This document provides guidelines for writing a 2-page essay on a topic related to the history of jazz music. Students must choose from four topic choices, cite at least two external sources and the course textbook, follow APA formatting for citations and references, and meet length and formatting requirements. The document reviews how to structure the essay with an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion and how to incorporate in-text citations to attribute sources.

1. History of Jazz Music: Written Project #1
Writing Assignment Guidelines/Resources:
Be sure to review the Writing Assignment Guidelines/Resources
page located on the previous page.
Writing Prompt:
Choose one of the following:
Topic Choices:
·
Historical Comprehension -
Explain how the
cultural diversity of New Orleans helped create a new
American music, ultimately labeling New Orleans as the
"birthplace of jazz".
·
Cultural Analysis -
Analyze how the
traveling lifestyle of jazz musicians was a result of the
American cultural climate.
Discuss how the
different environments became a strong influence on the
music they composed and performed.
·
Geographical Application -
Identify and
examine the
jazz styles and artists associated with the five cities of
New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and
New York City.
·
Jazz Musician Comprehension -

2. Select any
jazz musician you have learned about throughout
modules 1-5 to do deeper research on,
explaining their influence on jazz history.
Discuss the various events and people that shaped their
life and career.
Essay Length: 2 pages
Sources - Our textbook and at least 2 websites.
List your textbook on the reference page as follows:
Ulven, J. (2020).
History of Jazz Music.
https://www.excelhighschool.com
In-text Citing for our textbook, place (Ulven, 2020) after the
quote used.
Writing assignments will be graded using the rubric below:
Important Policies:
· All essays are submitted to various plagiarism software
programs to check for copied material. Copying parts or all of
other people's written work and passing it off as yours violates
the school's Academic Integrity Policy, which could lead to
expulsion.
· The first use of platforms such as CourseHero to cheat will
lead to a resubmission of the assignment that will result in a
grade no greater than a 'B'. The second violation will result in
failure in the course. The third violation will result in dismissal
from the program.
· Students are allowed 3 (Three) attempts on all essays, 3
(Three) attempts on all written assignments, 3 (Three) attempts

3. on all multi-media presentations, and 3 (Three) attempts on all
projects. Each essay, written assignment, multi-media
presentation, or project must achieve a 60% or greater.
These are not cumulative grades for the assignments as
they are each considered 1 (One) assignment where a student
must have 60% or greater.Part 2: The Essay
Now that your cover page is completed, break to a new page to
start the written part of your essay! The following is a general
outline of an academic paper. Use it to help you structure your
essay!Required Components Throughout All Paragraphs
· Use the font "Times New Roman".
· Font size should be 12.
· The lines should be double spaced.Introduction Paragraph
(3 to 4 sentences)
Discuss: What is this essay about? What are the main points of
the essay?
Requirements:
· Introduce the topic using a "hook" that grabs the attention of
the reader. Look to the right to see ideas of common attention
grabbers.
· Up to 3 sentences that introduce the topic, outline the major
points that will be discussed, and present a clear thesis (main
idea) for the entire essay.Body Paragraph #1
(4 to 5 sentences)
Discuss: The first main point of your essay.Requirements:
· Topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph.
· 3 to 5 sentences that include details supporting that main idea.
· At least 1 in-text citation to reference the source of your
details. (More on this later in Part 3: References & In-Text
Citations)Body Paragraph #2
(4 to 5 sentences)
Discuss: The second main point of your essay.Requirements:
· Topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph.

4. · 3 to 5 sentences that include details supporting that main idea.
· At least 1 in-text citation to reference the source of your
details. (More on this later in Part 3: References & In-Text
Citations)Body Paragraph #3
(4 to 5 sentences)
Discuss: The third main point of your essay.Requirements:
· Topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph.
· 3 to 5 sentences that include details supporting that main idea.
· At least 1 in-text citation to reference the source of your
details. (More on this later in Part 3: References & In-Text
Citations)Conclusion Paragraph
(3 to 4 sentences)
Discuss: What does the information you've presented reveal?
Requirements:
· Summarize the key points you’ve made in the paper.
· Finish with a sentence or two that gives the reader a sense of
closure.Part 3: References & In-Text Citations
This part will firstly focus on creating a references page with
sources structured in APA format. Secondly, we will learn how
to use the information on your references page to create in-text
citations, which can be added to the body paragraphs of your
essay.Source Requirements:
· Always include the course textbook on your references page.
Note that it
does not count as one of your two online sources.
· Include at least
2 additional sources retrieved from public websites
(please do not use websites that require usernames/passwords).
·
All sources that you use or cite must be listed on the
references page.

