Music in and of Modern East Asia > Critical Summary II

For your second critical summary, you will summarize one substantial scholarly source of your choice, on a topic of your choice that relates to the broad theme of Music in and of Modern East Asia. See Topic Categories for more on this theme.

Picking a Source

The source you summarize will most likely be one that you find yourself, though it could also be one identified by a peer, or one that I recommend. Whatever the case, it should be a substantial piece of scholarship that presents original research and/or analysis. See Bibliographic Research: Criteria for Sources for general guidelines.

In a working session, you will work in groups to discuss the sources you are considering. This, along with consultation with me through your research journal, will inform your final decision as to the source you will summarize.

Summarizing Your Source

Remember that you are summarizing your source and its perspective on your topic, rather than writing about your topic and merely drawing upon your source to support your arguments. Review Critical Summaries—Definition and Guidelines for more complete instructions.

Drafts and Peer Review Sessions

As with the first critical summary, your writing will be informed by feedback from your peers, and by reviewing your peers' work, through a sequence of drafts and peer review sessions.

Again, with the first draft, your objective should be to identify the most important points and get your summary of them down on paper. In this case, you should aim to produce a fully-formed rough draft.

After the peer review session, you will make revisions to produce your final draft.

Discussion Sessions

For the discussion sessions, the class will be divided into groups according to clusters of topics. For each session, everyone will read the critical summaries by those in the group that is up. Everyone will also post questions in advance on Canvas for two of these sessions.

Peer Assessment

You will again complete a peer assessment of a summary by one of your peers.