Visual Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Purpose: The purpose of a Visual Rhetorical Analysis Essay is to analyze and explain how and a visual accomplishes its purpose. In the case of an advertisement, you will analyze and explain how it persuades the audience to buy the product.

Writing this kind of essay will help you learn the following skills:
Break apart a visual to understand how it works
Explain how it works to someone else
Define, identify, and explain the rhetorical appeals, situations, and devices
Create a Works Cited page entry for an advertisement

This essay aligns with the following Course Competencies from the Course Syllabus:
Demonstrate writing as a recursive process.
Demonstrate writing and inquiry in context using different rhetorical strategies to reflect, analyze, explain, and persuade in a variety of genres and formats.
Demonstrate the critical use and examination of printed, digital, and visual materials.
Locate, evaluate, and incorporate relevant sources with proper documentation.
Compose texts incorporating rhetorically effective and conventional use of language.

Assignment: You will write a minimum 4 full page Visual Rhetorical Analysis essay on a print ad of your choice (but it must advertise a product), identifying and explaining the rhetorical elements from our VRA Map, with emphasis on the rhetorical appeals.

Finding an Ad: Please do NOT Google search for print ads. You may find a great ad to use, but if you don’t know when or where it was published, you’re not going to know the context. Also, some “images” may just be stills from a commercial and won’t work for this assignment as a result. Try to find a print ad from a magazine if you can. If you don’t have access to a magazine, use this website instead: https://www.adsoftheworld.com/. Your ad MUST utilize all three rhetorical appeals; otherwise, you will not have three analysis body paragraphs.

Summary of Ad Requirements:
Must advertise a product
Must be a print ad (preferably from a hard copy magazine)
Must utilize all three rhetorical appeals

Documentation & Sources: MLA page set-up and a Works Cited page at the end of your essay with the entry for your ad.

Organization:
Introduction:
Hook
Background
Thesis Statement
Body Paragraph 1: Description of ad
Use location identifiers
Body Paragraphs (1 for each appeal, in order from least to greatest or greatest to least)
Topic Sentence
Identify Examples (clear examples from ad)
Explain Why Examples are that Appeal (why is that example clearly ethos/logos/pathos?)
Explain Why that Appeal Works (why does that convince the audience to buy the product?)
Transition Sentence
Conclusion:
Restate thesis
Review/recap
So What?
BANG!
Works Cited page

Helpful Reminders:
Don’t advertise the product. (Here’s why you should buy this product!) Analysis should be objective. (Here’s why this advertisement is successful at convincing its audience to buy the product.)
Credibility vs. Creditability: Ethos is credibility (being credible), not creditability (the ability to have credit).
Only use what’s in the ad. You can’t use any background info from other websites. You’re only analyzing what’s on the actual ad itself.
Make sure that your ad uses all three rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, and pathos). Otherwise, you will not be able to complete this essay.
Make sure that your ad advertises a product (something you can go into the store and buy off the shelves), not a service (Netflix) or a stance (anti-smoking or political ad).
Create your thesis statement using the formula from the Pre-Writing Worksheet.
Writing — Outlining:
Write the descriptive paragraph for your ad. Make sure it is at least 7-9 sentences long. Follow a logical pattern of organization. For example, if it is a single page ad, describe it from top to bottom. If it is a double page ad, describe the first page from top to bottom, and then the second page from top to bottom. Use locator/identifier words and phrases, such as “to the right of,” “underneath,” and “at the very bottom.” You do not need a transition sentence at the end of this paragraph. Your readers will naturally know you are moving on based on the identifier/locator phrase about the bottom of the ad.
Create the topic sentences for each body paragraph using the formula from the Pre-Writing Worksheet. Make sure to clearly identify the appeal, specific type of appeal (such as credibility or moral character for ethos), and the rhetorical situation associated with that appeal in your ad.
Begin identifying and explaining the examples of the appeals using the system on the Pre-Writing Worksheet.
Writing — Drafting:
Create transition sentences for your body paragraphs. Transition sentences should use the ½ and ½ formula and clearly tell your readers how one appeal connects to the other. This is why it is important to figure out the reason for the order of the appeals early on, such as most to least used appeal. The transition sentence in your final body paragraph should be more of an overall ending sentence that wraps up all three ideas in one because it is transitioning your readers into your conclusion.
Write your introduction. Since you already have your thesis statement, all you need to create is your hook and background information. The hook can be anywhere from 1-3 sentences and should grab your readers’ attention. Try a relevant quote from the ad (such as the slogan) or ask your readers a question or series of questions. You may need a sentence that connects your hook to your background information. Background information should be a minimum of 3 sentences and should give your readers context about the ad. When was the ad published? Why does that make sense or matter? Where was it published? Why does that make sense or matter? What was going on in the world when this was published that could affect how this ad affected the audience? For example, if a lemonade ad was in the July issue of a food magazine, that would make sense because it’s hot in July, so people cool down with a cold drink like lemonade. Since lemonade is a beverage, it makes sense that it’s in a food magazine. Remember that VRA is all about stating the obvious.
Write your conclusion. First, restate your thesis using the opposite sentence structure. This means that instead of ending with the appeals, the sentence should start with them. Next, write your review/recap. This should be three sentences total: one sentence summary for each body paragraph (not including the descriptive paragraph, just the analysis paragraphs). This is sort of like the “here’s a reminder of what we learned today in class, everyone.” Then, answer the question “So What?” Why does this ad matter to your readers? Or why should it matter to them? This is usually only a sentence or two. Finally, end with a bang sentence. This is usually only one sentence and should connect back to your hook from the introduction so that your essay comes full circle. If you started with a quote, try paraphrasing it with your own spin or play on words. If you asked a question or series of questions, try asking them again in a different way. Perhaps your readers’ answers to those questions have changed since they’ve read your essay. Remember not to advertise the product yourself; stay objective!
Post-Writing — Revising & Editing:
Format your paper into proper MLA. Watch the instructional video on Blackboard for how to do this.

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