WRITING ASSIGNMENT 2 CONTEXUTALIZING A WORK OF ART This assignment involves putting the work of art you chose for Assignment 1 back into its historical and cultural context. This paper should be approximately 5-6 pages in length (SEE General Information & Writing Guidelines on Blackboard for further format instructions). v GOALS: You are not looking to study the specific work of art you wrote about for Paper #1 so much as to relate it to its broader cultural context. In fact, you are not likely to find information directly about the Houston work. [If you do, be sure you also answer the following bigger questions] This assignment asks you to discuss the subject and the religious, social, and political or other cultural context of the work of art you wrote about in Assignment 1 in order to put it back into that context. o CRITICAL THINKING: As you do your research and look again at the work you selected to write about, be sure to define a thesis to guide you. The thesis could be a question or a particular issue that you want to find out about in relation to this object. ALSO: Think about the sources you are using as making an argument, not only as sources of information. What assumptions might they be making? Do different sources give different perspectives on the work or its role in its culture? What do you find compelling or, in contrast, not convincing based on what you have learned in the course. v RESEARCH: What does the object tell us about the culture and people from which it comes? v TIP: Think of taking the work out of the museum and putting it back into the world from which it came. INTEGRATE the visual analysis of the work you did for your first assignment (revised, using feedback from the grader, and selected to be relevant) into a new paper that explains how the work of art you chose reflects its original cultural context. DO NOT CUT AND PASTE your previous paper word for word. v RESEARCH TIPS & PREPARATION FOR WRITING LOOK FOR THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION Ø ID the type of work you wrote about for Assignment 1 and the parts of its culture to which it relates. Since you are not likely to find many (if 2 any) sources that deal directly with the exact object you are working on, these will be your starting points for research Ø TO GUIDE YOUR RESEARCH & WRITING, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS in relation to your work of art: o What kind of function or purpose might this work have served for its culture and what did it mean for the people of that culture? § Was the work connected to the culture’s religious practices or beliefs? § Is it related to the political structure or to power politics? § Is it related to the social structure of the society? § Is it connected with specific historical events or circumstances of the work’s time and place? § Be specific about the social, cultural ideas, experiences, or values the piece reflects o Investigate the subject .

1. WRITINGASSIGNMENT 2
CONTEXUTALIZING A WORK OF ART
This assignment involves putting the work of art
you chose for Assignment 1
back into its historical and cultural context. This paper
should be
approximately 5-6 pages in length (SEEGeneral
Information & Writing
Guidelines on Blackboard for further format
instructions).
v GOALS: You are not looking to study the
specific work of art you wrote
about for Paper #1 so much as to relate
it to its broader cultural context. In
fact, you are not likely to find information directly
about the Houston work.
[If you do, be sure you also answer the following
bigger questions]This
assignment asks you to discuss the subject and
the religious, social, and
political or othercultural context of the work of art
you wrote about in
Assignment 1 in order to put it back into
that context.
o CRITICAL THINKING: As you do your research
and look again at the
work you selected to writeabout, be sure to define
a thesis to guide

2. you. The thesis could be a question or a
particular issuethat you want
to find out about in relation to this object.
ALSO: Think about the
sources you are using as making an argument,
not only as sources
of information. What assumptions might they be
making? Do different
sources give different perspectives on the work or its
role in its
culture? What do you find compelling or, in
contrast, not convincing
based on what you have learned in the course.
v RESEARCH: What does the object tell us
about the culture and people
from which it comes?
v TIP: Think of taking the work out of the
museum and putting it back into
the world from which it came. INTEGRATE
the visual analysis of the
work you did for your first assignment (revised, using
feedback from the
grader, and selected to be relevant) into a new
paper that explains how
the work of art you chose reflects its original
cultural context. DO NOT CUT
ANDPASTE your previous paper word for word.
v RESEARCH TIPS & PREPARATION FOR WRITING
LOOK FOR THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION
Ø ID the type of work you wrote about for

3. Assignment 1 and the parts of
its culture to which it relates. Since you
are not likely to find many (if
2
any) sources that deal directly with the exact object
you are working
on, thesewill be your starting points for research
Ø TO GUIDE YOUR RESEARCH & WRITING,
CONSIDER THE
FOLLOWING QUESTIONS in relation to your work of
art:
o What kind of function or purpose might this
work have served for its
culture and what did it mean for the people of
that culture?
§ Was the work connected to the culture’s religious
practices or
beliefs?
§ Is it related to the political structure or to
power politics?
§ Is it related to the social structure of the
society?
§ Is it connected with specific historical events or
circumstances of
the work’s time and place?
§ Be specific about the social, cultural ideas,
experiences, or

4. values the piece reflects
o Investigate the subject matter, but don’t go
overboard with details
that don’t contributeto the goal of this assignment!
(you may
have to drop someof the details you had put in
Assignment 1) Make
sure you can relate the subject matter to the
culture and the part of
the culture it addresses.
§ Is it a figurative theme (represent people,
buildings, animals,
plants) or purely decorative – eg plantforms
or geometric or
organic shapes; or just lines?
§ Is it related to the religious system or beliefs
of the culture?
SOURCES
Use your textbook ANDa minimum of TWO OTHER
SOURCES [See Choosing,
Using, and Citing Sources on Blackboard for
information about acceptable
types of sources to use]
These sources may include:
Ø RECOMMENDED OR REQUIRED READINGS on
Blackboard
Ø E-BOOKS (equivalent to printed books)
Ø NO MORE THAN HALF OF ALL THE
SOURCES YOUUSE MAY BE FROM THE

