Your paper must engage in the four major activities of critical analysis: describing, analyzing, interpreting and evaluating.Your essay needs to have an introduction, a thesis, body paragraphs (for each step of the critical analysis), and a conclusion.Your thesis should make an argument about the work of art you are analyzing and summarize your overall analysis.

This paper is a visual analysis, not a research paper. It should be made up of your own observations and theories about the image, not other people’s theories. The majority of your critique will come from your close observations and analysis of the artwork you have chosen, not others’ theories or writings. You are allowed to research external information about the artwork and artist (only as part of your Description and Analysis as stated in the Critical Analysis handout), but it is not required and should not become the focus of your paper. If you do include external information about the artwork, the paper should still be predominately your own words and ideas, and all external information needs to be cited and provided in a bibliography.

The Four Steps of Critical Analysis: (refer to the Formal Analysis handout, posted on Blackboard)

1. Description

2. Analysis

3. Interpretation

4. Judgment / Evaluation

Formatting Requirements:

12pt., Times New Roman. Double-spaced.3-4 pages of writing, 1 inch margins

You must include an image of the work of art you have selected, at the end of your paper. Use figure numbers to reference your images (example: (Fig. 1)).

A Note on Plagiarism:

All references to outside source material must be paraphrased (completely in your own words) or quoted, not COPIED, as well as properly cited.Any material copied without proper citation or quotation is considered plagiarism.