Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Blog Post #7: Final Essay Prewriting (due by class on 4/3)

Make a new post (always identify posts by the post #).  There is no format for the content of this post, but make sure to include the following information: Choose a mediated popular culture text (movie, TV program, song, cartoon, comic strip, or advertisement/ad campaign) that you are interested in analyzing for your final paper and that has a potential to yield material for a rhetorical analysis of at least 1000-1250 words.  Your texts can appear in any media (e.g., television, Internet, radio, etc). However, you must make sure that you choose artifacts with accessible texts (written words, visuals or movie files that can be downloaded or taped, etc). Briefly, you should be able to examine your artifacts–both their discursive and nondiscursive content—in detail.  Put a complete Works Cited list entry of your artifact into your post (you may find MLA guidelines at the links provided on the assignment sheet).  For example, if you are analyzing a movie, make sure to post a complete entry that includes the director name, etc (see MLA citation guidelines).

In your post, describe and summarize the artifact you will analyze (what is it about, what is going on in this artifact, etc) and offer relevant background information about it (for example, the director who made it, the company that released it, the times and places where it appeared, its significance, information about audience reception, etc).  Your description should be as detailed as possible so that you have enough material to revise and use later for an important section of your final paper.


Choose an appropriate method to analyze your artifact and state it in your post. Explain why you have chosen this method to analyze the artifact and how you plan to use them-- bu do not post your analysis results yet! 

Note: You may explore the artifact of your choice from any of the perspectives discussed this semester, except the dramatistic perspective (since it was already used for the first essay). If you want to combine perspectives, make sure to run your idea by the instructor well before the essay due date and discuss how you will narrow down the focus enough so the method used to analyze your text will be clear throughout the essay. 

Artifact Presentations (only those who haven't presented before): In 3 minutes, present your artifact to the class on 4/5.  For this presentation, briefly describe the text of your choice.  Tell us why you have chosen to analyze it, what is interesting about it, what method you have chose to analyze it, and why.

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