adnalysis – 10%

For this assignment you will write a rhetorical analysis of an advertisement you’ve found. This advertisment can be a video or print ad. Your Adnalysis should show an understanding of rhetorical appeals. It should utilize sources from class to support your argument about the communication practices used in the advertisement.

The reason you are performing an Adnalysis is to show me you understand how texts make meaning and have understood our readings in class up to this point. The Adnalysis is also meant to get you thinking critically about texts and how arguments utilize a number of means to persuade people into action or into particular ways of thinking. Often this persuasion or action is implicit in the text—we don’t think about it. A rhetorical analysis – your Adnalysis – asks you to think about it. A rhetorical analysis makes those things that are implicit explicit and describes how the verbal, visual, audio, and tactile images of a particular text works.

what you will get out of the task
An upping of your rhetorical knowledge.
An upping of your analytical reading and writing skills.
A solidification of the terms and concepts we’ve covered so far – makes you smarter.
getting started

There are a number of questions that can help you get started thinking about your thesis/claim for your Adnalysis. Use our reading about writing rhetorical analyses and the follwoing questions as a guide for formulating your claim/thesis. You don’t have to answer each question. These questions are just meant to inspire you in your Adnalysis.

Why is this argument here?
Why is this argument successful or unsuccessful for this audience but not another?
How could this piece appeal to a more general or different audience?
What audiences does the argument address and what audiences does it ignore, and why?
What is the purpose of this argument, and is it accomplished?
Which of its rhetorical features will likely influence readers most: Ethos of the
author? Emotional appeals? Style?
What aspects of the argument work better than others?
How do the rhetorical elements interact?

expectations

Your Adnalysis must be between 1000-1250 words – works cited not included.
Your Adnalysis must be written using a formal style.
Your Adnalysis must incoporate three sources (using quotations) from our class readings up to this point.
Your Adnalysis must have a works cited page using MLA citation.
Your Adnalysis must conform to MLA formatting styles for a paper.
Your Adnalysis must be free of grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes.
evaluation

Your Adnalysis will be evaluated using this rubric: Adnalysis Rubric