VISUAL

ENGL 1302

McCourt

Fall 2022

Writing Assignment 2 – Visual/Rhetorical Analysis

Topic: You will choose an image from popular culture or the media and analyze the visual and rhetorical elements of the image. You will identify the message within the image as well as the composition of the image to identify to ways in which the image persuades the audience.

Purpose: Your purpose in this essay is to be informative and analytical; therefore your personal response to the image or your opinion on the issue itself should NOT be included.

Choosing an Image: Choose a print advertisement, political cartoon, or news/media photo. Do NOT choose a screen capture from a video or any other type of video (like a commercial). Remember when choosing an image that you must consider your academic audience. Your image should be PG-13 – it should NOT contain excessive violence, explicit sexual images, or profanity. Any project containing such images will be considered offensive and will be graded accordingly. If you have questions about the image you are considering, please bring it to me for my approval.

Essay Format: You will construct an essay of 3 –5 pages (using MLA format). The separate page containing your photo/ad does NOT count as one of the pages of your essay. Remember that you are writing an essay, so you must have an introduction with a clear thesis, the body which will contain your analysis, and a conclusion.

Remember: your opinion about the topic does not matter in analysis. I do NOT want to see a discussion of why you chose the image or why it is meaningful to you. Your discussion should ONLY focus on the visual and rhetorical elements of the image

This essay should be written in 3rd person; therefore, you should not include “you can see” or “I feel” statements.

What to Include in Submission and Due Dates: You will need to have a copy of your image with your rough draft on the day of the Peer Review as well as when you turn in your final draft. The image should NOT be imbedded in the text of your essay, but should be on a separate sheet of paper, so that your reader will not need to flip back and forth to see the image while reading the text of your essay. The copy of the image should be very clear, especially if it contains text. If the elements you discuss in your essay cannot be clearly seen in the copy of the image you include, or if the text cannot be clearly read, then you must select another image for analysis. It is not necessary for you to print a color copy of your image.

Final copy of your essay will be due on Friday, October 7. Please make sure you include the image you are analyzing in your file upload.

If you go to the Writing Center for extra credit, please give them my email address [email protected]

When uploading your essay to the submission box in Canvas, I recommend that you do not submit assignments while using your phone, tablet, or other mobile device due to risk that your assignment may not upload properly. I recommend you use a notebook/laptop or desktop computer to submit online assignments.

MLA Format:

1. 1 inch margins

2. Font: Times New Roman 12 pt font ONLY (Do NOT underline, bold, or use a larger font size for the title)

3. Double space the entire paper (Do NOT include extra space between paragraphs or around the title)

4. Standard 4 line heading on first page of paper (Do NOT include a cover page with this information. Do NOT place this heading into the Header tool because then it will appear on every page of the paper. It should appear only on the FIRST page).

a. Student Name

b. McCourt (Instructor’s last name)

c. ENGL 1302

d. Date (this should be the date the paper is due, NOT the date you write the paper)

5. Page Number in upper right corner of each page with student’s LAST name in front of the page number.