Part 1-
Reading: "Shitty First Drafts" by Anne Lamott
Writing is a process. Describe your own writing process, from start (receiving an assignment) to finish (turning in or revising an assignment). Which stages do you have the most trouble with? Which stages are the easiest for you? Consider what time of day or what place best facilitates your writing process. How do you deal with writer's block? 2 Pages minimum.
Part 2-
The ultimate goal of any commercial or advertisement is to persuade an audience to buy a product. In order to do that, ads often invoke certain ideas about lifestyle, desire, necessity, and tradition. You first formal assignment is to choose an advertisement and perform a close rhetorical analysis of how that ad functions. You may choose anything from a movie trailer to a television commercial to a print ad. While performing your analysis, take into consideration the three appeals and how they come together to create a unique message in your ad. Consider the rhetorical situation and the cultural implications behind the way the ad functions.
Keep the following questions in mind when crafting your rhetorical analysis:
• What is the rhetorical situation?
• Who is the author/speaker?
• What is being advertised?
• What is his/her intention in speaking?
• Who is the target audience?
• What is the exigence? What are the constraints?
• What is the content of the message?
• What is the form in which it is conveyed?
• How do form and content correspond?
• Does the message/speech/text succeed in fulfilling the author's/speaker's intentions?
• What does the nature of the communication reveal about the culture that produced it?
If you are struggling to figure out where to start, take a look at the Rhetorical Analysis Checklist and try taking some notes while you watch your advertisement.
Remember: Do not focus on whether or not you are persuaded by the speaker/author. Focus only on how the speaker conveys their message.
o 3-4 full pages
o 12 pt, Times New Roman font
o MLA format.