Essay mla format | ENC 1102 | Valencia College
Write an essay analyzing an advertisement (from a magazine that you read online or in print) looking specifically at how the advertisement reflects the values of its intended audience.
Select an advertisement from a magazine in which readers may have an interest. Your ad may be from an old magazine from many years ago or from a contemporary magazine.
You will need to describe the major features of the advertisement (visual, textual, and so on) and analyze its features as you analyze and interpret the messages that the advertisement promotes – both the surface message and the deeper messages that you gain from studying and thinking about the advertisement.
To be successful with this essay, you need to truly think about the purpose of the advertisement. Does it function as a sales pitch? Is it a public service announcement (PSA) designed to provide information for the public’s safety or well-being? Is its purpose to get you to believe or feel something, vote a particular way, or take action on a social issue? How well do the content and design of the advertisement match its purpose, stance, and intended audience? In short, explain for the audience what the messages and intents of the advertisement are and the values it promotes.
You will find helpful information from Everyone’s an Author in Chapter 13 “Writing Analytically,” particularly the Roadmap. Use “Advertisements R Us” by Melissa Rubin (pp 246 – 251) as a model for your essay. Be sure to include your advertisement appropriately with in the text of your essay or as an appendix to your essay so that your audience can see what you are analyzing.
Your analysis should
Introduce the advertisement and context in which you encountered it (the magazine, date, surrounding stories, and so on).
Describe the major features of the advertisement, including the ways in which the ad uses colors, arrangement, size, font, etc. to catch the reader’s eye and direct the reader’s attention toward certain information/images and perhaps, away from others.
Identify the target audience for the ad and how the ad specifically targets that audience.
What might be the values of the targeted audience?
Identify the purpose of the ad and what features of the ad that support the purpose.
Include an interesting opening and a strong thesis that introduce the advertisement and make an analytical point that is evidenced in your essay.
Move through a well-organized body that presents claims and supporting evidence.
End with an evaluation of the ad’s effectiveness based on your analysis.
Special Requirements
Word Count: No less than 1000 words, no more than 1300 words. Any essay that has a word count of less than 800 words will not receive a grade of more than 50%. Any essay that has a word count of over 1300 words will receive a 10% deduction.
Use MLA Style heading for essays without cover pages. Be sure to include headers that contain your last name and page number for each page. Be sure to double space entire essay. See sample research paper in Everyone’s an Author on page 574.
Essay will include a works cited entry for the advertisement. See #39 on page 566 in Everyone’s an Author for sample entries for advertisements.
Two hard copies of the rough draft must be brought to class for a peer review if you are in a FACE-TO-FACE class. Peer reviews will be conducted in class.
The Final Draft will be submitted as a Word document to the Canvas Assignment Dropbox.