Emglish essay

Essay #2 Assignment

Tuesday, June 23rd: Thesis statement and outline due in class

Assignment:

In a clear, concise argumentative essay of about three pages in length (if it were typed), write an analysis of the ad that you have chosen. Bring the original ad, or a high-quality color printout, with you to class on Tuesday and Thursday.

Begin your essay with a paragraph briefly describing (i.e. summarizing) the ad and what is going on in it. This should be no more than a paragraph.

The rest of your essay, starting with your second paragraph, should be devoted to analysis of the rhetorical elements at work in your advertisement. Using the guidelines we have been following in class with our sample advertisements, analyze the ad’s use of both verbal and visual rhetoric. The following are factors that you should take into account:

· The product as well as the idea being sold

· The readership of the publication in which the ad appears.

· The ways in which the ad targets that audience, or orients itself to that audience.

· Angle of vision

· Visual angles/perspective

· Color & shading

· Arrangement of text and images

· What falls outside of the angle of vision? (i.e. what is being obscured)

· Is there an uninvited guest?

Your analysis should be unified by a strong thesis statement that lays out your own specific argument about how these elements of the ad are working. Since you will be summarizing in paragraph one, you should build up to and provide your thesis in paragraph two, and the remainder of your essay should be devoted to in-depth discussion of elements that support and develop your thesis. You do not necessarily need to argue for or against the ad. Instead, your thesis should give a tight statement of how the ad’s rhetorical elements work together to create a calculated impression. Dig underneath the surface! There are any number of directions your thesis statement can go, but it must be specific, it must argumentative, and it must include some element of originality. A successful paper will organized according to the needs of your argument, and will include and develop only those elements that contribute to and develop the argument.

Give this essay an original title!