Essay analysis an advertising picture

Image Analysis Assignment

The goal of a visual analysis is not to analyze what a writer is arguing about concerning an issue, but to analyze how the creator of a visual is presenting their argument. You’ll do this by analyzing the use of rhetorical strategies (ethos, pathos, logos). Choose a print ad from a magazine, newspaper, or billboard. You will analyze the elements of this ad, how they persuade the audience, and whether or not they are successful in their persuasion.

Purpose

This assignment prompts you to identify the strategies that a particular visual argument employs. One of the reasons this technique is useful is it requires you to understand not just what authors are saying, but the methods employed to successfully effect persuasion in their intended audience. Also, as you get more comfortable identifying the strategies other writers employ, you will be able to utilize these strategies effectively in your own acts of persuasion, whether written, oral, physical, or visual.

Audience

Your audience will consist of your scholarly peers whom you may assume have only a casual familiarity with the ad that you are analyzing.

Content/Subject

Your rhetorical analysis of the ad will include a discussion of ethos, logos, and pathos, but focused on the ad.   Finally, you will want to evaluate whether these strategies are effective in convincing the audience to purchase the product that the ad is advocating. A few questions you may consider as you craft your essay:

· Which is the predominant focus of the visual?

· What strategies is the author employing to maintain the audience’s attention?

· Does the visual add information that text could not?

· How does the visual deepen understanding of the issue?

· Where might the author display/share their visual?  Why?

Steps

Step One – writing a 1st draft

Step Two – a peer review of a classmate’s 1st draft completed in class.

Step Three – a final draft due by the requested submission date and written in an elevated and sophisticated style that makes use of correct grammar and usage.  You should make sure to make a clear and precise argument as you analyze the rhetorical strategies employed in the text that you are examining.

Specific guidelines for this assignment are:

· Clear introduction and conclusion.

· Address all three rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos.

· Address the issue of audience.

· Adherence to MLA format (including in-text citations and Works Cited page).

· Correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

· Include the image as the last page of the essay. This does not contribute to the length of the essay.

· 2 pages in length. I expect 2 full pages of text. This does not include the ad or works cited page.