Image Analysis

IMAGE ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT

The goal of a visual analysis is not to analyze what a writer is arguing about concerning an issue, but to analyze how the creator of a visual is presenting their argument. You’ll do this by analyzing the use of rhetorical strategies. Choose a print ad from the internet that appeared in a magazine, newspaper, or billboard. This can be one of the ads used in Lesson 7 activity or a new ad. You will create an introduction that ends with a clear thesis statement. The thesis statement will take a stance on whether or not the ad was successful in their persuading its audience. Then in the body paragraphs, you will address the visual elements of the ad, who the audience was for this ad, and how the ad used logos, ethos, and pathos.

PURPOSE

This assignment prompts you to identify the strategies that a particular visual argument employs. One of the reasons this technique is useful is it requires you to understand not just what authors are saying, but the methods employed to successfully effect persuasion in their intended audience. Also, as you get more comfortable identifying the strategies other writers employ, you will be able to utilize these strategies effectively in your own acts of persuasion, whether written, oral, physical, or visual.

AUDIENCE

You will decide who you feel is the main audience for the ad. Consider who would buy this brought and why.

CONTENT/SUBJECT

Your rhetorical analysis of the ad will include a discussion of ethos, logos, and pathos, but focused on the ad. Finally, you will want to evaluate whether these strategies are effective in

convincing the audience to purchase the product that the ad is advocating. A few questions you may consider as you craft your essay:

• Which is the predominant focus of the visual?


• What strategies is the author employing to maintain the audience’s attention?


• Does the visual add information that text could not?


• How does the visual deepen understanding of the issue?


• Where might the author display/share their visual? Why?
  
  
  
  
  • An introduction that ends with a thesis statement. The thesis statement should make it clear what ad you are evaluating and whether you feel it was effective.
  
  
  • Three topic sentences, one for each body paragraph
  
  
  • A conclusion.
  
  
  • A final draft due written in an elevated and sophisticated style that
    
    makes use of correct grammar and usage. You should make sure to make a clear and precise argument as you analyze the rhetorical strategies employed in the text that you are examining.
    
    Specific guidelines for this assignment are:
    
    
    
    
    • Clear introduction and conclusion.
    
    
    • Address all three rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos.
    
    
    • Address the issue of audience.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

• Adherence to MLA format. List the image on the Works Cited page. You will use this format for the entry:
  
  “Good things come in fours.” DesignYourWay, 10 Aug. 2020,
  
  https://www.designyourway.net/drb/clash-of-the-titans-coca-cola-and-pepsi-
  
  print-ads/c9d90399d2ed48c9f8224c9161c/.


• Correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.


• 2-3 pages in length.
  
  Do not include any sources. The online item on the Works Cited page will be the information about the image. This essay should be written entirely in your own words.