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Visual Rhetorical Analysis

 

Length: Minimum 1200 words

 

Purpose:

The goal of the assignment is for students to practice their ability to identify and address rhetorical strategies within visual texts as well as be able to use analysis to address and respond to those rhetorical strategies.

 

Goals:

  • Produce a clearly organized analysis that indicates understanding of the persuasive effects of images and that discusses angle of vision, compositional features, rhetorical choices, audience appeals, and cultural assumptions.

  • Continue to show evidence of “reading with and against the grain”;

  • Craft an introduction that hooks the reader;

  • Revise and edit to achieve a clear rhetorical purpose and to meet audience needs.

 

Assignment:

Choose a visual piece of media (print, video, art, photography) that’s purpose is trying to convince the audience of something. For example, you might choose a car ad, video game ad,  food ad, a music video, or a photograph from Cosmopolitan.This means you can choose from any genre or medium available to you. Such as billboards, websites, videos, print advertisements, whole magazines, etc. Remember that your analysis should be organized around a thesis that makes a clear, specific claim about the visual text that you choose. What is the rhetorical context for these pieces of media? What are the genre constraints? What can videos do that print can’t? Who is their audience? How is ethos, pathos, and logos built in the visual text?

 

Audience:

Your audience should be your classmates and your professor, but you should assume that your readers have not seen the visual that you’re analyzing. With that in mind, your visual’s descriptions must be clear and vivid so that your readers can understand the visual text and the claims you’re making about them. Don’t be afraid to make strong, arguable claims about the visual, but remember to support those claims with evidence and logical thought. Don’t just assume that your audience will know what you mean. Explain yourself.

 

To help form an arguable, interesting thesis, ask problematic questions about…

  • Purpose and audience: Who is the intended audience for the visual text?

  • How do you know? What values does each audience hold?

  • What might the context of the visual text (where it appears) tell you about the audience?

  • Use of type, layout, color, and image: What effects might these elements have on the visual’s descriptions audience? What’s the relationship between the images and the text?

  • The appeal to logos, the logic of the visual texts: Does the visual texts make sense? Does it have to?

  • The appeal to ethos and the credibility of the creators: Does the visual text seem professional? Is it relatable?

  • The appeal to pathos: Does the visual text try to evoke certain emotions or reinforce certain values? Why?

  • The effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the visual texts: Is it persuasive? Why or why not?

  • The creators’ cultural perspectives: How does the visual text reflect the culture or society that produced it? Does the visual text include any popular culture references?

  • The angle of vision: Is there anything conspicuously absent from the visual text? Why?

 

When evaluating your essay, I will consider the following:

  • Does the essay’s introduction attempt to hook the reader and set up the analysis?

  • Does the essay contain a clear, specific and arguable thesis?

  • Does the thesis address the rhetorical strategies of the visual text (intended meanings of images/text and possible effects on the target audience?)

  • Is the visual text described clearly and thoroughly?

  • Does the essay supply detailed analysis that logically supports the thesis?

  • Is the essay clearly and logically organized?

  • Does the essay show evidence of thorough proofreading and editing?

​

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Day 1 – Introduction to Analyzing Images     

Class Goals:    

Students will evaluate how visual sources can be analyzed for rhetorical strategies 

Assignments Due:      

Print: Visual Analysis Assignment Sheet   

Journal Entry – Rhetorical Strategies discussed in “How To: Vlog” video. 250 words   

Read:    

Visual Analysis Assignment Sheet  

  • Guide to Writing: Chapter 5:  Introduction to Analyzing Images, pp. 111-121 (11 pgs) 

Watch:
In-Class Activities:   

Overview of Assignment Sheet and Unit Plan (5 mins)

Discussion of what we mean by “visual rhetoric” (5 mins)

Round 1 of visual analysis (15 mins)

  • Five images will be shown, one minute each

    • Magazine

    • Tourism ad

    • Graffiti (politically charged)

    • Sports magazine

  • Individually, students write a one minute response to each image

  • Short class discussion inviting students to share their reactions

  • Prompt questions:

    • How does the image use ethos, pathos and logos?

