Final Project: Personal Analysis Paper Guidelines and Rubric

Five Simple Steps

1. Select the two works of art from European culture during the time period covered by this course from two different categories:

• Visual art, including sculpture, mosaics, painting, architecture, and other forms
• Literature, including poetry, a play, fiction, and other forms
• Music in what we think of as the Classical tradition (not popular or folk songs), including forms such as the suite, oratorio, mass, motet, opera, formal dance or ballet music, chorale, and so forth. Some of these works are lengthy, so you may listen to and write about a section or movement of a longer work if you choose. For example, rather than write about Handel’s entire three-hour oratorio, The Messiah, you could write about one section such as the aria, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”

Example: In your paper, you may want to write about a sculpture (i.e., visual art) by the Classical Greek sculptor Praxiteles and a magnifcat, a choral religious work (i.e., music), by the Italian Renaissance composer Palestrina. Or you may want to write about verses by the Archaic Greek poet Sappho (i.e., literature) and a suite by the English Renaissance composer John Dowland (i.e., music).

2. Craft an introduction that gives your reader the WHAT and the WHY.

a)      What! What are you comparing? What are you contrasting? Your introduction will include information about both works, indicating as fully as possible the following:

1. 1.       Name of artist
2. 2.       Name of work
3. 3.       Period/date
4. 4.       Location or origin
5. 5.       Medium and/or size

b)      Why! Why are you comparing the works? Here is where you state the “agenda,” main idea, or reason you are comparing these works. Remember, this is your response to these works. Ask yourself the following kinds of questions: What does each work represent from its time period? What elements illustrate that this work is from that time period? What does it symbolize or represent?

3. Include a brief background.

In the body of your paper, as you compare and contrast the works, provide the vital background information that is crucial for your reader in understanding the two works, which include your own personal observations, thoughts, and reflections on both works.

4. Compare and Contrast the Works

• Discuss similarities between the two works by pointing out what they have in common in the body of your paper. This may be challenging, since we are not used to comparing, say, music with art, or architecture with poetry. But see where your ideas and imagination take you!
• Discuss differences between the two works in the body of your paper using words such as “unlike,” “whereas,” and so on. What about the two works strikes you as decidedly different? Not just the form; of course, music is different from a painting!
• Does the music offer an exalted, outgoing feeling, while the painting provides a somber sense of introspection? What are some key differences in the ideas and feelings conveyed by these two works?

5. Sign off with a strong conclusion.

Use your conclusion to revisit what you have illustrated throughout your paper about the significance of this comparison and make a strong statement that emphasizes your main thesis and sums up your response to these two works.

Format Requirements

• It should be 3 to 4 pages in length (approximately 700 to 900 words), not counting the list of works cited and double-spaced. Use 12-point type in a simple typeface such as Times Roman or Calibri.
• The paper should be written in APA or MLA style. Any information taken from another source should indicate the author and page number in parentheses (MindEdge 72), directly next to the information in the paper, and then the complete reference in the bibliography.
• Include your name, course title, course section, and date at the top of the first page.

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Rubric