ENGL 1101: Assignment Sheet for Rhetorical Analysis of a Multimodal Source
Your objective for this assignment will be to explain, using a minimum of 1000 words, how a multimodal source uses emotional (pathos), ethical (ethos), and logical (logos) appeals to communicate a message to an audience (The word count only includes the analysis itself, separate from the Works Cited page or any additional material such as a copy of the multimodal source that you are analyzing.). At least three direct quotations should be incorporated into your analysis. The final draft of this paper comprises 20% of the total course average.
You will analyze the rhetorical appeals in one of the following multimodal sources:
(1.) Frank Darabont’s film The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
(2.) Clint Eastwood’s film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
(3.) Brian De Palma’s film Scarface (1983)
(4.) John Landis’s film An American Werewolf in London (1981)
(5.) Robert Zemeckis’s film Forrest Gump (1994)
(6.) Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining (1980)
(7.) Mike Judge’s film Office Space (1999)
(8.) Barry Levinson’s film Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
(9.) the official music video for Tracy Chapman’s song “Fast Car” (1988) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOAlaACuv4
(10.) the official music video for Fleetwood Mac’s song “Landslide” (1975) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM7-PYtXtJM
(11.) the Pantene Deaf Violinist commercial (2009) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsBoXe0Bnpk
(12.) the Geico/History Channel Promo Caveman Museum Tour commercial (2008) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8e2z75V8iI
The Final Draft of your Rhetorical Analysis is due in BlazeVIEW by Thursday, October 10, at 11:59 p.m. On Tuesday and Thursday, October 1 and 3, you will bring two hard copies of your Rough Draft to class for Peer Review. You will exchange papers with two peers on Monday and review their rough drafts, and on Wednesday, you will orally discuss your feedback with the two peers whose rough drafts you reviewed. Your rough draft should be at least two pages in length (double-spaced and typed using 12-Point Times New Roman Font). Please use MLA formatting throughout. If you do not come to class with a rough draft, ten points will be deducted from your final draft grade for this paper. If your rough draft is less than two pages in length, ten points will be deducted from your final draft grade. Ten points will also be deducted from your final draft grade if you miss any part of the peer reviewing process (which also means that if you don’t want to discuss your peers’ papers with them on the second day of peer review, you will lose ten points on the final draft of this paper).
To ensure that daily class attendance and effort are rewarded, I will be taking up most of the class activities associated with your Rhetorical Analysis and giving you participation grades. If you do not come to class on a day that we have a class activity that will be turned in, you will lose one point from your final draft grade for that day. If the activity lasts for two days and you aren’t in class during both of those days, you will lose two points (one point for each day) from your final draft grade. If you come to class late and cannot complete a class activity, you will not get credit for doing only a portion of the assignment and, consequently, one point will be deducted from your final draft grade. Finally, if you don’t make a genuine effort to complete the work that is assigned (for example, if your answers don’t fit with the questions or instructions), one point will be deducted from the final draft of your Rhetorical Analysis.
If you are absent from class due to an illness, emergency, jury duty, or event sponsored by VSU, you will be excused only if you bring me official documentation on company letterhead.
Please do not send half of your final draft on the due date and the other half later; 10 points will be deducted for each day that the assignment is submitted late. I will not accept any assignment beyond three days after the due date.
Any final draft sent as a Pages or PDF file—or any file that isn’t Microsoft Word—will automatically receive an F.
Additionally, two points will be deducted for each set of fifty words that you do not include on your final draft. No points will be deducted for exceeding the minimum word count.
Please keep in mind that direct quotations should not comprise any more than 30% of your paper. Words and ideas specific or unique to the author or creator of the work should be surrounded by quotation marks and followed with a parenthetical citation that includes the author’s last name and page number. In the case of a film or commercial, you would only include the director’s or sponsor’s name in your parenthetical citations. You will also need an entry on your Works Cited page that corresponds with your parenthetical citations.
A plagiarized paper, regardless of whether it is a rough or final draft, will receive an F. If you bring a plagiarized rough draft to class, you will not get credit for it and, hence, will lose ten points from your final draft grade. If you recycle a previous paper or credit yourself for ideas or direct words that are not your own, you will receive an F on the paper or assignment.
Your Final Draft should include no less than 1000 words, as well as complete sentences. Be sure to include an introduction with a thesis statement; a minimum of three body paragraphs with topic sentences; evidence to support the thesis statement and topic sentences; and a conclusion that restates the thesis statement using different words, reiterates the main points of the analysis, and ends with a forward-looking thought. Incorporate your three quotations from the multimodal source into the body paragraphs and distribute these quotations evenly throughout rather than isolating them in a single paragraph.
Please note, as well, that this essay should be written from the third-person perspective, which is appropriate for any college analysis, because it creates an objective tone and therefore enhances the credibility of your argument. In other words, you want to avoid using the first-person (or “I”) and the second-person (or “you”) points of view.
You will look for patterns of persuasion that support the argument that your chosen source reflects.
Look for:
- repeated words or phrases;
- font size and style of the printed words, if applicable (A neutral font such as Times New Roman or Courier might reflect a formal tone and theme, a bold Showcard Gothic would support a dramatic tone, a Chiller font would appeal to fear, and a playful Curlz MT font might represent lightheartedness. Words in bold and/or large print, since they are emphasized more than words in small print, are typically the first words that advertisers want their audiences to read; advertisers hope that readers will avoid the fine print, which is usually more detailed. Consider, as well, that an e-mail written in all capital letters is usually interpreted as a form of screaming.);
- a predominance of particular colors (Light colors, for example, might support lighter themes; dark colors could support darker themes. Bright colors might suggest boldness, energy, and positive emotions, whereas dark colors might represent cautiousness, formality, sadness, or emotional detachment. Consider the lighting in a film; brighter lighting might convey a more uplifting tone and theme, whereas darker lighting could project gloom and melancholy.);
- facial and/or bodily expressions (A smile could indicate happiness, joy, or inner peace; a tight, tense face might suggest sadness, worry, or anger. An upright, open posture might suggest confidence; conversely, a bent or closed posture could represent timidity or perhaps shame. An experienced speaker who effectively balances arm and hand gestures with voice gestures has learned how to appeal to an audience’s emotions.);
- tone of voice or music, sound quality, volume, and/or rhythm (e.g., smooth and peaceful, soft and timid, harsh and tense, loud and angry, fast and energetic, slow and solemn, moderate and temperate, bouncy and happy, etc.);
- the prominent age group represented—young, middle-aged, elderly, or mixed (Consider how the age group might support the feeling or idea that your chosen work represents. For example, younger people might be more associated with boldness, taking risks, and making more impulsive decisions, whereas older people might tend to be more cautious because they have more experiences to draw from. Magazines with bright color themes are usually meant to attract a younger audience; those with darker or more subdued colors are typically tailored for middle-aged and older audiences.);
- the religion or religions represented (Think about the moral values or standards that religions, as a whole or individually, might represent—inner peace, unity, longsuffering, sacrifice, love, hope, empathy, etc.);
- the race or nationality represented—African, Mexican, European, American, Spanish, Indian, Asian, Japanese, Chinese, etc., or mixed (What values are dominant in particular races or nationalities? Western societies and cultures generally support capitalism and individual success, whereas Eastern societies endorse collectivism, or group success.); and
- the gender or sexuality represented—male, female, transgender, genderqueer, agender, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual (What values are associated with these genders and sexualities?).