HA203-001: AMERICAN ART
FALL 2015 MON-WED-FRI 12:25-1:15 160 Withers
James C. Boyles
252 Withers
office hours: MWF 2:00-3:00 pm
To contact me, please use e-mail (jcboyles@ncsu.edu).
TEXT: Doezema and Milroy, READING AMERICAN ART (RAA)
Additional readings are on the Moodle site for this course.
AUG 19
INTRODUCTION
SECTION I: EARLY AMERICA
AUG 21
NATIVE AMERICAN
AUG 24
NATIVE AMERICAN
reading:
Horse Capture (Moodle)
AUG 26
NATIVE AMERICAN
AUG 28
COLONIAL
*AUG 31
COLONIAL
readings:
SEP 2
COLONIAL
SEP 4
COLONIAL
reading:
Breen (Moodle)
Craven (RAA)
Staiti (RAA)
SEP 7
LABOR DAY – NO CLASS
SEP 9
COLONIAL
SEP 11
FEDERALIST PORTRAITURE
reading:
Stein (RAA)
*SEP 14
FEDERALIST & ROMANTIC PORTRAITURE
SEP 16
FEDERALIST & ROMANTIC PORTRAITURE: GEORGE WASHINGTON
reading:
Thistlewaite (Moodle)
SEP 18
HISTORY
reading:
*SEP 21
Masur (Moodle)
HISTORY
SECTION II: NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA
SEP 23
SCULPTURE
reading:
Kasson (RAA)
SEP 25
SCULPTURE
reading:
Buick (Moodle)
2
*SEP 28
LANDSCAPE
readings:
Cole and Roque (Moodle)
FIRST ESSAY DUE AT 12:25 PM
SEP 30
LANDSCAPE
OCT 2
LANDSCAPE
reading:
Anderson (RAA)
*OCT 5
SCENES OF EVERYDAY LIFE
OCT 7
SCENES OF EVERYDAY LIFE
reading:
Burns (Moodle)
OCT 9
FALL BREAK – NO CLASS
*OCT 12
RACE AND ETHNICITY
reading:
McElroy (Moodle)
OCT 14
RACE AND ETHNICITY
reading:
Hight (RAA)
OCT 16
HOMER, EAKINS AND AMERICAN REALISM
reading:
Prown (RAA)
*OCT 19
HOMER, EAKINS AND AMERICAN REALISM
OCT 21
TONALISM, AESTHETICISM AND IMPRESSIONISM
OCT 23
NO CLASS
*OCT 26
TONALISM, AESTHETICISM AND IMPRESSIONISM
OCT 28
TONALISM, AESTHETICISM AND IMPRESSIONISM
reading:
Pollock (RAA)
OCT 30
ASHCAN SCHOOL
reading:
Hills (RAA)
SECTION III: TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY AMERICA
*NOV 2
EARLY MODERN ART
NOV 4
EARLY MODERN ART
NOV 6
HARLEM RENAISSANCE
readings:
Armstrong and Powell (Moodle)
SECOND ESSAY DUE AT 12:25 PM
*NOV 9
AMERICAN REGIONALISM
reading:
Chave (RAA)
3
NOV 11
EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY
reading:
Trachtenberg (RAA)
NOV 13
DADA, SURREALISM AND NEOPLASTICISM
reading:
Camfield (Moodle)
*NOV 16
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
readings:
Greenberg and Rosenberg (Moodle)
NOV 18
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
reading:
Kaprow (Moodle)
NOV 20
MINIMALISM
*NOV 23
POP
NOV 25-27
THANKSGIVING – NO CLASS
NOV 30
POP
DEC 2
ART AND IDENTITY
reading:
Lippard (Moodle)
DEC 4
ART AND IDENTITY
DEC 14
THIRD ESSAY DUE BY 4:00 PM
*indicates a quiz day
MOODLE
I have set up a Moodle site (wolfware.ncsu.edu) for this course with the syllabus, course readings and
guidesheets with the important course images. Titles, creators and dates are also listed with each image. You
should either bring your laptop to class or print the guidesheets (before class) so that you can write your notes
next to the images. If you bring your laptop, you are expected to use it ONLY for class-related activities. If it is
apparent that your use of any electronic device is distracting others in the class, you will be asked to turn it off
and not use it in class for the remainder of the semester. Your final grade will be reduced with each infraction.
