Instructions for Project #2 Writing to Analyze:
Choose one of the following Scenarios for your first project:
Scenario #1: Analyzing Representations of Purdue
While thinking about which college to attend, you probably noticed advertisements and recruiting tools universities use to grab the attention of high school students, their families, and even the surrounding community. For example, Purdue’s presence in West Lafayette and Lafayette is strong; this is evident through local businesses’ uses of Purdue’s colors, the mascot, the school’s logo, etc.
Writing Assignment: For this writing project, analyze at least one but no more than five of Purdue’s images or advertisements. This can be any Purdue-related image or advertisement. Keep in mind that you are not meant to evaluate these images or advertisements; instead, analyze its various aspects (color, text, size, shading, placement of visual elements, etc.) to understand how the image or advertisement works. Thinking of these questions may help you: What do these representations say about Purdue and the Purdue community? Why do you think Purdue made the choices they did for your particular image or advertisement? Who is their intended audience? What is the image or advertisement’s purpose?
Scenario #2: Considering Rubbish @ Purdue
Check out the website for Found Magazine at http://www.foundmagazine.com/. Their motto is this: “We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles - anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...” Look at the current and past examples of items that people have posted. Each of these Found items inspire certain questions: Who created this? What motivated this person (or persons) to create it? What were the circumstances around the creation? What can we infer about the cultural environment in which something like this was created? What tools or techniques of creation were used to create this? How can you tell? Where and when did you find this item? What about its found time and location indicate anything about its nature as a written or created item?
Writing Assignment: Find one or more objects that have been discarded on Purdue campus that also accord to the “Found” criteria above. Using some of the question prompts above (or others), construct an analytic piece in which you examine your Found item or items, comparing them if you have more than one. Regardless of the genre you choose to present this analysis, you should include the original item (or a clear enough scan or photo).
Scenario #3: Analyzing Purdue by the Numbers
Purdue’s student body consists of more than 40,000 people. In 2005-2006 there were 2,511,097 volumes in the library. In the same year, the PMU recreation center hosted more than 10,400 hours of billiards played. The Purdue University Data Digest (http://www.purdue.edu/datadigest/) abounds with facts and figures about life at Purdue. What do these numbers mean? What conclusions can be drawn from these numbers? Is there any correlation between the number of hours of billiards played and the number of parking tickets issued?
Writing Assignment: Choose a set of data about Purdue and analyze it. The set of data must have some common point: for example, you could compare the same statistic over the course of several years, or you could analyze data from the same year that might illustrate cause and effect. Your analysis must also come to a conclusion about what the figures mean. The data does not have to come from the data digest, but it’s a good place to start.
Scenario #4: Analyzing Discourse in W;t
In Margaret Edson’s play W;t, there are many characters surrounding Dr. Vivian Bearing while she receives chemotherapy. Dr. Bearing engages in many conversations with the characters and even herself at times. She uses dialogue as a way to work through her chemotherapy and ultimately come to terms with herself and her diagnosis. This scenario asks you to analyze her and others’ words.
Writing Assignment: Analyze a part of the play where two or more characters are engaging in dialogue. Think of these questions as you analyze: How do the characters’ roles inform their dialogue? How does the characters’ dialogue inform their roles? How does it influence the characters’ relationship with the other characters and/or with themselves? Also think about what the dialogue says about cancer treatment and the medical profession in general. What bigger statement are we meant to take away from Edson’s play as readers?
Scenario #5: Ad Parody
Check out the ad parodies at http://parody.organique.com/index.html and http://www.adbusters.org/gallery/spoofads
Writing Assignment: Compose a parody of an advertisement not found on those websites. Include a copy of the original advertisement you are parodying. Include a commentary component analyzing both the original ad and your parody.
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