TERM PAPER 1
[DATE & CLASS CODE & INSTRUCTOR NAME)
PAPER DUE DATE: (SUBMIT VIA TURNITIN.COM)
THE MUSEUM VISIT IS A COMPULSORY PART OF THIS ASSIGNMENT. YOUR ESSAY WILL NOT BE
GRADED WITHOUT YOUR PROVEN ATTENDANCE AT THE MUSEUM.
Assignment
Choose one artwork, or a pair of art works that is/are currently on display at the [insert
museum] and fall within our syllabus chronology. Visit the museum and write a response
paper centered on your museum experience AND your chosen object(s) using formal and
contextual methods of analysis.
Notes to consider:
1) Your paper will be a detailed analysis of one or two works on display at the museum, and your
experience of the museum environment itself. The primary emphasis of the paper should be your
own description and analysis, informed by what you have learned about style and historical
contexts. This is NOT a research paper.
2) You MUST reference the expanded guidelines posted under “Assignments” on Bboard. You
need to read these in order to understand what format your assignment should take. We will also
reference these in class so make sure you have a copy of them and are familiar with their contents.
 How to write a thesis statement
 Prompts for your observations at the museum
 Grading Rubric for the mid term paper
 Style Guide
3) You are encouraged to include references to other works at the museum, or images we have
studied in class in order to supplement your discussion, but the primary focus of your discussion
should be the object(s) observed at the museum and an analysis of the museum space itself.
4) The work(s) you choose can be of any medium e.g. painting, sculpture, calligraphy etc. The
exact work(s) you choose does not have to be featured in our survey textbook (it/they probably
won’t be as not all of the museum’s collection is in the book), but the work(s) you choose to write
about should correspond to a point within the chronology and geographic regions we will have
studied in class by the end of the semester. The Met's Timeline of Art History is online
(http://metmuseum.org/toah) and is very useful in helping you determine areas of the museum's
collection that will correspond to the parameters of our survey course.
5) FORMAT: your paper should be 3-4 pages long (EXCLUDING title page, image(s), bibliography)
and should be double spaced, using 11pt font and 1" (inch) margins. Your paper must include images
of the main work or works you have chosen to respond to with full image captions underneath them
(artist, title, date, medium etc)
6) Museum logistics:
 The Met Museum is closed on Mondays.
 You need only make a “suggested donation” so DO NOT pay $20 for entry – pay what you
wish ($2-$5 is perfectly sufficient for a student).
 Tuesday–Thursday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday: 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
 Sunday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
 See http://metmuseum.org for directions/full information on visiting