Today’s Goals Learn and utilize basic strategies for analyzing visual rhetoric Analyze common visual rhetoric and document design strategies utilized in newspapers and magazines

Visual Rhetoric Strategies Analyzing Immediate impact: What words come to mind when viewing this graphic? What is the mood or overall feeling conveyed in the photo? Assume that when using photos, writers have a particular effect in mind. What is the intended effect of the photo?

Visual Rhetoric Strategies Advertisements and publishers in magazines/newspapers will often consider the following before using an image: Who is the intended audience? How would you pitch a product differently to Walmart shoppers versus Neiman Marcus shoppers? How much media landscape should be afforded to the graphic? This is not just a question about money; you must also consider space! Less important graphics or information should not take up as much room as those of central importance What is the intended goal of the graphic or photo in question? Is the graphic intended to stimulate sales and consumer interest or develop long term branding? Is the graphic attempting to grab reader attention or inform readers about something important?

Visual Rhetoric Strategies When marketing to a particular audience, advertising agencies will usually use one of the two effects: Mirror effect: The way in which an image mirrors the target audience’s self-image, promoting identification with the image. This can be something as small as an article of clothing, acne, use of a phone, etc Window effect: The image provides a vision of a possible future, promising a positive effect or warning of a negative consequence. The image implies a brief narrative in this way These can be helpful when selecting photos to use for Informative Article

Group Activity- Analyzing Visual Rhetoric In your unit 2 groups Review the images on page 134 Answer questions 1-4 on page 135 Old textbook p. 319 images and questions p. 320

News/Magazine Style Inverted Pyramid Structure- a type of organization or structure used in informative writing in which the most important or interesting elements are placed at the beginning. Additional supporting information follows in order of diminishing importance (similar to a synopsis). Nut graph- a brief sentence that highlights the most important points of a news story. It is often set off from the rest of the story, put in a box, and utilizes bullet points or quotes

Newspaper/Magazines Style- Beginning Title- article titles will often be in the form of a complete sentence with one or several types of words omitted, such as determiners, subjects, auxiliary verb, or prepositions Lead- an article’s first sentence. It is usually considered the most important element of the article Hard lead- A lead that is the explicit thesis of the article Soft lead- A lead that focuses on engaging the readers attention

News/Magazine Style- Endings Kicker- the last paragraph of the article. Often considered the second most important (after the first paragraph or lead) Circle end- ending sentence that references back to an important piece of information, usually from the beginning. Quote end- an ending that references a famous or well known quote that is

Publication Style Comparisons Newspaper Magazine MLA/Chicago style Usually professional and serious but with conversational /informal diction Short paragraphs and sentences Extreme importance of lead and hook May use nut graphs or other visual strategies to highlight important information MLA/Chicago Style Usually aims to entertain. Conversational/informal. May be serious or humorous Short paragraphs (but not as short as newspapers) Will use visually appealing graphs and pictures to catch readers’ attention

Group Activity: Analyzing Rhetorical Effect In your unit 2 groups Analyze the images from figure 4.4 on pg of A&B. Answer questions 1&2 on pg. 80 as well as the following questions: 3. How do the first three documents (the scholarly journal, magazine, and newspaper) use a lead or hook strategy to grab reader attention? 4. Which of the 4 formats of documents found in 4.4 seems most appropriate for the publication of each student in the group?

Style - Review Consider style as a tool for explaining genre Style factors: Sentence structure: long or short? Varied or monotonous? Types of words: pedantic or colloquial? Abstract or concrete? Voice or Persona: 1 st or 3 rd person? Expert or layperson? Tone: Formal or informal? Humorous or serious? Review on pg. 68 if necessary Secondary Style factor: Research discussion Different publications will have different styles for discussing research and may vary in their use of 1 st vs 3 rd person, passivization, and linguistic distance from the performed methods

Homework: Select a publication you will use for your informative article, select one article from this publication, and bring a printed copy of that article to class on Tuesday Begin conducting Primary research Finalize your interview/survey questions Make arrangements for your interviews or observations Create the online version of your surveys Preliminary research results due 3/31