ESSAYS
You will write three formal essays on themes covered in this course. Each essay will only cover a section of
the course (1st essay: Native American-History, due by 12:25 on Sep. 28; 2nd essay: Sculpture-Ashcan School,
due by 12:25 on Nov 6; 3rd essay: Early Modern Art-Art and Identity, due by 4:00 on Dec 14). From the list of
themes on p. 7 of this syllabus, I will choose three from which you will choose one and write a formal essay of
4-5 typed pages. You will have a week to write your essays. You may use your notes, the assigned readings,
additional research and me; you may not consult with anyone else. The rubric for grading your essays is on
p.10 of this syllabus.
Concerned about your writing skills? I’ll help.
Also try the University Tutorial Center (tutorial.ncsu.ed).
4
If you feel that you have a compelling reason that requires an extension on an essay, e-mail me at least
twenty-four hours before the essay is due for me to consider your request and give you my decision.
Otherwise, 25 POINTS WILL BE DEDUCTED from the grade of any assignment that does not have an
approved extension and is turned in after the deadline.
In order to pass this course, you must turn in all three essays by noon on Dec 15. Email any
papers submitted after 4:00 PM on Dec. 14. An incomplete will only be given upon prior
arrangement with the professor.
QUIZZES
There will be twelve image quizzes. Each quiz will consist of five images for which you will give the artist (1
point) and title (1 point). Each quiz will be worth a total of 10 points. At the end of the semester I will tally your
highest ten scores for your final quiz grade. The quizzes will be given on a Monday and will only cover
material since the last quiz. The quiz dates are indicated by an asterisk (*) on the schedule. The quizzes will
be given at the beginning of class and no images will be reshown. Make-up quizzes will only be given for
previously excused absences.
OTHER GRADES
PARTICIPATION: I do not give extra credit assignments. However, one way to boost your grade is classroom
participation. Positive participation (such as consistent involvement in class discussions of the material) can
change your final course score, often enough to raise your final letter grade. On the other hand, negative
participation (such as coming late, leaving early, non-course-related chatter, ringing cell phones) can change
your final score, often enough to lower your final letter grade.
ATTENDANCE: Another factor that can affect your final grade is attendance. Attendance is required and, out
of courtesy to the other members of the class, please arrive on time. Once the doors to the classroom are
closed, you may not enter (unless you have made previous arrangements with me or you are returning from
the bathroom). Two unexcused tardies or early departures will equal one absence. No more than two
unexcused absences are acceptable. Three absences will drop your final grade five points; four absences will
drop your final grade ten points. If you have five absences, you will fail the course. Only the instructor can
excuse an absence. To receive an excuse for a medically-related absence, you must bring a written
explanation from a doctor or nurse. If you must leave class early, notify me before class begins. For additional
information on the University’s attendance policy, see:
http://policies.ncsu.edu/regulation/reg-02-20-03
COURTESY: Finally, the primary function of courtesy is to help us all get through difficult situations. Learning
is difficult and to do it well, we have to concentrate. So please be aware that your behavior in class can impact
others who are trying to understand what is being discussed. I ask that you treat everyone in the class – and
that includes your professor – with courtesy.