5. INTERNET and the internet sources you use MUST
be connected with a
MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY or otherACADEMIC site.
(usually .org OR .edu)
3
o See CHOOSING, USING ANDCITING SOURCES
for more detailed
information on acceptable types of sources
and how to use and create
citations acknowledging your use of them
Ø FINDING BOOKS ANDARTICLES
Ø Here is an online research guide put
together by the Arts
Librarian:
https://guides.lib.uh.edu/c.php?g=432806&p=4612923
Ø GO TO: http://libraries.uh.edu/branches/jenkins/
Ø SCROLL DOWN TO: Research Tools
o SELECT Art Databases
Ø CHOOSE FROM (or try several!)
o Art Full Text (art history journals with articles on
line) OR
o JSTOR (on-line journals with articles in various
disciplines,
including art history but also history, religion, etc)
o Oxford Art Online (encyclopedia written by art
historians and
acceptable for art history papers)

6. Ø Do a Keyword or use “Boolean” searches
(using two words with ANDor
OR between them are oftenbetter than simple subject
searches as they
usually produce more focused and useful results
o Examples: Hellenistic ANDsculpture; Greek AND
bronze AND
sculpture; Roman ANDsarcophagus; Roman AND
sculpture
Ø USING SOURCES FROM THE INTERNET (other
than the databases you
can find on the Art & Architecture Library
website) ONLY those
associatedwith a museum or university will be
accepted for papers
in this course. These can be identified by the
url that ends in .org
for museums or .edu for universities
Ø Here are somegood places to search for general
background
information on the type of object you are writing
about and the culture
from which it comes
o OXFORD ART ONLINE (remember Wikipediais
NOT an
acceptable source for a college paper –
See CHOOSING, USING,
ANDCITING SOURCES)
o The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

7. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah
o The British Museum:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/default.aspx
Ø Googling a topicis not an acceptable way to
find a reliable source.
4
Ø RE-READ THE TEXTBOOK and otherassigned
readings (as well as
relevant recommended readings) that pertain to the
culture and type
of object you have chosen. TAKE NOTES on
those readings if you didn’t
the first time.REVIEW the powerpoints from class
relevant to the
work of art you are writing about.
o NOTE: If you wrote on a work of Greek
pottery, BE SURE to use
the Recommended Reading selection on Greek pottery
as one
of your sources. IF YOUWRITE ON ANYGREEK
WORK OF ART,
USE THE POLLITT READING on Blackboard OR
the full book from
which it is excerpted.
Ø WRITE DOWN THE PAGE NUMBERS from
which you have taken
information and/or ideasnext to the material you
have taken from that

8. page. [You will need this information for your
footnotes or in-text
citations when you writeyour paper] If you are
using an online source
thereprobably will not be page numbers.
o REMEMBER: If you use information or ideasof
any kind from a
source (includingyour textbook) otherthan class notes
you
must provide a citation at the end of the
sentence or paragraph
where you have used a source
o Make sure you understand the information and
ideasand PUT THEM
IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
§ Do not quote secondary sources, but do cite any
information
or ideasyou get from them.
§ If you copy the words of your source into your
paper that is
PLAGIARISM and may lead to your failing the course.
Changing
just a word or two is not enough to claim it
as your own.
Ø OUTLINE THE MAJOR IDEAS, VALUES &
INFORMATION about the
culture that you will use to put your work of art
back into its original
context
v WRITING YOUR PAPER:

9. KEEP IN MIND: The goal is to writea single,
coherent paper that talks about
the work of art as an expression of its culture
Ø INTEGRATE
o STYLISTIC ANALYSIS you did for Assignment 1
(taking into account
the grader’s comments
5
§ Use only those parts of your first paper that
help you explain
the object as a product of its cultural context
o WHAT YOULEARNED FROM RESEARCH
o INFORMATION, CONCEPTS, TERMS you have learned
in the course
Ø Write a separate INTRODUCTION that identifies
the work of art you
discuss ANDsets out your THESIS or main ideasabout
its cultural
context and significance.
Ø Write a CONCLUSION that summarizes the main
points you have made
in your paper (You will lose points for “fluffy”
endings that do not pull
together important elements of your paper.)

10. Ø ADD an extrapage for the Bibliography with the
full bibliographic
information for each source you use.
Ø USE FOOTNOTES OR IN-TEXT CITATIONS for
each source and page
from which you take information. If you know a
standard citation
format you may use it. If you don’t know a
standard citation format
SEE CHOOSING, USING, ANDCITING SOURCES on
Blackboard
o You will also have to CITE THE MUSEUMWALL
LABEL again for this
paper
SEE Choosing, using, and Citing Sources and General
Information &
Guidelines on Blackboard for further details.
Submitting Your Writing Assignments
We are using TURNITIN assignment tool in
Blackboard as a means of
detecting and preventing plagiarism. TURNITIN
also records the time and
date that you turn in your paper.
You WILL NOT turn in a hard copy of your paper
but ONLY upload it to

11. TURNITIN.COM.
To post your papers on Blackboard you do NOT
need a code!
-Go to the course homepage on Blackboard
-Click on the computer-like link for the Assignment
you want to upload
-This should bring up a screen with an
option to upload your paper.
6
-Click Upload to submit your paper. Be sure all
your pages are in one
document!
BE SURE TO PRINT OUT A RECEIPT
TO SHOW THAT YOUR PAPER HAS UPLOADED
CORRECTLY!
IF YOUHAVE TROUBLE UPLOADING YOUR
PAPER
-Immediately contact the help line at the bottom of
the course Blackboard
homepage
-Notify me through mail on Blackboard.