I need help with my English homework

Unit IV Overview

Rhetorical Analysis of a Print Advertisement

In Unit IV, our primary task will be to produce an essay in which we analyze a printed advertisement. We will be using magazine advertisements for this assignment, and I’ve got a pile of magazines that I will bring to class for your perusal, but you’re free to use magazines other than what I supply. You will be handing in the entire magazine with the essay; the magazine will not be returned to you. The thesis of this essay is to address the way in which the advertisement accomplishes its goal, which is to sell the product, and support will come from observation and analysis of the ad. Analysis will involve dissecting the advertisement into its constituent parts: image, text, subtext, and context. For image, we will further examine elements such as subject, color, framing, composition, focus, lighting, texture, and angle and vantage point. Selecting a complex advertisement (one with both image and text, and one in which the image itself might be complex) will give you more options for development than a simple ad (though all ads have at least text or image, and subtext and context). I encourage you to begin looking for printed advertisements as soon as possible, and to gather at least three to five options.

To learn about image analysis and cultural implications of image and advertising, we will be reading “The Power of Images: Creating the Myths of our Time,” an essay by J. Francis Davis. Although not a sample of what assignment essays will do, there is some advertisement analysis in the article, and among the “myths” described by Davis is probably one that will apply to the ad you select. We will also be reading about rhetorical analysis in How to Write Anything, and we learn more specifically about image analysis and other essay considerations from various documents available in D2L. Some of the materials that will aid in your analysis will be delivered as part of our on-line component. Additionally, there are some files available (as optional reading) that demonstrate my own prewriting about an ad for Secret Moonlit Rose antiperspirant. Because you need to do your own explorations and prewriting, this advertisement is not available to use in your own rhetorical analysis essay.

The finished essay will be a minimum of 1300 words and a maximum of 2000 words in length, word-processed in a standard 11 or 12-point font with 1” margins. We will be documenting our advertisements by properly introducing them in the essay (in-text citation) and on a works cited page. We will discuss this in class, and there is a D2L file about “Documentation of Print Advertisements.” There is a possibility that other research can be used in this essay (though it’s not required, nor even necessarily recommended), and if you do use outside sources (as quotation, paraphrase and/or summary), that use should be properly recognized with MLA Style documentation. Decide fairly early in the process if you will be using sources other than the advertisement, so we can work together to ensure proper documentation.

The essay is the only major assignment in Unit IV, and it is worth 15% of your course grade. Additionally, it is the last opportunity this semester to demonstrate the ability to write an acceptable thesis-driven essay. Therefore, I’ll offer some advice:

1) Chose an advertisement very early in the project’s time frame, preferably no later than Wed., Nov. 2nd, and have a couple of options. By selecting an ad early, you can think and prewrite about it as you learn about image analysis; if you have a backup (and/or if you can’t decide between a couple of ads) prewrite about both ads until you’re sure your primary choice will work (or until you can decide between the two). By work, I mean that the ad will provide enough material to fulfill the assignment requirements.

2) Begin taking notes and prewriting about your ad(s) as soon as possible, perhaps even as you’re trying to decide if you want to use the ad, and probably even before we begin learning about image analysis—even your earliest ideas about an ad, such as why it appeals to you and general ideas about how you think it works, perhaps even thoughts about its use of color or symbols, may have a role in your finished essay. Taking notes will help you remember the ideas you’ve already had and will allow you to move forward in your thought process; if you’re always repeating the same ideas in your head just to remember them, it’s hard to have new ones. Taking notes and prewriting also allows you to practice your ideas about the ad, so when you begin drafting, many of the ideas will already be fully formed or close to fully formed. Having these ideas in writing means you’re also practicing the language you will use to present them, another obvious boon when you move to the drafting process.

3) The syllabus calls for the drafting process to take place Nov. 11th – 18th. Start drafting early, keep working until you have a full draft (all your ideas are recorded with some semblance of order), use in-class peer review and work time wisely, and consider scheduling at least one visit to the University Writing Center. If you can produce a draft you feel is “finished” by Friday the 18th, you will also have the luxury of letting it sit for at least a day before a final proofreading. This separation from the text can help you see errors more readily.