This assignment will be a project that will require listening, research, and critical thinking. It will be the application of your listening skills and musical knowledge combined with composer information and historical perspective.
The Paper
The paper must be in the form of a Word or rich text file document and it must meet the following specifications:
- Five-to-seven complete, full, type-written pages in length (excluding the works-cited page)
- 1-inch top, bottom, left, and right margins
- 12-point Times New Roman font
- Double-spaced
- Left-aligned paragraphs; paragraphs are to be indented
Moreover, do not insert any extra blank lines between paragraphs or any superfluous blank lines anywhere in your document in order to “pad” your paper to give the illusion that it is of the required length; such extra lines will be removed before the pages are counted.
The paper is not to include a title sheet but it does require the following four headings at the top of the first page:
- Your Name
- Class Name and section number
- Date
- Title of the paper
Note that there are to be no more than the four headings listed above and there should be no extra blank lines between the last heading (the heading with the title) and the first line of the first paragraph of the paper. Moreover, note that the distance from the top edge of the first page to the first line of your first paragraph should be 2.5 inches. That will be the case if your paper is formatted to all the above specifications,
The paper also requires a works-cited page (this page does not count towards the page total). The works cited is the list of sources you consulted in researching the topic of your paper. A good rule of thumb is cite at least one source for each page. For example, if your paper is six pages in length, then you should have consulted at least six sources in your research, and the six sources must be listed on the works-cited page.
Most of your sources should be from books and articles in scholarly journals and periodicals. In the case of books, most of your sources will probably be in hard-copy, printed format. In the case of scholarly articles, your sources could be in hard-copy, printed format, or they could be in an online, soft-copy format. Note, however, that Wikipedia is not a quality source of information, therefore it is excluded as a research source. The Kamien text book can be used as a research source but only as a secondary source. It should not be counted in the “one-source-per-page” rule. If you use it, then do so sparingly, and cite it no more than twice. Also, due to variance in quality of web sites, do not use all online material for your sources. You should use a mix of hard-copy and online sources.
Your paper, including the works-cited page, is to follow the MLA style guidelines. A link to Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) for MLA format can be found in the Modules folder.
Papers that do not conform to any of the above specifications will not be accepted.
Due Date:
The due date for this assignment is listed on the course calendar. As always, late work is not acceptable.
Grading:
As stated on the syllabus, this assignment is worth 120 points. This includes five points for informing me of your research topic decision; the paper itself is worth 115 points.
Papers that receive the grade of A will have the following characteristics:
- are on time
- adhere to MLA formatting guidelines
- have no punctuation and spelling errors
- have good sentence structure, and the text is grammatically correct
- present clear understanding of the subject and well-organized ideas
- discuss the musical elements of the music under consideration