HUM 3425
African Humanities
Spring 2024
Pick Five: For the Sake of Cultural Literacy, These Are the Five Africanisms All Americans Should Know
The Scenario
Imagine that you had your way, and that The United States of America’s population was interested in learning and you were tasked with organizing a curriculum for our population. The subject would be the African cultural influence on The United States of America. In exercising your due diligence for this project, you are picking a minimum of five (5) Africanisms to discuss and show how they are a useful thing to know. The five you pick will come from a carefully curated listing I have put together for your use. You may need to find them through your research using J-STOR as your main database. Some I have already obtained and may post myself. The bibliography comes at roughly the same time as the assignment.
Mandatory activities
1. You will produce this document in MLA style. See the Purdue University OWL web-site for excellent information on formatting your paper in MLA style.
Go here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_general_format.html Links to an external site.
2. You will not plagiarize this assignment.
3. You will not attempt to complete this assignment using the assistance of any form of artificial intelligence.
4. You will employ readily available (and approved) writing tools such as the spell checking and grammar checking already on-board your Microsoft Word set-up.
5. You MAY wish to avail yourself of Grammarly.
6. Your paper will be on topic.
Steps to success
1. Peruse the parameters of the assignment.
2. Pick and read five (5) sources to use in your unique exploration of Africanisms (otherwise known as African survivals). In reality, though, you need to pick a minimum of three (3) additional sources, because I have determined that you MUST use the following:
a. The Myth of the Negro Past (specifically, chapter VI)
b. “The McIntosh County Shouters” video shot at the Library of Congress
Having all students use these two sources establishes a base-line for every paper. It will be interesting and informative to see how each student might find a way to intelligently discuss these materials.
3. Work carefully on understanding what you read in order to write about it. Use a dictionary if you need to.
4. You should try to reach the appropriate page count. Doing so will help you reach the desired depth of discussion in your paper.
5. Begin working on your works cited paper as soon as you start writing. It will be much easier at the end of the paper.
6. Be sure to include copious amounts of parenthetical citations in accord with the demands of MLA style. Citing copiously and accurately usually equals a solid non-plagiarized paper.
Old Due Date 4/12/2024. NEW DUE DATE: 4/21/2024!
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General Directions: Upon choosing your topic, you will create a superb MLA style paper of roughly 8-10 pages, using eight (8) sources (minimum). You may use Word to do basic MLA formatting that you’ll have to clean-up a bit on your own:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/video-creating-an-mla-paper-with-citations-and-a-bibliography-fe43e41c-9e44-48fb-a118-09ea97234437 Links to an external site.
You may go to Purdue University’s OWL web-site to explore MLA style demands there:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html Links to an external site.
One more thing:
If you’re using any program other than Microsoft’s Word to write your paper, be sure to save your paper as a pdf before uploading your assignment. It is as simple as going to the “file” menu on your program and selecting “save as” to save the document as a pdf. Otherwise, you can use the “save as” feature to place your paper as a Word file. My STRONG suggestion, though, is to save it as a pdf if you doing your paper in a non-Microsoft Word environment. That way, the machine can read it and so can I.
Rubric
Research Paper Rubric – Fresh for 2023 (1)
Research Paper Rubric – Fresh for 2023 (1)
Criteria Ratings Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Is it on Topic?
The topic is outlined on the prompt. The paper should clearly reflect that prompt.
10 pts
Emphatically Yes!
It is perfectly or nearly perfectly on topic.
8 pts
Kind of (8 pts.)
It is somewhat topical
7 pts
Sketchy (7 pts)
6 pts
Vaguely (6 pts.)
0 pts
No
It is not topical, doesn’t reflect the prompt at all.
10 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Uses the number and type of references requested?
Yes
10 pts
Emphatically Yes!
The references are exactly what I asked for you to use in style and number.
8 pts
Kind of (8 pts.)
It does much of what is asked, but not all
7 pts
Sketchy (7 pts.)
It does a bit of what I tasked you to use
6 pts
Yes (6 pts.)
It does some of what I asked, but deviates wildly.
0 pts
No
No references (or no paper at all)
10 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Does it meet MLA/Assignment Style Requirements?
