Architecture history term paper. Architecture and Its Double. History Term Paper
The Term Paper
The purpose of this exercise is to introduce you to the process of scholarly research and the techniques of historical writing. It will help to show you how historians ask questions, pose problems, arrive at conclusions, and communicate their findings. On a more general level, the project will require you to learn to track down specific information, examine it critically, practice your writing skills.
You will choose your topic among N.4 broad topics proposed related to course material. A ‘PAPER TOPICS’ file will be posted on Canvas.
The Term Paper is ONE FILE submission typed with double spacing on 8 ½ x 11 in. paper, 12-pt. font, 1.25” margins – consisting of (see class schedule for due date):
a. Bibliography [does NOT add on to word count].
Start with Readings for your Bibliography. Books, essay, primary materials, peer-reviewed articles from scholarly journals. Locate them through standard references such as the Avery Index, Humanities Index, and JStor. The point of a bibliography is to begin to get a sense of past scholarship on your topic and to figure out which sources might be most useful. This means that you must read through everything on the bibliography in order to know its value for your paper. Sources need to be evaluated. How careful was the author? What was the author's point of view? How do their prejudices and intended audience affect the usefulness of the work for your research project? After choosing a topic, begin to build a bibliography of useful sources. List them in standard bibliographic form (Chicago or MLA). You will be graded on originality and thoroughness of research. This assignment will help you chose and refine your topic.
b. Abstract: 300 – 400 words count [half of a page]
Write an abstract of your research objective, including the building(s) you are studying (furnish images when appropriate), the question(s) you are seeking to answer, and the way you plan to answer them. This should be an overview of your project where you are going and how you plan to get there. It should include a working thesis statement.
Previous proposal and discussion about your Paper topic are welcomed. Meet me or your TA during online office hours to discuss further. Remember that your TA can only give back as much as they receive, so the more developed your idea, the more feedback you will get.
c. Final Paper: 1.800 – 2.300 words count [6-8 pages]. Early papers are accepted.
Just as craft and presentation are essential to good design, so it is in architectural history that writing and presentation are essential to a good paper. I see no difference between what one says and how one says it. If you have not found the right words and a lucid, concise way of stating and arguing your thesis, your ideas are not fully resolved. ALL ideas and quotations taken from your sources must be footnoted. Parenthetical citations should be avoided, as should endnotes—use footnotes!
Edit your work, and make certain that it is well proofread and assembled and that the notes, bibliography, and other mechanical elements follow a consistent format. There are many acceptable guides to format, including the MLA Style Sheet and the Chicago Manual of Style. You should also include appropriate illustrations (numbered, properly labeled, describing what is shown, and crediting the source) at the end of the paper, and refer to them in the text. Illustrations, footnotes, and bibliography do not count in the length of the paper.
Any good scholarly essay or book has an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion, and so should your paper. The thesis should be clearly and vividly laid out in the introduction. Then support your thesis with evidence that builds an argument clearly and logically, paragraph by paragraph. Finally, a conclusion sums up, ties up, and draws the argument to a close, often offering a final insight or twist.
While you are reading, begin to construct the outline for your essay. The process will help you see relationships between ideas. It will steer you toward a coherent paper in which: [1] The most important facts are given prominence, [2] Facts are not gratuitous, but support the thesis, and [3] Analysis and original thoughts, rather than description, come to the fore.
The Term paper will be graded as follows:
SEE PAPER RUBRIC on Canvas
Note: Penalty for late work is a dropped grade per calendar day (A becomes A- after one day, B+ after two days), so plan your work carefully and take into account all online resources that many Institutions implemented due to the current off-campus situation.
Picking a Topic
Historians begin research projects with a question or challenge about the way ideas about the past are understood, or by bringing new evidence to bear upon an established idea. They then develop a thesis that attempts to answer that question or challenge and continue to gather data from the particular point of view set out by the thesis. Along the way the thesis is continually checked against new conclusions drawn from the accumulating evidence. Finally, a point is reached when the question seems satisfactorily answered or argued. History is not a science, however; it is an unfolding argument through time, and you must set out to create the most persuasive argument with the material you find.
Choose an interior space, a building, a group of buildings, or a city (or part of one) built within the chronological boundaries of the course, but that has not been or will not be discussed at length in lectures or sections. Your choice should not be governed by aesthetic interest alone, but rather by a compelling intellectual engagement, issue, or problem. To study the Parthenon because you like Greek temples is not enough. By contrast, to ask about the relationship of the Parthenon to Persian architecture might yield a stronger topic.
Determine from some preliminary reading a significant question to ask. For example:
How / why has a particular building type changed over time?
How might we see class, gender, or other aspects of culture manifested in a particular building or urban plan?
How is building form affected by technology in a particular moment and place?
How have the needs of the client or user affected architectural design or urban form in a specific cultural moment? 5. What is the relationship between theory and practice in a particular architect's work? Alternatively, what is architectural knowledge and training in “anonymous” architectural traditions.
How did a particular style, form, technology, or building type move from one culture to another? Why did it do so?
The thrust of your research should then be to discover and argue for a convincing answer to the question. Since the assignment is to write an analytical essay, be sure you are asking and answering a question about your building(s).