GRADES
Quizzes
1st Essay
A+ =
A =
A- =
B+ =
B =
100-98 (4.333)
97-94 (4)
93-90 (3.667)
89-88 (3.333)
87-84 (3)
2nd Essay
3rd Essay
20%
20%
B- =
C+ =
C =
C- =
D+ =
83-80
79-78
77-74
73-70
69-68
(2.667)
(2.333)
(2)
(1.667)
(1.333)
30%
30%
D = 67-64 (1)
D- = 63-60 (.667)
F = 59-0 (0)
5
PLAGIARISM
All sections of the University’s Code of Student Conduct apply to this course. A complete explanation can be
found at:
http://policies.ncsu.edu/policy/pol-11-35-01
With each essay, you will be required to sign the University’s Honor Pledge (“I have neither given nor received
unauthorized aid on the test or assignment.”). Plagiarism is the unauthorized use of someone else’s ideas and
the representation of those ideas as your own. There is no excuse for it and all instances of plagiarism will
result in an F for the course and other sanctions authorized by the University. To avoid the dire consequences
of being accused of plagiarism, follow all of the instructions and consult with me if you have concerns. For the
essays, you may use your notes, the Moodle materials, me and, of course, your own brilliance. Except for me,
you cannot use anyone else to help you prepare your exam essays. You can also do additional research, but
you must include citations and a bibliography that specify your borrowings from other scholars. These markers
not only indicate that you have not cheated, but they are also signs of your participation in the scholarly
conversation on art history. In other words, they make you look better. So why even bother to plagiarize?
For more information, see the History Department’s website on the honor code:
http://history.ncsu.edu/ug_resources/plagiarism_honor_code
DISABILITY SERVICES FOR STUDENTS
Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. The primary way that the
student formally discloses to the instructor is by requesting a DSO Letter of Accommodation. This letter informs
the instructor that the student has a documented disability, states which accommodations the student is eligible
to receive, and provides information about how to arrange the accommodations. No matter how
comprehensive and well-written the letters of accommodation are, there is no substitute for student input.
Therefore, once the letter is sent, the student must communicate with each instructor to discuss the letter and
to set up accommodations. Whenever possible, it is recommended that the student contact instructors before
the semester begins or at the start of the semester. This will allow instructors to have the necessary
information in time to arrange accommodations.
Additional information can be found at:
http://policies.ncsu.edu/regulations/reg.02.20.01
EMERGENCIES
For health, safety, fire, and medical emergencies, dial 911 (land line) or 919-515-3000 (cell phone). This will
connect you to an emergency operator who can send help to you. Be prepared to give the operator your name,
your location, and the nature of the emergency. Don’t hang up – remain on the line until help arrives in the form
of a police officer, fire truck, or ambulance (“EMT”) and they say you can hang up. If you are the victim of a
crime, are being followed by suspicious person, see a crime in progress, witness an accident, believe someone
needs an ambulance or emergency first aid, discover a very unsafe situation, etc., you should call. The
authorities and safety officers would rather respond to several cases of non-life threatening cases than to not
be called when they could have saved someone’s life. For more information about a campus-wide emergency,
check:
www. ncsu.edu/emergency-information
6
OBJECTIVES, OUTCOMES AND OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION
I. Course Objectives
This course will help students to:
1. understand the development of art in the United States.
2. translate the visual stimulation of art into words.
3. learn to interrogate works of art to recover how they reflect their original times and the changing
attitudes since then.
4. move from learning facts to making critically reasoned judgments grounded in the academic content of
the course.
5. experience different modes of art historical investigation.
II. Student Outcomes
At the end of the semester, students will demonstrate the ability to:
1. identify:
a. the basic chronological development of art from early native American art to the present;
b. the basic chronological development of artistic styles and responses to those styles; and
c. major artists and works of art associated with the developments in outcomes 1.a and 1.b.
2. translate the visual expressions of art works into verbal formats through class discussions, exams and
papers.
3. describe both the physical appearance and the contextual framework of art works in relation to their
roles as evidence of the history of western ideas during this period.
4. evaluate their understandings of art works (as described in outcomes 1-3) as well as the responses of
other viewers in order to develop a coherent and well-reasoned synthesis of established data and new
assessments.
5. assess different authors’ methodological approaches to art and its histories.
III. Assessing Student Development
Students will demonstrate their mastery of the course’s outcomes through a variety of tasks, including (a) class
participation during general discussions of the art and themes of this period and, more specifically, through
discussions of the assigned readings, (b) weekly quizzes, and (c) three formal essays.
IV. Satisfaction of Degree Requirements
This course fulfills the Arts and Letters requirement for Humanities and Social Sciences majors or a History
and Analysis requirement for Art Studies majors with a concentration in the Visual Arts.
7
POOL OF THEMES FOR ESSAYS
From each section, I will choose three from which you will choose one.
