Midterm Project
Prompt
HU 142: Studies in
Literature
For
your midterm project, you will be taking a different approach to literature
that should help you broaden your understanding of a story by getting to know
the characters that make up that story and how they relate to you. Because this
is a creative project, you will be given options. Because this project will act
as a midterm evaluation, all projects must focus on one of the works of fiction
or a dramatic work we have read (from “The Lottery” through Fences) for
class, though you cannot focus on the same work you used in Essay 1.
Option A: Creating a Soundtrack
[This option must be completed
independently. No group projects allowed.]
For
Option A, you will be working independently to create a soundtrack for one of
the readings from this semester. You must create a digital playlist using a
free online service, like YouTube or Spotify, that is approximately 60 minutes
in length to complete this project. The songs should accompany the selected
work in chronological order, but they may be from any musical genre. Be sure to
select songs from various artists without repeating artists. You will then
compose an accompanying essay of at least 900-1000 words to explain the scenes or
characters in the story or play being represented by your chosen songs.
Step One:
Select
the characters or occurrences/scenes from the chosen work that you will be selecting
songs to represent. You will need somewhere between 12 and 18 songs, depending
upon the length of each one you select, to make up approximately 60 minutes of
playing time (between 50 minutes and 70 minutes).
Step Two:
Compose
an essay that names each song and artist and explains how the song relates to a
specific scene in the novel. You should have a brief introduction that
discusses the concept for the album/collection and how you see this as relating
to the selected work, but you will not need a conventional essay thesis. The
rest of the essay will include your explanations for the selection of each song
according to what you say it represents from the text.
Step Three:
You
must make sure that your playlist is accessible to the public when shared and
that it remains in the correct order when shared. It should not require additional
software downloads or purchasing to access the songs.
Sample File:
Note: This is a particularly well-developed essay that is a bit longer than your essay needs to be. Your explanations may not be quite as lengthy for each song, but in that I would like you to go beneath the surface to consider meaning and relevance in your paper, this model should be helpful. If you devote one paragraph to each song, your paragraphs may be shorter than those in the sample, or you can choose to cluster songs based on topic and/or chronology of the text, though you should discuss each song separately. Quoting from the songs is certainly okay to do and can be helpful, but it’s not required for you to justify each selection in the essay.
