Media Studies 2014: Explanation of the short writing assignment.

As a homework activity you chose an advertisement of a particular type and analysed it by answering various questions about its design. In class, you introduced your advertisement, listened to other people analyse the advertisements that they had chosen, and used your joint findings to make a deeper analysis of the way in which advertisements are designed and their role in society.

I want you to write a short paper based on this work. Part of the paper will be an "objective" description of the advertisement that you chose (its denotation), and part of it will be an analysis of the effects of the way it has been designed. This will involve examining the connotations of the images and the text, and the relationships between them.

Organisation of the paper:
1. Introduction and conclusion: Your paper will need an introduction and conclusion. The introduction should introduce the topic, and contain a thesis statement (WE pp. 71-72). The conclusion should summarize the main point and the main supporting points and leave the reader something to think about (WE p. 74). In other words, you will need to find an overall idea that will unify your paper. (See below.)
2. The middle of the paper (the "body") should contain the description and analysis of the advertisement. The body should be organized in a way that allows you to explain your points clearly to the reader. My advice is for you to choose either block or point-by-point organization.

• In the case of block organization (EW p. 44), you should first describe the advertisement and then give your analysis, ending with an analysis of the overall effect that is relevant to your unifying idea.
• In the case of point-by-point organisation (EW p. 45), you should describe one aspect, then analyse it, describe the next aspect then analyse it, and continue in this way. At the end you will need to analyse the whole effect.

Finding a unifying idea:
The unifying idea of your paper will probably be related to the way in which advertisements are designed, or the relationship between the way in which they are designed and their role in our lives. It might apply to advertisements in general, or to a particular type of advertisement. It may be an idea that you have discovered as a result of the activity and the class discussions.

One way of getting ideas for what to write would be to review the activity (both the work that you did by yourself and the class discussions), and then brainstorm ideas about what you have learned from the activity (EW p. 6).

My suggestion for the structure of the paper: (You do not have to follow this.)

Title (choose something appropriate... "An analysis of an advertisement" is one possibility, but you could choose a more specific title that is related to your unifying idea.

Introduction:

1. Start with a general statement about advertisements. For example, you could give a general assumption about advertisements which you will proceed to challenge through your analysis of one particular advertisement. Alternatively, you could start with an interesting question about advertisements that you will proceed to answer.
2. Clarify your meaning/explain why your topic is important, and give your unifying idea.
3. You might want to explain the basic structure of your paper.

Body:

Description and analysis of the advertisement
Your description and analysis should be clearly linked to the unifying idea. If you choose block organization you might want to make this link at the beginning of the analysis section. If you choose point-by-point, you might want to put the link in the final section, where you analyse the advertisement as a whole.

Conclusion:

Restate and clarify what you have done. Do not introduce anything new. You could end by going back to your initial point, or with a message to your readers.

Schedule for submitting the paper:

If you have any problems with the assignment, e-mail me and ask for an appointment. We could have a one-to-one meeting, or two or more class members could come together.

You should bring a first draft to class on the deadline date so that another student can do a peer review, and give you advice on how to improve it. You will then have time to make alterations before you submit the final draft. There will be an opportunity for a rewrite after I have given you feedback on the submitted draft.