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Length: 8-10 pages, double spaced, no longer than 12, not including bibliography, appendixes, etc.

• Topics can range from scholarly treatment of a single group or artist to a comparison/contrast of acts from the same sub-genre. Caveat: the group/artist must be researchable! Recent groups/artists may not have enough primary scholarly sources (Teenbeat is not a scholarly scource). Find another topic if the group/artist does not appear in any encyclopedia.

• Present biographical information that places the group/artist into historical context. To which genre(s) do they belong, and why (you must support your answers)? I want your "opinions/ideas" to be supported by facts. I do not care about what you think - I care about how you substanciate it? Most "new" trends in music present a blending of prior styles that come from inside and outside popular music. Define your artist/group in these terms.

• Pick two or three songs to buttress your ideas and discuss them in detail. "Buttress" is the operative word. The songs should differ stylistically and point to the act's diversity. Is it a dance, an historical ballad, a protest song? Do the lyrics tell a story?
• Discuss the instrumentation of the group and hierarchy of instrumentation for the specific songs you discuss.
• What are the group/act's political and sociological aspects? How did/does the group/artist impact culture, trends, musical styles, and so forth? Is the group/artist a corporate product, or a product of society?

Sources: Ten or more sources are expected and required.

• The text will be a source.
• The multi-volume edition of New Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians edited by Stanley Sadie (1980), in the Fine Arts Library, will also be a source.
• In that same area should also be several popular encyclopedias of music.
• Printed Periodicals should also be a source: music, sociology, psychology, etc…
• Specific books cover mainstream styles and groups like the Doors, the Stones, Motown, Hip-Hop, etc…you need not read the whole book, simply scan the index for relevant topics.
• Only one html site is permitted. It must be cited fully as to author, date created, date accessed, and must be viewable when I check for it. (I teach technology at EKU - do not copy and paste or you will suffer the penalties plagarism (see student handbook).
• Liner notes are also acceptable but are rarely objective.

• Required! Standard Operating Procedure for young rock scholars: the Chicago manual of style, MLA, or some other similar scholarly writing guide. Be consistent. Please use endnotes instead of footnotes, cite all sources, remember that encyclopedia entries are listed according to author — not editor — unless the entry is unsigned (250 words or less).

• Lyrics should be presented in an appendix and not inside the body of the paper!!!! You may excerpt small sections as needed or refer to them by line number. Each song discussing lyrics should have a separate appendix page for them.