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WMNST 106: Representing Women & Gender in Literature, Art, & Popular Cultures (Kavky)

Welcome to the library guide for WMNST 106 at Penn State Berks!

Starting the Research

a colorful picture of a woman waving, the genre is graffittiOverview:

"After you select your artist, you will conduct research and produce a short 5 to 10 minute class presentation and a short research paper, 3-4 pages complete with citations, a work cited list, and relevant images. Please do not present a biography of the artist. Artist biographies can be found easily on the internet. Your presentation should be a critical analysis of the artist’s work in relation to issues of gender and representation. You should use the readings and ideas discussed in class as a framework for your analysis. Here are some questions to help you get started:

Does the artist focus on representations of gender? How?

Is the artist male, female, transgender or non-binary? Does their sex or gender affect their art or not?                                                                          

Is the artist’s work political? How?

Is the artist’s work feminist? How?

Does the artist address cultural stereotypes? Sexism? Discrimination? How?

Does their work offer a social critique? A cultural affirmation?

What have historians and critics said about the work in regard to women’s issue or the representation of gender?

Is the art a call for change? Does it provoke anxiety? Controversy? Debate?

Does it address the past? The present? Or offer a vision of the future?

Does your artist work with traditional or new materials? Traditional or new formats or imagery?"

Sources

Please try to find at least one scholarly article and one book.

 

Acceptable Sources

  • Scholarly journal articles--these are a special type of article that are written by scholars (professors), published in journals, often have long lists of citations.  Check out this example--you might recognize the author!
  • Book--you can find books at Thun Library or order books from other campuses if Thun does not have what you need.
  • Artist Writings, Interviews, or Web Sites--you can use materials created by the artists themselves about their art
  • Critical reviews of exhibitions--these are well-thought-out, substantial reviews of exhibitions by your artists.  They are often found in art journals or credible newspapers like the New York Times.  Please be aware that the reviews are opinions.

 

Unacceptable Sources

  • Wikipedia
  • Web Sites that lack credibility
  • Most popular magazines and newspapers

  • Exhibition reviews that are not scholarly (some exhibition reviews only offer dates and times of the exhibit and very short summaries of the artwork--avoid these).

 

Quiz: Acceptable or Unacceptable?

 Image above by ShaggyArg from Pixabay