Paper Assignments
Paper #1: Armstrong Autobiography
Due: Monday, 2/19.
Length: 3 pp. (typed, double-spaced).
Grading: 10% of final grade; based on substantive content, insight into your material,
focus and organization, grammar.
Topic: Write a focused, organized paper on one of the following topics, citing
specific details and examples from the text to illustrate and support your points.
- Topic 1: Select several typical categories of people living in the lower-class, black New
Orleans described in Armstrong's autobiography--perhaps family members, "bad" men, prostitutes,
musicians, etc. How does Armstrong characterize them and their impact on his life?
What is his attitude towards them and the New Orleans he remembers?
- Topic 2: Armstrong's close relationship with his mother is apparent, but his father is a
largely missing person in his life. Discuss his probably unconscious search for a
substitute father throughout his autobiography. Who are some of his "fathers" and what
roles do they play in his life at different stages in his development? What needs do
they fulfill? Does he ever find the father he needs? How does this search for the
missing father relate to his musical development?
- Topic 3: Discuss the role of music in New Orleans in the earlier twentieth-century. What
range of musical opportunities existed? How did budding musicians learn their craft?
What were the conditions in which the musicians worked? What musical traditions were
unique to that city, a product of that culture? In other words, why is the New Orleans
of Armstrong's youth often considered the birthplace of modern jazz? How is the
development of this original music inseparable, in some respects, from its origins in
lower-class black New Orleans?
- Topic 4: Discuss some of the tensions in the autobiography between Armstrong's well-known
laid-back, grinning public image and some of the facts and circumstances of his life
in New Orleans (juvenile delinquency, pimping, anger, violence, poverty, racism, etc.).
Aside from the considerable market value of the grinning Armstrong image later in his
career, how might his people-pleaser image (some might suspect it of being a
demeaning "Sambo" or "Uncle Tom" caricature at times) also be viewed as a survival
strategy learned early in life, a kind of defensive "mask" that protected him from the
rough conditions and frustrations of lower-class life in New Orleans? At what points
do we see "cracks" in his mask? Why? How does he repair the cracked mask? What
price does he seemingly have to pay to keep the mask intact?
See also: Organization/Focus and
MLA Documentation and
Typing Directions
Paper #2: Jazz Culture Research Paper
Due: 3/28 - 4/02 (day your oral report is due).
Length: 5 pp. (typed, double-spaced), plus 10 online sources. Oral report--10 minutes.
Grading: 20% of final grade; based on substantive content, insight into your material,
focus and organization, documentation, grammar.
Topic: Using our Jazz Age web pages, research one of the following
topic-clusters and write a focused, organized paper on it, citing specific details and
examples from the online sources to illustrate and support your points. All these topic-clusters
are jazz- or Jazz Age-related, but you will need to develop your own unifying thesis based on the
online sources you decide to use.
As you select your sources, keep in mind that, whenever
possible, we want
information about blacks and whites, higher classes and lower classes, and women as well as
men. In addition, look for ways you can work in jazz and literary texts, whenever possible.
You may use literary texts we covered in class, but they will be in addition to the 10 online
sources from our Jazz Age web pages.
It would also be good if you could include 1-3 appropriate
images (with titles underneath) from your sources in your paper. If you don't know how to insert images in the body
of the essay, attach them at the end of the paper and refer to them in the essay as
"Attachment
1," "Attachment 2," etc. All images are in addition to the 5 pages of required text.
- Topic-cluster 1: Jazz, jazz clubs, Prohibition, gangsters.
- Topic-cluster 2: Jazz Age women in popular culture and real life (films, advertising, entertainers,
pioneers, politics, etc.)
- Topic-cluster 3: Jazz as music and social-political metaphor. (Rather general--see
me about possible ways to narrow down this topic.)
- Topic-cluster 4: Jazz, Harlem Renaissance, the color-line, racial violence (KKK, riots,
etc.).
- Topic-cluster 5: Jazz Age/Modernist music, art, and architecture. Include images of
the art and architecture discussed in the paper.
- Topic-cluster 6: Jazz Age migrations--to Harlem and to Paris (jazz; expatriates;
etc.).
- Topic-cluster 7: Hollywood versions of jazz and the Jazz Age (films and cartoons) vs.
real people/events.
- Topic-cluster 8: World War I and the Jazz Age. (Rather general--see me about possible
ways to narrow down this topic.)
- Topic-cluster 9: Jazz and Jazz Age technologies (phonographs and the recording industry,
films, radio, cars, airplanes, telephones, electricity, etc.).
Here is an example of an online essay somewhat like your assignment, except that it
does not specifically address jazz music:
sample essay (online). However,
please avoid the long, set-off quotations used in this essay.
For directions on how to handle in-text citations and your Works Cited page, see
MLA Documentation (online).
Oral Report: The class (not the instructor) is your audience. Share with
your classmates some of the information you learned as a result of your research. DO NOT READ YOUR
PAPER TO THEM--THEY WILL BE BORED. Instead, chat with them and be prepared to answer any
questions they may have. You may prepare a one-page abbreviated outline of topics and
examples to guide you in your talk, but use short phrases (as reminders), not sentences
or paragraphs. It might be helpful to make copies of your "talking points" for the
entire class.
