Lyrics Research Blog (100 points – 10% of course grade)
Blogs abound on the internet. It seems as if everyone has something to say about the world. Many blogs are commentaries on daily happenings and big news events while others concentrate on peoples’ personal interests. In this assignment you will combine these approaches by creating your own blog in which you’ll share the lyrics of a song you like. This song will be your guide for research. By examining the song and identifying some key words, you will ask pressing and essential questions that will lead you to do research using the internet and library databases. Ultimately, your questions and research, coupled with questions and comments from your blog followers (your fellow classmates), will push you in the direction of a more full-fledged academic research essay.
Purpose: To engage with research, ask essential research questions, summarize and respond to electronic sources, become familiar with blogging, and ultimately, find a path to a research essay (informative, evaluative, argument, proposal, etc.).
This assignment will involve two stages.
STAGE 1 [Weeks 2-4] 25 PTS.
Set-up: You will set up your own blog [you will be led through this process in class] using Blogspot (www.blogspot.com). Your blog will be a derivative of http://EN101song#.blogspot.com ßFYI: the # will be assigned to you in class. You will need an email address to set up an account. You will create a title and personal password for your Blogspot account.
Steps:
1. Choose wisely. Find a song that you like with sufficient and appropriate lyrics (keep it PG-13 please). Select a “rich” song with multiple levels of depths, interesting concepts, and cultural references. Post the lyrics to your blog. If you can, post a link to an audio or video file for your blog followers to listen to/view. If you choose a weak song, you will have very little to work with and your writing opportunities will be limited. 5 PTS.
2. Identify 2 key “topics” (words or phrases) within the song. Highlight them in your posted lyrics. These are the key terms you will use to investigate further. You will create a new post in your blog for both of those concepts and references. 5 PTS.
3. In the posts, ask at least 3 essential questions of both key topics. In class, we’ll talk about how to ask pressing questions (beyond mere “factual” questions). You’ll also get help from your classmates/blog followers during the Blog Workshop. Choose the most worthwhile questions to investigate. One of these will become the topic for your “Tell me Something I Don’t Know” essay. 5 PTS.
4. Find at least two web-based sources that relate to, address, or help answer each question you have asked. Provide the hyperlink for those sources. In Stage 1, essentially, you are asked to find 12 sites and articles from the Web. 5 PTS.
5. In your posts, summarize a source from each key topic in a solid paragraph that highlights the author’s purpose/opinion, main idea, secondary ideas, and pertinent examples. So, you will summarize 2 sources. 5 PTS.
STAGE 2: [Weeks 5-12] 75 PTS.
Continues the work you have accomplished in Stage 1 with a few additional requirements.
Steps:
1. Identify at least 5 more key “topics” (words or phrases) within the song. Highlight them in your posted lyrics. You will create a new post in your blog for each of the key words. 5 PTS.
2. In each post, ask at least 3 essential questions of each key word. So, for Stage 2 you’ll have 15 questions. 10 PTS.
3. Locate at least 1 web source for each question. From the FCC Library online databases, locate 1 more source for each question. Create hyperlinks for the internet sources in your posts. You won’t be able to create viable hyperlinks to the database articles, so provide the source information using MLA entries. For Stage 2, you’ll have 15 web source links and 15 entries for sources from the library databases. 15 PTS.
4. One of the questions that most interests you, will be the topic of your Comparative Analysis essay #2. You will also concentrate of introductions and conclusions in this essay.. 20 PTS.
5. Find an additional 3 sources for the question that most interests you and provide hyperlinks or MLA entries for them. By now you should have read and posted to every other blog from your class. Begin thinking about a focus for your causal/process analysis essay where you will integrate quotation. 25 PTS.
6. Determine the topic and focus of your persuasive paper where you will also be assessed on MLA documentation and formatting.
That explains the blog, and here are the rest of the assignments the class was given over the course of the semester:
Tell Me Something I Don't Know!
EN101 Essay One—Tell me Something I Don’t Know!
In this essay, you will demonstrate that you can use the recursive writing process to write an organized essay that makes a clear point. You will also demonstrate you can format a college paper.
Explore your song. Find a really great idea or concept of cultural allusion. In a blog entry, ask yourself questions about it, and then find the answers to those questions. Keep track of where you found your information and include the sources as hyperlinks within your blog entries.
Look at other class blogs to get ideas for concepts and questions.
Explore this concept. Research it. Find out as much as you can about it. At least find the answers to your questions.
