The Monograph
A monograph is a specialist written work (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on one subject or one aspect of a usually scholarly subject, often by a single author or artist. You will be tasked with creating a comprehensive, researched monograph on a creator of your choice. You will compile an article or a series of articles that clearly describe, summarize, and distinguish the contributions of the creator. All sources for content must be identified and stated plainly in footnotes/endnotes in the text. Many students include acknowledgments of help of a personal nature in this section, which is entirely at their discretion, as distinct from the obligatory acknowledgments mentioned above.
A monograph is a specialist written work (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on one subject or one aspect of a usually scholarly subject, often by a single author or artist. You will be tasked with creating a comprehensive, researched monograph on a creator of your choice. You will compile an article or a series of articles that clearly describe, summarize, and distinguish the contributions of the creator. All sources for content must be identified and stated plainly in footnotes/endnotes in the text. Many students include acknowledgments of help of a personal nature in this section, which is entirely at their discretion, as distinct from the obligatory acknowledgments mentioned above.
This exercise will challenge your skills as a designer as, author, researcher, and designer. You will find and source all imagery and content for your monograph, and you may choose to partner with a colleague inside or outside this course to complete it. An established grid structure, character/paragraph styles, and creation in InDesign are required.
Learning Objectives
Deliverables
You will be using InDesign for this project. You may choose to bind independently or send to a printer of your choice. Each publication will be displayed at an end-of-semester showcase with guest critics.
Page Size: determined by you
Page Count: determined by you
Margins: determined by you
Column: determined by you
Horizontal lines: determined by you
Each monograph should consist of 5000-100,000 words. Again, any resources you pull must be cited. You may choose what format of citation you wish to follow.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze a comprehensive body of work
- Follow typical book anatomy
- Learn to interpret information through a research lens
- Practice skills in creating a comprehensive visual language with perspective
- Explore hierarchy utilizing a combination of text and image
- Interpret publication grids, styles, and layout
- InDesign mastery
Deliverables
- Two printed publications
- Documentation
- Post of Final work (can be 1:1 or 16:9)
- Colors + Typfaces are up to youImagery/illustrations are required
- You must pull (3) books from a library as sources.
- If you choose to use Chat GPT or any other AI generators you must list the prompts and credits in the appendix.
You will be using InDesign for this project. You may choose to bind independently or send to a printer of your choice. Each publication will be displayed at an end-of-semester showcase with guest critics.
Page Size: determined by you
Page Count: determined by you
Margins: determined by you
Column: determined by you
Horizontal lines: determined by you
Key components to writing your monograph
- Title Page
- Include on the title page:
- Title of the monograph
- Author’s name
- Current year
- University of Kansas
- A monograph created as a student in Sam Meier's VISC 414 Editorial and Publication Course
- Table of Contents
- The Table of Contents should be detailed and include:
- Abstract
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter titles but various levels of headings within chapters and sections
- The Table of Contents should be detailed and include:
- List of Figures/work
- Provide a separate list of figures/work
- List and explain all acronyms or symbols used frequently in your text.
- Abstract 500–1000 words
- A thesis is preceded by an abstract or summary, which may include the following:
- A statement of the problem or a thesis statement
- A summary of the methodology: a description of the approach taken in the thesis, the research, and the methods of investigation
- Main points made in the thesis a summary of the main findings, and general conclusions.
- A thesis is preceded by an abstract or summary, which may include the following:
- Acknowledgments or Preface 500–1000 words
- The two terms “acknowledgments” and “preface” are used interchangeably.
- In the acknowledgments section or incorporated into a preface or foreword, you may want to mention who helped you intellectually.
- A preface or a similar statement of the contributions of co-contributors must be included in a thesis where ethics approval was required, where any material used in the thesis was the result of a collaboration with co-authors, and/or where the thesis includes any material previously published.
- Introduction 1000–2000 words
- Introductions can take many forms, but the introduction generally presents the hypothesis or thesis statement and a brief overview of the thesis.
- Body of the Thesis, minimum ten items with a 25-word minimum description per item
- The central part of the thesis usually consists of chapters and sections within these chapters.
- Conclusion 500–1000 words
- The conclusion sums up the content and findings of the thesis and ideally goes a step further, suggesting areas for further research and investigation.
- The conclusion sums up the content and findings of the thesis and ideally goes a step further, suggesting areas for further research and investigation.
- Appendices Optional
- Materials considered useful but not central to the argument of the thesis are best placed in appendices. In addition, the actual documents confirming ethical approvals are often placed here rather than in the body of the thesis.
- Materials considered useful but not central to the argument of the thesis are best placed in appendices. In addition, the actual documents confirming ethical approvals are often placed here rather than in the body of the thesis.
- Footnotes/Endnotes
- These must be prepared using your academic unit's and your discipline's appropriate scholarly conventions. Find the proper conventions for your discipline and follow them right from the first draft.
- These must be prepared using your academic unit's and your discipline's appropriate scholarly conventions. Find the proper conventions for your discipline and follow them right from the first draft.
- Bibliography
- Bibliographic entries must also be prepared using your academic unit's and discipline's appropriate scholarly conventions.
- Bibliographic entries must also be prepared using your academic unit's and discipline's appropriate scholarly conventions.
- Colophon
- A statement at the end of a book, typically with a printer's emblem, giving information about its authorship and printing.
- You can list the typefaces, paper type, binding method, and anything about the specs of the design.