Blog Post 24: Outline Student's Guide essay

Complete the activity we began in class: Outline the sample student rhetorical analysis essay on sex-trafficking in the Student's Guide section 13.6 (pp. 277-280). Since it is a student essay, some paragraphs are better organized than others. Post your outline to your blog, and analyze how well you think the essay is organized.

• Point out a strong paragraph and explain why it's strong 
• Point out a weak paragraph and explain how you would improve it 
• Pay particular attention to the thesis statement, and how the topic sentences relate to the thesis
• Pay attention to how the writer uses evidence from the film she is analyzing to support her thesis

Link to Google DOC assignment sheet project #2

The Assignment sheet for project 2 is on Google docs here.  Please go to the assignment sheet and comment: what is confusing, what questions you have, suggestions for making the assignment sheet clearer.

Week Seven Overview (Also Blogs 20-23)

Welcome to Week Seven! This week we rhetorically examine two more visual texts:

• The #LikeAGirl commercials sponsored by Always 
• A photo essay blog, Humans of New York (HONY)

By the end of the week, you will need to decide which complex visual text you want to write a rhetorical analysis about for paper # 2:

1. #LikeAGirl campaign
2. HONY
3. OR a complex visual text of your choice, with my approval.  

By a complex visual text, I mean: a photo blog/essay, a series of commercials or an ad campaign, or a short documentary video, in which there are a variety of images and a complex message. You might even consider an Instagram or Youtube channel. But the text needs to be rhetorical in nature: meaning it seeks to influence or persuade its audience(s) in some way. The text should be complex enough that you can write a 6-8 page essay on it, but not so complex that you are unable to do it justice in that length (probably avoid full-length films for example). And while there can be text, audio, or dialogue, the visual component should be the primary mode.

Monday in class, we discussed the difference between summary and analysis, using an observation/inference chart to start looking for patterns in the texts. We also discussed the #LikeAGirl commercials.

Wednesday in class, we will look at Humans of New York (HONY).

Friday in class, we will discuss the rhetorical analysis assignment (paper #2) and look at two sample essays in the Student's Guide 13.6 (pp. 277-283).

This week's blogs: 

• Revise Blog 20: Compare the paragraph you wrote from your outline of the Brumberg essay with the original. Notice that Brumberg's topic sentences refer to patterns she has noticed in the Girl Culture photos. Her paragraphs then give examples/details from the photos that show that pattern, and discuss why that pattern is significant. The WHY is rhetorical in nature: it has to do with the rhetorical context, the speaker's ethos, the desired effect(s) on the audience, etc. Rewrite your paragraph to improve it. Then add a paragraph about what you learned through this process of outlining Brumberg's essay, and then trying to re-create Blumberg's analysis. 
• Blog Post 21: rewatch the #LikeAGirl commercials. Write a SOAPSTone about them. 
• Blog Post 22: examine the weblog Humans of New York (HONY). There are thousands of photographs in the archive, but click around the website to get an idea what kinds of subjects he photographs. His latest photos, for example, are of refugees in Europe fleeing the Syrian Civil War. Write a SOAPStone about HONY. 
• Blog Post 23: Post an observation/inference chart you made about HONY, then write a paragraph about what interests you most about HONY. What would you want to write about if you chose HONY as your topic for your rhetorical analysis paper?

REPOST: Extra Credit Opportunity (10 points)

This is an opportunity to earn 10 extra points toward your grade on your QRG> 

For extra credit (10 extra points):  Look at the word cloud in my previous blog post, where I explain what a word cloud is, and a little about how to interpret one.

Try using a word cloud generator such as worditout.com or wordle.net to make a word cloud from your QRG. You enter the block of text you want to analyze, usually through copying from your document, and pasting the text into the program. Then you can play around with the settings until you get a word cloud that seems useful. Be aware of the stoplist, and play with different thresholds for inclusion. You might discover some unexpected insights, such as words you tend to overuse. Once you get a word cloud you like, save it, and post it to your blog for the rest of us to enjoy!

BLOG POST 20: Group rhetorical analysis of Girl Culture

Word Cloud of Brumberg's essay on Girl Culture

On Friday, we will study Blumberg's rhetorical analysis of Girl Culture, and break into groups to outline it. Your group will work together on a group document in Goggle docs, to rewrite the essay according to your outline. Each person will be assigned a section to write. 

(If you missed class, contact someone from your usual editing group and ask to join in the project. Class email addresses are available under the "classlist" tab on our course d2l site).  

1) Read Blumberg's rhetorical analysis of Girl Culture on d2l if you haven't already.
2) Outline it as a group (we will do some of this in class on Friday) - use at least two levels of specificity.
3) Each member of your group should pick one major body section of the outline (not introduction, historical info, or conclusion) and rewrite the section in your own words (do NOT look at Blumberg's essay during this task). Each person in your group should pick a different section.  

• Make sure to write a clear topic sentence.
• Use whatever examples from Girl Culture you think are best to make your point. Go into some detail about the photos if that helps. 
• Remember to cover as much of SOAPSTone as is appropriate for your section.

For blog post 20:

1. Post a link to your group's outline. 
2. Post the paragraph(s) you wrote. It is important that each member of the group write his/her own paragraph. You will give and receive feedback in a later step.
3. Explain (in a separate paragraph) what aspects of SOAPSTone you covered, and why?  
4. Critique two other posts (not members of your group). Say what they did well, and make suggestions for improvements.

==>The DEADLINE for this blog is extended 24 hours, until 11:59 Sunday night. 

  

For FRIDAY:SOAPSTone and Brumberg Essay

For Friday (sorry for the short notice): 

In the introductory essay to Lauren Greenfield's photo essay book Girl Culture, cultural critic Joan Jacobs Brumberg writes an excellent example of a rhetorical analysis. I have uploaded a pdf of this essay to d2l. Please read it before Friday's class: we will discuss it Friday in class. I realize it is short notice, but it will help you prepare to participate in our discussion. 

To help think about Brumberg's rhetorical analysis of Girl Culture, consider this acronym (which you may have encountered in high school): SOAPSTone 

SOAPSTone is an acronym to help you remember the elements of a rhetorical analysis of a speech act (SA).

S - speaker (author/artist/actor/creator)

O - occasion (context or precipitating event)

A - audience (stated or implied recipient(s) of the speech act)

P - purpose (intended effect on the audience)

S - subject  (the topic/subject of the SA)

Tone - speaker’s attitude, belief or emotional perspective. Is the tone neutral, ironic, humorous, outraged, bitter, imploring, etc?

See if you can identify places in Blumberg's essay where she discusses each of these elements in Girl Culture. 

Blog Post (Extra Credit): make a word cloud from your QRG.

For extra credit (10 extra points):  Look at the word cloud in my previous blog post, where I explain what a word cloud is, and a little about how to interpret one.

Try using a word cloud generator such as worditout.com or wordle.net to make a word cloud from your QRG. You enter the block of text you want to analyze, usually through copying from your document, and pasting the text into the program. Then you can play around with the settings until you get a word cloud that seems useful. Be aware of the stoplist, and play with different thresholds for inclusion. You might discover some unexpected insights, such as words you tend to overuse. Once you get a word cloud you like, save it, and post it to your blog for the rest of us to enjoy!