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Rhetorical!
You will be analyzing the rhetorical situation of two advertisements of a similar product from the same company but in different decades in an effort to evaluate which was the most successful advertisement based on your analysis. Description (adapted from Stack’s assignment and WAW question #5, p. 119)
Step One Find two advertisements to analyze. The advertisements must be visual ads – i.e., commercials (that you can access on YouTube or other Internet sites) or print advertisements that you would find in a magazine.
Make sure to choose For instance, you two advertisements of similar products from the same company that were advertised in different decades. could choose two Chevy Camaro commercials, one from 1967 and one from 2011
Step Two
within the ad? How did the rhetor attempt to utilize ethos to persuade its intended audience?
Your next step is to write a brief review (2-3 pages), incorporating the following skills and answering the following questions:
e. Appeal: Which appeal/s was/were used in the ad? Logos, pathos, ethos? How successful was it?
Summary: summarize the rhetorical situation of each advertisement: a. Purpose: What is the purpose of the ad? What is the ad trying to persuade its audience to do? How is the ad successful or unsuccessful in achieving its purpose? b. Audience: What intended audience is the ad targeting? What evidence is there within the ad to prove a certain audience is being targeted? How is the ad successful or unsuccessful in trying to persuade its intended audience?
Rhetorical Analysis Project
Be sure that these can be easily accessed by your classmates and instructor. Choosing a good visual source to work with is an important aspect of this assignment. Use your Google Sites to upload/link any youtube videos you find, etc.
Remember, I don’t want a rhetorical essay on Camaros. In fact, your essay will have very little to do with the subject/topic itself. This assignment is ALL about you integrating the sources you have read in WAW and evaluating the argument(s) behind the ad.
c. Forum: In what forum was the ad “published”? How is the ad successful or unsuccessful in utilizing its forum?
f. Exigence: When was the ad published? What was happening socially/ culturally/ politically, etc. at the time which may have sparked the creation of the ad? Given the topic of the ad and the time when it was published, how is it successful or unsuccessful in its timeliness?
d. Rhetor/Ethos: Who/what company does the ad represent? How did the rhetor try to establish their reputation 1
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Step Two cont’d... 1) Analysis: Grant-Davie claims that the rhetor “harnesses” constraints, “so as to constrain the audience to take the desired action or point of view” (GrantDavie, 111). In this part of the review, analyze the positive constraints (assets) and the negative constraints (liabilities/ objections) to the rhetor’s case. Use HEY LITTLE SISTER to analyze the texts used in the commercials. Remember context is everything. Reread GrantDavie’s paragraph 25, p. 112 to remind you of what HEY LITTLE SISTER might entail.
2) Evaluation: Which ad was more successful? In your analysis, make connections between the 6 elements above of each source in order to make an overall judgment of the success or failure of the source in comparison to the other advertisement. Step Three: Connection Be prepared to give a brief reflective report of your findings to your group (and possibly the class) and be prepared to discuss using the CARS model in mind. What skills have you learned that you can apply in doing research and planning for your paper? A Basic Guide to Rhetorical Analysis (active reading – have a deep conversation with the author)
1) What is the general subject? Does the subject mean anything to you? Does it bring up any personal associations? Is the subject a controversial one?
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2) What is the thesis (the overall main point)? How does the thesis interpret/comment on the subject?
3) What is the tone of the text? Do you react at an emotional level to the text? Does this reaction change at all throughout the text?
4) What is the writers’ purpose? To explain? To inform? To anger? Persuade? Amuse? Motivate? Sadden? Ridicule? Anger? Is there more than one purpose? Does the purpose shift at all throughout the text?
5) How does the writer develop his/her ideas? Narration? Description? Definition? Comparison? Analogy? Cause and Effect? Example? Why does the writer use these methods of development?
6) How does the writer arrange his/ her ideas? What are the patterns of arrangement? Particular to general? Broad to specific? Spatial? Chronological? Alternating? Block?
7) What is the sentence structure like in the text? Does the writer use fragments or run-ons? Declarative? Imperative? Interrogative? Exclamatory? Are they simple? Compound? Complex? Compound-complex? Short? Long? Loose? Periodic? Balanced? Parallel? Are there any patterns in the sentence structure? Can you make any connections between the patterns and the writers’ purpose?
8) Does the writer use dialogue?
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9) How does the writer use diction? Is it formal? Informal? Technical? Jargon? Slang? Is the language connotative? Denotative? Is the language emotionally evocative? Does the language change throughout the piece? How does the language contribute to the writers’ aim?
10) Is there anything unusual in the writers’ use of punctuation? What punctuation or other techniques of emphasis (italics, capitals, underlining, ellipses, parentheses) does the writer use? Is punctuation over – or under used? Which marks does the writer use when, and for what effects? Dashes to create a hasty breathlessness? Semi-colons for balance or contrast?
11) Are important terms repeated throughout the text? Why?
12) Are there any particularly vivid images that stand out? What effect do these images have on the writers’ purpose?
13) Are devices of comparison used to convey or enhance meaning? Which figures of speech /tropes – similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, etc. does the writer use? When does he/she use them? Why?
14) Does the writer use devices of humor? Puns? Irony? Sarcasm? Understatement? Parody? Is the effect comic relief? Pleasure? / Hysteria? Ridicule? Due date to be announced in class. - Christian
Quotations? To what effect?
Rhetorical Analysis Project
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Comparing Research Articles Exigence:
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Source #1! Name of source:
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Source #2 Name of source:
a. What is the driving force behind the discourse? b. What is it about? c. Why is it needed? d. What are the goals?
Rhetor a. Credibility (consider profession, education, expertise on subject) b. Motivations: What drove the rhetor to respond to the exigence? c. Purpose: What does the rhetor hope to accomplish? How does s/he appeal to/affect the audience? d. What forum is used by the rhetor? How does this affect the message?
Audience Intended and unintended: Consider age, gender, education level, geographical location, religious affiliation, race/ethnicity, etc.
Constraints HEY LITTLE SISTER: historical, literary, textual, syntactical, structural, rhetorical. Also look at geography, religion, and morality.
Evidence a. What are the sources of the source? b. Are the sources referred to always in disagreement? How does this shape the content?
Look at each source critically and ask questions about each one. Using the table above and Grant-Davie, begin to evaluate each source critically, looking carefully at the exigence, rhetor/s, forum, audience, content, and constraints. Rhetorical Analysis Project
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