Essay Tips Part 1: How to Choose a Research Topic

Presenting my senior thesis at the
 Memorial Art Gallery.

Believe it or not, school will be starting up again soon, and even though I’m gone and graduated, I still feel the buzz of a new school year. For an art history student, a new semester means (at least) one thing – a new research paper. I will admit that I was (am) a huge nerd and loved researching and writing papers. Just think about it – why else would I start a blog - aka assign myself a weekly essay? So, to help you prep for the start of school, I am going to write a three-part blog on writing research papers. 

And here we go:

Part 1: How to Choose a Research Topic

It is always best to go to a museum to select your research topic. You should already know that I believe that there is a huge difference between seeing an artwork in person and on a computer screen. Searching through a museum will help you find an artwork that stands out to you, which always makes for a more interesting paper. The geographical and chronological divisions of most museums will help you find related artworks to compare and contrast to your subject simply by scanning the room. Investigating an artwork in person will also help you give a more detailed/accurate description of the artwork’s size, texture, aging, etc. But be careful, a research paper is not a mere visual description of a piece.

If you don’t live near a museum, or the selection at your museum is scarce, it is ok to search online collections to find a research topic. Better to find something that interests you than to be bored researching a topic you could care less about. If you’re bored doing the research, your audience (your professor) will be bored reading your paper. Most museum websites have easy collection navigation that let you filter your search by geography, era, object, culture, artist, and so on. Don’t pick the first artwork you find just because it fits your professor’s criteria. Choose a couple options and then determine which will make the best paper. Always consider your thesis – will you be able to connect this artwork to a bigger picture?

Indonesian Shadow Puppet

Here are some ways to pick an artwork:

1. By Aesthetics

In this case you are choosing an artwork because it looks pretty to you. This is a good way to gauge what initially catches your eye, but you cannot base an entire essay on looks. For my Asian Art paper I was drawn to the elongated arms of this Indonesian Shadow Puppet. As a mostly flat artwork, it stood out against the stone deities inhabiting the majority of the MAG’s Asian Art gallery. I lucked out because this shadow puppet had a detailed gallery label with plenty of leads to start my further research.

The Doctor's Visit

2. By Interest

I think that this is the best way to choose a research topic. Your artwork should stimulate you intellectually so that you are motivated to conduct your research and organize a well-written paper. If you read A Short Guide to Writing About Art, you will learn about the different methods of art history, such as iconography, social history, gender studies, etc. One of my favorite methods is iconography because the development of symbols will often play into the other methods. Dutch genre paintings are rich with iconography, so for my Baroque paper I chose The Doctor’s Visit from my local museum. Religious Renaissance paintings are also filled with iconography, which means a lot of information to write about. Remember your thesis – you need to reach that page requirement without blabbering on with filler!

3. By Popularity

Bernardo Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola

Most “famous” paintings will have a lot of scholarly work already written about them. You are sure to find many articles and essays on Leonardo’s Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. This is great if you are being asked to compare two or more schools of thought on an artwork because there will be several perspectives for you to write about. Popular artworks are also a good choice for your first paper while you are learning research skills. I wrote my first paper on Sofonisba Anguissola’s Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola because I could find a ton of information on both the painting and the artist, allowing for a well-rounded analysis.

On the other hand, you are unlikely to make any new connections and might just be regurgitating the same tired information your professor has read again and again. If you spent a long time on an artwork in lecture – you probably don’t want to write a paper about it. A research paper is the chance for you to become a mini-expert on an artwork so that you can teach your classmates something new and different from what you learned in class.

Separation of Sheep and Goats

4. By Mystery

This is similar to choosing an artwork because of interest, but in this case your goal is to answer a question. In my Medieval Art class I wrote about a Byzantine Mosaic called Separation of Sheep and Goats. The story is a well-known passage from the Bible and the center figure is recognizable as Jesus. I was most intrigued by the angels on either side of him. I wondered who they were and if there was any significance to their colors. If you click the image to go to the collection page you will notice that there is no object description, so I had to start my search from scratch. This can be an intimidating way to start a paper, but I was up for the challenge. Learn how to tackle this kind of paper with next week’s entry Part 2: How to Write a Research Paper When There is No Info on the Artwork.