In class we practiced analyzing print sources – books, magazines, etc – using rhetorical conventions. For this assignment, you will compose a rhetorical analysis of one of the following websites:
- First, you need to choose one website to focus on. Then, you need to determine the audience, purpose, context, author, and genre using the handout provided in class. You should address each of these topics thoroughly with direct evidence from the text and your research. You must use MLA citations for any information you summarize, paraphrase, or quote.
- Next, you should include a through an analysis of the information graphics used in the text you have selected. You should also provide an analysis of the interface – in other words the platform the text is published in – and how that interface affects your experience of the text. When analyzing the interface consider color, font, information architecture, and user experience. You should analyze how the visualizations were made, what argument the visualizations are making, and how that argument is presented. To do this you may use https://hypothes.is/ , screen captured images (I suggest JING), screen captured videos (I suggest Quicktime or LiceCAP), or printed images with hand drawn annotations. The idea is to walk your audience through your analysis visually and alphabetically.
- Summarize your rhetorical analysis. Tell me what you learned from creating a multimedia essay about this site. Included in your post for the rhetorical analysis assignment, please include a short written statement that addresses the following:
- Who is the audience for this site? Who is the secondary audience?
- What is their purpose for this site? Does it have a bias? Explain.
- How did the medium shape the argument? How did the author(s) utilize the medium to make their point? What media/links/tags are included? How do these multimodal elements relate to the information presented in the text?
- How did you use the tool you choose to make your arguments about the article? What was your process in creating your analysis?
This should be 1-3 paragraphs long as an accompaniment to your video/images/annotations.
This is due by midnight on 2/17. It should be posted as category “blog” and tag “rhetorical analysis.”
This project is worth 25 points.