Journal #2: Palmer Museum Visit

For your second journal prompt, you will visit the Palmer Museum of Art either during the hours of 10-12 on Wednesday, August 31st, when your instructor will be there, OR on your own any time during the week prior to Tuesday, September 6th.

Your goal for this journal is to find a piece of art in the Palmer's collection that is rhetorically interesting to you. Wander around for a bit, upstairs and down, and look closely at the paintings, sculptures, sketches, and other artistic pieces, paying attention to what draws you in. Maybe it's the color or the scale or the material choices. Maybe it's the subject matter and how it's being depicted. Maybe it's something else entirely. Once you settle on a piece, do the following:

1. Write down the title, the artist, the materials and the year in which it was made.

2. Spend some time writing a thorough description of the piece so that a reader will be able to visualize it outside of the museum. If you have access to an iPhone or similar device, take a picture of it.

3. Now, write a blog post in which you include the above information and answer the following questions about the piece:

     * What is the rhetorical situation of the piece? That is, what can you tell us about the place/time in which it was created? Is there a particular cultural or historical moment to which it belongs? Does the piece seem to be in conversation with that moment? Does it seem to be making a political/social comment of any kind?

     * How does the piece work on your emotions? (pathos) What does it make you feel? How does it connect to your values?

     * How does the piece/artist create credibility? You may need to investigate a little more about the artist to answer this. Who is she/he? What are her other contributions to the world of art?

      * What claim do you think the piece is making? Is it making more than one claim? Does that claim seem persuasive to you?

       * Finally, reflect on your overall experience at the Palmer. Are you a museum-goer? Is this your first time here? Can you imagine going back? Why or why not? Tell me what you think!

Answer the above in 500 or more words and post to your own blog by noon on Tuesday, September 6th.  Include a photo if you took one.

Project #1: Analysis of an Advertisement

Draft workshop: Thursday, 9/8

Final Draft Due: Tuesday, 9/13

Length: 1000 words

Overview:

The first assignment is designed to introduce many of the key concepts we'll be working through in our course. It will also give you an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to "think rhetorically." From a print medium choose an advertisement that you find rhetorically interesting. The ad could be one for which you consider yourself part of the target audience or not. Write an analysis of the ad that will help your reader--i.e., your instructor and the class or some other audience that would be interested--see how the ad works to influence its audience, both through its images and its text.

Invention:

Refer to pgs. 446-450 for some questions to help you ground your analysis.

Audience & Rhetorical Situation - Where was the advertisement published and when? What does the type of publication tell you about the probable audience for the advertisement? To get a better idea of a publication's target audience, look at the other advertisements in the publication. Are they targeted towards a certain gender, age, income level, education level, and so on? The ad itself should help you to flesh out your audience analysis. What visual and verbal cues does the ad give that would connect to a particular audience?


Ethos - Companies work carefully to build a recognizable brand image, and advertisements play a big role in this task. What kind of image does the ad create for the company? How does the ad try to build credibility? Look at the verbal cues, like "4 out of 5 dentists recommend Crest" or "Serving you for 75 years." Websites, 800 numbers, and even registered trademark symbols are also verbal cues. However, the images in an ad also provide cues to its ethos. What type of company do they want the audience to believe they are? Progressive, traditional, reliable, trendy, exciting?


Logos - First, identify the main claim of your ad. (In many cases, the main claim will be something like "You should buy product X"). What logical reasons does the advertisement use to support this claim? What evidence is provided to support these reasons? Again, look at the text, but also the visual cues. Remember that the logos of an argument isn't always stated explicitly - sometimes it's implied by the images, word choice, etc.


Pathos -Think about the values, emotions and beliefs contained in the ad. Once again, examine the images in the ad as well as the text. For example, do the colors used in the ad evoke a particular emotion or belief?


