Skip to Main Content

MUSC 1102 History & Development of Rock: Home

Welcome!

Hello! This course guide has been created for students enrolled in MUSC 1102 History and Development of Rock. In this guide, you will find several resources intended to help with your final paper.

Below is a description of the pages found in the menu above:

  • Background Sources- We will be using Oxford Music and Pop Culture Universe in the research class but you can use other sources on this tab as well.
  • Finding Books & Media- The Library has print and ebooks in addition to films that may be of interest.
  • Research Guides- View the Music Research Guide for links to database and other resources. Our databases will retrieve results for journal articles, book chapters, newspaper and magazine articles, interviews, etc. You can also see the full list of other subject guides that may be relevant to your topic.
  • MLA Citation Guide-Remember to cite your sources in-text and create a Works Cited page. Songs should be cited as well.
  • Research Tutorials- Some of our tutorials are listed here.

Assignment Details

Summer of Soul Final Project information from Professor Brian Torff's syllabus:

A research paper 5-7 pages on the Questlove documentary -Summer of Soul.
It is essential to emphasize musical, social, racial, socio-economic and gender issues that are raised in this documentary. Standard MLA paper form, a minimum of 6 sources, with no more than three published internet sources permitted. Class books may not be used as references.

 

Read the following article before and
after viewing the film: 
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/13/1015347905/summer-of-soul-questlove-1969-harlem-culturalfestiv

 

Consider: Social, racial, political context in 1969.

Why and how does it related to today?

Who are the people who are involved in this documentary?

What are their challenges, desires, struggles and dreams? Research and dig deeper…

 

Critical Analysis/Thinking for reading, written assignments and oral presentations

• There is a considerable difference between a reporting or retelling, and in-depth
critical analysis
• The goal is to read, think and question in order to reach conclusions and insightful
meanings.
• Begin by forming the questions. What are the issues, conflicts, and challenges that are
presented?
• Don’t tell us, show us. Use examples, cite sections of the text and quotes to
support your points. Make us believe or at least raise our own questions.
• Ultimately, what does the material that is presented mean to you, to us, and to
society in general? State your views based on the questions you raise with your
personal insight.

Suggestions from the Librarian

Tips from librarian Lisa Thornell   lthornell@fairfield.edu 

  • Watch the Summer of Soul documentary (before you do any research)!
    • Pay attention to the social, racial, political context of 1969. Why and how does it related to today? You may choose to search for additional sources on race in the 1960s, Harlem in the 1960s, or music in the 1960s.
    • Write down notes while watching the documentary, such as the names of musicians (and their music genres) or other individuals and organizations mentioned. You may choose to focus on one or more of these names and do more research on them.
    • Be curious. Ask yourself the questions Professor Torff poses in the project description like ' What are the issues, conflicts, and challenges that are presented?'  And 'what does the material that is presented mean to you, to us, and to society in general?' and 'Why and how does it related to today?' Write down your thoughts and underline the keywords that you could use as search terms. Consider the synonyms for those key terms too. Ex: African American, Black. 
  • Read the NPR article listed on the syllabus (link also listed above).
  • Use this library website to search for information. You can use the "All Search" bar on the library website and this Course Guide to navigate to specific databases to run searches to research what you are interested in learning more about. You may also want to try Google Scholar. See the Google Scholar tutorial on this guide to link results to your Fairfield University access.
    • Search term tip: Use simple terms like the name of the musician you want to learn more about, or other topics of interest to you. Ex: civil rights music, New York 1960s, Harlem 1960s. See the tutorials linked on this guide for basic or advanced search tips)
    • Use the search filters as needed. Ex: if you are taking a summer of intersession course you may want to limit to '"Available Online" to remove all physical book results. 
  • When you read each source, take additional notes (like the page number of any information or a quote you want to use in your paper). You will need all of this info to create your Works Cited page and in-text citations (MLA format). See the MLA citation tab of this guide for more information or use the 24/7 chat box to ask a librarian specific questions.
  • If you are struggling to find sources, please use the 24/7 chat box on the Library homepage (also linked on this guide).

 

Summer of Soul

Stream online (Hulu, Disney+, Amazon)

A DVD is also available at the Library

Ask a Librarian

Profile Photo
Research Librarians
chat loading...