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“Japanese Jazz”
by Michael Hertz

Essay Thesis and Organization

What is the internal organization of the first paragraph? How does the author build up to the thesis?

How might the author justify the multi-paragraph opening discussion of American jazz.

The essay has 12 paragraphs. Create a paragraph outline, and group the paragraphs into sections or units to recreate the original rough outline. Within this paragraph outline, can you explain the order of points about Japanese jazz?

What idea does the author use to transition from American jazz to Japanese jazz?

What terms or concepts or people mentioned in the paragraphs about American jazz appear again in the paragraphs about Japanese jazz?

Sources

How does the author employ sources to explain and support his points about Japanese culture?

Describe the mix of sources. Place the sources into categories:
books, articles, Web sources.

Explain the single quotations that appear in the second full paragraph on page 17.