Jazz Music: A Driving Force for the Civil Rights Movement?
Assignment Instructions
For this paper, choose a relatively “unsophisticated” form of popular art for analysis. When you choose a type, or genre, be sure that it is a coherent genre; not “popular music” but, say, “sentimental love songs of the 1950s” or “goth rock of early 1980s”; not “comic books” but “Disney comics” or “monster comics” or “superhero-type comics.” Popular art exists in almost all areas, for all kinds of specialized interests.
Be sure to select a form of popular art in a field of specialized interests. Be sure to also select a form of popular art in a field you find interesting to begin with. You can choose a topic from a wide variety of material—from comic books and horror movies to TV shows and bumper stickers and magazines, from Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys to 50 Shades of Grey, from plays by Neil Simon and Sam Shepard, to Hayao Miyazaki’s animated films and Haruki Murakami’s novels.
Your object will be to explore the relationship between your chosen piece of popular culture and some social issue such as age, race, gender, class, religion, immigration, etc. You will be forming an argument about this relationship, a central thesis that will be supported by your evidence.
Evidence for your argument will come from analysis or descriptions of the popular art as well as from credible research sources you select. One requirement of the paper is that you use of at least five research sources; at least three of those sources have to be peer-reviewed academic texts.
RESEARCH TOPIC:
Jazz Music: A Driving Force for the Civil Rights Movement?
Requirements
A well-researched, academic argument that adds a new perspective to the existing conversation about your topic
A clear topic statement that advances a specific, substantial, arguable point
Strong supporting evidence from your secondary research
In-text citation of at least FIVE different secondary sources (at least THREE academic sources)
A careful evaluation of relevant counterpoints
A coherent organizational structure that enhances the argument and effectively portrays the research
An identifiable audience
A clear ethos
4-6 double-spaced pages (1,000-1,500 words)
Works Cited (MLA)
Meticulous proofreading and proper formatting
