For your final essay, you should choose one of the following options.
Compare and contrast the poems and/or poets within this week’s reading. You may compare poems by the same poet, or poems across more than one poet. Have a debatable,
persuasive claim and focus on specific points of comparison, using the Lesson in week 7 to guide your structure. Please consult the MLA handbook if you are in doubt
about citation form.
View the list of American Essayists. Select an essayist who wrote after the Civil War (note, the list includes some pre-Civil War essayists. Do not select a pre-Civil
War essayist). Search the internet for an essay by your selected author and read it. Compose a thesis that has a persuasive, debatable claim about the significance of
the message or theme in the essay or the success/effectiveness of the essay as a whole. Summarize the essay in your intro paragraph, end the paragraph with your
thesis, and be sure to include your three points of evidence in your thesis statement. Cite the essay as you would any article on the internet as you examine your
points of evidence.
Compare and contrast John Grisham’s piece to any essay, long-form article on a website like The Atlantic or other news sources, or film/documentary that explores a
contemporary social issue that matters to you. Have a debatable, persuasive claim and focus on specific points of comparison, using the Lesson in week 7 to guide your
structure.
Submission Instructions:
Your essays should be in MLA Style and approximately 1625-1950 words, not including the Work(s) Cited page. Meeting the minimum word requirement makes you eligible for
a C grade. Meeting the maximum word requirements makes you eligible for an A grade. As with most academic writing, this essay should be written in third person. Please
avoid both first person (I, we, our, etc.) and second person (you, your).
In the upper left-hand corner of the paper, place your name, the professor’s name, the course name, and the due date for the assignment on consecutive lines. Double
space your information from your name onward, and don’t forget a title. All papers should be in Times New Roman font with 12-point type with one-inch margins all the
way around your paper. All paragraph indentations should be indented five spaces (use the tab key) from the left margin. All work is to be left justified. When quoting
lines in literature, please research the proper way to cite short stories, plays, or poems.
Should you choose to use outside references for prompt one or two, these must be scholarly, peer-reviewed sources obtained via the APUS library (select Advanced Search
and check the Peer Reviewed box). Reliable open web sources may be used for prompt three. Be careful that you don’t create a “cut and paste” paper of information from
your various sources. Your ideas are to be new and freshly constructed. Also, take great care not to plagiarize.
Submission Instructions: Please be sure to submit your assignment to the assignment section of the course.
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Assignment 2 (Remember you can pick from two choices):
CHOICE 1-
Website Project: Let’s Explore the World through Music!
In this project, you will create an informative website featuring the traditional music of a specific non-Western culture that is not covered in Chapter 8 of the
course text. (Please note that the term “world music” in the context of this assignment refers to music that is not based in the Western tradition of music. See below
for more information about choosing a topic.) A link to your completed website will be posted to the WK8 “Let’s Explore the World through Music” Forum.
You will be building your website using www.wix.com, which is free and easy to use. WIX features user-friendly drag and drop technology, so you can easily change or
customize your website. All that is required is to set-up an account using your email address and password. Here is a beginner’s guide for creating Wix websites. There
is also a good video explanation of building a website with Wix. Wix also has an excellent Help Center to address any questions you have while creating your website.
Your website featuring a style of world music should include the following:
1. A summary of your chosen culture including a short history.
2. A brief explanation of some beliefs and traditions of the culture.
3. Description of the instruments used in that culture’s music.
4. Explanation of some of the key attributes of the culture’s music, such as melody, harmony, timbre, texture, rhythm and form.
5. Specific Introduction to one piece of music from the culture. Be sure to include at least one example of the music, such as through linking to YouTube
performances.
The above elements can either be included on one page of your website or separated into different pages.
Be sure to include your name on your website. Your website should include photos and video (either linked or embedded). Remember that embedded photos and videos need
to be cited.
Your choice of world music must be a style of traditional music that is non-Western or not from the Western tradition of music, therefore avoid choosing styles of
music from the U.S., Canada, or Europe, including Jazz or any type of pop music (including hip hop). For example, a pop or rock band from Europe or Japan would not be
appropriate for this assignment. Celtic or Irish music are also not appropriate styles of music because these are European styles of music. Also, because most students
are already familiar with Reggae music, please do not choose Reggae for your topic.
There are hundreds of styles of music from each continent that are not covered in the course materials. For example, Dagomban and Ewe music is covered in the Africa
section of our e-text. This music is from Ghana, but there are other tribes in Ghana, such as Ashanti and Akan people, who have a unique style of music. Another
example is Southeast Asia. Javanese and Balinese music is in the course reading, but there are many Southeast Asian countries and cultures that are not addressed in
the course materials. If you are not sure if your chosen topic is a style of non-Western music, then please contact your instructor, who will provide guidance on your
topic selection.
Sources must be valid, academic sources (i.e. Please do not use non-academic websites, such as Wikipedia or About.com). Your website should not contain more than 15%
direct quotes and direct quotes must be in quotation marks. Direct quotes and paraphrased material must be cited in the body of the text and in a reference section.
After your website is completed and published, post a link to your website in the WK8: Exploring the World through Music thread in Forums by Sunday of Week 7 at
11:55pm (Eastern time). It is not required to post your website link in Assignments, but I would appreciate it if you did. It saves me a step or two in the grading
process.
Your project will be evaluating according to this grading rubric. Here is a sample website that met all of the assignment requirements.
Please note: If you are a military member serving overseas and have limited internet access that would prevent you from completing this project, please contact your
instructor for an alternate assignment.
Here are some samples of Wix websites. Let your creative imaginations inspire you to create your websites!
If you have any questions or concerns about this project, please post in the “Questions” thread in our classroom. If you have a question of a personal nature, please
contact your instructor using Messages. I’m happy to help. I’m looking forward to exploring everyone’s websites!
CHOICE 2-
MUSI200 Let’s Explore the World though Music Website Project – ALTERNATE ASSIGNMENT
This assignment is to write a 4-5 page paper (not including title page and reference page) featuring the traditional music of a specific non-Western culture that is
not covered in Chapter 8 of the course text. (Please note that the term “world music” in the context of this assignment refers to music that is not based in the
Western tradition of music. See below for more information about choosing a topic.)
Your paper should include the following elements:
1. Discussion of chosen culture including a short history.
2. A brief explanation of some beliefs and traditions of your chosen culture.
3. Description of the instruments used in that culture’s music. (you may include photos)
4. Explanation of some of the key attributes of the culture’s music.
5. Specific Introduction to one piece of music from the culture. Be sure to include at least one example of the music, such as through linking to YouTube
performances.
Your choice of world music must be a style of traditional music that is Non-Western or not from the Western tradition of music, therefore avoid choosing styles of
music from the U.S., Canada, or Europe, including Jazz or any type of pop music (including hip hop). For example, a pop or rock band from Europe or Japan would not be
appropriate for this assignment. Also, because most students are already familiar with Reggae music, please do not choose Reggae for your topic. If you are not sure if
your chosen topic is a style of world music, then please contact your instructor, who will provide guidance on your topic selection.
Sources must be valid, academic sources (i.e. Please do not use non-academic websites, such as Wikipedia or About.com). Your paper should not contain more than 15%
direct quotes and direct quotes must be in quotation marks. Direct quotes and paraphrased material must be cited in the body of the text and in a reference page.
In addition to these elements, please be sure to fulfill the Requirements for Writing Assignments, Please note that MLA is the standard citation style in the
humanities. Here are some good sources of information for Evaluating Online Resources, Citing Sources, and Writing & Grammar Resources.
