I have clarified our notes and put it together in paragraph form. Read over them and use them as hints as to how to write a clear and effective album/place review:
Research About Your Album:
Listen to the album multiple times, before you get on the scene. You already made some pointed comments towards your paper last week. Bring it along with additional notes so that when you're in the place, you can give yourself a chance to really understand what is going on in the music. You don't want to write a review solely based on first impressions.
Read what others have to say about the album: You can also read other reviews or ask others for their opinion, to ascertain common attitudes towards the band's genre and previous work. This is just background work so you won't be slavishly recycling old opinion from others. And even if you did, it wouldn't work because you have to do it in conjunction with the travelogue.
Think about what points you want to make in your review. You may want to write out an outline if that helps you organize your thoughts.
Give basic information about the band, such as where they are from, the members' names, and the instruments they play. This information is especially important for a debut album, but less so if the musicians are superstars, or if you would expect most readers in your intended audience to be familiar with the band.
Discuss the album's background. Include where it fits in the context of the band's career and what possible influences they might have. You want the reader to get as much of a sense of what the music sounds like as possible.
Define a point of view: Think about the observations you've made about the music. Look at how they might fit together to create a review that can help someone in purchasing the album with the place. Then work to state that argument in a single sentence, or thesis.
Pay attention to structure.: It's important to be sure that you have a structure for your paper that presents your information logically and persuasively. Don't simply organize your paper so that it reflects the album and the piece. Instead, let your argument define a structure for you. You don't have to go through every part of the album, but you should tell people what stand out and what they should avoid in the album.
Ask yourself hard questions: How is the music
organized? What unifies the music? What style is the music and from what
period? Why are you someone the reader should take as an authority for this album? The harder the questions, the better the paper.
Research about the Place
Give a Photographic Description: Writers are artists. They present a picture through their words. Hence, show your artistic talent here by describing the place in such a complete manner that the reader actually visualizes it. Spin a beautiful picture so as to make the reader want to visit that place. If you could get a picture of it then you can take it and use it to keep notes and keep track of what things look like in your place.
Highlight the Various Attractions: In travel writing highlighting the various attractions is of paramount importance. The first thing that attracts a person to a particular place is its various appeals. A place may be very beautiful in its scenic beauty but until and unless it doesn't give us any other attractions in the way of sports or any other thing, few people will be tempted to visit it. So, include in your travelogue all the available attractions of that place so as to lure maximum number of visitors to it.
Find DifferentWays and Means to Reach the Destination, especially for a college student: You have done your job of enticing the reader to visit the place with your travel writing. But, if the reader does not get the adequate information regarding the ways and means of reaching that destination then s/he may drop the plan to visit it altogether. Therefore, always try to include the various means by which one can easily reach the place. You could give the information regarding the weather or how much it costs to reach that destination.
Mention Some Out of the Way Tourist Attraction: To give your travelogue that specific edge you should try to include some out of the way tourist attractions. These tourist attractions could be anything from an out of the way place on the trail or a specific thing you shouldn't miss when you're at your destination.
Give Some Cultural Background: Giving some cultural background of the place makes your travelogue richer in its content. People like to know the background and culture of a place they are planning to visit. It gives them a distinctive idea of what to expect from that place. It also helps them in their choice of clothes, accessories, etc.
Mention Some Dos and Don'ts of the Place: And lastly mention some dos and don'ts of the place so that a person does not make a cultural mistake there. Say a person is planning to visit the lake you're writing about and wants to go fishing. That might not be appropriate for the season or time they wish to fish, so putting it in your review would be helpful for the reader who may be reading it at a different time than when you are writing it.
Outline:
Introduction: You should briefly discuss the album and the place and why they should be experienced together. You should have an interesting hook that draws the reader in. And you should have a clear thesis that gives the reader a review of the place/album.
Background: Give us the more specific details of the album and the place. Give them the qualifications and the background of this album that you are reviewing and the place that you are visiting. At the end, they should understand why you are linking them together in this paper.
Walkthrough: This will be the majority of your paper. Tell us what this is like. Give us the review of the place and the album by dramatizing your experience and . You are proposing a new way of looking at something to an audience of your peers, so walk them through the experience by discussing your time spent at the place.
Conclusion: Give them your reasons for liking or disliking the album or the place. Make sure your ideas are clear in the closing of your paper. Remember, your target is getting your audience to spend their time and money on what you are reviewing for them, so make this conclusion count.
READ: Here are the articles for Friday's Class. Make sure you read them before you come to class and remember we have no lab tomorrow:
Surreal for Real: The Hidden Jungle Dreamland of Las Pozas by Tim Leffel
Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Puking: A Whale Watching Tour in Monterey
Beyond Thunder
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