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Lesson 4

Prewriting Examination

Objectives

For this exam, the student will

· Use the writing process to draft and revise an essay  

· Write an effective thesis statement  

· Identify, define, and analyze literary elements  

· Develop critical reading skills  

· Use responsible research methods to locate appropriate secondary sources  

· Use Modern Language Association citation and documentation style to reference secondary source material correctly and appropriately  

· Topic   When you think of a song you love, chances are you think of more than just its beat or melody. Because of your particular experiences, your reasons for loving the song may be different from the reasons of someone else who also loves the same song. Perhaps you have a particular memory associated with that song or it speaks to you personally. The lyrics of a song especially take on a different meaning from person to person. Think of a song you love. What words or phrases stand out to you? Why? For this exam, you’ll choose a song and analyze the lyrics of the song. Your analysis should focus primarily on the various literary devices the songwriter uses to convey the song’s meaning, such as simile, metaphor, irony, personification, and symbolism. Use your analysis to determine what the appeal of the song is to its audience.  

This essay requires you to use secondary sources to support your claims about the song’s cultural impact, so you’ll begin your research and create a bibliography of relevant articles and reviews that you might include in your essay. Your annotated bibliography should include a minimum of five sources. Please note that if you use any secondary source material in your graphic organizer, you should follow MLA format and provide the appropriate parenthetical citations. To prepare an outline for a 1200–1500 word essay that analyzes the impact and influence a song has in a contemporary context based on its literary devices and cultural references. Distance-education students enrolled at Penn Foster College

Purpose

To prepare an outline for a 1,200–1,500 word essay that analyzes the impact and influence a song has in a contemporary context based on its literary devices and cultural references.

Audience

Distance-education students enrolled at Penn Foster College

Process

Brainstorm

1. Watch the Song Analysis Webinar for Lesson 4. This should be viewed before you begin work on the exam. There are three webinars for this course. Each webinar is connected to a specific lesson(s) or a specific essay exam.  

2. Choose a song that you like because the words are memorable or meaningful to you. Copy the lyrics in a word-processed document, and provide the citation for the song in MLA format.  

3. Free write about the cultural influence the song has on its audience. Try to answer questions such as, Why is the song popular? Why is the song important? What does this song mean to you?  

4. Work through the “Generating Ideas” exercise from pages 705–707 in your textbook, using the knowledge you’ve gained about poetic literary devices to analyze how your song uses simile, metaphor, irony, personification, and symbolism. Map out specific examples from the song. Since the song is your primary source, you don’t have

to provide parenthetical citations each time you quote, paraphrase, or summarize the song, but make sure to provide line or stanza indicators as needed to guide your readers.

Research

1. Research critical reviews of the artist, CD, and/or song. Choose a minimum of five sources that provide the most insight into both the meaning of the song and the use of literary elements you’ve identified.  

2. Prepare an annotated bibliography of your five sources (see pages 607–608 in your textbook). Each annotation must contain two to four sentences explaining not only how the information was relevant to your discussion, but also what you found most interesting or unusual about the information provided. Remember that an annotated bibliography lists the potential sources you may use for your paper. In your full-length essay, you’ll use at least two of your five sources  

Organize

1. You’re now ready to create your outline/graphic organizer (see page 148–152 in your textbook). Write an organizational plan for your essay incorporating some of your sources. Remember that all sources must be appropriately incorporated into the outline with MLA in-text citation.  

2. Review your textbook as needed to apply the appropriate writing skills such as brainstorming, researching, and writing your outline/graphic organizer. In addition, ensure that your work displays good writing traits and represents the characteristics described on the course rubric (see Appendix).  

Place all required work in the same document in the following order, beginning a new page for each part.

■ The lyrics of the song and its MLA citation 

■ The actual outline/graphic organizer 

■ Annotated MLA bibliography of five research sources

Written examinations must be typed, double-spaced, using a standard 12-point font and left justification.

Use 1-inch margins at the top and bottom and 1.25-inch margins for the left and right sides of the document. Each page must have a properly formatted header containing your name, student number, exam number, page number, mailing address.