Create a thesis statement that explains the concept you are going to write about and how you are going to explain it. In about 750 words, write a well-organized essay that takes what you have learned about this concept and explain it to me—your reader.
As you draft, post your work to a blog. In the two weeks you are working on this, look at other class blogs to see how others are approaching the assignment. Read those question pages and the answers they found. Comment on their progress and drafts.
If the classmate hasn’t done anything—post a comment asking why he or she is such a slacker. And tell them to get to work.
Post your drafts and revision to blog pages. Once your work is ready (or the due date—whichever comes first) format it as college paper and send it to me as an email attachment.
Essay 2
EN101 Compare Contrast Analysis Paper
There are many reasons why we compare things: ideas, practices, objects, concepts. We do so to gain a better understanding of both, to express a preference for one over the other, or gain an understanding of the unfamiliar by comparing it to the familiar. We do this by considering the attributes of both. Comparing and contrasting helps us understand on a different level.
Select a concept from your song—or use the same concept as your “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” paper. Look at a competing idea or concept, or look at two different aspects of the same idea or concept.
In this paper, you will also be assessed on your skill at introducing and concluding the essay—20% of your final score. . I am looking for your ability to present evidence for both sides to reach a valid conclusion. I am looking for your skill at controlling the information in an organized manner. You are now expected to be able to format a paper correctly. No points are given for that—just reduced for doing it incorrectly.
In 750 word essay, in MLA format, provide proper documentation for your sources. You are also to evaluate the appropriateness of your sources. Remember that your opinion is only valid if you can support it with data and expert opinion. I don’t want to read about what you think and what you feel. I want you to explain to me what you found out, what you discovered, and your understanding of these issues.
Example: Americans’ preference for getting their news has changed over the past 20 years in the areas of preferred media, the length of the news cycle, and the cost of production.
Cause Effect or process analysis
EN101 Cause/Effect or Process Analysis Essay
Purpose:
The purpose of the cause/effect analysis is to look at something that happened (event) or continues to happen (condition). Think critically about what may have caused it (cause) or what may result or has resulted from it (effects). Typically, in an essay of 500-700 words, a writer can examine only one or the other.
Like cause/effect analysis, the process analysis is a series of cause/effect relationships. When you are examining causes or effects, you look great detail about the specifics of the causality or closely consider the effects that came about. However, in process analysis, you look in less detail at a series of cause-effects relationships that occur over a period of time.
This is a research-based paper—not your opinion. You must cite your sources according to MLA standards; otherwise, you have committed plagiarism. This is your third paper. Failing to attempt to identify sources of information will result in failing this assignment. Remember, if you didn’t know it before you read it, you have to cite it.
The Assignment:
1. Your assignment is to analyze the causes that brought about an event or condition, or examine the effects that resulted from the event or condition. As always, I’d like you to consider three main causes or effects and use these to form the plan of development in your thesis statement. For example:
The drought, which affected Frederick County throughout much of the 1990s, caused water restrictions, a building moratorium, and agricultural losses.
You now have three points to discuss. Typically, each will have its own paragraph. However, sometimes your discussion will require a lengthier piece of writing. If that is the case, think of the points in your plan of development as “parts” of the essay rather than individual “paragraphs.” You may then use more that one paragraph for each point.
If you are examining effects, you may find that you can discuss the causes of your event or condition in the introduction. Similarly, if you are writing about the causes, your conclusion can briefly discuss the effects that resulted from the event or condition you are analyzing.
2. Examine a process and analyze the sequence of events that bring about the eventual conclusion or result. Be sure there is a valid cause/effect relationship for each step. For example:
Grieving is a six step process that begins with denial and ends with acceptance.
In this thesis, you have identified that you are analyzing a process, identified the beginning and ending steps, and specified the number of steps you will examine. As you identify a new step, you reader will be able to recognize you are moving on in sequence through your process. Once you get to the last step, your reader will remember that from your thesis and expect you to be concluding son.
Introductions and conclusions:
The introduction and conclusion are important components in an effective essay. Give these some time and thinking.
Quotations:
Twenty percent of your grade will be determined by your skill in selecting relevant quotations, introducing them completely, integrating the skillfully within your essay. I am looking for a minimum if three quotes in the body of your essay. You may have additional quotations in the intro and conclusion, but I want at least three in your essay’s body.
A good quote is well said from a respected authority. If you don’t know the actual person who said or wrote it, it is not as strong.
Examine your song for ideas. It is a good idea to continue investigating the concept or idea you have been using for your earlier paper(s).
