Students are required to do at least 75 annotations spread over at least 10 songs. This means you could do one song with 5 annotations, another with 10 annotations, another with 6, etc. BUT YOU MUST COVER AT LEAST 10 SONGS AND AT LEAST 75 ANNOTATIONS by the time you hand in your portfolio

You will be annotating at least 10 songs over the next ten weeks. Your annotations will be for public view on Rap Genius and/or Rock Genius. In addition to this, however, you will be handing in to me a portfolio of all you have done. This document explains what the portfolio will look like

On December 6, you will hand in a portfolio of the work you have done over the course of the fall for the course. This will be a hard copy and will consist of the following elements:

1. A list of the 15 songs you have annotated, with the lyrics and the annotations printed out in Word. You will also include the blurb for the “About this song “ section on the righthand side of the Rap Genius/Poetry Genius website. This should look something like this

Jimmy Student, LA ST 311 Portfolio, fall 20131. “La Cucaracha,” Los Lobos
About this song:
“La Cucaracha” is a traditional corrido that gained popularity during the Mexican Revolution, although its origins are from Spain. This version by the Mexican-American band Los Lobos features a unique take on the lyrics, which can be adapted for many different purposes…
[This section should be between 200-300 words--no more than one page. If there is already something there, you add more.]2. Annotations [at least 5 annotations per song with a credible source to back up annotation]A. “En el norte vive Villa” A reference to Pancho Villa, the Robin Hood-like figure from the north of Mexico during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1924) [source: Fredrick Katz, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998]B. “En el sur vive Zapata” A reference to Emiliano Zapata



[Source: “Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution With Viva Zapata screening and discussion” Accessed September 15, 2013.]C. Source for actual song--YouTube, Soundcloud, etc. (if possible)2. Reflections on annotations. (3.5-5 pages)

In this section, you will reflect on and analyze the songs you have annotated over the course of the summer. This part should be no longer than 5 pages and should address following questions:

1. How did you find the sources for your annotations and how did you determine which sources were credible and which weren’t? (Did you use a librarian, a fan of the music, an artist, a professor or just the Internet…?)

2. What did the process of annotating certain songs tell you about the culture from which the songs came (use specific examples)

3. What’s the difference between writing for your instructor and writing for the general public? What challenges do you face writing for the general public? Which do you prefer and why?

My advice to you:

1. Start early
2. Ask me questions
3. Collaborate, but don’t collude

About the marking:

Annotations

There are a total of 100 points for the annotation portion. If you do the required 75 annotations, you get 75 points. The remaining 25 points will be given based on how well the annotations fit into these categories:

1. Reliability. The source is primary, does it go far back to the original source? If it’s secondary, is it from a good source? [remember the CRAAP test]
2. Relevance: is the annotation relevant to the song?
3. Accuracy: is it factually correct?
4. Polish: Are the annotations carefully written with proper spelling, punctuation, etc.?

Reflection

This will be evaluated separately. I will grade this based on how fully you answer the questions listed above in the section “2. Reflections on annotations. (3.5-5 pages)”