Core 1: Analysis of a Visual Argument
ENC1102, Spring 2005, Instructor Martinez
Objective
To read, understand, and analyze the implicit and explicit arguments of a text.
Format
Your paper should be 4-5[1] pages long, double-spaced, with one-inch margins; use Times New Roman font and MLA formatting. Consult page 214 of Quick Access. You may include, if you wish, a small scanned copy of your ad. Insert it on a separate page at the end of the document. This page is not part of the minimum page count.
Content
Content preceded by a bracketed number [#] points to helpful material in the Process section found on page 2.
Your Core 1 paper aims to gauge the persuasive power of a visual argument. It should contain a thesis, a well-developed semiotic analysis, and a catchy conclusion.
[1] Your thesis should control, predict, and obligate. It should avoid the obvious (“This ad is effective because the girl in the ad is pretty and everyone wants to be pretty, so they will buy X.”) while also steering clear of the vague (“Most people,” “in society today”) or the wussy (“In my opinion,” “I think,” “it would seem”). Instead, consider this thesis a roadmap, a sales pitch, a port-of-entry, and a contract with the reader. The contract should contain the nut of your semiotic analysis, and it should be bold and bright and clear. It should tell us whether you think the visual argument is persuasive, and why or why not.
Your semiotic analysis should connect to the thesis, expand on its promise, and make up the bulk of the paper. This analysis should contain, at the very least, (1) an exploration of the claims, warrants, and assumptions of the ad; (2) an exploration of the visual elements; and (3) a semiotic analysis.
[2] Begin by breaking down the claim and the warrant of the argument. The claim is the call to action, and most ads may strike you as straightforward: Buy X. But dig deeper. Are they really saying it in this way? Some may actually be saying something else. They may be trying to make you feel good about X, and so the claim may be a little more complicated. Looking at the warrant, or evidence, will help. What sort of visual elements are present?
[3] This is where the exploration of the visual elements comes in handy. Re-examine pages 66-67 in Work in Progress. Read into your ad and answer Ede’s questions in depth. See what jumps up—connect. Use your vast warehouse of visual experience. Begin your semiotic analysis.
[4] A semiotic analysis requires that you situate the visual argument in a historical context. If the argument is selling something, what is it selling and how has the selling of it changed? (Some research might be helpful.) After you have a hold on where the argument is situated, you need to look at where it fits in the larger system of signs, which really means: what is this argument like? Easier still: find ads that look like this ad. Find a striking similarity between your argument and others. Connect to other material—does the argument connect to a movie, a song, a TV ad? Connect! Associate! Next, explore how this argument differs from the ones you’ve just compared it to. Why? What’s going on? Doing so may help you uncover the assumptions—what Signs of Life calls the connotative values—behind your ad, and thus reach a conclusion that expands your analysis.
[5] You conclude by broadening the analysis. Since your visual argument is taking place within a culture, it should say something about that culture. What does it say? Once again, avoid the overly obvious (“A thin model says that we are obsessed with superficial beauty”) or the vague. Tie your ad, and the product that your ad is selling, to something wonderful, weird, and unexpected.
Process
[1] See class notes 2/7.
[2] While covered in class, here’s a reminder: All arguments are composed of a claim, a warrant, and an assumption. The claim is the call to action, the warrant is the justification or reason for the claim, and the assumption is the unstated belief that would validate the claim and the warrant. In the argument, “Jesus loves me / This I know / Because the bible tells me so,” the claim is “Jesus loves me,” the warrant is that “the bible tells me so,” and the assumption is that the bible is a credible document, one that provides valid evidence; note that the last may be true for some and not others, which is why arguments are often messy and volatile.
[3] See pages 66-67 of Ede’s Work in Progress.
[4] See pages 6-9 of Signs of Life for a brief overview, pages 9-11 and 48-51 for good examples of semiotic analyses, and pages 17-18 for a quick refresher.
[5] See any of the last paragraphs of any our assigned readings. See, in particular, Bowlby’s “The Haunted Superstore” (p 83), Barber’s “Jihad vs. McWorld” (p 131), and Friedman’s “Revolution is U.S.” (p 137).
[6] Re-read and take to heart Murray’s “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words.” Please.
Schedule
2/9 (Wednesday): Core assignment sheet & rubric discussion. Workshopping of the very rough draft. Conference sign-up.
2/11 (Friday): Print and keep core assignment sheet. Workshopping of the very rough (but now moderately revised) draft. Last chance for conference sign-up
2/14 (Monday): Your rough draft is due before 7:00 am. See Format and Content for additional information on how the file should look and on what it should contain. Attach it as an MS-Word or Rich Text Format file and e-mail it to . Any deviation from procedure, no matter how small, will result in the disappearance of your draft into a slush pile, where spam and other unwanted mail ends up. (Do not deviate: papers that deviate from any listed instructions will not be accepted.) Print a copy for yourself (you will be bringing in this copy to your conference). CONTINUED:
2/14 (Monday): Conferences at the on-campus Barnes & Noble café. Bring a hard copy of your draft, a pen, and a minimum of three sheets of paper. You will be asked for these things before we begin. You will not be able to begin if you do not have them. So have them. Show up on time. If you are late, you will miss your appointment and you will not be able to make it up—no exceptions. Know your appointment time. (See Wednesday for a repetition of this information with additional suggestions/warnings that apply to both Monday & Wednesday.)
2/16 (Wednesday): Same as Monday. But read on anyway: Conferences at the on-campus Barnes & Noble café. Bring a hard copy of your draft, a pen, and a minimum of three sheets of paper. You will be asked for these things before we begin. You will not be able to begin if you do not have them. So have them. Show up on time. If you are late, you will miss your appointment and you will not be able to make it up—no exceptions. Know your appointment time. Do not write your appointment time on your hand, where it will be washed away. Do not scribble it on the back of a receipt. Be sure that you write it down in a place where you will be able to find it: a notebook, a planner, your cellphone or PDA. Above all, do not e-mail your instructor asking for your appointment time. Your instructor will reply with a link to this website: http://www.deuceofclubs.com. That’s life. Good morning.
2/14-2/17 (Monday-Thursday): Revise your paper. Use the suggestions made during the conference. Tighten your language, hone your thesis, improve coherence, visit the Writing Center—make this paper as good as it can possibly be.
2/18 (Friday): Peer review. Bring your conference notes and draft, as well as the newly revised draft.
2/21 (Monday): Your final draft is due before 7:00 am. See Format and Content for additional information on how the file should look and on what it should contain. Attach it as an MS-Word or Rich Text Format file and e-mail it to . In the subject line, include your class time, your last name, and the due date. Any deviation from procedure, no matter how small, will result in the disappearance of your draft into a slush pile, where spam and other unwanted mail ends up. (Do not deviate: papers that deviate from any listed instructions will not be accepted.) Print a copy for yourself.
[1] We are talking four full pages, at the very least. Which means well-developed thoughts arranged into paragraphs covering the entirety of every page, down to the last line of page four. And while we’re at it: avoid messing with the formatting to stretch your paper; fiddle not with the margins or the font size or the kerning or the leading, as it is painfully obvious, both on screen and in print, when this sort of thing is done.