This document provides guidance for a pre-writing exercise in an Art History course. It discusses proper formatting for labels, bibliographies, and using quotations. For labels, it demonstrates the correct format for including title, date, medium, and location of artworks. For bibliographies, it provides examples of appropriate source formats and advises verifying the validity of outside resources. For using quotations, it recommends only quoting opinions or interpretations that support an argument, and citing the original source.

1. Pre-Writing Exercise
Feedback
Art 108 Ancient to Medieval
Professor Melissa Hall

2. Labels
 Example #1:
Title
___________________________________________
Date
__________________________________________
Medium/Material
______________________________
Location/Museum
_____________________________

3. Labels
Label info can
be found on
slide lists or
slide library

4. Labels
 Example #1:
Title Head of an Akkadian Ruler
Date c. 2250-2200 BCE
Medium/Material Bronze
Location/Museum Iraq Museum, Baghdad

5. Bibliography
 Is this proper bibliographic format?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY79AuGZDNI
 Melissa Hall, Online Textbook

6. Bibliography
Click here for
sample
formatting

7. Bibliography
Textbook
Smarthistory
videos

8. Bibliography
Don’t use
outside
resources
unless you can
verify their
validity

9. Bibliography
Is this a valid
resource?
Does it provide any
information that is
new?

10. Using Quotations
 Quotations should not be facts/information
 Facts and information should be
paraphrased/summarized (with a citation for your
source)

11. Using Quotations
 Quotations should be well-articulated
opinions/interpretations that support your
thesis/argument
 It’s like bringing in an “expert opinion” to back up your
argument

12. RULE OF THUMB
 Don’t quote me
 Don’t quote my quotes
 Follow my “breadcrumbs” to the original source

13. RULE OF THUMB
Sources I
quote
Sources I
recommend

14. Using Quotations
 For example, in my chapter on the Stele of Naramsin,
I argue that Naramsin’s muscular physique is an
important component of his aura of divinity
Thesis

15. Using Quotations
 To support that argument, I quote an expert who has
argued a similar point:
“What, the modem viewer may ask, is Naram-Sin of Agade
doing on his Victory Stela, displaying for us not only his
victory in battle but his well-rounded buttocks, his muscled
calves, his elegantly arched back, his luxuriant beard? More
Baryshnikov than Stallone, he is nonetheless, within our
cultural lexicon of value, well proportioned, lithe, fit, and
simply “divine”!”
Irene Winter, “Sex, rhetoric and the public monument: the
alluring body of Naram-Sin of Agade.”

16. Using Quotations
 When discussing the Head of an Akkadian Ruler, I
argue that the destruction of the work in ancient times
was similar to Sympathetic Magic
Thesis

17. Using Quotations
 To back up my argument, I quote an expert who says
the same thing:
“In the ancient Near East, the concept of “representation”
involved a complex relationship between the image and the
entity it represented. The image of a person was more than a
symbol standing for that person. Rather, it embodied some of
the real presence of the individual and could, therefore, act as
substitute for him or her.”
Art Through Time: A Global View (Annenberg)

18. Resources
 https://wccart108.wordpress.com/course-
assignments/recommended-resources/
 https://wccart108.wordpress.com/course-
assignments/using-quotations/