Speed Research Project

This lesson will teach you how to collect information, create a thesis, make an argument, and formulate a proper introduction and conculsion.

First you must choose an artist. This can be an artist you admire, or not. Doesn’t matter. 5 minutes.

I have chosen Lucien Freud as an example

After you have chosen your artist I want you to begin researching and making bullet points of the main topics that the artist is associated with. 10 minutes

British
Figurative
Contemporary
Wealthy
Most Expensive painting ever sold
Relationship of artist and model
Psychology
Son of Sigmund Freud
etc……

Once you have a created a short list of the main ideas associated with your artist you will then need to do some reasearch and gather some information to use in your article.

Research and Collecting Information

All of your text which has been copied from somewhere else must be highlighted a different color.

Stated Lucian, “I work from people that interest me and that I care about, in rooms that I know.”

In pictures larger than life, Lucian Freud shows us how curiously alike we all are: naked and invulnerable, naked and frail, naked in all our permutations from the plain to the pretty, trying, oh so desperately, to feel comfortable in our skins. Is that different from what Sigmund Freud was illuminating for us?

source http://www.thecelltheatre.org/a-tale-of-two-freuds/

Sigmund Freud Background info

He experimented with hypnotism with his most hysteric and neurotic patients, but he eventually gave up the practice. He found that he could get his patients to talk by putting them on a couch and encouraging them to say whatever came into their minds (a practice termed free association).

source http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Sigmund_Freud

Surrealism

Freud’s early paintings are often associated with surrealism and depict people, plants and animals in unusual juxtapositions. These works are usually painted with relatively thin paint.

source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_Freud

Early Work

Add videos! Anything relating to your research!

quote your videos as a reference!
Interviewer: What do you feel about the early works?
Freud: I don’t think much of them besides there they are.
3:30 seconds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D_euSA7ryg (Lucian Freud talking to Jake Auerbach in 1988.)

Definition of Surrealism: Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism

Definition of Figurative Painting: Figurative Painting, though relatively simple as an isolated concept, has taken on a multitude of different forms throughout the history of art and has been interpreted in countless different ways by the artists who have created it. At its core, the term refers to real figure-based representation but, as the body of work in this manner is evidence, the premise of a figure is often the only element that certain figurative paintings have in common with each other.

source http://www.artspan.com/figurative

It opens with a surrealist joke, “The Painter’s Room” of 1944, when 22-year-old Freud, unable to find a model, depicted a large red and yellow stuffed zebra’s head jutting into a studio already distinguished by its battered sofa and tangled rubber plant. It closes with the funny, ironic and psychologically claustrophobic “The Painter Surprised by a Naked Admirer” (2004-2005), where the ageing artist pauses from his work to glance down at the young, naked woman embracing his leg. Resting on the chair are suggestively phallic brushes; on the easel a half-finished canvas offers a mirror image of the scene, as if all were repeated to infinity within the painting.

source http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7f5c9956-384d-11df-8420-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1DNOEBW8i
Benefits Surpervisor Sleeping

Benefits Supervisor Sleeping

1995 painting by Lucian Freud depicting a morbidly obese, naked woman. It is a portrait of Sue Tilley, weighted 127 kg^[1], a Job Centre boss, who was affectionately called ‘Fat Sue’ by ITV1 newsreader Katie Derham, which caused a lot of press attention.

source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefits_Supervisor_Sleeping

According to Pilar Ordovás, head of postwar and contemporary art at Christie’s, Freud’s high prices are due to the sheer uncompromising quality of the work, which sees the painstaking, detailed techniques of the Old Masters applied with a thoroughly modernist sensibility.

Add Videos! and Images!

“His appeal is completely global and completely timeless,” she says of the 85-year-old painter. “He appeals to both contemporary art lovers and collectors of Old Masters. He has clearly made a huge contribution to the history of art of the 20th century, and his output is quite small, perhaps producing just five paintings a year.”

source http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/apr/12/art

Start asking questions you’d like to investigate

Why would freud paint a woman who hands out welfare money?

How does Psychology relate to surrealism?

Is Freud living in his fathers footsteps?

Why is Freuds appeal so huge?

What is the importance of figurative art in the 21st century?

What is the importance of the medium of paint in the digital age?

So What is a thesis?

A thesis statement declares what you believe and what you intend to prove. A good thesis statement makes the difference between a thoughtful research project and a simple retelling of facts.