MLA formatted, 8-10 pages, 10 or 12 point font, 1″ margins?
10 pts
Emphatically Yes!
It is so MLA it would make the Modern Language Association giddy.
8 pts
Kind of (8 pts.)
Missing some key aspects of MLA style use, but is trying. More effort would have gotten it there.
7 pts
Sketchy (7 pts.)
Uses MLA more than not, but need significant course correction to fully use it.
6 pts
Yes (ish) (6 pts.)
There’s a bit of MLA use, but much of that is dispensed with here.
0 pts
No
What style? It is without style (or there’s no paper here).
10 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Uses the REQUIRED Sources?
Does it use the type of sources outlined on the prompt? There is no acceptable substitution.
10 pts
Emphatically Yes!
I am pleased that you exactly followed instructions.
8 pts
Kind of (8 pts.)
Some of these are what you needed based on instructions, but not all.
7 pts
Sketchy (7 pts.)
You need to be much more conversant with citing in the paper and on the works cited page, but it appears you’re not being deceptive.
6 pts
Yes(ish) (6 p[ts.)
Some sources that are required appear here, but not nearly all and deviates wildly from what I tasked you with using.
0 pts
No
Sources, smources. “We don’t need no stinking sources,” this paper says (or there’s no paper here).
10 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Uses Viable Non-Mandatory Sources?
Do the sources reflect the content of the paper? Just choosing some sources is unacceptable if they don’t work with the overall paper.
10 pts
Emphatically Yes!
This should make anyone proud. You chose well.
8 pts
Mostly (8 pts.)
Some of these are appropriate, a few aren’t up to the task or what I said you could choose.
7 pts
Somewhat (7 pts.)
Many of these sources aren’t up to the task, are wiki types, or otherwise aren’t appropriate.
6 pts
Sources are sketchy (6 pts.)
These sources don’t appear to be hitting any of the targets I set forth.
5 pts
Only exist here
Not sure these sources match anything here.
0 pts
No
Wholly non-viable sources (or there’s no paper at all).
10 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Is it Competently Written?
With regard to spelling, grammar, punctuation (SGP) is it competently written? Thus: is it clearly written?
30 pts
Full Marks
This is utterly fantastic!
25 pts
Pretty Good
If is quite good, but needs some editing to get it over the top.
20 pts
Needs Some More Work
You need a heavy editing job to get this where you need it to be. The effort is good and the content is acceptable, but the presentation leave something to be desired.
15 pts
Half-Done
It reeks of not being done properly and/or borrowing too heavily from sources unknown or “helpers” unknown.
10 pts
Minimal Effort
This does not show anyone’s best work at all. It is either a rush job or you didn’t take time to look it over and turned in a draft.
5 pts
It IS Something
What it is, I’m not exactly sure, but it is something. I don’t see where it precisely bears witness to the subject at hand.
0 pts
No Marks
30 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Is This Original?
Is this an original composition. That is, is it plagiarized or not? Plagiarism is always unacceptable. Does it employ AI (also not original writing on student’s part)? Originality is always desired, preferred, and rewarded appropriately.
10 pts
Full Marks
5 pts
USES AI
Artificial intelligence detected by reader and TurnITIN.
0 pts
No Marks
This is a wholly owned subsidiary of AI, Chat GPT, etc, according to our friends at TurnItIN.
10 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome The Specificity Factor (Is it Specific?)
Is it the writing specific [“This king lived in and built an empire in 13th century Mali”] or vague [“He was a king a long time ago in Africa.”]? A higher degree of specificity is an indicator that the writer well understands the topic.
10 pts
Full Marks
It is fully and vigorously specific.
9 pts
Pretty Specific
It is not fully and vigorously specific.
8 pts
It is kind of specific
It is inching toward fully and vigorously specific, but not there yet.
7 pts
Not vague, but not specific, either
It is not nearly fully and vigorously specific, but edging toward vague instead.
6 pts
Virtually vague
This is raising problems and leading me to wonder whether it is on topic at all. Thus, it is far from specific.
5 pts
General & generic
This paper is so vague that I cannot discern that research has revealed any details to you. They certainly do not appear on these pages.
0 pts
No Marks
10 pts
Total Points: 100
