Prompt 2 Assignment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m71m-LBqFQ

This is a commercial for hulu.com, which is a website that allows you to watch various tv shows for free.  Think about what rhetorical strategies and appeals the authors of the commercial use to convince their audience (consider also who the audience is, specifically) to visit the website and watch the tv.  What repetitions/binaries/anomalies are present?  What interesting word choices does the commercial use?  How does the humor work in the video?

Here's the actual assignment prompt: 

Prompt 2:  Media Analysis––We’ve been discussing rhetorical analysis and learning how to analyze media artifacts (sound, images, videos, texts). But what happens when we take these analytical approaches and use them to analyze a different type of media? In what ways does the analytical process differ? In what ways is it easier? Harder? What can we learn about rhetorical analysis by using it on different types of objects? 

Analyze the primary source I’ve placed on my blog site using the rhetorical terms we’ve discussed in relation with our course theme. Who created this piece? Who’s supposed to see it/hear it? What’s it meant to do? What rhetorical appeals are used? Do you find it effective? Why or why not? In what ways does medium/media influence your above answers? How does your analysis differ (or compare) to the exercises we’ve done thus far in class? 

Welcome to the Blog Project!

The Blog Project is designed so that you have an opportunity to engage in a different type of writing (and reading) than you might usually in a first-year writing class.  Over the quarter, each of you will respond to three blogging prompts designed to reinforce the rhetorical skills we're learning in class.  Like the Analytical Research Paper, some of the prompts ask you to analyze a text, giving you practice working through the process of rhetorical analysis.  Other prompts ask you to think about your Commonplace essay, making you consider what types of evidence works best for a specific audience.  Additionally, you will compose two blog entries on your own time, and in response to readings or class discussions you find interesting or provocative in any way.

I hope all of you enjoy blogging and comment frequently on others' blogs.  Like Commonplace, the blog creates a venue for you to read and respond to the writing of others.  Writing communities like our class blog and Commonplace give us new rhetorical situations, and will help us think about how we can write for different audiences.  Enjoy!

Best, 

Annie