Your thesis needs to be a clear question you plan on answering. Your opinions must be supported by other experts.

An example of a thesis for Lucian Freud could be .

How are Lucian Freud’s paintings influenced by the ideas his father pioneered in Psychology.

Now that you’ve got your thesis you need to choose what you believe. I believe that Lucian Freud’s paintings are influenced by psychology. and this is why…….

Writing a successful introduction

The introduction to a paper is a very important section, in that it sets the expectations of the reader. While there is no one formula for a good introduction, in general, an introduction to a formal paper of this type should accomplish the following:

* An introduction should attract the reader’s attention. Magazine and newspaper articles often accomplish this with brief but interesting anecdotes, questions that pique the reader’s curiosity, something of personal relevance to the reader, or other apt quotations, provocative questions, or statements. While you shouldn’t feel that you have to sensationalize, neither should you assume that the reader is interested in what you have to say by default. Very often just raising the interesting issue that your thesis explores is enough to pull your reader in.

* An introduction should tell the reader explicitly what the thesis (the point of the paper) is. After having read the introduction, the reader should have no doubt about what the central point of your paper is.

* An introduction should establish the significance of your point to the reader. You should convince your audience that it should care about what you have to say, though attention to relevance and significance is part of constructing a successful thesis.

* An introduction can give a preview of how you are going to demonstrate your thesis. Writers often summarize in a brief list of three or so points how you are going to back up your thesis, so as to prepare the reader and improve the reader’s recognition and retention of those points.

Here are some things to watch out for in your introduction:

* An introduction is not the place to introduce background or factual information. A common impulse is to start a paper with the story of when a person was born, or with some historical background. However, unless some brief information is necessary to understand the terms within or significance of the thesis, save the background for your next paragraph.

* An introduction should not be too long. An introduction should be a single paragraph, at least for the length of papers for this class. A page-long intro is usually too long — half a page or less is good. If your opening anecdote is a long one, you don’t have to finish it in the introduction — just introduce enough of it to get the reader’s attention and establish the significance of your thesis. You can finish it in the body of the paper. (In fact, such a “teaser” is a common device of newspaper feature writers.)

* Don’t start your introduction with a dictionary definition. We’re not interested in how Webster’s defines “Postmodernism.” We are interested in YOUR take on it.

* Don’t start out with a grand generalization. The cliche of the “pyramid form” introduction often leads to uninteresting sentences that begin with “Since the beginning of time…” or “Throughout history…”. Showing the significance of your thesis does not mean that you have to demonstrate its importance in the history of art or tie it to some universal observation.
source http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/intros.html

* Announce your intentions.

In this paper I will . . .
The purpose of this essay is to . . .

Professional writers who write for magazines and receive pay for their work use five basic patterns to grab a reader’s interest:

1. historical review
2. anecdotal
3. surprising statement
4. famous person
5. declarative

Historical review: Some topics are better understood if a brief historical review of the topic is presented to lead into the discussion of the moment. Such topics might include “a biographical sketch of a war hero,” “an upcoming execution of a convicted criminal,” or “drugs and the younger generation.” Obviously there are many, many more topics that could be introduced by reviewing the history of the topic before the writer gets down to the nitty gritty of his paper. It is important that the historical review be brief so that it does not take over the paper.

from “Integration Turns 40″ by Juan Williams in Modern Maturity, April/May, 1994.

The victory brought pure elation and joy. It was May 1954, just days after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. At NAACP headquarters in New York the mood was euphoric. Telegrams of congratulations poured in from around the world; reporters and well-wishers crowded the halls.

[After reaching back forty years ago to bring up the landmark Supreme Court decision that started school desegregation, this article discusses school segregation in the present time.]

2 Anecdotal: An anecdote is a little story. Everyone loves to listen to stories. Begin a paper by relating a small story that leads into the topic of your paper. Your story should be a small episode, not a full blown story with characters and plot and setting. Read some of the anecdotes in the Reader’s Digest special sections such as “Life in These United States” to learn how to tell small but potent stories. If you do it right, your story will capture the reader’s interest so that he or she will continue to read your paper. One caution: be sure that your story does not take over the paper. Remember, it is an introduction, not the paper.

from “Going, Going, GONE to the Auction!” by Laurie Goering in Chicago Tribune Magazine, July 4, 1994.