SECTION ONE
1. INTERACTION BETWEEN SITTER AND ARTIST: One of the first forms of art in the New
World was portraiture, the representation of real people. Discuss the interaction (or lack
thereof) between artist and sitter in fashioning the image and character of these new
Americans in the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
2. WOMEN: Discuss the various roles for women in American society from the middle of the seventeenth
century to the middle of the nineteenth century as represented in the art of this period.
3. AFRICAN AMERICANS: Discuss the various issues related to African Americans as either active or
passive participants in early American art. Define what you mean by “active” or “passive.”
4. HISTORY: Discuss how history (personal and national) was an important concern in American art of
the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
5. RELIGION: As we will see religion has played a relatively minor role in American art. However, during
this period there have been many expressions of religious ideas in the art. Discuss varied approaches
to faith in this section of the course.
SECTION TWO
1. LANDSCAPE AS HISTORY: Discuss how artists used the American landscape to create a history of
this country and its peoples.
2. MASCULINITY: Discuss how artists raised issues about masculinity in the art of this period.
3. HUMANS AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT: Discuss the theme of humans in harmony or in
struggle with the natural environment as exhibited in three works from different parts of this section of
the course.
4. FRONTIER: In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner proposed that the idea of the frontier, a shifting
boundary that moved across America from East to West, was a fundamental factor in shaping the
nation’s character. How did artists depict frontiers, borders, boundaries and other divides in their work
in order to analyze what they saw as a critical aspect of the changing nation?
5. NEW TECHNOLOGIES: In his book Walden (1854), Henry David Thoreau shuddered at the sound of
a train disrupting the serenity of his natural environment. Artists displayed a more varied response to
the increased presence of machinery. Discuss these artistic expressions of concern regarding new
technologies in America’s “garden.”
SECTION THREE
1. ABSTRACTION: Discuss the development of abstract art in the United States in the twentieth century.
You should pay particular attention to the ideas of Greenberg, Rosenberg and Kaprow in developing
your definition of abstraction. For your three works, pick one work that was created from each of the
following periods: 1910-1940, 1940-1980, and 1980-present.
2. HERO: Discuss the depiction of the “hero” in twentieth-century American art.
3. NATURAL ENVIRONMENT: During this period the United States turned into an urban country and art
was dominated by the development of abstraction and conceptual art, but nature continued to play an
important role in American visual expression. Analyze in three works the various reappearances of the
natural environment in American art of this time.
4. VIOLENCE: Violence, real and abstract, is a common theme in art of this period. Pick three works and
describe how and why violence is so prevalent in art of this time.
5. CONTROVERSY: Many works from this section of the course have provoked controversy. Pick one
work from the period 1910-1940, one from 1940-1980, and one from 1980-present and analyze the
controversial issues surrounding these works.
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COURSE READINGS
1. Anderson, Nancy K. “’The Kiss of Enterprise’: The Western landscape as Symbol and Resource,” in Reading
American Art. Ed. Marianne Doezema and Elizabeth Milroy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
1998. Pp. 208-231.
2. Armstrong, Julie Buckner. “Mary Turner’s Blues,” African American Review. 44 (Spring/Summer 2011): 207-220.
3. Breen, T.H. “The Meaning of ‘Likeness’: Portrait Painting in an Eighteenth-Century Consumer Society,” in The
Portrait in Eighteenth-Century America. Ed. Ellen G. Miles. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1993.
Pp. 37-60.
4. Buick, Kristen P. “Slavery Works: Embodying the Black Subject,” in Child of Fire: Mary Edmonia Lewis and the
Problem of Art History’s Black and Indian Subject. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010. Pp. 50-76.
5. Burns, Sarah. “The Country Boy Goes to the City: Thomas Hovenden’s ‘Breaking Home Ties’ in American
Popular Culture,” American Art Journal. 20 (1988): 59-73.
6. Camfield, William A. “Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain: Its History and Aesthetics in the Context of 1917,” in Marcel
Duchamp: Artist of the Century. Ed. Rudolf E. Kuenzli and Frances M. Naumann. Cambridge, MA: MIT
press, 1989. 64-94.
