Course Components and Requirements:

Grade Scheme (percentages are provisional, June 1998): midterm, ca. 20%, end-of-term exam ca.
30%, paper ca. 30%, exercise portfolio ca. 20%.
Tests: two exams, one for each half of the semester. Format: slide discussion and essays.  The official
final examination date is 22 December.
Paper: one research essay, 10 page minimum, 15 page maximum, topic to be arranged in consultation
after the midpoint of the course, due at the end of the term.  If you would like to coordinate this with a
research project in another course (e.g., art history, history, political science, philosophy, literature,
communications, anthropology, mythology and religious studies), contact Prof. Kuttner for an advising
session (jointly with your section leader) to set up permission and structure.
Exercises: brief response exercises 1-4 pp. Every one to two weeks.  In preparation for writing the
exams and final paper, these exercises will guide you in how to observe and describe, and how to
assess evidence in your own and other art historians' analyses.  Each short paper will analyze either a
primary art source (a thing of art text) or a secondary source (an article or a book excerpt); texts used
make up part of the week's reading.  The exercises will receive editing and sample marks from your
section leaders; they will be handed in at the end of the term as a collected portfolio, for a unitary
component of the course grade, in order to be able to credit your learning curve.
   The research paper: Ca. 6 weeks before the end of term, you will be given  clear format
instructions  and guidelines for topics and analysis by the professor and  your TA.
Readings: will total ca. 20-40 pp. a week. The major readings will be posted with the final syllabus at
the beginning of the course, supplementary excerpts on 2-4 weeks notice.
Sections: Lecture is 2 hours a week; the third (mandatory) hour is a small-group discussion seminar
with a  TA section leader,  to complement the concepts and information in  the lectures and readings.
Looking at images: The images shown in lecture and section  can be reviewed in several sources: in
the course textbook,  on the web, and in books on reserve in Furness (the Fisher Fine Arts Library).
Professor Kuttner will note in lecture when  you are not required to memorize supplementary
monuments.
Looking at real things: At least a third of the sections and writing tasks will take you to the art and
architecture of our museums,  our campus and our city.
 

The Doom Section:

**Sports, performance and studio:  I recognize that many students may have unalterable
obligations, imposed by official athletic , drama and music calendars,   and by the studio  portfolio and
crit hours  for major presentations  in fine arts and architecture.  The professor and the TA will help
you work around those schedules  IF you  present  your TA with those calendars at the very beginning
of term, checking them against this course's syllabus.  We will collect  your names so that you know
who has a shared problem, and can organize yourselves to swap course notes for missed lectures and
sections.
 
Attendance: You are required to attend  discussion sections, where attendance will be taken, and to
accompany scheduled art trips.  Absence is excusable only with a signed note from your doctor or the
dean's office presented to your TA. More than 3 unexcused absences will lower your grade by a full
point or more at your TA's discretion.  Your TA will announce  schedules for trips and occasional
changed meeting places, and you are responsible for  keeping track even if absent at the session
where schedule changes are announced.
  Lectures:  the course is too large to take attendance. However, the meat of this course is in the
lectures, not the books. You are responsible  in your exams and assignments for the information and
methods presented in lecture as in section, which often supplements and sometimes changes  what is
presented  in your books. Since  Professor Kuttner  does not speak from a prepared text, obtain notes
from your fellow students for sessions that you miss.
Late or missing work and exam make-ups: All exercises and papers must be handed in to your TA
in section.  You MUST ask for extensions  BEFORE the due date, and notify your TA promptly ,
within three days of its due date, about  rescheduling late work.  Extensions will not normally be
granted for take-homes; for the research paper, you must tell your TA about conflicts with other
course's assignments well in advance.  Make a calendar  table  with paper  and exam dates for all your
courses. If you see more than 2 papers  due in the same two-day span,  ask to give one or
both supervisors a preliminary draft  to leave yourself space to finish the polished papers.  Valid
extension requests depend on a verifiable medical excuse or  extreme catastrophe.   Incompletes
(permission to turn in work after the end of the course) will not normally be granted.
    Exams:  To be allowed to take a make-up with no grade penalty, you MUST inform your TA
before the exam is given that you will not be able to attend, in person or by email , and contact your
TA for a make-up date immediately.   Make-ups will be granted only for a verifiable medical
excuse or a personal emergency guaranteed by the dean's office. Conflicts with other courses and
personal travel  needs are not valid excuses; make your end of semester travel plans far enough in
advance  to get the ticket times you require.  If you skip your scheduled make-up, you  may not request
another one  and will receive an F for that course component.

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