Analysis of a Visual Argument

Part 1. Choose a controversal image
Are some images not fit to be shown? If you think that, yes, some images are not fit to be shown, then what and why? Give specific examples. If you think that the public has the right to see anything, explain your rationale. And, what is the media’s responsibility to the public when it comes to certain controversial images?

Part2. Analysis of a Visual Argument
Rough Draft: Analysis of a Visual Argument

Introduction:

        Begin by identifying the work, its author (the person or group of people who produced it), its medium (is it a PSA, an advertisement, a photograph, etc.) and its message (what is it trying to say).

Body: In a series of well developed paragraphs, consider the following (these are questions to get you thinking and are not meant to be systematically answered!):

        What is the works context and intended audience
                o      What historical or social factors affect the ways we receive the text (ex: Uts photograph on p. 146 of your text must be understood in the context of the Vietnam War).  For what audience it most directly intended does it target a broad audience or a narrow one?

        What is the works overall purpose?  Is its purpose different than its message?
                o      For example, an advertisement may be selling both a product and an idea or image.  What does the work want its audience to do buy something? Change their minds? Consider an unfamiliar point of view? Expand their concept of something they thought was familiar?

        How does the work do what it does what are its methods?
                o      How is it organized?  What is in the foreground and what is in the background?  How does the text use logical persuasion (proof and/or reasoning)?  How does it use emotional persuasion — does it want its audience to laugh or cry or be angry, or does it ask for impartiality?  What kinds of authority does it use–experience or expertise? Whose?  Does it tell stories?  Does it try to shock?  How does it integrate different kinds of persuasive methods does it want to appear to be objective while at the same time drawing on emotions (ex: statistics about the numbers of children affected by a disaster as opposed to raw numbers of people affected).

Conclusion:

        Conclude by explaining how well you think the work accomplishes its purposes for its intended audience. 
                o      What about the work seems especially effective?  What doesnt seem to work, if anything?  What is most memorable about the work?

The paper will be graded on the following categories:
Awareness of Work’s Intended Purpose
Awareness of Work’s Intended Audience
Awareness of Work’s Intended Message
Awareness of Your Own Purpose, Audience, and Message
Development of Ideas
Organization of Ideas (Effective Essay Structure)
Quality of Analysis (Attention to Details of the Visual Elements)
Style of Writing/ Expression
Clear and Precise Sentence-Level Rhetoric (Grammar)
Adherence to MLA Format