Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

Core Value 1 can best be demonstrated in my work on My Hypothesis. Through a brief feedback loop and two separate conferences I was able to gain better insight into how to approach my hypothesis as well as discover ways to approach the topic from multiple perspectives. After these conferences and comments, I took the approach of seeing how music education fits into school curriculums along with other core academic areas rather than only focusing on the benefits of music education itself. I also was able to gain an understanding of how to further develop my hypothesis by also focusing on how the appreciation developed within music education also applies to other academic subjects through the development of an appreciation for the innate beauty and harmony in all things.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

Core Value 2 can be demonstrated in nearly all of my short arguments as well as in my overall research paper. Although, I feel it is best demonstrated in my work on my Causal Argument. By linking an academic research study that focuses on how music education helps to develop characteristics within a student of that of entrepreneurial individual (Music education in adolescence – A pathway to entrepreneurial identity?) with another academic source based on how music education can improve abilities within subjects like math and science (The Arts in Education: Evaluating the Evidence for a Causal Link), I was able to create a stronger argument in relation to how music education benefits students within “traditional academic areas” overall.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

Core Value 3 can best be demonstrated in my Rebuttal Argument. In my rebuttal argument, it was detrimental to my overall research that I addressed those that opposed music education in school curriculums. By using sources that presented these various argument against music education (The Most Common Arguments Against Music Education) and interpreting their ideas through my own ideas of how music education can be approached outside of school through private lessons, YouTube videos, and subscription services without taking away from critical in-class time, I was better able to formulate my own arguments against these oppositions through the use of other academic sources (Nurturing Towards Wisdom: Justifying Music in the Curriculum, Benefits of Music Education).

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

Core Value 4 can most thoroughly be represented in my White Paper. Through the act of locating various academic and counter-intuitive sources, I was able to constantly revise my working hypothesis by breaking down and more thoroughly examining the sources over time. Most specifically, I constantly reevaluated my ideas for my shorter arguments by combining evidence within differing sources along with redeveloping my hypothesis overtime. Prior to evaluating how my sources could be combine to support my own ideas and interpretations, my hypothesis was very vague and only focused on a singular aspect of how music education benefits children and adolescence.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

Core Value 5 can best be demonstrated in my overall Research Paper. While writing my research paper as well as all of my short arguments, I made it absolutely critical that I cited every source thoroughly and often multiple times within the same paragraph. In cases where constantly citing the title of the work became a waste of words I made sure that I at least cited the publisher. Along with making sure I cited all of the ideas of others I also made a point to not change how their ideas could be interpreted whatsoever. In multiple cases, I found myself in situations where leaving out information from my sources would further validate my points. Although this would have made things much easier, I made certain to include the full ideas of the authors in my paper.