14 Application: Writing a Multimodal Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Assignment Description
Students will choose a multimodal text related to the assignment prompt or theme. They will then conduct primary/secondary research to understand their chosen text’s rhetorical situation, its appeals, and affects. They will then write a structured analytical essay that incorporates their research to 1) explain and make claims about their chosen text’s rhetorical situation (speaker, audience, purpose, context); 2) explore how the text’s specific components work individually/collectively to appeal to (i.e. create ethos, logos, and pathos) their specific audiences and situations, with reference to specific rhetorical devices; and 3) reflect in the conclusion how the text affected them as a member of the audience and why. Their essay should include a recognizable introduction, analytical thesis statement, exploratory/supporting paragraphs, and conclusion.
Sample Prompt #1: Choose a multimodal text related to your chosen profession or field (For example: a vaccination poster if you are studying to be a nurse, a sports team jersey if you want to be a professional athlete or coach, a magazine spread if you are in fashion design) and write an essay that researches and rhetorically examines what that text does, to/for whom, how, and why.
Sample Prompt #2. Choose a multimodal text that tells or relates to the story you wrote about for project two (For example: a historical marker connected to a haunted house, a commercial that features Santa Claus, a logo with a mermaid on it, a tourism brochure for a particular place, or a song from a musical) and write an essay that researches and rhetorically examines what that text does, to/for whom, how, and why.
Sample Prompt #3. Choose a multimodal text related to one of the places you discussed in your Unit 1 or Unit 2 essay (For example, a real estate listing for a home or a photo album with pictures of a place or a Snapchat video about someone’s community or a mural in your hometown or a city tourist guide ) and write an essay that researches and rhetorically examines what that text does, to/for whom, how, and why.
The researched multimodal rhetorical analysis essay should be 1500-1800 words formatted according to MLA paper standards and reference guidelines. It should include a works cited page for your research and in-text citations.
Step 1: Understanding the Assignment
- Step 1: Read the prompt slowly and carefully. Then read it again, identifying crucial tasks and details for yourself. Ask your teach to clarify key tasks and details and other questions you have. Step 2: Now that you’ve done this kind of activity twice in other units, as a class create your own genre features chart using this student sample essay, the previous chapter, and the knowledge of your instructor and peers
Step 2: Prewriting
After you’ve chosen your text, use the following tables to help yourself think through its rhetorical situation, components, and appeals. Challenge yourself to find as much information and identify as many components as possible. The more ideas you generate, the easier it will be to write your paper.
Table 1: The Rhetorical Situation
Rhetorical Situation |
What I know |
What I need to find out |
What I found in my research |
Where I found my information |
| Speaker | ||||
| Intended audience(s) | ||||
| Text genre and medium | ||||
| Context and setting | ||||
| Purpose |
Table 2: Text Components & Appeals
Text component |
What do you notice about it? |
How do you think it affects or appeals to the text’s specific audience(s)? |
What do you think it accomplishes for the text’s speaker/purpose? Does it function as a rhetorical device? |
Is there another component it is working closely with? Are there any patterns you notice across components? |
Step 3: Outlining
| Essay Part | What Content Belongs in Each Part |
| The beginning: This is typically where you introduce your text to the reader, explain why it matters or why its interesting, and establish what your reader needs to know about its rhetorical situation in order to proceed with you analysis. Remember to be specific. Remember to include your research. | |
| Thesis Statement: Some people like to write their thesis statement before they outline and some people like to outline before they write their thesis statement. Either way, remember for this paper, you are writing an analytical thesis statement: identifying your text, explaining what you want to examine in your text, and briefly describing your methods for breaking down your text and examining it. | |
Your exploration/discussion/examination of the text. There are many ways to organize your analysis and it depends on what you think is most interesting about your text. You could choose to break down your text and examine how it works based on:
There is no “right” or “wrong” way to organize. You should do what makes the most sense for what you most want to talk about in your text. Remember, however you break down your pieces, to name what you are specifically examining in each part in your thesis statement to create a well-structured and cohesive analysis. |
|
| Your conclusion: This is typically where you reiterate your main points, identify the text’s or your discussion’s larger significance, and offer an evaluation of how effective/affective the text. Remember, you are a member of the audience. You can include your informed perspective as such here. |
Step 4: Drafting
Use the outline you generated in Step 3 to begin drafting. Try these steps:
- Set a timer for 20 minutes for each section of your paper (Introduction, Analysis Section 1, Analysis Section 2, etc.)
- Just write for those 20 minutes. Don’t reread. Don’t overthink. Don’t edit. Just get all your ideas for that section onto the piece of paper. If you do this, you can have a draft in two hours. It doesn’t matter if it’s bad. Just do it.