7. Chave, Anna C. “O’Keeffe and the Masculine Gaze,” in Reading American Art. Ed. Marianne Doezema and
Elizabeth Milroy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 350-370.
8. Cole, Thomas. “Essay on American Scenery,” The American Magazine. n.s. 1 (Jan. 1836): 1-12.
9. Craven, Wayne. “The Seventeenth-Century New England Mercantile Image: Social Content and Style in the
Freake Portraits,” in Reading American Art. Ed. Marianne Doezema and Elizabeth Milroy. New Haven,
CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 1-11
10. Greenberg, Clement. “Towards a Newer Laocoon.” Clement Greenberg. The Collected Essays and Criticism. Vol.
1. Perceptions and Judgments 1939-1944. Ed. John O’Brian. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 1986.
23-38.
11. Hight, Kathryn S. “’Doomed to Perish’: George Catlin’s Depictions of the Mandan,” in Reading American Art. Ed.
Marianne Doezema and Elizabeth Milroy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 150-162.
12. Hills, Patricia. “John Sloan’s Images of Working-Class Women: A Case Study of the Roles and Interrelationships
of Politics, Personality, and Patrons in the Development of Sloan’s Art, 1905-16,” in Reading American
Art. Ed. Marianne Doezema and Elizabeth Milroy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 311349.
13. Horse Capture, George. “From Museums to Indians: Native American Art in Context,” in Robes of
Splendor: Native American Painted Buffalo Hides. New York: New Press, 1993. Pp. 61-91.
14. Kaprow, Alan. “The Legacy of Jackson Pollock,” in Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life. Ed. Jeff Kelley.
Berkeley: University of California press, 2003. Pp. 1-9.
15. Kasson, Joy S. “Narratives of the Female body” The Greek Slave. in Reading American Art. Ed. Marianne
Doezema and Elizabeth Milroy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 163-189.
16. Lippard, Lucy. “Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party,” Art in America. 68 (April 1980): 114-126.
17. Masur, Louis P. “Reading Watson and the Shark,” New England Quarterly. 67 (Sep. 1994): 427-454.
18. McElroy, Guy C. “Introduction: Race and Representation,” in Facing History: The Back Image in American Art
1710-1940. San Francisco: Bedford Arts, 1990. Pp. xi-xxvii.
19. Pollock, Griselda. “Mary Cassatt: Painter of Women and Children,” in Reading American Art. Ed. Marianne
Doezema and Elizabeth Milroy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 280-301.
9
20. Powell, Richard J. “The Aaron Douglas Effect,” in Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist. Ed. Susan Earle.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007. Pp. 53-73.
21. Prown, Jules D. “Winslow Homer in His Art,” in Reading American Art. Ed. Marianne Doezema and Elizabeth
Milroy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 264-279.
22. Roque, Oswaldo Rodriguez. “’The Oxbow’ by Thomas Cole: Iconography of an American Landscape Painting,”
Metropolitan Museum Journal. 17 (1982): 63-73.
23. Rosenberg, Harold. “The American Action Painters.” The Tradition of the New. NY: Da Capo Press, 1994. 23-39.
24. Staiti, Paul. “Character and Class: The Portraits of John Singleton Copley,” in Reading American Art. Ed.
Marianne Doezema and Elizabeth Milroy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 12-37.
25. Stein, Roger B. “Charles Willson Peale’s Expressive Design: The Artist in His Museum,” in Reading American Art.
Ed. Marianne Doezema and Elizabeth Milroy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 38-78.
26. Thistlethwaite, Mark. “’Our Illustrious Washington’: The American Imaging of George Washington,” in Patriot
Sage: George Washington and the American Political Tradition. Ed. Gary L. Gregg II and Matthew
Spalding. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 1999. Pp. 241-266.
27. Trachtenberg, Alan. “Image and Ideology: New York in the Photographer’s Eye,” in Reading American Art. Ed.
Marianne Doezema and Elizabeth Milroy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Pp. 302-310.