Policy Statement on Cheating
PLAGIARISM IS THE MOST SERIOUS ACADEMIC OFFENSE. IT WILL NOT BE EXCUSED FOR ANY REASON. ANYONE GUILTY OF IT WILL RECEIVE AN F FOR THE COURSE AND WILL, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, BE REPORTED TO THE DEPARTMENT AND TO THE UNIVERSITY. IF YOU ARE AT ALL UNCERTAIN WHAT PLAGIARISM IS, PLEASE CONSULT YOUR TA OR THE PROFESSOR.
All works in this class must be original. A student may not imitate another artist’s work or misrepresent someone else’s work as his/her own. Nor should the student present work done for another class as their effort towards a given assignment in this class.
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Architecture and Its Double
Abstract
Classical art is mirrored in contemporary architecture that has dominated the modern art culture. Classical art is associated with the Romans and Greeks, who are considered to be the founders of this ancient art. The art has been replicated in other regions of the world, especially by the Persians who imitated mostly the architectural housing designs. Even though contemporary has sophisticated art, classical art is mirrored in every technique applied in its design. The originality and replication of art have a long history. Classical art dominated the Mediterranean region for a long period in the ancient B.C. The Greek boasts of having the best sculptors in history who made the first original sculptures to exist on the earth in 500 B.C. The Romans came up to dominate the art industry in the fourth century in which the marble and bronze art sculptures dominated the roman cities, towns, and centers. When Roman art is clearly traced, it is found out that imitates the Greek art that existed more than 500 years ago. Greek art involved the use of molded bronze, which was used to make precious sculptures, especially for their kings and warriors. The Greeks then melted some of the sculptures in order to reuse the bronze for purposes such as war tools and wagon wheels. The roman sculptors came started making sculptures to evoke the Greek culture, especially after the wars. They made almost original models of the Greek art using bronze but molded some using marble. The marble used didn't have high tensile strength like bronze, which made the sculptures a little bit weak. The models required support, which included some support objects or images in their models. The models also had the athlete's body of Greeks and legs, but they changed the head to have a roman appearance. The original architecture dates back to the ancient Greek but has been copied and owned by other cultures.
The Greeks developed the Corinthian architectural order. This was a famous construction sty in the ancient Greek capitals that were made strong enough to protect their king and generals. This ancient architect had a unique structure that was identified by its round columns around the buildings. The columns were many, thin and elegant to support the huge house. At the top of the columns, they inserted decorative molds and pottery to make it look more beautiful. “The flower images and pottery were exceptional to make the columns and rooflines more attractive” (Met, p1). This made the Greeks have a cohesive and unique architectural building during that time. Through interactions in wars and trade activities. The Romans copied the art and replicated in its roman capital and royal homes. Even though the roman copied the entire design, they did not observe some uniqueness in it. The Greek architect involved a thin round column that was decorated at the tops using scrolls and unfurled leaves of acanthus. The Romans did not replicate this and instead used a little bit thicker column and were less decorated as compared to those of the Greeks “thicker round columns, with colorfully painted rooflines” (Prada, p2). The materials used for replications are the same, but the Romans didn't produce the "real" product as they slightly modified their buildings to appear a little different. Corinthian order dominated the Roman Empire more than from where it was found in Greece. Even though the Corinthian order's dominance has spread to their regions of the world, its originality is traced back to Greece. Contemporary architecture has modified the design to look more different, but it still has the simple characteristics of the round columns. Some regions have modified the columns to square ones, while others have used huge and strong metal supports instead of concrete columns. America imitated the Corinthian culture in the 19th century by constructing the columns which did not only involve decorating using acanthas but included native thistles and native tobacco leaves. "The Corinthian arrived in the U.S. in 1854, and the top decorations incorporated acanthus plant, native thistle and tobacco plants” (Kleiner and Fred, 7).
Classical Greek sculptures were made using less coloration of the sculptures, which was a different case to those of the Romans (Image 1). Roman sculptures seemed to be more interested in the flashiness of the sculptures, which is clearly identified by the common use of marble that gives more brightness than bronze (Image 2). Although they applied material change, some sculptors didn't have enough skills to balance the sculptures and could leave a chunk of marble on some parts to bring stability. Some great Greek-Roman sculptors will be annoyed with such imperfection, which indicated some errors in the classical Greek sculpture imitation. Also, the Romans were rude and could evoke the Greeks after winning them in a war by molding Greek sculptures and putting the head of their generals on them (Kleiner and Fred, 10). Majorly they did this on Greek gods, in which they could replace the head of the god with their commander. In one of the sculptures, Marcellus as Hermes Logios or in a common term, Hercules is cut removed from the sculpture to show defeat to Greeks and their gods (Panofsky and Erwin, p13). Some of the original sculptures were looted during the war and brought to Rome. The Romans put them in different cities so that any available sculptors at that time could copy and mold, which they didn’t have enough bronze; hence the alternative was the marble. It seemed the war between the two countries was the reason for exchanging and copying different cultural practices between them. When they interacted in war, the Romans copied a lot of cultural practices from the Greeks. Another good example is the appearance of the beards on the beards on the sculptures during the reign of Hadrian. Roman emperors didn’t have images on of beards on their faces, but they copied this from the Greeks who had a dark bearded chin of their soldiers. They added beards for the first time on their emperor so as to look fiercer in the face as they were ridiculed by Greeks that they were commanded by a baby-faced emperor (Image 1). Im...
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