- Take a break from writing.
- Set your timer for 20 minutes again for each section. In that time, reread what you wrote and add any content you think is missing or move content you think doesn’t belong after all. Just make sure you are still only thinking about content.
- After you think you’ve got all your content into a draft, reread for organization. Make sure you have topic and transition sentences. Make sure the pieces of your paragraph logically “go together” (Review Chapter 1 if necessary). Make sure you are describing your text components, explaining what they do in their rhetorical situation, and how.
- Finally, reread for style. Are you writing in a thoughtful and neutral academic voice? Are your sentences clear and direct? Are you treating your sources respectfully and with nuance?
Step 5: Peer Review
The following process is adapted from Oleksiak’s Slow Peer Review strategies. The following instructions are written to guide the reviewer. During this peer review process, the writer’s job is to listen to feedback. The writer will learn more about their writing by listening and taking notes.
1. Have the writer read through their analysis aloud. This time is meant for the reviewers to absorb the information and notice the structure of their report. The reviewers DO NOT mark up the paper, make comments or corrections, or provide any feedback.
2. Read through the paper again silently and individually – both the report and the annotations. This time should be used to develop a relationship between the reviewer and the piece. The reviewer should highlight/underline parts of the writing that are unclear, parts they have questions about, and parts they enjoy.
3. Have a conversation with the writer. Begin by only sharing the parts of the report or annotations that were strong or enjoyable. This will inform the writer of their strengths and the things to continue doing. Then ask the writer to talk about their writing process for the piece: their goals, their strategies, their struggles.
4. Read through the paper one more time. This time is meant for evaluation, keeping in mind the writer’s strategies and struggles. Remember that evaluation is not critique, meaning that the reviewer should focus on the material present and not what is wrong or missing. The reviewers should focus on the movement of the paper. Ensure that the ideas that the writer has discussed are moving coherently and making sense. Ensure that your questions make sense now that you’ve talked to the writer and understand more about their processes. Ensure that you can spot where the writer is fulfilling assignment requirements.
5. Review the paper with the writer. Now the reviewers should share their questions and converse with the group. This time can be used to talk about ways the writer can clarify certain areas and brainstorm ways to better communicate ideas or clarify portions of the paper. Use the rubric or assignment description to assess where the writer is. If there is something clearly missing, then the reviewer should take note of this.
Finally, based on your review and conversation, help the writer make a revision plan (see Step 6) …
Step 6: Revising
With your peer review partner, strategize a revision plan. Remember, “revision” is not editing. Editing or proofreading takes place separately, as the final act, after revision, just before submitting the essay. That’s where you check for issues like spelling and capitalization. Revision is substantive. It involves clarifying your ideas by moving things around, adding material, and cutting content. It involves rearranging paragraphs and sentences for logic and clarity.
Compare the two following revision plans adapted from the Sweetland Center for Writing revision plan handout. Which plan is easier to understand and follow? Which do you have lots of questions about? Which would actually help you accomplish your goals?
| Example Revision Plan #1 | Example Revision Plan #2 |
| 1. Revise introduction | 1. I need to take more time in my introduction to identify my homeplace as my research topic and |
| 2. Add missing content | 2. In the second paragraph, I say my sources are written for different audiences but I don’t say which different communities I think each is written for and why. I need to specify each source’s community. |
| 3. Fix grammar | 3. My second body paragraph has four run on sentences that are very hard for the reader to follow and understand my meaning. I need to separate these into shorter more direct sentences and switch to active voice. |
| 4. Cut content | 4. I have a whole section after the problem that repeats a lot of the information in the intro. It defines the problem more as the conclusion of the essay, but I already defined the problem, so I think I can cut most of this material. I was just padding space to meet the page count requirement, but I’ll meet the requirements by adding in good, purposeful information to develop the solution by adding more details to my solution and giving more examples alternative solutions |
Example Revision Plan #2 gives you specific, direct, achievable goals that you can actively cross off when they are complete and know you have made substantive improvements to your piece.
Step 7: Polishing
Review your final draft with your audience in mind, making any necessary changes to enhance engagement and clarity for your reader.
- Remember that no draft is ever really final, and as the writer you will always find some area that you may want to improve upon. Therefore, aim to create your BEST draft, not a perfect final paper.
- PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD. That’s it. That’s the tip.
- Although there are many applications like Word, Pages, or Google Docs that check documents for spelling and grammar, you should still make time to also proofread your essay.
- It may be helpful to welcome a final review from a different evaluator, such as a tutor, parent, or peer outside of your class.
- You’re finished! So, celebrate this small milestone, and enjoy the satisfying feeling of completion. BUT, no confetti until after you have successfully submitted your assignment.