    • Who is the audience?

    • What is the purpose?

    • Is the image persuasive?

    • What are some rhetorical strategies used by the creator?

Group work: 

Round 2 of visual analysis (10 mins)

  • Five images will be shown, two minutes each

  • Teams of 3-4 will brainstorm reactions to the images

Class Discussion:  

Open ended questions to spur discussion (10 mins)

  • What was one of your favorite images? Why?

  • What was one of your least favorites? Why?

  • How does the commercial’s use of lighting (e.g. light v. dark; shadows v. sunshine, vivid v. faded) influence how you view the factory farm and the rural, non-factory farm?

  • What is the rhetorical purpose of the “helicopter raven?” Is the visual representation of the raven similar to representations of the food factory? How so?

  • How does the scale of the visuals (i.e. large factory farm v. small kitchen) influence how you view the food?

Class Debrief (5 mins)

  • Overview of class goals

  • Quick review of assignments due next class

  • Any questions?

 

Day 2 – Looking at Model Essays   

Class Goals:   

Analyze a model written by a professional writer 

Analyze a model written by a student 

Assignments Due:   

  • Notes and analysis of reading and/or video

  • Bring 2-3 images, book covers, game covers, movie posters, advertisements that the student feels will be interesting to discuss in class.

Read:     

  • Guide to Writing: Chapter 5:  Introduction to Analyzing Images (Part 2), pp. 121 – 147 (28 pgs).

Watch: 
Write:   

Identify as best you can what you think are the main arguments for these samples. How convincing do you find each argument? Describe the ethos of each writer.

  • Bring this analysis to class (200-250 words)

  • Bring your notes in the margins or brainstorm list    

In-Class Activities:   

Break in to groups of 2-3 and present the images brought in from home (5 mins)

  • Each group must select one image they feel is most rhetorically compelling

    • Assign roles to each group. Making one the speaker, one in charge of the rhetorical constraints and listing them, and the other in charge of writing down the genre and audience

Students will place their images onto a large table in the front and are invited to observe the group of images displayed (5 mins)

Class Discussion (10 mins)

  • Did Hoyt's professional position as Public Editor of the New York Times influence your receptiveness to his ideas? By contrast, did the student's non-professional position influence how you viewed his/her essay? 

  • Hoyt makes numerous appeals to ethos. How does he do this? And, how does the student appeal to ethos? 

  • Was Hoyt's thesis easy to identify? Was the student's? 

  • After reading both essays, you agree with their theses? Why? 

Divide in to groups of 3-4; each group selects one image to discuss (10 mins)

  • Designate one team leader to present

  • Designate a team note taker

  • Prompt questions:

    • How does the image use ethos, pathos and logos?

    • Who is the audience?

    • What is the purpose?

    • Is the image persuasive?

    • What are some rhetorical strategies used by the creator?

  • Can graphic images act as ads? In other words, can graphic content lure a reader to pick up a newspaper or click on an internet link? Would it be unethical for a news source to use "news graphics" as advertisements or "click-bait"? Why or why not? 

Team leaders present to the class for discussion (15mins)                                                                                                                                                                                        

Class Debrief (5 mins)

  • Overview of class goals

  • Quick review of assignments due next class

  • Any questions?

 

Day 3 – Choosing a Visual Source     

Class Goals:   

Evaluate visuals for rhetorical strategies.

Introduce annotation of academic writing

Read:    

  • Guide to Writing: Chapter 4 – look at 68 – 85 for “Reading Rhetorically” (13 pgs.)

  • Jesse Weaver Shipley: “Selfie Love: Public Lives in an Era of Celebrity Pleasure, Violence, and Social Media” (11pgs.)

  • Full instructions: Annotated Copy Assignment.pdf (1 pg)

Assignments Due Today:   

Print Jesse Weaver Shipley’s photo essay; complete the annotation exercise and bring to class ready to discuss your notes.

Post – 5PM Day Before:   

Find and post two possible visuals (may be print or video) that you are considering using to the class discussion blog. Include the links. Then answer the following questions as best you can: 

  • What are the products being advertised? 

