Research Guides: ARTH 292: Writing for Art History: Home

Writing about Art

How to Write about Contemporary Art
Call Number: N7476 .W544 2014
Tips that range across the complete spectrum of art-writing. Includes academic essays; press releases and news articles; texts for auction and exhibition catalogues, gallery guides and wall labels; op-ed journalism and exhibition reviews; and writing for websites and blogs.
How to Do Things with Pictures: A Guide to Writing in Art History
Call Number: Access Online
An introduction to academic writing about art.
A Short Guide to Writing about Art
Call Number: N7476 .B37 2015
This text guides art students through the writing process. The text includes coverage of essential writing assignments including formal analysis, comparison, research paper, review of an exhibition and essay examination.
Look! Art History Fundamentals
Call Number: N345 .D26 2010
Look! discusses basic art historical practices, such as visual and contextual analysis, and provides guidelines for writing papers and taking examinations in art history.

Writing About Art
Explains the different approaches students encounter in undergraduate art history classes. Each chapter outlines the characteristics of one type of visual or historical analysis, and briefly explains its history and development.

The Elements of Style by William Strunk
Call Number: PE1408 .S772 1979
Elementary rules of usage -- Elementary principles of composition -- A few matters of form -- Words and expressions commonly misused -- An approach to style.

The Craft of Research
Call Number: Access Online
Publication Date: 2016
Explains how to find and evaluate sources and integrate them into an argument that stands up to reader critique.
Also in print: Q180.55.M4 B66 2016
About Writing: A Guide
Call Number: Access Online
This writer’s reference condenses and covers everything a beginning writing student needs to successfully compose college-level work, including the basics of composition, grammar, and research.
Oregon Writes Open Writing Text
Call Number: Access Online
This textbook guides students through rhetorical and assignment analysis, the writing process, researching, citing, rhetorical modes, and critical reading.
Bad Ideas About Writing
Call Number: Access Online
"Clearly articulated and well-researched arguments about what is not working, what must die, and what is blocking progress in current understandings of writing."

The Process of Research Writing
A web-based research writing textbook suitable for teachers and students in research-oriented composition and rhetoric classes.

Find encyclopedia and dictionary definitions of art terms using VCU Libraries Search:

Enter your keyword in the big yellow search box on the library website (library.vcu.edu)
Limit results to Material Type=Reference Entries

VCU Libraries Search
Allows users to search hundreds of millions of items simultaneously, including VCU Libraries books and media; many research databases and E-journal collections; and the VCU Libraries Digital Collections.

Tate Guide to Modern Art Terms
Call Number: N34 .W55 2008
From Abstract Expressionism and Body Art through Young British Artists (YBAs) and Group Zero, with hundreds of topics in between, every term, whether it be a theme, a movement, a medium, or a practice, is defined with clarity and precision. The entries are complemented by 50 illustrations.
The Concise Dictionary of Art Terms
Call Number: Access Online
A-Z covering a wide range of terms from the visual art world, including materials, techniques, and important styles and periods.

Oxford Art Online
Integrated searchable access to Grove Art Online, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, and more.
Maximum Simultaneous Users: 3

Develop Research Topics
Guidance on trying to decide on or develop a research topic. Includes tips on getting started, the research cycle, exploring topic ideas, and narrowing/broadening your focus.
Evaluate My Sources
General questions to ask yourself when evaluating a source, and info on evaluating websites.
Identify Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources

When drafting a paper thesis statement, ask yourself:

Does the statement make a claim rather than merely offer a description?
Is the claim arguable rather than self/evident, universally accepted, and of little interest?
Can evidence be found to support the claim?
Is the claim narrow enough to be convincingly supported in a paper written within the allotted time and of the assigned length?

Excerpt from "Writing a Research Paper" in A Short Guide to Writing About Art by Sylvan Barnet.

If you can't find the book, article, or dissertation that you want at VCU, try these resources to find what you need.

Inter-library Loan (ILL)
Via Interlibrary Loan, you can borrow books, articles, and DVDs that VCU does not own.

WorldCat (via FirstSearch)
Consolidated catalog of items held by OCLC member libraries worldwide. WorldCat FirstSearch is the subscription version of the WorldCat database, with advanced search options and result listing by number of copies available.

RALC
The Richmond Academic Library Consortium is a group of Richmond area libraries which have agreed to extend limited borrowing privileges to students, faculty, and staff of any RALC school.

Tip: When using a citation generation tool, always check the citation created to make sure it is formatted correctly!

Chicago Manual of Style Online
Searchable and browsable. Click on the red box to access. Includes both 17th and 16th editions. Citation examples are in Part 3.
OWL: Purdue University Online Writing Lab: Chicago Manual of Style
Chicago citation examples for a wide range of sources, including books, periodicals, web, multimedia and interviews.