Academic Discourse—Ad Analysis
Academic Discourse—Ad Analysis. You are responsible for finding an ad and making it available to me. You may use one of the political ads found on the link on Blackboard, or you can choose any other ad you would like. Please submit a link to the ad when you turn in the rough draft and the final draft of the essay.
Format Requirements: Paper must be typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font, with one-inch margins in standard MLA format with a works cited page.
Texts:
You are responsible for finding an ad and making it available to me. You may use one of the political ads found on the link on Blackboard, or you can choose any other ad you would like. Please submit a link to the ad when you turn in the rough draft and the final draft of the essay.
This is the link of political ads:
http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2012/
If I do not have access to the ad about which you’ve written your paper by the due date, I cannot grade your assignment. The assignment will not be considered complete; you will earn a failing grade.
Essay: What appeals (Ethos, Pathos, Logos) are used in support of the ad?
Your task is to consider the visual text’s rhetorical situation and demonstrate an accurate reading of the claim, the main supports, and the appeals used in that visual argument.
You should give a brief overview of the visual text but focus your essay on showing an understanding of the argument being made and how it is supported. You will need to identify any appeals that are being used as support to the claim. This paper is not simply a summary of a visual argument. It is an analysis of the argument put forth by the ad.
Structure:
The essay should follow an academic structure with an introduction and thesis, body paragraphs, and conclusion. The body paragraphs should bring in significant details from the ad as the textual evidence to support the paragraph. The goal is to show an understanding of how the ad uses rhetorical appeals to support its claim.
Here are some questions that might help you think about the rhetorical situation:
• What is the argument?
• Who is the audience?
• What contextual elements influenced the production of the text?
• What appeal(s) does the author employ to persuade the audience?
• In what ways are these appeals significant?
• Are there other elements that clearly lend support to the claim?
• In what ways are these significant?
• How do the appeals or other elements build to support the claim?
Grading Criteria:
I will use a holistic scoring rubric to evaluate your paper that takes into account your mastery of such facets of writing as organization, development, grammar, mechanics, and usage.
A successful essay must accomplish the following (though not necessarily in this order):
a) Introduce the rhetorical situation of the visual argument
b) Give an overview of the ad
c) Identify the argument
d) Analyze the argument and rhetorical appeals to show how the argument/main claim is being supported
Learning Objectives Met with This Assignment
Academic Discourse—Ad Analysis
• Understand the concept of rhetorical situations: the relationship among writer-audience-subject-context
• Apply critical reading strategies to a variety of publicly and individually produced texts
• Work with demanding readings and learn to interpret, incorporate, and evaluate these readings
• Use writing as a way to learn—to think about, question, and communicate ideas
• Develop successful, flexible strategies for generating, revising, and editing texts
• Understand the collaborative and social aspects of the writing process
• Critique your own and others’ texts
• Show initiative in problem solving situations
Links given by professor: (Introduction to Ethos, Pathos, and Logos / Rhetoric in Ads / Clinton/ Trump debate pop up rhetoric)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMuyBOeSQVs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeCz5fy02JE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L_G82HH9Tg