  • Who is the target audience? 

  • Is the advertisement persuasive? How?

  • Why are you personally interested in the visual?  

 

In Class Discussion:   

Before class, import student’s posted images into a power point for use during discussion.

In class poll – (40 mins)

  • A short introduction about things to consider when looking for a rhetorically strong image (5 min)

  • Have students rank the images 1-10 (25 mins)

    • Go through each image in the slideshow

    • 1 minute each, students must vote and write one short comment

  • Show the results and discuss comments as a class (10)

    • What does it mean to analyze advertisements and covers?

    • What should we examine in photographs?

    • Bring up book covers again and have students analyze them beyond ethos, pathos, logos, and genre/audience/purpose

  • Prompt questions:

    • How does the image use ethos, pathos and logos?

    • Who is the audience?

    • What is the purpose?

    • Is the image persuasive?

    • What are some rhetorical strategies used by the creator?

Debrief about Image choices (5 mins)

  • Possible categories – ask for their input

    • Ads

    • Selfies

    • Magazine, game, book covers

    • Movie posters

    • Propaganda

Class Debrief (5 mins)

  • Overview of class goals

  • Quick review of assignments due next class

  • Any questions?

 

Day 4 – Thinking about Visual Sources    

Class Goals:    

Analyze appeals to pathos in advertisements  

Analyze angles of vision in advertisements 

Visualizing the structure of your argument

Assignments Due:     

Having reviewed various options for visual sources last week, select two visual sources that may be the subject of your paper. Post to your blog by 5PM the day before class.

Compose a list of ten ideas that support your choice. (Review reading pp. 121 – 135 for jumping off points).

  • Explain how the advertisements you’ve chosen are either using “windows” or “mirrors” to say something about the culture in which we live (discussed on page 128 – 132).

  • Using Fowles “15 Basic Appeals,” describe which emotions or beliefs you feel your advertisements are using to appeal to their target audience.

Read:   

  • Jim Fowles: “Advertising: 15 Basic Appeals” found in Blackboard (2 pgs)

  • Guide to Writing Chapter 16, Part 1, pages 402 – 413 (12 pgs)

Watch:
In-Class Activities:    

Create a collage of the juxtaposed images in a power point, and run as a slide show for the five minutes before class begins.

In-Class Writing (10 mins)

  • What trends have you observed in the image analysis in class?

  • What are the differences between mirror and window effects?

  • What images tend to grab your attention the most?

    • Nurturing images?

    • Negative images?

    • Inspiring images?

In pairs, develop an elevator pitch to describe the most compelling rhetorical aspect of the images you chose and then write down the bullet points of why they were compelling (10 mins)

Mini lecture of “Nutshell” arguments and elevator pitches (10 mins)

Class discussion, 3 volunteers to share their elevator pitches (10 minutes)

How practicing elevator pitches can help you develop your thesis (5 mins)

Class Debrief (5 mins)

  • Overview of class goals

  • Quick review of assignments due next class

  • Any questions?

 

Day 5 – Description and Writing Low on the Scale of Abstraction      

Class Goals:   

Use concrete details to portray vivid pictures.

Writing low on the ladder of abstraction

Identify aspects of an effective summary.

Assignments Due Today:   

Summary describing each of your image. The summary may be together or separate, but must contain objective descriptions of your image.

Read:   

  • Guide to Writing, Chapter 4, Summary Writing, pages 74 - 81 (8 pgs)

  • Guide to Writing, Chapter 3, Skill 3.4, the ladder of abstraction, pages 53 – 56 (4 pgs) 

  • Skill 16.6, Guide Your Reader with Transitions and other Signposts, pp. 425 – 428 (4 pgs)     

Watch:
Write:    

Write a summary including an objective description of your advertisement using concrete details. Imagine an audience who has not seen the ad. Write low on the scale of abstraction. Here you are writing with the grain and trying not to insert your opinion, judgments, or analysis. Notice how in the Framework for an Analysis of Two Visual, this description will be incorporated into the body of your Visual Analysis essay. 

