Guidelines for Projects in the Arts
Projects in the Arts
Students interested in submitting an exhibition, performance, or work of art, music, theatre, or imaginative literature as an honors project must follow the normal procedures for honors work and must be willing to engage in a discussion of their work. A brief essay – as preface, foreword, introduction, afterword, postscript, or critical review – must accompany any such creative work. The essay should clarify and illuminate the work in a manner appropriate to genre, form, or medium and may include the aims of the project, its formal and stylistic precedents, its techniques, and the limitations and potential of the project. In the arts, the project itself clearly remains the most important component to be evaluated by the examining committee.
Special Instructions for Projects in the Arts
The standard criteria are used in evaluating all Honors in Independent Study projects with the exception of the brief paper written for a project in the arts. While the paper for a project in the arts must be clearly organized and well written, contain appropriate documentation when needed, and display a high quality of thought and presentation, it is considered to be supplementary to the work itself. In the arts, the criteria for Honors should be used primarily to evaluate the project itself and the subsequent oral examination.
Supplementary Guidelines for Projects in the Arts
- Keep in mind that honors in independent study are university awards.
- A project in the arts may be undertaken in any discipline (e.g., biology, physics, history, etc.)
- Evaluation of the project will focus on the project rather than the paper. The paper, however, should be well-written and free of error, and its content should be accurate, meaningful, and appropriate to the project.
- The supplementary paper should be at least six to ten pages in length. (A longer paper may be submitted, of course, but again the focus will remain on the project.)
- A bibliography may or may not be necessary, depending on the content of the paper.
- If a project in the arts consists of a performance, some sort of audio-visual documentation (DVD, CD, photographs, etc.) must be included with the final project for archival purposes. A performance program should also be submitted.
- If the project is an art exhibition, an exhibition catalog must be submitted with the final project. Some sort of visual description (photographs, DVD, etc.) should also be included for archival purposes.
- If the project is web based, arrangements must be made to create an archive copy.
