Meet the Beatles - The Dreaded Essay
Yes, that's correct this class DOES in fact have a required essay. You
are to critically examine an aspect of the Beatles' influence upon some aspect
of society, culture, politics, or popular music. If this broad discretion
is inadequate you are free to try to get permission from the coordinators
on another area. The requirements for the essay itself is that it is to
be 4-6 pages double-spaced (though if you cannot possibly say what you need
to in 6 pages, we will accept reasonable amounts beyond 6 pages) with normal
fonts (10-12 point Times New Roman), normal font kerning, normal margins,
etc. Most importantly you need to make some kind of argument. (ie: have
a thesis that makes a claim and backs it up) You will need to show evidence
of some external research beyond this class in a bibliography, though there
are no requirements of how many sources you need to use.
What you need to do is get a subject for your essay and possible research
sources into the coordinators by April 1st or 2nd (examples below) so the
coordinators can get back to you and approve the subject, or request you
to come up with another. The coordinators will let you know within the week.
Once you have approval on the subject, you have until April 22nd or 23rd
to get the finished essays in. (due times are always midnight at the end
of the given day if you are emailing, or in class if you are handing in
via paper). The paper will be given back as soon as physically possible
and will be graded on a scale of 30 points. Plagiarism in any form, as is
UC Berkeley policy, will not be tolerated. If you are citing someone else's
argument you NEED to flag it as such. Before you stress out too much, the
coordinators realize this is not an English course, and there were no prerequisites.
If you can make an argument and provide some kind of support you should
have no problem doing very well on this. You are also free to ask the coordinators
to look over rough drafts for input, or ask the coordinators if you need
help finding sources or anything else.
Here are some potential subjects with research topics:
The influence of John Lennon's mixing
of politics and rock and roll on U2's Bono being considered a world leader
on the issue of debt relief. (sources: recent Time magazine article "Can
Bono Save The World?")
The Beatles, and their start of the
era "Arena Rock" with their Shea Stadium Concert and its impact on popular
music since. (sources: well, you can find them)
The influence of John Lennon's "Plastic
Ono Band" on the confessional album prototype as exemplified by Alanis Morrisette
(sources: again, you can find them)
The influence of the Beatles' packaging
on the boy bands of today Etc.
Be creative, have fun with this (yeah, I know it's hard, but give it a try)