Essay 4
EN101 Research Paper
Your final out-of-class paper is a research paper where you will argue one side of a controversial social issue. In order for there to be an argument, there needs to be more than one valid side worth trying to promote and defend. As students, you are not experts, but researchers. Therefore, you will let qualified experts do the arguing for you. As a result, your paper will be made up almost entirely of research material: quotations and paraphrases. Each of these must be fully attributed with your sources identified and documented.
STRATEGY
It may help to think of this as a football game with you as the coach. In the NFL, the coach begins the year by working out a strategy for victory. He uses his knowledge of the game to devise a game plan that is likely to win the most games. He scouts all the players available to him, understands their skills and expertise. However, the coach never suits up, takes snaps and runs routes. The coach chooses the best players for the best spots, decides when and where they are going to play, and against whom they will play.
That is your job. You are the coach. You go to the library or other quality research resources. You see what expert players are out there you can recruit to play for you. You decide when they appear in your paper, where they appear in your paper and how long and how often they appear. When they make a play, they get the credit. If you win they game, you get the credit.
The coach does not stop there, however. Every winning coach studies his opponent’s team and players. He knows their strengths and weaknesses. He then adjusts his game plan to overcome his opponent’s strengths and capitalize on his opponent’s weaknesses. If he does not, he loses the game. If you do not understand our opponent’s position, you will lose the argument.
PAPER ORGANIZATION AND SPECIFICATIONS
The research paper will be in roughly six sections depending on how you approach it. Don’t think of these as paragraphs; some sections are multi paragraph. You will need an introduction that leads into your thesis and plan of development. The development plan briefly lists the three (or so) main points you will make in your argument. You then need three sections where you present and defend these three key points.
This is the point in the paper where it is different from the other essays you have written. You must present your opponent’s point-of-view that is contrary to your own. You must then refute it—tell why his or her point is not as valid as yours. This can be done directly after you make each of your points, or you can wait until you have completed making all three of your points and then present your opponent’s arguments. Either way, you must then pick his arguments apart and refute them.
Your research paper ends with a thoughtful conclusion that attempts to convince your reader of the merit, value, and superiority of your position on this issue.
The paper will be 1500-2000 words, 6-10 pages, not including your outline and works cited page. Organize it like this:
Cover sheet
Body of the paper
Works cited list
Your Topic:
Search your song for a topic that lends itself to controversy. (I strongly suggest you stay away from “hot button” issues such as abortion, gay marriage, drug legalization, assisted suicide, gun control, death penalty)
Ideally, you will find an issue that has multiple different ways of viewing it and there is no public consensus on how we should best address the situation. For example, issues such as extending unemployment benefits, the effects of the Obama healthcare plan, on-line learning, raising the gas tax, the effects of the economic stimulus, the foreclosure crisis work well. People have not quite made up their minds and are willing to be convinced.
You need to take a position on the issue and attempt to convince your reader to agree with you. However, you must also present the opposing point-of-view and give a balanced presentation of both sides of the issue.
Your paper must have at least 10 entries on the works cited list. At least some most be paper sources—not electronic. The quality of your sources will affect the quality of your paper.
In class essay fall 2010
The wider TSA measures of full-body x-ray scans and enhanced pat downs have sparked a controversy among the pilots and passengers. Journalist Victor Kaplan writes:
“The wider use of new security measures at airports include the enhanced pat downs and full-body x-ray scans. Passengers have raised privacy objections to the new measures. This includes the objection to the appearances of body images as naked, when passed through the full-body x-ray machines. Passengers have also raised questions over the safety of the full-body x-ray scan machines, as well as the privacy concerns over the enhanced pat downs.”
I am looking for a well-developed response to the debate over full body x-ray scans. Are they a reasonable response to the threat posed by terrorism to air safety—or are they an unreasonable invasion of privacy. Support your answer with at least three points of discussion. Be sure to discuss the opposing point of view and spend some time refuting their points.
I couldn't find the project assignment, but it was to create a video presentation of one of the previous papers.
All of the blogs on the right are the rest of the class's blogs, excepting xkcd and Unquiet Desperation. xkcd is a mildly entertaining webcomic, and Unquiet Desperation is the example blog our professor used to illustrate the assignment for the class.
I will likely never check this blog again. I may, however, so if you want to comment, go ahead. There will almost certainly be no new posts, though I may continue using this blog to order my thoughts for future papers.
I hope this answers any questions that you, the internet wanderer, had.
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