Research Paper

[Koak934]

I need to write a research paper for school and I want to do something art related. I have to have a thesis and a product, the problem is that I dont know what to write about. I was thinking about doing something about Impressionism but I do not know how to make a thesis about that.

Do anyone have suggestions?

[Muz]

how about the value of digital art in a fineart context?

Lots to read up on, like how alot of digital art isnt thought to hold as much worth as there isnt actually an original that a person can buy.

[Viridis]

I think your real problem here is this idea "I don't know how to make a thesis." If you don't know how to do that then you're going to have real trouble writing any sort of paper. Art is an incredibly broad and diverse subject, so saying "I just want to write something art-related" is not going to help you.

Basically, a thesis is just an idea, or a statement. You're saying something about a subject. When you don't know what you want to say, you have to start asking questions until you figure something out.

So, let's go with Impressionism, like you said. Even this is a pretty broad topic, so let's start asking questions. What were the major concerns of Impressionism as a style? (What makes Impressionism "impressionism"?) As a movement? What were the general techniques? How did the movement get started? (What social structures were in place during the time that encouraged or discouraged artists to move towards Impressionism?) Who were the major artists of the Impressionist movement? How did each of these artists follow or not follow the general ideas of Impressionism? How did they influence each other?

I could go on. Each of these questions lead to more questions. For one of the questions (what were the general techniques?) you could talk about how artists previously painted in studios and now spent much of their time going out and painting en plein air. Then you could pull up a bunch of artists who were the best at painting this way and compare and contrast them. Monet would be an excellent choice for something like that.

That would be a research paper. So would a paper talking about the original mid-19th century Impressionist movement, when the ideas were rather radical, as opposed to impressionist paintings created today, when more abstracted art is fairly common.

Essentially, I encourage you to go to the library or your online database of choice (but really the library is better) go read a pile of books about Impressionism until you get an idea of what you want to talk about, (your thesis) and then go get more books/papers about that particular topic, until you have your evidence. Then go write your paper.

Research papers are a part of school, and you're going to need to learn to do them. I'm guessing you're in high school, so my advice to you is to get this skill down now, because you're going to need it. Hell, there are even books about how to write research papers if you're really having trouble.

The resources are all there, you just need to find them.

[Musselfarmstudios]

there is a new article floating around the net about how Vincent Van Gogh's ear was cut off by Gauguin as opposed to the self inflicted fit of rage story.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/may/04/vincent-van-gogh-ear

this is bound to make an excellent thesis, it probably hasn't been done in this regard yet.

[Koak934]

I think your real problem here is this idea "I don't know how to make a thesis." If you don't know how to do that then you're going to have real trouble writing any sort of paper. Art is an incredibly broad and diverse subject, so saying "I just want to write something art-related" is not going to help you.

Basically, a thesis is just an idea, or a statement. You're saying something about a subject. When you don't know what you want to say, you have to start asking questions until you figure something out.

So, let's go with Impressionism, like you said. Even this is a pretty broad topic, so let's start asking questions. What were the major concerns of Impressionism as a style? (What makes Impressionism "impressionism"?) As a movement? What were the general techniques? How did the movement get started? (What social structures were in place during the time that encouraged or discouraged artists to move towards Impressionism?) Who were the major artists of the Impressionist movement? How did each of these artists follow or not follow the general ideas of Impressionism? How did they influence each other?

I could go on. Each of these questions lead to more questions. For one of the questions (what were the general techniques?) you could talk about how artists previously painted in studios and now spent much of their time going out and painting en plein air. Then you could pull up a bunch of artists who were the best at painting this way and compare and contrast them. Monet would be an excellent choice for something like that.

That would be a research paper. So would a paper talking about the original mid-19th century Impressionist movement, when the ideas were rather radical, as opposed to impressionist paintings created today, when more abstracted art is fairly common.

Essentially, I encourage you to go to the library or your online database of choice (but really the library is better) go read a pile of books about Impressionism until you get an idea of what you want to talk about, (your thesis) and then go get more books/papers about that particular topic, until you have your evidence. Then go write your paper.

Research papers are a part of school, and you're going to need to learn to do them. I'm guessing you're in high school, so my advice to you is to get this skill down now, because you're going to need it. Hell, there are even books about how to write research papers if you're really having trouble.

The resources are all there, you just need to find them.

Thank you for this! Yea my problem was deciding what to write about, narrowing it down to a subject that I can create a thesis on. I like the general techniques of the impressionists. That sounds really good. I already got some books on impressionism from the library because I knew I wanted to write about it but I had trouble deciding what to focus on.

[Meloncov]

Try reading up on the debate as to whether the impressionists were truly developed a new technique, or merely chose to to exhibit the studies that artists had been doing (but not displaying) for decades. You could find a good thesis arguing one side or the other.