Background for the Analysis: An important skill you will need for college work is to read many kinds of texts in a short time, to get the main ideas, follow the logic, and evaluate the text’s content and style. You may be asked to write or present a report on a reading or research assignment that is very much like this analysis.
Goal and Outcome of Essay Analysis: To write a formal academic essay in which you analyze the rhetorical appeals present in a visual image, a protest poster, and evaluate the strengths and shortcomings of the poster.
Length of Essay Analysis: 2-3 pages double spaced using Times New Roman 12-point font and conventional margins. The Works Cited page does not count as one of the 2-3 pages.
Special Requirements for Analysis: You are to use the MLA format for research papers described in the text or the Little Seagull Handbook and have a Works Cited page that gives the correct publication information for the image you choose.
Content of Essay Analysis: In essence this essay is an argument about whether a poster is an effective image. To introduce or conclude the paper, develop a thesis statement that shows the reader what your overall evaluation of the poster is.
The analysis that follows should detail the criteria you use to make your judgment. You should, however, avoid arguing about or with the movement’s central goals or ideas—you are simply evaluating the job the image does to present those ideas. You should also include a clear and precise description of the poster that gives the reader a clear mental image of the poster. The description typically comes in or immediately after your introductory paragraph. Beyond considering the issues you have read about in this course, you may want to consider the following:
Identify the main goals of the movement. What is the movement protesting? Who is the audience (the opposition, the media, fellow protestors)? What argument does the poster make? How do the visual elements support that argument?
