Short Essay Response – Rhetorical Analysis
Write an analysis of one ad, logo, or product of your choice. Your goal here is to write a short piece which considers the rhetorical appeals of the subject you’ve selected. Imagine it being a short essay for magazine or a blog.
Given our class theme (visual rhetoric), your analysis should help your readers consider how certain visual elements craft messages for us as viewers (whether they are implied or direct).
Through your response, you’ll want to analyze elements of the PACT (Purpose, Audience, Context, Text), along with the three rhetorical appeals (Ethos, Pathos, Logos). Additionally, consider how you present your discussion. As you make a claim, readers need evidence (details/examples) to understand how or why you’ve come to that claim. Use of the terms ethos, pathos, and logos in your response will also be useful for you and your readers.
Certainly, you are writing this from your perspective; therefore, this response can be personal and it can recognize the contexts you bring to it. Likewise, don’t attempt to cover everything. Go for what seems interesting to you. Depth is more valuable than breadth.
The following features/questions might help prompt your response as you plan what you will write and how you will construct your personal (non-AI, human-generated) analysis:
Context
Where did you find this visual rhetoric sample? What is the significance of this context?
Who is responsible for this ad, product, or logo?
Rationale
What made you select this sample (above an infinite number of choices)?
Why do you think it struck you or captured your interest?
Goal of Persuasion
What do you think is the purpose of this visual message?
What visual cues offer this information?
Ethos
How is credibility or likability established?
How might viewers be persuaded to trust this ad, product, or logo through visual cues?
Logos
What is the overall message of the ad?
How is the logic (reasoning/an argument) presented?
How is language used? What visual metaphors are used?
Pathos
What values are being appealed to? Who do you think is the intended audience?
How are values/beliefs (of the audience) used as a means of persuasion?
How does the ad/product/logo try to get the audience to feel a particular emotion through the images (or text, music, voiceover, etc)?
Signs/Hidden Messages
What signifiers point to a message not directly stated, but implied? (particular symbols, images, etc.)
Assignment Requirements:
Your response should be a minimum of 500 words . Type your response, 12pt. font, Times New Roman, proofread and edit it. Include the word count at the end of your response.
Your response should demonstrate analysis (discussion that moves beyond judgment, opinion, like/dislike) and follow the above prompt. It should read as a stand-alone short essay. If possible, integrate an image/photo/screenshot of the sample you are writing about.
Plagiarized responses will receive no credit. Do not use any AI writing generators, such as ChatGPT, to compose this response. This is your analysis, without assistance or influence from AI or other sources, with inspiration from this week’s introductory materials. This prompt has been submitted to ChatGPT for reference and all submissions will be analyzed by CopyLeaks for evidence of AI or plagiarism.
For additional reference on this assignment, check out these samples I put. They aren’t exactly perfect, of course, but they will give you an idea how this assignment works and the style of analysis we are practicing.