5. · Wikipedia cannot be one of your listed sources.The References
Page
As an example, let's use this website as a source:
Once you have the source URL, use the following Citation
Generator from Scribbr to help you structure your sources into
APA format. Click on the following link to be directed to the
citation generator:https://www.scribbr.com/apa-citation-
generator/
When you go to the link, it should look like this:
Since you are citing a public website, click on
the Website button on the left.
Then, on the following page, you should paste the URL of the
source you want to cite and click search.
The program will then fill in the information from your source,
and you then should scroll to the bottom of the page and click
the Cite Source button. It will generate a citation for you.
Copy that onto your own resources page.
Do the same with all of your sources and then put them in
alphabetical order.
Congrats! You just created your references page!
In-Text Citations
In an academic essay, in-text citations are used to link the
information in your paper to the sources on your references
page. When you add in-text citations, you are pointing
specifically to evidence that backs up what you say. This is a
necessary part of supporting the content of your paper.
Creating In-Text Citations
In-text citations are formatted in the body of your essay as

6. follows:
(Author, Date).
If no author is provided in your source, follow this format:
(Title, Date).
If there is no publication year you can find, include "n.d." to
signify that no date was available. For example: (Nguyen, n.d.)
Using the sources on our new references page, we will now
make in-text citations that would be added to the body
paragraphs of the essay.Source #1:
This source has no author mentioned, so we will use the title
and year to create the following in-text citation: (Life Skills,
2020)
Source #2:
Since this source does have an author, we will use just the last
name and year in the in-text citation: (Sinco, 2020)
Source #3:
For this source we will use the title and year again, due to there
being no author mentioned: (Software Developer Job
Description, 2021)
Using In-Text Citations
Each of the body paragraphs in your essay should have at least
one in-text citation. In addition, you use in-text citations when
quoting or paraphrasing information from one of your sources.
Here are two examples of how to correctly cite direct
quotes with in-text citations:
and
Here is an example of the same information paraphrased and
cited:

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Written Essay Assignment #1
Writing Assignment Guidelines/Resources:
Be sure to review the Writing Assignment Guidelines/Resources
page located on the previous page.
Writing Prompt:
Referenceinformation in Chapters 1-14 of your textbook:
Choose ONE from the following 3 topics:
1. Write an essay about stress. Address what causes stress, how
it affects your body and the steps to take to reduce stress.
2. Write an essay on the benefits of physical fitness and
nutrition and how they can contribute to a healthy lifestyle.
3. Write an essay addressing the importance of responsible
relationships and remaining abstinent.
Essay Length: 2 pages
Sources: 2 websites and your course textbook required
You must list your course textbook on the reference page as

8. follows:
Excel High School. (2022).
Health and Fitness. Include current web address for
course here
Source Requirements:
· Always include the course textbook on your references page.
Note that it
does not count as one of your two online sources.
· Include at least
2 additional sources retrieved from public websites
(please do not use websites that require usernames/passwords).
·
All sources that you use or citemust be listed on the
references page.
· Wikipedia cannot be one of your listed sources.The References
Page
As an example, let's use this website as a source:
Once you have the source URL, use the following Citation
Generator from Scribbr to help you structure your sources into
APA format. Click on the following link to be directed to the
citation generator:https://www.scribbr.com/apa-citation-
generator/
When you go to the link, it should look like this:
Since you are citing a public website, click on the
Website button on the left.
Then, on the following page, you should paste the URL of the
source you want to cite and click search.

9. The program will then fill in the information from your source,
and you then should scroll to the bottom of the page and click
the
Cite Source button. It will generate a citation for you.
Copy that onto your own resources page.
Do the same with all of your sources and then put them in
alphabetical order.In-Text Citations
In an academic essay, in-text citations are used to link the
information in your paper to the sources on your references
page. When you add in-text citations, you are pointing
specifically to evidence that backs up what you say. This is a
necessary part of supporting the content of your paper.
Creating In-Text Citations
In-text citations are formatted in the body of your essay as
follows:
(Author, Date).
If no author is provided in your source, follow this format:
(Title, Date).
If there is no publication year you can find, include "n.d." to
signify that no date was available. For example: (Nguyen, n.d.)
Using the sources on our new references page, we will now
make in-text citations that would be added to the body
paragraphs of the essay.Source #1:
This source has no author mentioned, so we will use the title
and year to create the following in-text citation: (Life Skills,
2020)
Source #2:

10. Since this source does have an author, we will use just the last
name and year in the in-text citation: (Sinco, 2020)
Source #3:
For this source we will use the title and year again, due to there
being no author mentioned: (Software Developer Job
Description, 2021)
Using In-Text Citations
Each of the body paragraphs in your essay should have at least
one in-text citation. In addition, you use in-text citations when
quoting or paraphrasing information from one of your sources.
Here are two examples of how to correctly cite direct
quotes with in-text citations:
and
Here is an example of the same information paraphrased and
cited:
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