Tips for Assignment 2

Use of the literature
We are looking for signs that you understand the theory and literature and have been able to use it to critically reflect upon your own experience of music during exercise.
–    Be specific when you are referring to a piece of literature. ‘Who said it, what was the context of their work/study, what did they say or find?’ Then clearly explain this in relation to an aspect of your experience (such as increased endurance during a sprint).
–    Try to move away from purely describing your experience, and attempt to reflect upon it in depth. Remember, that we are not looking for a ‘correct’ answer to explain your experience. Instead, we are more interested in how well you reflect upon it.
–    Only use literature and theory that is relevant. You will do better with 10 good and relevant pieces of literature rather than 15 semi-relevant ones that aren’t covered in depth.
–    Use literature throughout the essay rather than just in one or two paragraphs.

Argument
–    Explain the purpose of the playlist and the nature of the workout. Then use the body of the assignment to show how you used the playlist to achieve this workout.
–    You can reflect on successes and failures in your music selection. But remember there needs to be an overall sense of flow from the introduction, through your paper, and into your concluding points.
–    Explain how you went about selecting the songs for the playlist. You can re-rate songs once you try exercising to them if you like. Just explain whatever you did to your marker.
–    Use the conclusion to offer insight. It is better to make a clear and well considered point here that clearly comes out of your experience with each song, rather than through in a lot of half-hearted suggestions that aren’t fully explained.

Style
–    Write in the voice that is best for you. If writing in 3rd person feels awkward and clunky, then try 1st. If you find that first person makes you write too informally, then try 3rd.
–    Write clearly. Your markers do not want to have to re-read overly complex sentences.

Assignment 2
1500 words

Exercise is good for us, and music during exercise can help motivate us to work harder and longer. Music can divert attention from uncomfortable sensations, provide supporting rhythm and tempo (speed), function as a stimulant, and improve mood. Choosing music with motivating qualities can maximize these benefits during exercise.

The Brunel Music Rating Inventory-3 (Karageorghis 2008) was designed to help select motivating music for exercise.   In this assignment you will use the Rating Scale (below) to develop your own exercise(Interval training) playlist of 10 motivating songs.  In order to complete the assignment you will need to exercise whilst listening to the playlist and then report on your experience with reference to the literature. You are welcome to undertake this regime more than once in order to re-rate some songs and/or to be able to reflect more deeply on changes that occur between exercise sessions.

Begin the assignment by describing your experience of generating a play list using BMRI-3.   This should be a short paragraph that provides a first person account of the process of song selection as experienced by you.  The technical details should be left for the body of the report.

The body of the report should be made up of 10 short explanations (of approximately 100 words each), containing the following:

– Your actual experience of exercising with the song and what was more or less motivating

– How the related literature explains why the song did or did not fulfil your expectations

– If relevant, include a comment on any changes that occurred when re-rating the song, and whether that was anticipated by the literature

A complete reference to the song should be reported in the sub-title for each section, followed by your initial rating of the song, as seen in the following example.

P!NK (2006).  Stupid girls. On I’m not dead (CD/Album).  Australia: Sony Music Entertainment.      Initial Rating =    35

Conclude your assignment with a reflection on whether you think the rating provided you with realistic scores overall.  Make suggestions about how such a rating tool could be improved and what research might provide greater insights into the relationship between music and exercise.

Assessment Criteria:

-Successful reporting of all song scores and citations in the text, and correct referencing of song and literature references according to APA 6 style

-Integration of the literature into the explanations about the effect of each song

-Capacity to suggest novel or additional items or ideas that might improve selection of motivating qualities in music

-Clarity of writing and presentation

Points to take note of:
– Please include complete references to each song as the subheadings. Also include these references in the reference list.

– All citations included in the body of the assignment must appear in the reference list according to your chosen referencing style.( APA 6)

– Include a minimum of 10 pieces of literature, integrated into the body of the assignment.

– You may choose to write the assignment in first or third person.

– The reference list is not included in the word limit. In-text citations and sub-headings are included in the word limit.

– You may choose songs from any genre/style/culture

Example song citation in full:

Writer, A. (Copyright year). Title of the song [Recorded by B. B. place artist here if different to the writer]. On Title of album [Medium of recording such as CD, Record etc] Location: Label. (date of the recording if different from song copyright date)