IDS 404 Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric
Critical Analysis Portfolio and Presentation Proposal
Overview: For the first part of your final project, the critical analysis portfolio, you will select an artifact from popular culture and critically analyze it through the
four general education lenses: history, humanities, natural and applied sciences, and social sciences. By viewing the artifact through these lenses, you will gain
insight into how the mediated nature of popular culture affects society, as well as both your own individual framework of perception and the choices, attitudes,
and behaviors of others in the world around you.
For this first milestone, due in Module Two, you will select an artifact to analyze through the four general education lenses. You will explain the artifact and its
relationship to popular culture as well as describe its connection to all four lenses.
Prompt: First, review the module resources you have so far encountered, as well as your work in Module One. In addition, it is suggested that you visit the IDS
404 LibGuide for guidance on how to select a topic. Select one example of a popular culture artifact and write a paper that addresses how this artifact fits into
the framework of popular culture, and then addresses how each lens influences perceptions and attitudes toward the artifact, popular culture, and society.
Specifically, you must address the critical elements listed below.
I. Introduction: You will compile a series of critical analyses of your popular culture artifact through the four general education lenses: history,
humanities, natural and applied sciences, and social sciences.
A. Topic: Using the four lenses, explain how your artifact has or has not influenced modern society.
II. Lens Connections: In this section of your assignment, you will describe the connections between your artifact and each of the four general education
lenses.
A. What is the connection of your artifact to the lens of the history for determining its impact on various institutions? Utilize evidence from
theory and research to support your analysis.
B. What is the connection of your artifact to the lens of the humanities for determining its impact on various institutions? Utilize evidence from
theory and research to support your analysis.
C. What is the connection of your artifact to the lens of natural and applied sciences for determining its impact on various institutions? Utilize
evidence from theory and research to support your analysis.
D. What is the connection of your artifact to the lens of the social sciences for determining its impact on various institutions? Utilize evidence from
theory and research to support your analysis.