In-Class Activities:  

Share visual summaries in small groups first, without looking at the advertisements they’re based on. Can the advertisement be pictured just through words?

Using the exploratory questions projected on the board, note what you can see and what you cannot.

●   Afterward, look at the ad and identify what the writer described well and what might be missing. ●   Be prepared to share your observations and summaries.

 

Day 6 - Developing A Thesis Statement Using Tension   

Class Goals:   

Develop thesis statements that make strong, insightful claims that are supported by specific details of visual rhetoric     

Assignments Due Today:   

Bring a printed list of nutshell ideas.
Bring a drafted outline of your analysis work into class.

Read:    

  • Guide to Writing, Chapter 7, page 167 – 189 (22 pgs)

  • Guide to Writing, Chapter 2, part one, pages 22 – 37 (16 pgs). 

Write:   

Thinking back to your last post in “My Visuals,” using Fowles “15 Appeals” and “windows” and “mirrors” as guides, combine your ideas into one sentence that summarizes your current view on how your ad is using visual rhetoric "to induce cooperation." If ads are examples of cultural texts, what is your ad saying, either explicitly or implied, about our modern culture? Your thesis should try to be surprising, insightful, or convey new information.   

Print or write out and bring to class.     

In-Class Activities:    

Mini – Lecture: Review model thesis statements as a class to determine the writer’s claim and the level of specificity in the statements themselves (10 mins)

Brief Class Discussion (5 mins)

  • What’s an evaluation?

  • Review criteria-match process and how it relates to advertising and visual medias

Using the information from today’s reading, write three possible thesis statements for your essay (5 mins)

Sitting in groups of 3-4, exchange thesis statements with the person to your left, finishing as many (at least two) of the statements on the board as you can in three minutes (15 mins)

Work in the same groups to talk and take notes on your analysis ideas (10 mins)

Class Debrief (5 mins)

  • Overview of class goals

  • Quick review of assignments due next class

  • Sign up for conference times!

  • Any questions?

 

Day 7 – Titles and Introductions  

Class Goals:

Write and peer review introductions and titles

Revise thesis statements for content and concision

Introduce closed-form structure: big picture approach to effective titles, introductions, and conclusions

Introduce Vlogs

Assignments Due Today:   

Write a draft of title and introduction – to be printed and brought to class

Revise thesis statement. Print and bring to class.

Read:   

  • Guide to Writing, Chapter 2, part two, pages 37 - 41 (5 pgs). 

  • Guide to Writing, Chapter 16, part two, pages 414 – 437 (24 pgs)

  • Guide to Writing, Skill 17.4- “Set up reader expectations through effective titles and introductions” , pp. 450-456 (6 pgs)

Write:   

Bring to class a hard copy of a title and an introduction draft for your visual analysis essay.

Bring a revised thesis statement. 

In-Class Activity:    

In small groups, peer review titles and introductions.

Review thesis statements.

Guideline questions for peer-review: 

  • Mini lecture to model constructive peer feedback on peer reviewing titles and introductions

  • Questions for the class:

    • What has been your best experience with feedback?

    • And what was your worst?

    • Why was the good feedback helpful?

    • How can you keep this in mind when providing feedback to your peers?

  • Prompts for peer review:

    • Will the title move readers into the analysis?

    • Does it convey the idea that the controlling thesis is unique?

    • Are the words short, colorful, powerful, specific?

    • Would you read a story with this headline?

    • Does the writer capture your interest and provide necessary background information in the introduction?

    • If so, is this information relevant to his/her argument?

    • Does the information stated provide an effective lead into the thesis? 

    • How well do the title, introduction, and thesis set up an academic analysis?    

Class Debrief (5 mins)

  • Discuss helpfulness of peer review session

  • Overview of class goals

  • Quick review of assignments due next class

  • Sign up for conference times!

  • Any questions?

