Visual Rhetoric- Essay One

The Visual Analysis: Unit Overview/Assignment Sheet

Everyday you are bombarded with visual messages that try to convince you to form certain opinions.  The media knows the power of images in changing your mind, but are you aware of how these messages function?  Do you know how images are constructed to cause positive consumer response?  Can you see the “hidden agenda” in the form, style, and layout? One purpose of this unit is to increase your “visual literacy,” that is, your ability to “analyze images in order to understand their persuasive power” (Ramage et al. 203).  By learning how to read the construction of an image, you will be better prepared to analyze how people construct arguments in all formats.

Additionally, you will learn how to employ analytical and compositional strategies in your own texts to create persuasive arguments by writing rhetorically, developing a clear and defensible thesis, supplying strong supporting details, and employing effective appeals (e.g., logos, pathos, and ethos).  Thus, you will have the chance not only to analyze the elements of effective visual arguments, but also to strengthen your own writing by learning the key elements of convincing analysis and argumentation.  The capstone project of this unit will be to write a top-down thesis-driven, argumentative paper that analyzes a particular product’s advertisement scheme. (Do not take a position, just present the strategies in place for each ad.)

Unit Objectives:

-                 Students will be able to identify compositional techniques used to evoke desired responses from viewers (camera angles, distances, text layout, color, etc.)

-                 Students will be able to analyze visual messages to determine the rhetorical purposes of the message

-                 Students will gain an awareness of the various value systems that are “hidden” in visual messages

-                 Students will be able to differentiate between topic-driven and thesis-driven writing

-                 Students will learn about the relationship between analysis and argument in academic writing

-                 Students will be able to produce a thesis-driven, argumentative essay analyzing an ad

-                 Students will be able to develop a clear, defensible thesis and provide details supporting their analysis

-                 Students will be able to identify and employ effective appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos (chapter four)

-                 Students will be able to write and revise their own work, as well as respond critically in peer reviews

Assignment:           You will select an advertisement or speech and perform a detailed analysis.  The advertisements may be selected from newspapers, magazines, or any other print or on-line source.  You may want to select an advertisement that is provocative and evokes a number of questions in your mind about its aim and assumptions.

Through your critical analysis of the advertisement, you will develop a thesis-driven, argumentative essay.  This essay is not solely a description of the advertisement and the techniques used to create it; it is also an analysis of the advertisement—the ad’s purpose—and your ability to support your claims.  (You’re going beyond the superficial—beyond the pretty pictures and colors, although they too play a role.  Think of the cultural implications of the ad—especially the older ones.  What stereotypes are being perpetuated?  Are the ads creating/recreating a role of a particular gender or people?) There are a number of sources that will be helpful to you in completing this assignment successfully including:

§  This handout: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/725/

§  This clip on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vJvivIzkDg

§  The criteria for grading which follow

 Criteria for Grading:         Your final analysis will be graded with the following questions in mind:

-                 Does the author develop a clear, central thesis statement?

-                 Is the essay driven by the thesis rather than the topic?

-                 Does the author provide adequate evidence to support his or her argument?

-                 Is the author’s argument persuasive and show attempts to appeal to logos, pathos and ethos?

-                 Does the author show awareness of the rhetorical aim of the ad?

-                 Does the author use Standard Written English (mechanics/usage/MLA formatting)?

Length/Format: The essay must be 1,000-1,2000 words in length, double-spaced, 12-point font, with one-inch margins around.  The format should follow all MLA writing conventions for paragraphing, citations, etc.  The final paper will be turned in on-line.