Week+7

Assignment: VISUAL RHETORIC PORTFOLIO PROJECT The image is becoming increasingly a main, if not the main, mode of communications in our society. As such it is important for students to develop a critical consciousness of the rhetoric of the visual. Some define visual rhetoric as ". . . the use of images, sometimes coupled with sound or appeals to the other senses, to make an argument or persuade us to act as the image maker would have us act".

In this project, you will work with a partner to create a portfolio of eight images including: two news photos from newspapers and/or magazines, two advertisements, two editorial cartoons, and two Web sites. Each image (or image/graphic/word combination) will be accompanied by an evaluative analysis that assesses the targeted audience, the appeals to character, emotion, logic, and style, and the call to action that the image communicates. Your comments, which will be presented both in writing and orally to the class, will include a statement as to the effectiveness of each piece of visual rhetoric and whether and in what ways each might be improved. Sources for each image must be cited in MLA style and listed on a works cited page. Oral presentations are due the end of