Assignment: Human Creative Expression

Overview 

The enduring relevance of the humanities is that they encourage us to consider a number of “big ideas.” What is culture? How do we go about studying it? What is the relationship between cultural artifacts and the culture in which they are created? Between artists and the creators of cultural artifacts and the things they create? How is human meaning generated through cultural creations? We humans seem driven to express and create in our search to understand and be understood. In Project 2, you will use the ideas you have studied throughout the course in addition to the insights you have gained from your deep thinking about your chosen artifact to discuss why humans are driven to express themselves in so many ways. You will draw conclusions about the reciprocal relationship between forms of expression and the context in which they are created and experienced. The short answer response assignment will assess the following course outcomes, which you focus on throughout Themes 3 and 4:

· Investigate major developments in the humanities for informing critical questions related to human culture and endeavors

· Articulate the value of the humanities for their impact on contemporary issues focusing on how humans generate unique meanings

Prompt Articulate the value of human creative expression to the advancement of human culture. Be sure to state your opinions clearly and specifically and to provide ample detail from your course materials and the study of your chosen artifact in Project 1. You should address each of these in writing as three separate explanations. This is not meant to be an essay. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Explain why you believe humans have a need to express themselves through created artifacts. A. Explain the larger human need to express using the insights you gained from studying your artifact. B. Detail how a person and/or concept encountered in this course has informed your explanation.

II. Explain how you think the act of human creative expression impacts and is impacted by the culture in which it was created.

A. Explain the larger reciprocal relationship between human creative expression and the culture in which it was created using the insights you gained from studying your artifact.

B. Detail how a person and/or concept encountered in this course has informed your explanation.

III. Explain how you believe human creative expression can impact issues we deal with today. Be sure to be specific about the issues you are addressing. A. Use the insights you gained from studying your artifact to explain how creative expression can impact today’s issues.

B. Detail how a person and/or concept encountered in this course has informed your explanation.

Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Responses to this assessment should be typed in 12-point Times New Roman font as three separate short answer responses.

Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Need to Express: Your Artifact

Meets “Proficient” criteria, and insights chosen illustrate a sophisticated explanation of the larger human need to express

Explains the larger human need to express using insights gained from studying the artifact

Explains the larger human need to express using insights gained from studying the artifact, but is cursory or has inaccuracies

Does not explain the larger human need to express using insights gained from studying the artifact

Need to Express: This Course

Meets “Proficient” criteria, and person and/or concept chosen illustrates a sophisticated explanation of the larger human need to express

Details how a person and/or concept encountered in the course has informed the explanation of the larger human need to express

Details how a person and/or concept encountered in the course has informed the explanation, but is cursory or has inaccuracies

Does not detail how a person and/or concept encountered in the course has informed the explanation

Impacts and Is Impacted by Culture:

Your Artifact

Meets “Proficient” criteria, and insights chosen illustrate a sophisticated explanation of the larger reciprocal relationship

Explains the larger reciprocal relationship between human creative expression and the culture in which it was created using the insights gained from studying the artifact

Explains the larger reciprocal relationship between human creative expression and the culture in which it was created using the insights gained from studying the artifact, but is cursory or has inaccuracies

Does not explain the larger reciprocal relationship between human creative expression and the culture in which it was created using the insights gained from studying the artifact

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
• Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
• Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.