The goal of this exercise is to produce a very rough draft (a “zero draft”) of your second essay. This will help you find raw material (i.e. potential evidence and rough ideas) that can be refined and further developed in your formal draft. Reminder: this draft should be very messy. I want you to explore *ideas* and not worry about making (or fixing) grammatical mistakes. You can use a combination of English and other languages if you’d like. If this draft is polished and free of grammatical errors, it means you did not follow my instructions.
Estimated time: 2-3 hours
Due by 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 16th
Assignment
- Read the guidelines for the Lens Analysis Essay and the formatting guidelines described in the syllabus.
- Read the Visual Analysis handout, then describe your advertisement for a reader who has never seen it before. Based on your research, briefly explain when, where and why the advertisement was published, and who published it. (1 paragraph)
- Which three elements of the advertisement do you think are crucial to understanding its message and intended audience? Explain why you chose these three. (1 paragraph)
- Read the Citing Sources handout, then summarize “Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising” by Jack Solomon for a reader who has never read it before. Make sure to include and explain in your own words a quotation that best expresses the thesis of the essay. Provide at least one example from the essay to help your reader understand Solomon’s argument. (1 paragraph)
- List three quotations (i.e. lens ideas) from Solomon that you believe can help you analyze elements of the advertisement in order to decipher its (implicit and explicit) messages. (1 paragraph)
- Read the Lens Analysis handout, then use one of your quotes from Solomon to analyze one element of the advertisement. (1 paragraph)
- Summarize “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” for a reader who has never read it before. Define what Cohen means by the term “monster.” Make sure to include and explain in your own words a quotation that best expresses the thesis of the essay. Provide at least one example from the essay to help your reader understand Cohen’s argument. (1 paragraph)
- List two quotations from Cohen that you believe can help you analyze elements of the advertisement in order to decipher its (implicit and explicit) messages. (1 paragraph)
- Read the Lens Analysis handout, then use one of your quotes from Cohen to analyze one specific visual aspect of the advertisement and explain why this aspect is “monstrous” or a “monster.” (1 paragraph)
- Use another quotation from Cohen to help you explain the purpose of the monster or monstrous aspect of the advertisement. (1 paragraph)
- Conclude with one paragraph in which you attempt to state your hypothesis or tentative thesis: What is the central message of the advertisement? Who is the intended or target audience for this advertisement?
- Include a copy of your advertisement or a link to it on a separate page.
- Include a one-paragraph self-evaluation on a separate page in which you briefly explain what you think is promising in your draft and what sort of feedback you would like in order to continue to develop this draft.
- Name your draft correctly and submit it to: https://www.dropbox.com/request/qg1pKYaIQJ3RLlmp8dPH.
ALTERNATIVELY, you can freewrite to answer all the questions in the Visual Analysis handout and submit this as your zero draft.
