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Goal
Students will examine a visual text, interpret its meaning, and develop
an argument in which their ideas about the image are developed and
supported by
material in the essays they have read. The purpose of this assignment is
to further develop students' analytical skills by considering different
types of texts in conjunction.
Requirements
At least four readings from the text, one rhetorical strategy, one
stylistic concept, one research concept, at least one grammar concept.
Paper length: 2-3 pages, 500-750 words.
Analytical Essay #1 should
- Describe the image being analyzed in such a way that the reader can
almost experience it--see, hear, feel, smell it.
- Go beyond mere description or judgment ("I liked the image"; "it is
a powerful image") to analyze what it means, in part through the ideas
about image in The McGraw-Hill Reader readings.
- Make a claim about something beyond the image itself but use the
analysis to make that claim. For example, in Morrow's essay about
photography, his vivid descriptions of famous photographs help make his
point that "photographs are magic things that traffic in mystery" (591).
In Warshow's essay on gangster films, he uses the movie Scarface
argue that Americans have a troubled attitude toward success.
- Be persuasive in the analysis by referring to the evidence in the
image itself and by drawing upon your cultural or historical knowledge.
For instance, Silko, in her essay "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the
Spirit" describes and analyzes the Pueblo Indians' clothing and dance to
reveal the deep relationships that the Pueblo people had with the plant
and animal world.
- Draw your readers into the essay with a powerful introduction, lead
them through the argument you're making for your thesis, and conclude in
a way that leaves your readers satisfied that they've arrived somewhere
meaningful and interesting.
- Use MLA format, including the proper citation of the source of the
image.
Challenges for students
- To go beyond good description to say something about the
significance of the image
- To analyze the image by taking into account all the parts of the
image, the story (or stories) implicit in the image, and/or multiple
interpretations of the image
- To make a claim that says something outside the image itself
(perhaps something about the culture or the nature of images) that is
very much grounded in a close analysis of the image
- To recognize when a claim needs analysis, evidence or reasoning.
Recognize that just saying "my car ad represents freedom" is inadequate
because it doesn't answer the following questions: What kind of
freedom is represented? What details in the image
create the sense of freedom? What reasons do you have that
persuade readers that those details create the sense of freedom?
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