Classical Music Essay

Here are some important things to keep in mind for the writing assignments about the pieces, and to some extent all the written assignments. Also, consider these comments as feedback for past assignments, as many of these things occur frequently for us. If you’re looking for ways to improve your grades, please start by considering these comments.

--Make sure you’re following the directions. You’re asked to write a well-organized, cohesive essay. “Please write in full sentences and write more creatively than just providing simple answers. Begin the essay with an introductory sentence or paragraph and finish with a concluding sentence or paragraph.” Using different paragraphs to make different points helps the reader visually, and can help the writer organize their thoughts. 400 words is a guide in terms of length. In general, the assignment should be at least that long, but the word count shouldn't be the primary thing you’re thinking about when writing. A great essay with 300 words probably won’t have a lot of detail, but would be graded better than a weak essay with 402 words. For what it’s worth, there were quite a few assignments with word counts between 400 and 410.

--The spelling and grammar for anything we do will be better if we 1) proofread visually and silently, 2) read our narrative out loud to ourselves and listen critically, and then 3) submit it to some type of spell checker and/or grammar checker. Word will do some of this, but Grammarly and other apps will give more specific ideas. Also, as I suggested before, try copying and pasting your essay into a new email message. Outlook recently started highlighting possible problems and offering suggestions for spelling and grammar, which is a great way to not only catch problems for the current assignment, but learn lessons in how to write more effectively.

--Whenever you present the thoughts of others in your own writing, you must recognize them and cite them. Use quotation marks when you use the words of others (our software does a pretty good job of identifying the phrases that appear in other sources). When you do quote others, put a list of sources at the end of the essay in some consistent format. Look online for help if you’re unsure how to do citations and quotations. When you refer to the title of a piece of music, put quotation marks around the title (writing the titles in italics in writing is also acceptable).