Music Autobiography
tiger67812
MusicAutobiographyassignmentdetailsandpointsbreakdown-studentversion.docxMusic Autobiography assignment details and points breakdown: Due October 7th at the start of class
Toronto is one of the world’s most vibrant music cities and is the home to some of the biggest artists in the world (like Drake, the Weeknd, Deadmau5 and Justin Bieber) as well as a host of smaller independent music communities and scenes (like Metric, the Arts and Crafts record label and Broken Social Scene’s myriad of offshoots and collaborators), hard core and punk like Alexisonfire, Career Suicide and F’ed Up, Jazz and RnB like Badbadnotgood and Charlotte Day Wilson and alt-country institutions like The Sadies and Blue Rodeo. Other than Bieber and Drake, I have seen every band on this list, have gone on tour myself and have driven tour vans and sold merch for small punk bands from Edmonton and Polaris Prize nominated independent Canadian artists. Music means a lot to me.
For this assignment, you are tasked with creating and writing your musical autobiography. You will write a first-person, critical analysis of how music (or if you’re not a music person, how ignoring music) has shaped who you are and your particular worldviews. There are countless ways to approach this paper. One approach you can take is to actually go to a concert/show/gig (any size, any venue, any genre) to help you explore the differences in how you experience music alone vs. how you experience music as a part of a scene or community, though going to a show isn’t necessary for success. If you play in a band, write about touring or recording. If you have a specific childhood memory associated with a specific song or artist, tell that story. If you became a devoted fan of an artist because of social media (Instagram, Youtube, shared playlists on Spotify), talk about the connection you have with other fans and the community this fandom has created. If you or your family is not originally from here, perhaps music acts as a gateway or conduit to memories of home. The possibilities for this assignment are almost endless.
This assignment is designed to be a bit more informal than traditional research papers but that doesn’t mean you can skip traditional academic expectations. When you draw from a text, it needs to be cited properly in whatever citation style you’re most comfortable using. (I don’t demand ASA style, but I do expect a consistent use of something.) You are expected to blend personal reflection with an understanding of/grounding in the texts. That means you will need to be able to demonstrate that you have synthesized what you have read (or watched) and connect your own experiences to the course content. If you use personal experiences to either back up or critique something from the course materials and then make a specific textual reference to ground that experiential knowledge, you’re on the right track.
Your autobiography must make substantial use of The Sociological Imagination as well as 3 other required sources from the course content (for example this could be 2 chapters from the Pop Culture reader & The Sociological Imagination or 1 chapter, 1 additional article and 1 film). That does not mean 1 reference per page is sufficient (see above). Any article posted to D2L, even if we haven’t covered it in class yet, is fair game to use as a source. Any videos or films we have watched are also valid sources. You are also welcome to draw from outside sources and supplementary readings, but you still need to use 4 required sources from the class. Please note that you cannot use more than 2 chapters from the textbook.
Length: 1500 words (min)-2000 words (max) + bibliography with standard margins, 12-point font, and please use Times New Roman ONLY. Title pages aren’t necessary, but please include your name and student ID number at the top of your first page. Please provide electronic submissions only.
Lecture notes are not valid sources for this assignment. Electronic submissions must be .doc or .docx files, no PDFs or .pages files please.
Breakdown:
The assignment is out of 25 and then will be converted to a percentage. Here is the breakdown of points.
/15 Argumentation: Because this is an autobiography, you are telling you own stories. Things to consider for this category: Is the paper convincing? Does the paper have a purpose? How well do you connect your own experiences to course materials and the sociological imagination? How effectively do you student engage with additional course content in your own narrative?
/5 Flow and structure: Is it well written? Does the paper do what it says it will do in the introduction? Is the sentence structure and syntax strong? What about the organization of the paper? Is it coherent or messy?
/5 Formatting: I have given explicit instructions about formatting, the number of sources and page limits. A lack of a bibliography is an automatic loss of 15%.
A Level
Clear thesis and is well argued throughout. Blend of analysis and synthesis. Strong use of source materials and is grounded by thoughtful use of personal reflection. The paper follows exactly what the introduction outlines the paper to be about. If it lives up to its promise and is well structured, this is an A paper. Includes near flawless formatting. The “So what?” is explicit.
B Level
B Level papers are much more difficult to assess. The difference between an A- and a B+ is extremely thin, whereas a B+ to a B- is massive. A B+ paper comes really close to the A range but lacks the precision in a certain way, whether it be too heavy on analysis but not enough synthesis. Or perhaps the argument is strong but the writing is not as quite as solid as it could be, that it is really heavy on empty signifiers (“society’) or dangling modifiers (“this”, “it”). A B- paper looks more like just something that is remarkably average. Maybe it’s less organized, maybe the topic isn’t quite so fleshed out, maybe the focus is too heavy on summary and the argument is too dependent on speculation or is not really connected to the assignment’s purpose. Also includes some formatting inconsistencies. In the ‘B’ range, the “So what?” is either implied or hidden in the subtext.
C Level
C range papers include but are not limited to a general lack of precision, of clear argumentation, a lack of a clearly identifiable thesis or a lack of synthesis. The form and the content are average to poor and the student hasn’t demonstrated anything beyond a basic level of understanding of the question. C range papers will be characterized by the lack of the “So what?” type payoff stronger papers ought to possess and will be heavy on summary rather than critique/analysis/engagement.
D Range
These papers will be characterized by poor writing, a marginal (at best) understanding of the sources that they chose and a failure to go beyond the course materials in any real, tangible way. Serious cheating on the margins is a surefire sign of a D paper.
F Range
Let’s hope this doesn’t happen.