FUNCTIONS OF ART
1. To make us see something different or to make us see differently
2. To thrill us with
a. production and reproduction
b. human power (technical legerdemain of the artist)
c. visual pleasure
3. To participate in certain activities
a. intellectual (such as history or art history)
b. emotional (such as religious services)
c. social (such as museum gatherings, art for the community, community of artists)
d. political (such as identification)
e. economic (such as selling and investment)
4. To decorate our spaces
5. To serve as trophies for our egos ("I own a Picasso!")
“If humans spend much of their time creating order out of ambient and threatening chaos – political order, social order,
economic order, spatial order – then the art object is the quintessential expression and the agent of that will-to-order, for it
is a finite microcosm, a bulwark against the infinitude of possibilities and instabilities the flow of time creates. A drawing of
a town plan, a house façade, a chest of drawers, a portrait, each uses a language of symmetry, mimicry, visual rhyme,
visual quotation, to suggest wholeness and completion and referentiality in a world which daily evidences disorder,
incompletion, and the unraveling of yesterday’s solutions.”
Margaretta M. Lovell, Art in a Season of Revolution: Painters, Artisans, and Patrons in Early America. p. vii.
10
RUBRIC FOR ART HISTORY
adapted from written communication rubric developed by the Association of American Colleges & Universities
Context & Purpose
for
Writing
(x1)
Understands the topic
Content
Development (x4)
Clear, well-developed
essay
Genre & Disciplinary
Conventions/
Control of
Syntax & Mechanics
(x3)
Accepted rules for
academic writing
Use of ClassAssigned Readings
(x4)
Use of Art Works
Shown in Class
(x4)
Student’s Position
(perspective,
thesis/hypothesis)
(x4)
Follows Instructions
COMMENTS
JAW-DROPPING 5
MASTERFUL 4
PROFICIENT 3
DEVELOPING 2
At the beginning of the
essay, clearly
communicates a thorough
understanding of the
assigned task and gives a
clear statement of
approach to answering
the assignment.
Communicates
adequate
understanding of the
assigned task and
gives a clear statement
of approach to
answering the
assignment.
.
Uses appropriate,
relevant, and engaging
content to explore
ideas pertaining to
assigned task
throughout the essay.
Demonstrates
consistent use of
important academic
conventions, including
organization, content,
presentation,
formatting, citations
and stylistic choices.
Uses straightforward
language that generally
conveys meaning to
readers. The language
has few errors.
Demonstrates use of
course readings and
relevant sources to
support ideas that are
situated within the
discipline and genre of
the writing.
Communicates
awareness of the
assigned task and
gives a general
description of
approach to
answering the
assignment.
Communicates
minimal attention to
the assigned task
with few to no details
of approach to
answering the
assignment.
Uses appropriate and
relevant content to
develop and explore
ideas through most of
the work.
Uses appropriate and
relevant content to
develop simple ideas
in some parts of the
work.
Follows expectations
appropriate to
academic conventions
for basic organization,
content, citations and
presentation. Uses
language that
generally conveys
meaning to readers
with clarity, although
writing may include
some errors.
Attempts to use a
consistent system for
basic organization
and presentation.
Uses language that
sometimes impedes
meaning because of
errors in usage.
Demonstrates an
attempt to use course
readings and relevant
sources to support
ideas that are
appropriate for the
discipline and genre of
the writing.
Demonstrates an
attempt to use
credible and/or
relevant art works to
support ideas that are
appropriate for the
assignment.
Demonstrates an
attempt to use
sources to support
ideas in writing.
Specific position
(perspective,
thesis/hypothesis)
asserted with different
sides of an issue
acknowledged.
Specific position
(perspective,
thesis/hypothesis) is
stated but is
simplistic and
obvious.
Uses appropriate,
relevant, and compelling
content to show mastery
of the assigned task
throughout the essay.
Demonstrates detailed
attention to
and successful execution
of academic conventions,
including organization,
content, presentation,
formatting, citations and
stylistic choices. Uses
graceful language that
skillfully communicates
meaning to readers with
clarity and fluency and is
virtually error-free.
Demonstrates skillful use
of course readings and
other high quality,
credible, relevant sources
to develop ideas that are
appropriate for the
discipline and genre of
the writing.