Composition:
Once you've worked through the invention topics above, look for a common thread that seems to connect most of your ideas together. For example, you might find that the theme of family values relates not just to the pathos of your ad, but also to the ethos, logos, and target audience. You can use this common theme to formulate your thesis statement. As you write your paper, use concrete details from your advertisement to support your claims. You can quote directly from the ad's copy, or use detailed language to describe the images, colors, fonts, etc. in the ad. Although you're free to structure your paper however you want, it's often a good idea to organize it around the following categories: audience/rhetorical situation, ethos, pathos, logos. Keep in mind that your audience for this paper is your instructor, and that she will be looking for a solid understanding and application of the rhetorical concepts covered in class.

Include the ad or a photocopy of the ad with your paper.

Blog Journal Assignment/Prompt #1

Over the course of 15 weeks, you will be required to write in response to ten different prompts, provided by your instructor, and to post them on your personal blog space. These responses may vary in length, and each prompt will tell you explicitly how to proceed. The writing in your blog journal needn't be formal or academic--blogging is supposed to be conversational, casual and fun-- but it does need to be thoughtful and error-free. You should imagine that you are writing for an audience of your classmates and instructor, certainly, but remember that ultimately, the internet is a public space. But you guys know that already, don't you?

So, without further ado..

Journal # 1: Make Your Blog

For your first assignment, you are required to register for Blogger and then build your own blog. Get yourself over to Blogger.com, where you will either need to register or sign in with your Google account. Once you are logged in, you will arrive at your Dashboard page. In the right hand corner of your Dashboard, click "Create a Blog." As you begin adding titles and design elements to your blog, remember that all your choices are part of a rhetorical situation in which each decision you make plays its own role. Choose a title that suits you and your interests and is appropriate for an English 15 class. Once you've found a suitable title and an available URL (the unique address at which we can find your blog), you'll be sent to a page where you can choose from a variety of design templates. Again, pick a template that will suit the aesthetic and feel of the blog you are developing. At the top of your blog page, you'll see a "Design" tab. Click on it. Here you can rearrange the elements on your page. You can also customize your site more fully by clicking on the "Template Designer" link. Upload a background, change your fonts, the color of your text. Just make sure that 

your design choices allow for easy readability. You can also customize your user profile.

Warning! This stuff is fun to fiddle endlessly with. Don’t forget to pause to eat and sleep!

Once you are satisfied with the look of your blog, you will add it to the list of Class Blogs on our master site.  I have sent invites to all of your PSU accounts.

Then, you can post your first Blog Entry! Here's the prompt:

Think about your past experiences as a writer. What are two of your strengths as a writer? What are two of your writing weaknesses? Specifically, how would you like to improve as a writer? What could you do or learn to make such improvements? How do you anticipate that this particular course will help you improve as a writer?

Answer these questions in 500 words or more.

Additionally, please include a link to an example of “art” that you admire or which interests/puzzles you. This could be something visual, like a painting, or it could be writing or sound or…well, I’m interested in what YOU think art is! Tell me what strikes you about this piece.  Where did you first encounter it? What emotions does it evoke in you? Why do you think it merits the term “art?”  For example, I love the work of the late fashion designer, Alexander McQueen http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/objects/. His avant garde pieces evoke a mélange of feelings in me: whimsy, thrill, intrigue, puzzlement, discomfort, awe. I think this is part of what art does—it makes us feel strongly.

Your response is due by noon on Tuesday, August 30th.

Welcome!

Welcome to English 15S: The Arts at Penn State. This course has two goals: 

1. To teach you about audience-centered writing and give you practice in using rhetorical tools to create persuasive, eloquent arguments. 

2. To show you around your new home--Penn State--and introduce you to the arts community that thrives here.

This is a small class, and we will get to know one another well over the course of the semester. It is my hope that this blog will offer you another way to engage with the class materials, with me, with the community and with each other. I will add links and resources of interest throughout the semester and invite you to suggest events and articles--anything you find relevant--to me for inclusion here.


I will also use this space to post prompts for your short writing assignments. We will talk more about those in class.

Above you can find the course syllabus (which is also available on ANGEL). Please read it carefully and refer to it from time to time as we go forward. I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

I hope you will think of me as both instructor for this course and mentor for your first college experience. My door--real and virtual--is always open to you!