Mike Cantlon remembers coming across his first auction ten years ago while cruising the back roads of Wisconsin. He parked his car and wandered into the crowd, toward the auctioneer’s singsong chant and wafting smell of barbecued sandwiches. Hours later, Cantlon emerged lugging a $22 beam drill-for constructing post-and-beam barns—and a passion for auctions that has clung like a cocklebur on an old saddle blanket. “It’s an addiction,” says Cantlon, a financial planner and one of the growing number of auction fanatics for whom Saturdays will never be the same.

[This is an anecdote, a little story about one man and his first auction, that is the lead to an article about auctions. In this article the author explains what auctions are, how to spot bargains in auctions, what to protect yourself from at auctions, and other facts about auctions and the people who go to them.]

3 Surprising statement: A surprising statement is a favorite introductory technique of professional writers. There are many ways a statement can surprise a reader. Sometimes the statement is surprising because it is disgusting. Sometimes it is joyful. Sometimes it is shocking. Sometimes it is surprising because of who said it. Sometimes it is surprising because it includes profanity. Professional writers have honed this technique to a fine edge. It is not used as much as the first two patterns, but it is used.

from “60 Seconds That Could Save Your Child” by Cathy Perlmutter with Maureen Sangiorgio in Prevention, September, 1993.

Have a minute? Good. Because that may be all it takes to save the life of a child—your child. Accidents kill nearly 8000 children under age 15 each year. And for every fatality, 42 more children are admitted to hospitals for treatment. Yet such deaths and injuries can be avoided through these easy steps parents can take right now. You don’t have a minute to lose.

[This article begins with a surprising, even shocking, statistic, 8000 children die each year from accidents. The article then lists seven easy actions a person can take to help guard a child against accidents. These range from turning down the water heater to 120 degrees Fahrenheit to putting firearms under lock and key.]

4 Famous person: People like to know what celebrities say and do. Dropping the name of a famous person at the beginning of a paper usually gets the reader’s attention. It may be something that person said or something he or she did that can be presented as an interest grabber. You may just mention the famous person’s name to get the reader’s interest. The famous person may be dead or alive. The famous person may be a good person like the Pope, or he or she may be a bad person like John Wilkes Booth. Of course, bringing up this person’s name must be relevant to the topic. Even though the statement or action may not be readily relevant, a clever writer can convince the reader that it is relevant.

from “Dear Taxpayer” by Will Manley in Booklist, May 1, 1993.

The most widely read writer in America today is not Stephen King, Michael Chrichton or John Grisham. It’s Margaret Milner Richardson, the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, whose name appears on the “1040 Forms and Instructions” booklet. I doubt that Margaret wrote the entire 1040 pamphlet, but the annual introductory letter, “A Note from the Commissioner,” bears her signature.

[This is the first paragraph of an article about the lady named above. The author used the names of three famous, modern American writers to get a reader's interest. Notice that the first name on his list is a name that is probably more widely known than the other two. Stephen King has been around for some time now, and everyone, from teenagers to grandparents, know his name whether they have read his books or not.]

5 Declarative: This technique is quite commonly used, but it must be carefully used or the writer defeats his whole purpose of using one of these patterns, to get the reader’s interest. In this pattern, the writer simply states straight out what the topic of his paper is going to be about. It is the technique that most student writers use with only modest success most of the time, but good professional writers use it too.

from “The Tuition Tap” by Tim Lindemuth in K-Stater, February, 1994.

In the College of Veterinary Medicine and Engineering, for example, nearly one-third of the teaching faculty may retire by the year 2004. In the College of Education, more than a third of the professors are 55 years old and older. The largest turnover for a single department is projected to be in geology. More than half of its faculty this year are in the age group that will retire at the millennium, says Ron Downey of K-State’s Office of Institutional Research and Analysis. The graying of K-State’s faculty is not unique. A Regents’ report shows approximately 27 percent of the faculty at the six state universities will retire by the end of this decade, creating a shortage of senior faculty.
source http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/intros.htm

Sample Intro including Thesis

A sample introduction including a thesis statement. (What is the relation between Lucian Freud’s paintings, and his grandfather’s ideas about psychology)

Sigmund Freud was a man who changed the world through his theories about psychology. As the idea of the ego became part of our pop culture and more and more people began looking inward, the grandson of Sigmund Freud, Lucian outwardly showed his unique view of the world in paint on canvas. In this article I will be looking at the relationship between Lucian Freud’s paintings and his grandfathers revolutionary ideas about the science of the mind.