ENG1301 University of Texas Arlingtion Nike Ad featuring Colin Kaepernick Essay

  • Essay 2: Rhetorical Analysis

    Form: Minimum 1,000 words (roughly 4 or more pages typed, double-spaced, 12-point font, NOT including Works Cited). MLA format with a Works Cited page. Assignment: Ads are everywhere, and their persuasive skills are unmatched. It is a major goal of this assignment for you to analyze the language and images of an advertisement in order to understand how these elements are used to put forth an implicit argument. You will likely need some background information to provide a context for your analysis–this could be for either your ad or a technique it utilizes. For this reason, you may incorporate NO MORE THAN two sources other than your advertisement for this essay.

    Overall Guidelines:

    For this paper you are to find an advertisement and analyze its argument. While you are not restricted in the form of advertisement, your choice should be complex enough so as to have something to analyze. You may find that political ads and fast food commercials are equally dissectible, whereas a local auto dealer commercial may lack serious rhetorical motivations. You should make sure to identify and analyze the rhetorical situation and its constituents:

    • Rhetor
    • Exigence
    • Discourse
    • Audience (addressed and invoked)
    • Constraints and Bias

    Also, consider the following questions:

    • What is the ad explicitly selling? Implicitly? To whom?
    • Is there a specific setting, location or time, utilized?
    • Are there slogans, mascots, or recognizable people in the ad? What effect do they have?
    • Is the ad part of an overall campaign? Does this affect your advertisement?
    • Who is the audience? Is it different than the demographic aimed at by the company?
    • What rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos) are present?
    • Are there logical fallacies present? Are they convincing despite themselves?
    • Would the advertisement work in another form of media?

    These questions should be a reference point to being from, not the sole route to a quality paper, if only because answering just these questions would lead to a chaotic essay. Focus on claims, evidence, rhetorical appeals, and fallacies in your analysis of the advertisement and its argument. Some of these concepts might be foreign to you; we will discuss them in class. Furthermore, this essay should not be about whether you like the ad or not, as this is largely irrelevant; it may be a wiser choice to pick an ad you do not like so a critical eye may be maintained. Research: NO MORE THAN two reputable sources may be used in addition to your advertisement. They can be from popular publications or specialized websites, based on your topics.

  • Before you submit, make sure your MLA formatting is correct, that you have proofread and spell checked the draft, that your draft meets all minimum requirements, and that you have cited your sources correctly (both in the paragraph and Works Cited). Upload only a .doc or .docx file (NO GOOGLE DOCS): any file that is not readable will be an automatic zero. Essays not meeting minimum word count (sans quotations, heading, and citation page) will not be graded. Essays turned in without a Works Cited page will get an automatic F. Cite your sources.
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