genre of music

Your third essay will be about a genre of music that interests you.  Music, like other art forms, often conveys the values and ideals of its creators, so your task will be to explore the ways that your genre (country, punk rock, hip hop, etc.) reflects those cultural characteristics.  In essence, you will be reading a collection music very closely.  If writing about a genre is too broad, you may focus on a particular artist.

A second option is to look at a genre of film, television, photography, etc. through a cultural lens.  If you are having trouble with the cultural reading, or are interested in approaching your topic in another way, please see me for ideas.

In addition to writing a paper, you will also put together a brief (5-10 minute) presentation, which you will share with the class.  You may use any of the resources in the classroom.  Feel free to develop a handout, create a Power Point or Prezi, develop a Wiki, or write a song to help you teach.  You will also be expected to demonstrate the strategy on the document camera.  Teaching something is the best way to learn it, so this project will be valuable.


1.      Listen to as much music (or watch as many shows, movies, etc.) within your genre as possible, and take notes on how it reflects culture.  Be very specific, and include lyrics, references to specific songs and artists, etc.

2.       Find at least three readings that deal with your topic.  Work from specific to general.  Read and annotate those texts, using KWL+ or any other strategy if necessary.

3.      Prewrite extensively on your topic.  I will show you some techniques and graphic organizers that you can use for this stage.

4.      Read through your prewriting and the three texts, and mine them for interesting ideas.  Watch for ideas that are related, and for specific ideas that support broader ones.  You can mark up your prewriting or rewrite the interesting ideas on a clean sheet of paper.

5.      Mine your good ideas for a potential thesis statement.  If no thesis exists, reread your material and craft a thesis statement that captures as many of your good ideas as possible.

6.      Outline your essay on the form provided.  You will have to invent some new ideas to complete the outline, so return to the prewriting stage if you need and free write, list, or cluster until you have each paragraph fully fleshed-out.

7.      Write a rough draft.  You may handwrite this or type it.  Focus on organization and completeness, and do not yet worry about how things are worded or whether or not the grammar is correct.  That comes later.

8.      Write another draft, but do not delete the rough draft, as I will collect both.  In this draft, you can begin to tinker with how you word things, whether or not words are spelled correctly, etc.  Format it according to MLA specifications, which can be found online at Purdue OWL and numerous other sites.  Cite any facts that you use from your readings.

9.      Submit the paper.  Please enclose your prewriting, the annotated readings, the outline, rough draft and second draft in a paper notebook.  The second draft should be stapled and should not include any handwriting or irregularities.