2. Writing style

2.1 Educational Writing

Educational texts are aimed at providing information and education. They are therefore written in a clear and engaging tone for a specific target audience. The information provided is neutrally worded without value judgements. The text will not go beyond presenting facts or the prevailing thought without questioning. Often, Art Historical educational texts are aimed at stylistic developments or techniques of manufacturing. Texts are accompanied by functional examples. Long sentences are avoided.

2.1 EDUCATIONAL WRITING

2.2 Art-critical Writing

Art critiques are comprehensive reflections on the arts. In a narrow sense art criticism is known as reviews, but originally it is a much wider genre in which the writer acts as art spectator; as the describer of the viewing experiences.

The author 'opens up' the artwork by taking the reader by the hand and describing the work for them.

An art criticism, however, goes further than just a description of the visual elements. This description results in a value judgement about the work. This makes art criticism a combination of the evocation of empathy, a great skill in viewing and writing, and judgement about good taste. This sometimes results in an authoritarian tone, as well as adjectives such as 'beautiful', 'good' or 'bad'

The author is therefore clearly present in subjective, associative descriptions.

Art criticisms generally have a larger target audience than an academic text. They are published in newspapers or magazines that are not only read by academic peers. The art criticism therefore avoids academic jargon, and prefers a more subjective writing style.

The art criticism can therefore be seen as an applied science: it uses existing knowledge and notions rather than developing them.

2.2 ART-CRITICAL WRITING

2.3 Academic Writing

2.3 ACADEMIC WRITING

An academic piece is focused on the development of new knowledge and is characterised by a specific structure and tone.

That means, first of all, that the entire piece is written from a question-driven perspective. It does not have an informative tone and no judging language by an Art Critic, but rather it is driven by the desire to answer the central (sub)question. The question-answer model is prevalent, in which the author questions whether something is true and if so, to what extent and why, etc.

The author relates himself to other authors. Contrary to art criticism, where the author is "alone", the scientist is never alone. He compares himself to other scientists. The scientist positions himself in the debate by means of comparisons. This should not only be apparent in the notes, but embedded in the text.

In this model, the writer does not hide behind other authors, but actively engages with the consulted authors and sources, so they can be implemented into their own argument. The author will therefore always have the last word and not end with a quote or with someone else's viewpoint. Doing research means applying and using, comparing, and translating research material, as well as bridging gaps and searching for new angles to obtain new insights, instead of outlining and summarizing.

The argument is based on an academic foundation. General survey works of art history or art historical literature that is written for a broad audience, will not be used to base arguments on.

The argument has a clear reasoning, in which all sentences are connected with one another by using signal and linking words.

Formulations are as precise, compact and efficient as possible and lead to a balanced judgement that outlines to what extent something is and to what extent something is not the case. Words that indicate that a considered argument is being formulated are: "because", "on the one hand", "on the other hand", "approach".

Scientific texts are in-depth investigations, in which the reasoning goes deeper into the subject as the text progresses.

Often, a certain degree of knowledge is required to be able to read an academic text. Some terms are not explained, but rather considered as known. On the contrary, in an educational text all terms will be explained.

Tips

For linguistic tips, first read Year 1, Author guidelines and Tips for English.

Additional tips:

Avoid colloquial language.

To avoid this, try to formulate as impersonal and specifically as possible. For example: 'In the reviews of the French newspapers of the world exhibitions in Paris in the second half of the nineteenth century...' instead of 'The French thought that the world exhibitions in the nineteenth century...'.The same applies to: 'The consulted Art Critics mainly praise the unusual use of colours in this painting' as the better version of: 'Most people find the use of colour in this painting very unusual'. An academic text is therefore ideally a stand-alone text, the reader does not need any external information to understand what the author wants to achieve with the text.

Avoid generalizations such as ' contemporary', 'all', etc.

In an academic text, all information must be as specific as possible.

Avoid unnecessarily difficult words.

Many difficult words do not make a text more scientific. Good use of terminology does.

Offer the reader only information that will contribute to answering the main question.

Too many side tracks result in noise that distracts from the main points. For example, in the paper only provide biographical information when this is necessary for answering a question. Do not just start the chapter with a biography of the artist. If necessary, you can add a biography to the appendix.

Use as few quotations as possible.

Rather paraphrase the text you read. If you have a good reason for using a direct quote (for instance because of the specific language use), clearly mark the quote with quotation marks. In a footnote, you state what source you pulled the quote from. Always introduce a quote and subsequently comment on it. This implements the quote into your own argumentation.

Make sure that a paragraph forms a thematic unit.

Do not write short paragraphs of just a few sentences, or paragraphs spanning an entire page. Three to four paragraphs per page is customary. Ensure a good connection between paragraphs by using signal and linking words:

Time/order: before, after, first, then, when, earlier, later, then, subsequently, prior, when, while, once, meanwhile
Enumeration: and, also, first(ly), second(ly), moreover, then, finally, likewise, both .... and, in doing so, further, furthermore, another, in addition, additionally
Contrast: but, however, though, rather, conversely, nonetheless, on the one hand, on the other hand, on the contrary, instead of, as opposed to, nevertheless
Comparison: like, just like, the same as, so, as well as, compared to, similar, compared to
Cause/effect: by, because, so that, whereby, thereby, due to, so, thus, therefore, hence, consequently, subsequently, as a result of, through
Aim/means: to, through, therewith, thereby, using, with which, by means of, in order to, with the aim, thereto, therefor
Example/explanation: for example, an example (here)of, so, as, for example, shown by, illustrated by, that occurs in, among other things, to clarify
Reason/statement/argument: because, therefore, because of, after all, namely, for this reason, since, inasmuch as
Condition: if, when, providing that, unless, in the case of, provided that
Summary/conclusion: in short, summarized, it follows, so, all in all, hence, in conclusion, from this we can deduce, concluding, summarizing
Degree of importance: quite, very, particular, most.

Make sure that the academic text has a beginning and an end.

The structure of the story is essential the entire story depends on it. The reader can more easily follow the argumentation when the structure is clear. The author must ensure this clarity by explicitly outlining the structure at the beginning of the argumentation. It is advisable to refer back to the structure and indicate how far you have progressed throughout the text. To do this, use transitional phrases like: "after discussing ..., I will now discuss ...".