ENGL302: Humanities

Writing Resources in the Humanities by Discipline

Art | Performing Arts | History | Literature | Music

Writing about Art

Writing about Art and Art History
This guide from the University of Rochester provides commonly accepted conventions governing citations, usage, and editing.

A Practical Guide to Writing about Art
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, professor Susan Isaac’s guide for art and art history students on writing academic essays in the discipline.

Clement Greenberg’s Critiques
Clement Greenberg was one of the great art critics of the twentieth century. At this site, examine some of his critiques as well as some writing about Greenberg himself.

Art History Paper Writing Pages
These links from Skidmore College (NY) guide you through the process of writing papers on art and art history.

Writing the Art History Paper
This site from Dartmouth helps you create an argument about what you see in art. Types of papers plus some sample papers are found here.

Internet Art Resources
Maintained by Chris Witcombe at Sweet Briar College (WV), this links you to a compilation of Internet art resources. Maintained by Chris Witcombe at Sweet Briar College (WV).

In Other Words: A Lexicon of the Humanities
This Summer Institute of Linguistics's site helps you explore the terminology of the humanities. The link labeled "A Glossary of the Humanities" provides an alphabetical listing of humanities terms including art and critical approaches to art.

Writing about Performing Arts

Questions to Consider When Writing about Film
This site from Concordia University (MN) lists questions to consider when writing about film.

Writing about Theatre and Dance
Resources from University of Richmond (VA) for writing about theatre and dance.

Writing the Film Paper
This site from Dartmouth University provides a list of general characteristics common to papers written about film.

Writing about Film
This site from the University of Calgary ( Alberta , Canada ) is largely devised from material in the text.

Writing in the Dark: The Difference Between Journalism and Criticism
Ray Carney's essay takes an interesting look at writing about film.

Writing about History  

historyprofessor.org
Prof. Zachary Schrag's (GMU) guide to writing history papers.

Reading, Writing, and Researching for History
This guide from Bowdoin College (ME) provides comprehensive tips on history studies and writing.

Tips on Writing History Papers
This site from Boston College offers writing tips from the history paper.

Writing Guide for History
This site served by Boston University 's Department of History summarizes the conventions used in writing about history.

WWW Virtual Library History Central Catalogue
This link connects you to a comprehensive virtual catalog for history originally developed at the University of Kansas.

Writing about Literature

Writing About Literature: Some Helpful Things to Know
This site at Purdue University 's Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers constructive advice about genre-specific writing.

Writing a Literature Paper: Guidelines, Suggestions, Strategies
University of Michigan - Dearborn 's comprehensive site for writing about literature focuses on both content and structure.

Explication vs. Analysis
This page from Kansas State differentiates between explication and analysis.

Literary Criticism as a Tool for Interpreting Literature
This site, developed by Steven Hale in the Humanities Division at DeKalb College in Georgia , offers an overview of literary criticism and its place in studying and writing about literature.

How To Find Literary Criticism
These collected critical evaluations from St. Mary's University's Blume Library contain portions of critical discussions about authors and their literary works.

Feminist Literary Criticism and Theory
This site from the Center for Digital Discourse and Culture at Virginia Tech University includes information on different literary genres, specific historical periods, pedagogical issues, politics and literature, and literary theory.

A Glossary of Literary Criticism
From alazon to thematic, this glossary will help you define terms used in literary criticism.

Explorations in Non-Fiction: The History of the Essay
This transcript of a roundtable discussion on the history of the essay covers Montaigne, the "father of essays" to late-twentieth century essay writing.

Writing about Fiction
Purdue's OWL site offers three techniques for reading fiction actively and critically. A close should not be quick and superficial, but requires time and careful reflection. A close reading will eliminate a lot of the frustration and anxiety that comes when you begin to develop your thesis.

Writing about Drama
This site from Furman University suggests ways to write about drama that is read as well as drama that is seen in performance.

Reading Poetry and Writing about Poetry
The first step in writing about poetry is in understanding the poetry. This University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center page goes step-by-step through the process or reading a poem critically.

Writing about Music

Music Information Resources
This list of resources from the University of California at Santa Barbara can help you locate music information.

Writing the Music Paper
This site from Dartmouth College (NH) provides tips for writing a music paper.

Writing about Music
This site from the University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada) suggests ways of listening to music critically and writing about it.

Speaking of Music: Explorations in the Language of Music Criticism
Gregory Erickson's study of music criticism may be helpful in determining your approach to writing about it.