Audience and Purpose
This writing project asks you to show readers what is happening behind the scenes of an argument so that we can understand how it persuades (or does not persuade) its audience. Paying close attention to the purpose, evidence, persuasive appeals, and other rhetorical strategies, you are to write a rhetorical analysis of an advertisement in order to make a claim about how the text functions as a persuasive argument and the degree to which that argument succeeds or fails.
To make a claim about the effectiveness of an argument, you must use the rhetorical analysis skills learned in class: identifying persuasive appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos), identifying an author's claims, evaluating supporting evidence, analyzing the needs and expectations of an audience, and identifying common rhetorical gestures found in the type of text under scrutiny. Your job is to analyze how the argument's rhetorical functioning contributes to its effectiveness.
Getting Started
First, you must select an advertisement of your choice. Once you have chosen an advertisement, your next step is to conduct some
informal research to learn more about the author/company behind the advertisement and the time period in which the ad was published. This informal research should provide enough context to begin thinking more critically about the ad.
Finding Out What to Say
In class we'll explore questions and heuristics for generating ideas for your analysis. These resources will provide a good starting point for your critical investigation.
Drafting Your Rhetorical Analysis
A rhetorical analysis:
• identifies the text under inspection and summarizes its main ideas
• presents key points about the text's rhetorical strategies for persuading its audience
• elaborates on these points, emphasizing various points and de-emphasizing others depending on your larger claim
• arrives at some new knowledge about the effectiveness of the argument based on the analysis
You must, then, have strong background knowledge of the article as well as be relatively fluent with regard to the article's key points. Note that evidence for your claims will come directly from the article itself, so be sure that your draft is rich with direct quotations and references to the text.
Grading Criteria:
• student presents an effective summary of the ad
• student makes a claim which argues for or against the ad's effectiveness
• student includes sufficient supporting evidence drawn from the source
• student applies rhetorical analysis terms and strategies learned in class (Note: while this assignment asks you to use the specialized rhetorical terms discussed in class, this is not merely a demonstration of your knowledge of those terms. In other words, you must apply these terms to come to a new understanding of the ad under scrutiny.)
Other Requirements
• 1500 words (roughly 6 double-spaced pages)
• MLA OR APA format