LAE6392

Contributors: Pat McGowan and Joe Good

Project Outcomes: Students will gain a better understanding of how to conduct a rhetorical and literary analysis. By engaging in a basic formal and cultural analysis, students will come to understand how texts and society communicate, and will be equipped with a framework to critically analyze their environment.

Project Overview: Popular music has a significant place in American culture. Whether you like it or not, you are bombarded with mass- produced music on a daily basis- in your car, at the mall, and in your living room. Analyzing song lyrics in light of rhetorical techniques such as purpose, audience and context provides a more comprehensive understanding of the landscape of popular culture and its role in society.

• You will choose a song with instructor approval.

• You will examine the song for rhetorical and narrative strategies, including use of cultural reference, audience appeals, and literary devices such as metaphor and symbolic imagery.

• You will incorporate secondary sources that illuminate the cultural context of the song, including at least two (2) from academic literature.

Format Suggestions: Begin with an introduction that includes background information on the song you are researching. For the remainder of your paper, provide an original and insightful analysis of the song’s lyrical content. You may consider organizing your paragraphs according to the techniques and devices utilized in the song, or cultural conventions / situations that contribute to the song’s structure and meaning.

Genre: The paper can potentially meld or adopt various genres including cultural criticism, literary analysis, and ethnography. Remember to keep your writing academic. Analysis and criticism in an academic context require reasoning, support, and the advancement of a central claim (thesis). You will perform a textual analysis that considers both the content and the context of the song. Your analysis should explore the various intersections between the text and society.

Purpose: To understand the rhetorical nature of popular texts. Ultimately, the goal of the assignment is to contribute an original and significant interpretation that adds to the existing body of scholarly literature on music and society.

Audience: Your peers in academia, including informed and interested music listeners.

Voice, Tone or Persona: Informed, objective and academic. Be sure not to let your enthusiasm for the music overshadow your critical analysis.

Length, Format and Design: 1000-1500 words with a “works cited” page and annotated bibliography (a summary and evaluation of your secondary sources). Be sure to use proper MLA style when quoting, paraphrasing, and documenting your sources.

Resources and Media: www.allmusic.com – An encyclopedic database that provides some basic information on musical artists.

www.wikipedia.org – Wikipedia can provide broad background and valuable links to more credible sources on your subject.

www.pitchforkmedia.com – The searchable site includes a number of more recent music reviews.

USF Library databases including Project Muse, JSTOR, and MLA International Bibliography contain a number of exemplary articles on criticism, history, and musicology that can provide models for your writing or function as secondary sources to be integrated into your paper.

Filmic resources including music documentaries.