Use this guide to support your research.
Image by ElasticComputeFarm from Pixabay; image resized from original
This guide is intended to offer you research support for two assignments:
“Broadening,” due Feb. 15th
For this assignment, you are researching and exploring new ideas to inform your creative process, ideally in subject areas you don’t normally engage with. By creating mind maps, you are discovering relationships between ideas, which is creativity in action. Thinking about concepts in new ways means investigating them deeply and discovering parallel or coextensive concepts. The more you know, the more connections you can make.
From the assignment prompt: You will use the library session on 2/15 to collect materials related to the field/s you select; books and articles (you need to have some of each – it can be 1 book and 2 articles or 2 books and one article – and naturally it can be more than that).
Related to your exercise of mind-mapping is the act of browsing the shelves of the library stacks. Use the blue tabs on the left (“Thesauri” and “Navigating the Library Collection”) to learn how to approach the browsing method. You'll get lots of time during the session to go to the stacks yourself.
Artist research group presentations
Your task in the library is to find sources that allow you to speak about:
Artists’ background and context (where they come from, education, where they work (or worked) – their historical context (major events of their time/location that might influence their life, work, etc.)
The Art: Show examples of the artists’ work and discuss the following:
Themes of work (relate to themes already discussed in class and expand to other themes you identify)
Medium: how does the artist use the medium in question – how does the artist push the boundaries of the medium? How does medium and content relate?
Why you selected these artists – why are you excited about the work – how does this work challenge you or broaden your understanding of medium and content/themes.
Compare and contrast your artists – what are some outstanding similarities and some outstanding differences in how they use medium and express content/themes.
Use the tabs on the left side of the page to access information sources related to arts research. Browse the stacks for print books. From the assignment prompt: In the library find a MINIMUM of 3 scholarly sources; books and articles (you need to have some of each – it can be 1 book and 2 articles or 2 books and one article – and naturally it can be more than that).
Bibliography/References
Finally, both assignments require a bibliography with complete citations in MLA style. Citation help is also included in the blue left-hand tabs.