 

Day 8 –  (NO CLASS MEETING – CONFERENCES)

Assignment Due online by 11:59PM day prior:

Rough Draft – 1200 words

Combine your revised introduction, revised thesis statement, revised descriptions, and new analysis section of your ad to form the first half of your Visual Analysis essay.

Bring one copy to your conference. Minimum of 1200 words. 

 

Day 9 – Engaging In A Dialogue About Your Writing   

Class Goals:   

To discuss visual analysis draft and create a revision plan.

Learn strategies for providing helpful peer review

Develop critical reading and revision skills

Assignments Due:    

Print two copies of your most recent draft and bring to class

Read:   

  • Review Image Analysis strategies, Chapter 5, pages 111 – 138 (29 pgs)

  • Guide to Writing, Questions for Peer Review and Feedback, pages 208 – 214 (7 pgs)

Watch:
Write:   

Journal entry about your best and worst experiences with feedback, either from a teacher or from your peer. 200-250 words.

In-Class Activities:

Rotate team stations to review papers

Class Debrief (5 mins)

  • Overview of class goals

  • Quick review of assignments due next class

  • Any questions?

 

Day 10 – Punctuation Lab   

Class Goals:   

Students will review the most common opportunities for revision for style, commas and semicolons.

Discuss writing effective conclusions

Assignments Due Today:   

Revise your essay for global concepts and peer review feedback. Print your most recent draft and bring two copies to class.

Vlog Analysis project is due. 2-3 mins.

Read:   
Write:   

Completed 1st Draft of Strong Response by adding the final section: conclusion. Should be at least 1200 words. Printed out.      

In-Class Activities:   

Mini lecture with examples of the most common comma errors (15 mins)

In class exercise – sample sentence sheet (5 mins)

Class discussion to review the example sheet (5 mins)

  • What was the most surprising grammar rule you learned?

  • Which common mistakes do you recognize if your writing?

  • Which common error is the most confusion?

Free-write on the purpose of a conclusion (what should a conclusion do?) (5 mins)

Class discussion: Effective conclusions, ask for volunteers (5 mins)

Students Volunteers (pre-scheduled) present Vlog Analysis (10 mins)

Class Debrief (5 mins)

  • Overview of class goals

  • Quick review of assignments due next class

  • Any questions?

  • DUE NEXT CLASS FOR PEER REVIEW: 1ST DRAFTS OF VISUAL ANALYSIS ESSAYS      

​

Day 11 – Succeeding in Academia – Rubrics and Assignment Sheets  

Class Goals:         

Practice reading with a critical eye

Learn how to adapt your production to assignment sheets and read critically per the rubric

Assignments Due Today:   

Print the assignment sheet and rubric, annotate, and bring to class

Write:   

Bring hard copy of your most recent draft and The Everyday Writer to class.

In-Class Activities:   

Mini-lecture on “How to Win at Academic Writing”

  • How to read an Assignment Sheet

  • How to revise for a Rubric

Class Discussion on rubric design, effectiveness of assignment sheet, and clarify any issues that may still be unclear.

In class polls to increase participation

Class Debrief (5 mins)

  • Overview of class goals

  • Quick review of assignments due next class

  • Any questions?

 

Day 12 – Engaging In A Dialogue About Your Writing     

Class Goals:   

Demonstrate self-reflection (discuss what you’ve learned from the process of writing this assignment with a peer--not one whom you’ve worked with before on a peer review).  

Assignments Due:    

Post a journal entry reflecting on your experience writing this essay. 500 words

  • What was the most challenging aspect of this assignment?

  • What exercise was the more helpful?

  • What exercise was the least helpful?

Read:   

  • Guide to Writing, Chapter 22, pages 529 - 533

Write:    

A single reflective letter based on your Visual Analysis. Post to Blackboard on Saturday, by midnight to “Single reflection letter on my Visual Analysis Essay.”  Bring a copy of your reflection to class   

In-Class Activities:  

In pairs, review each other’s reflections.

Discuss how what you have learned in this assignment will guide your future actions as both a consumer and a citizen.

Class Debrief (5 mins)

  • Overview of class goals

  • Quick review of assignments due next class

  • Any questions?

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