See also: Organization/Focus and
MLA Documentation and Avoid
Plagiarism and
Typing Directions
Paper #3: Welty or Ellison
Due: Monday, 4/23
Length: 3 pp. (typed, double-spaced).
Grading: 10% of final grade; based on substantive content, insight into your material,
focus and organization, grammar.
Topic: Details to be posted later.
See also: Organization/Focus and
MLA Documentation and
Typing Directions
Organization/Focus
- Introduction: Introductions in short papers should be short--maybe
3-4 sentences long. Begin with some general statement about your topic (if you are
going to write about Ellison's symbols, try to get the words "Ellison" and "symbol"
somewhere in or close to the opening sentence). Also include the full name(s) of author(s) and complete
title(s) of the text(s) in the opening sentence. Perhaps give a one-sentence summary of
what the text is about, or provide some pertinent background, or
explain why there have been problems with the topic or even disagreements about it, or
maybe suggest why that topic is so important in the tradition of jazz literature. End
the paragraph with your thesis (your thesis will be the overall conclusion
you have drawn about your topic). Remember that your thesis is what the rest of the paper will be
about.
NOTE: Most or perhaps all of the introduction will be your own
writing, but it is OK to include a short paraphrase/quotation, properly cited.
- Body of Paper: Since you can't talk about everything at once,
sub-divide your thesis/conclusion into 3-4
sub-points. Those sub-points will form
the topic sentences for the body paragraphs--the point that you want to make in that paragraph.
Each topic sentence should be followed by lots of specific details
and examples and short quotations
from the texts, as well as your explanation/analysis of that
information. Each body paragraph should begin with a topic sentence.
WRITING TIP: Arrange your sub-points according to the Order of Climax--begin with
your second-best sub-point followed by your weakest sub-point and then work your way up
to your best sub-point at the end so that the paper finishes on a strong note.
For quotations, include a page number (in parenthesis) directly after the quote. If it
isn't clear in the paragraph which text you are referring to, insert the author's name
before the page number, as in this example: (Ellison 10). Avoid long quotations in short papers.
It is often more effective to work a quoted word or short phrase into your own sentence.
If you consult outside/secondary sources,
follow MLA directions (below). In that case, I prefer you use the method of including the
author's name in the paragraph at the beginning of the borrowed material (According to Smith, . . .)
and putting the page
number in parenthesis at the end of the borrowed material. A separate Works Cited page is needed
if outside/secondary sources are used. Remember that the outside/secondary source must
be cited whether you summarize it, paraphrase it, or quote it.
NOTE: I hate skimpy body paragraphs that are only 1-2 sentences long; put
some meat on those bones--another 6-8 sentences of details and examples and
explanations, please!)
- Conclusion: Conclusions in short papers should be short--maybe
3-4 sentences long. Begin the concluding paragraph with a
re-statement of your thesis--but in language different than was
used in the introduction. In a couple more sentences, refer to your topic as a whole--
why it is significant and worth studying, for instance, or finally, what it all adds up
to.
NOTE: In a short paper, do not repeat your sub-points--much too
repetitious.
MLA Style Documentation
If you consult any outside sources, you must include references to them in your paper.
The in-text citation must be keyed to the complete bibliographic information
listed on a
separate page (labeled "Works Cited"). See this short summary of MLA style: Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Format (online), created by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
It gives the basic "rules" for
in-text citation and bibliographies, including how to list
electronic sources (online).
Generally follow MLA directions and format, with
one major exception. After you have listed in alphabetic order all the secondary and primary
sources used in your paper, number that list and use just the number in parenthesis (1)
for your in-text
citation.
NOTE: Most electronic sources usually need only the following basic information:
Author
(if indicated; last name first, followed by comma). "Title."
Name of Entire Site (if indicated). Last
date the web page was posted or updated (that information is usually at the bottom of the
web page). The date you accessed the page and the URL (online address) for the web page, inserted
in sideways brackets (carets).
Example:
1. "Caret." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 28 April 2006. 10
May 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caret>.
For more information on documentation, see MLA Style: Frequently Asked
Questions (online), or consult a hardcopy of the "official" MLA
Handbook.
Avoid Plagiarism:
Remember the basic rules for avoiding plagiarism.
- The language used for paraphrases/summaries should be very different
than the original language used by your source.
- The language used in quotations must be exactly the same as the original
language used by your source.
- Quotation marks must be used around all quotations. If you have a quote-within-a-quote, use
a combination of double and single quote marks (see me for assistance).
- Cite a source for ALL summarized and paraphrased and quoted material.
Typing Directions:
Use Times New Roman font, size 11 or 12. Double-space everything--no exceptions. One
inch margins on all sides. Put your last name and page number in top-right corner
(1/2 inch from top).
On the first page, in the top-left corner, put your name, your instructor's name,
the class name and number, and the date. Below that, in the center of page, add a
title.
See an MLA example: Paper Format--Example
(online).
Put all documentation on a separate page (Works Cited) and follow MLA directions (online).
Painting, top-left:
Aaron Douglas, "Song of the Towers"
Web page designed by knichols
