help with doing an analyzing visual rhetoric assignment

Essay #2

Assignment Sheet

Rough Draft Due 4/15

Final Draft Due 4/22

MLA Formatting

3-5 pages

50 points

Please post your assignment as a Word file. Assignments posted directly to the discussion board will receive zero (0) points.

For this essay, you will choose one of the photos from the link provided and write an analysis of it. In order to write a successful analysis, you will need to spend some time with the photograph, so don’t wait until the night before it’s due to look. You should be considering your photograph for as long as you can.

Your job is to write an analysis of the photo’s message. Ask yourself what you think the photograph is trying to say. You have plenty of information to help you understand how to analyze a visual text. You will consider the subject(s) and their placement in the photograph, what’s around the subject (what other images has the photographer included in the image to enhance meaning), when was the photograph taken, and if necessary in what historical context does the photo exist.

This is NOT a description of the photograph, though including a description is not a bad thing. Your entire analysis should not simply be describing what is in the photograph. Your task is to describe the photo within a context. You might feel that the photograph does not convey the message it might mean to convey. You might decide that the message is spot on. Either way, it will be your responsibility to point to the elements of the photograph that help the reader see the message the way you do.

You will need to pay attention to standard essay structure:

· Introduction should establish the relevance of your writing beyond the simple fact of the assignment.

· A thesis that states in one concise sentence the point you will be supporting

· Body paragraphs that include topic sentences, and which support the main idea (thesis), and which come directly from the photograph

· Information may come from other sources. Document where necessary

· A conclusion which summarizes the main points and restates the thesis in different words.