Milestone Three: Final Virtual Field Trip Essay Guidelines

Overview
The Virtual Field Trip Essay will assess your knowledge of great works of Western art and culture
and, in particular, your ability to think critically and contextually about the arts. Through comparing and
contrasting two pieces of art, you will evaluate how two works with similar themes or subject matter
can express very different styles, contexts, and cultural meanings. In the art history analysis paper, you
will communicate ideas regarding Western art and culture from the Renaissance through the Realism
periods using the specialized vocabulary explored within the fine arts and humanities content learned
throughout the course. While the primary goal of this paper is not research, you are strongly
encouraged to consult a few quality research sources to assist you in identifying your works and analyze
their styles and historical contexts.

This assessment will assess your mastery with respect to the following course outcomes:
Obtain knowledge of great works of Western art and culture
Be able to analyze works of art in terms of subject matter and style
Be able to communicate ideas about art using the appropriate vocabulary in both written and oral
formats
The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the
course to incorporate feedback and ensure quality final submissions.
First two milestones will be submitted in Module Five and Module Ten. The final essay will be
submitted in Module Fifteen.

You will select two different works of art from two different time periods or style movements from the
Renaissance through the Realism periods. The two works should have some common elements (such as
subject matter, theme, or visual structure). Include at least one image of each work on the first page of
your essay, before you start writing your introduction. If possible, provide multiple images of your
chosen pieces (from websites and online sources), with different angles or views. In the paper, you will
address how the style, theme, and meanings of a work of art relate to its various contexts (historical,
social, political, philosophical, artistic, etc.). You will also examine the ways in which the style of an
artwork affects the way it looks, and address how each piece expresses the visual features, formal
elements, and thematic concerns of its particular style movement.

Recommended Resources:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Philadelphia Museum of Art
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
The Louvre, Paris
The Prado Museum, Madrid
The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The National Gallery, London
The British Museum, London
The following critical elements must be included and addressed:

Five Simple Steps

I. Craft an introduction that gives your reader the WHAT and the WHY.
a) What? What are you comparing? What are you contrasting? Your introduction will include
information about both works, indicating as fully as
possible the following:
i. Identify the name of the artist and name or title of each of the works of art you have
selected (keep in mind that these pieces need to
be from two different time or style periods covered in this course).
ii. Identify the style movement or period of time and the closest date for each work of art selected
for the analysis paper.
iii. Identify the location and origin of the selected works of art you have chosen to analyze.
b) Why? Defend your chosen topic by explaining why the two pieces should be compared (in
terms of their significance to the time period, the
cultural and historical context of the work[s], or the importance of the works to the development of art).
What do you hope your readers will
gain through your comparison?

II. Include a brief background and analysis of the works.

In the body of your paper, as you compare and contrast the works, make sure to provide the following
information for each work of art:
a) How does this work relate to its style movement and historical context?
b) How does the piece express the visual and thematic features of its style period?
c) Support your ideas with your objective observations on the work and what it reveals about the style
movement and time period in which it was
created.

III. Compare and contrast the works.

a) Identify the visual similarities and differences between the two works.
b) Explain why the similarities and differences are important and how they relate to the style
movements of the pieces. This section should expand
and refine what you included in your structured draft (Milestone Two). Your analysis should reflect
further understanding of key course concepts
and language used in the analysis of art history and the humanities.

IV. Include a brief reflection on your study of the humanities through your analysis.
a) How does your analysis reflect your own study of the humanities? What did you learn about yourself,
other cultures, and other time periods
through the study of these artistic artifacts?
b) How can the study of visual art, music, architecture, and other art forms help you in your own
professional field or in your personal life? What is
the value of humanities to you?

V. Sign off with a strong conclusion.

Use your conclusion to revisit what you have illustrated throughout your paper about the significance of
your analysis and make a strong statement that emphasizes your main thesis and sums up your
response to these two works.

Guidelines for Submission: The final essay should follow these formatting guidelines: Use of at
least two appropriate research sources for each piece of art, 23 pages, double spacing, 12-point Times
New Roman font, one-inch margins, and MLA citations. It should be submitted through the Dropbox.

Milestones
Milestone One: Topic Proposal
In Module Five, you will submit your topic proposal via the Discussion Board. After looking
through the images in your book or recommended resources, including the Web Gallery of Art, propose
your topic, and post images of your two proposed pieces. Please keep in mind that you need to select
two works of visual art from two different time periods or style movements. Lastly, your works must be
selected from one of the style movements beginning with the Renaissance and ending with the Realism
period. Once you have fully identified the two pieces (the complete identifications of the works), you
also need to justify your topic by explaining why the two pieces should be compared. You may wish to
consult documents from your ecompanion, located in the Doc Sharing are of the course, in preparation
for this and other milestones.

Milestone Two: Structured Draft

In Module Ten, you will submit a structured draft via the Discussion Board. The prompt for this
essay will help you begin identifying, contextualizing, and comparatively analyzing your two pieces of
art. This essay is crucial to your success on the final essay because it will provide your instructor the
opportunity to give you detailed, constructive feedback on your preliminary ideas. The feedback and
suggestions you receive on this essay can then be incorporated into your final essay.

Milestone Three - Final Submission: Virtual Field Trip Essay

In Module Fifteen, you will submit your final essay. It should be a complete, polished artifact
containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback
gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded using the Dropbox.