Demonstrates innovative
and skillful use of a
variety of relevant art
works to develop ideas
that are appropriate for
the assignment and the
student’s approach to it.
Specific position
(perspective,
thesis/hypothesis) is
imaginative, taking into
account the complexities
of an issue. Limits of
position (perspective,
thesis/hypothesis) are
acknowledged. Others’
points of view are
synthesized within
position (perspective,
thesis/hypothesis).
Turns in on time; proper
essay format; proper
citation format; name only
on rubric
(5 pts deducted per item.
25 pts deducted if late)
Demonstrates
consistent use of a
variety of relevant art
works to support ideas
that are appropriate for
the assignment and the
student’s approach to
it.
Specific position
(perspective,
thesis/hypothesis)
takes into account the
complexities of an
issue. Others’ points of
view are acknowledged
within position
(perspective,
thesis/hypothesis).
FLOP
0
Demonstrates an
attempt to use art
works to support
ideas in response to
the assignment.
Late
SCORE
11
Universal Intellectual Standards by Linda Elder and Richard Paul
Universal intellectual standards are standards which must be applied to thinking whenever one is interested in checking
the quality of reasoning about a problem, issue, or situation. To think critically entails having command of these standards.
To help students learn them, teachers should pose questions which probe student thinking, questions which hold students
accountable for their thinking, questions which, through consistent use by the teacher in the classroom, become
internalized by students as questions they need to ask themselves.
The ultimate goal, then, is for these questions to become infused in the thinking of students, forming part of their inner
voice, which then guides them to better and better reasoning. While there are a number of universal standards, the
following are the most significant:
CLARITY: Could you elaborate further on that point? Could you express that point in another way? Could you give me an
illustration? Could you give me an example?
Clarity is the gateway standard. If a statement is unclear, we cannot determine whether it is accurate or relevant.
In fact, we cannot tell anything about it because we don't yet know what it is saying. For example, the question,
"What can be done about the education system in America?" is unclear. In order to address the question
adequately, we would need to have a clearer understanding of what the person asking the question is considering
the "problem" to be. A clearer question might be "What can educators do to ensure that students learn the skills
and abilities which help them function successfully on the job and in their daily decision-making?"
ACCURACY: Is that really true? How could we check that? How could we find out if that is true?
A statement can be clear but not accurate, as in "Most dogs are over 300 pounds in weight."
PRECISION: Could you give more details? Could you be more specific?
A statement can be both clear and accurate, but not precise, as in "Jack is overweight." (We don't know how
overweight Jack is, one pound or 500 pounds.)
RELEVANCE: How is that connected to the question? How does that bear on the issue?
A statement can be clear, accurate, and precise, but not relevant to the question at issue. For example, students
often think that the amount of effort they put into a course should be used in raising their grade in a course. Often,
however, the "effort" does not measure the quality of student learning, and when this is so, effort is irrelevant to
their appropriate grade.
DEPTH: How does your answer address the complexities in the question? How are you taking into account the problems
in the question? Is that dealing with the most significant factors?
A statement can be clear, accurate, precise, and relevant, but superficial (that is, lack depth). For example, the
statement "Just say No" which is often used to discourage children and teens from using drugs, is clear, accurate,
precise, and relevant. Nevertheless, it lacks depth because it treats an extremely complex issue, the pervasive
problem of drug use among young people, superficially. It fails to deal with the complexities of the issue.
BREADTH: Do we need to consider another point of view? Is there another way to look at this question? What would this
look like from a conservative standpoint? What would this look like from the point of view of...?
A line of reasoning may be clear accurate, precise, relevant, and deep, but lack breadth (as in an argument from
either the conservative or liberal standpoint which gets deeply into an issue, but only recognizes the insights of
one side of the question.)
LOGIC: Does this really make sense? Does that follow from what you said? How does that follow? But before you implied
this and now you are saying that; how can both be true?
When we think, we bring a variety of thoughts together into some order. When the combinations of thoughts are
mutually supporting and make sense in combination, the thinking is "logical." When the combination is not
mutually supporting, is contradictory in some sense, or does not "make sense," the combination is not logical.
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