Writing and Submission Requirements
Due: Friday, August 8th by 930am.
Length: 1800 word minimum
Format: Academic-specific citation style. 12-pt Times New Roman font, double spaced, 1" margins, name and date, paginated.
Submission: Turn in the final draft via TurnItIn.com. If you would like additional feedback, bring in a typed, hard copy to 302 Tigert or during your presentation. You can schedule a time to pick up the copy during the Spring semester.
Point Value: 300
Assignment Prompt and Context
For the final paper, students will consider a contemporary hip-hop phenomenon/issue and argue (1) that the problem exits, (2) how to solve the problem, (3) that the solution is feasible, and (4) that particular benefits accrue to relevant stakeholders—paying particular attention to rhetorical scope, audience, and logical organization.
This essay asks students to use previous writing and argument skills in order to propose an effective solution to a defined problem. As this is a college-level writing course, the way we will approach a research problem in a way that honors scholarly research agendas in both the humanities and STEM disciplines, and in a way that encourages you to envisage yourself as a research. Thus, you may choose to address a so-called "practical" [what should we do?], address a more conceptual "research problem" [how should we study or think about this?], or create a piece of media text that addresses the issue you think is important, accompanied by a written proposal justifying its use in a particular context.
1. Practical
This type of essay will argue for an action that needs to be taken in terms of policy and/or policy enforcement, educational initiatives, funding, individual actions, institutional actions, etc., and (where appropriate) the advantages of this action over alternative solutions. An example of a practical problem proposal regarding hip-hop culture might be to argue that the current Grammy categorization of Ke$ha as a pop artist should be revised to include Ke$ha and other artists with similar aesthetic tendencies into a more inclusive genre/genres of music, such as hip-hop.
2. Research
A research problem proposal discusses what else needs to be known or resolved before a practical proposal can be offered, how a particular perspective could fill existing gaps in academic research, or argue that a particular perspective or interpretation be integrated into existing programs of study. This argument could be as narrow as arguing for the inclusion of The Real Housewives of Atlanta on a syllabus for a class about Hip-Hop Culture . You could also argue for something more broad, such as questioning why researching Jay Z and Beyonce in a novel way is important to the next American presidential election. In the case that you are writing a research proposal, you will include a section on methods that explains how the research you propose could be undertaken and why you think this approach is beneficial.
3. Multimedia
The creative project affords you the opportunity to desing a flyer, website, illustration, comic, advertisement, commercial, short film, or zine with an accompanying 1500-1800 word paper that argues for its use in a specific context. Basically, you are creating the thing you argue for in your proposal, which means this takes just as much work as the other two options, as at least 300 words of work would go into crafting the intentional, drafted, planned, scripted media text. For example, you could create a short film depicting factual, historical American slavery that would compete with Django: Unchained and use your written proposal to explore the implications of mixing hip-hop, fantasy, and realism.
In order to complete the proposal, regardless of which option you choose, it will be necessary to address the following:
This essay asks students to use previous writing and argument skills in order to propose an effective solution to a defined problem. As this is a college-level writing course, the way we will approach a research problem in a way that honors scholarly research agendas in both the humanities and STEM disciplines, and in a way that encourages you to envisage yourself as a research. Thus, you may choose to address a so-called "practical" [what should we do?], address a more conceptual "research problem" [how should we study or think about this?], or create a piece of media text that addresses the issue you think is important, accompanied by a written proposal justifying its use in a particular context.
1. Practical
This type of essay will argue for an action that needs to be taken in terms of policy and/or policy enforcement, educational initiatives, funding, individual actions, institutional actions, etc., and (where appropriate) the advantages of this action over alternative solutions. An example of a practical problem proposal regarding hip-hop culture might be to argue that the current Grammy categorization of Ke$ha as a pop artist should be revised to include Ke$ha and other artists with similar aesthetic tendencies into a more inclusive genre/genres of music, such as hip-hop.
2. Research
A research problem proposal discusses what else needs to be known or resolved before a practical proposal can be offered, how a particular perspective could fill existing gaps in academic research, or argue that a particular perspective or interpretation be integrated into existing programs of study. This argument could be as narrow as arguing for the inclusion of The Real Housewives of Atlanta on a syllabus for a class about Hip-Hop Culture . You could also argue for something more broad, such as questioning why researching Jay Z and Beyonce in a novel way is important to the next American presidential election. In the case that you are writing a research proposal, you will include a section on methods that explains how the research you propose could be undertaken and why you think this approach is beneficial.
3. Multimedia
The creative project affords you the opportunity to desing a flyer, website, illustration, comic, advertisement, commercial, short film, or zine with an accompanying 1500-1800 word paper that argues for its use in a specific context. Basically, you are creating the thing you argue for in your proposal, which means this takes just as much work as the other two options, as at least 300 words of work would go into crafting the intentional, drafted, planned, scripted media text. For example, you could create a short film depicting factual, historical American slavery that would compete with Django: Unchained and use your written proposal to explore the implications of mixing hip-hop, fantasy, and realism.
In order to complete the proposal, regardless of which option you choose, it will be necessary to address the following:
- Use at least 3 headings corresponding to the "problem," "solution," and "evaluation." This will emphasize the logical organization of the proposal. Subsections should be used as necessary.
- Provide at least 5 scholarly, peer-reviewed sources which help define the problem and support the solution or the feasibility of the solution.
- Pay attention to all aspects of rhetoric: form, audience, logical organization, and the use of persuasive evidence. Address a particular audience: the person or group of people to whom you direct your call to action (if possible!). To do this, you will need to determine what motivates your audience to act and what concerns they have.
Grading Criteria
Please see the rubric here.