3 prompts in which to choose 1 topic. Listed below.
Order Description
Write a 4-page analytical essay (12-point font, double-spaced, 1-inch margins) responding to one of the prompts below. The paper—complete with an introduction, thesis, and conclusion—should demonstrate your clear understanding of the topic as well as how effectively you use concepts derived from readings and lecture to provide depth, insight, and support for your analysis. You will be evaluated on the basis of your argumentation, fulfillment of the prompt, use of supporting materials, and clarity and organization. See the second page for the grading criteria.

Define all concepts you use in your own words in order to demonstrate your knowledge of the material. Your essay must make meaningful reference to the articles or book chapters assigned for this class. Rely on lecture or discussion only for ideas not discussed in the readings. Write as if for a general audience and assume that your reader does not know the subject area. You do not need outside sources for this paper, though you may use them.

Be sure to give sufficient identification within the text for each reference you make to readings, lecture, or discussion. Include in-text citations and an alphabetized bibliography of all sources you cite (including those from class). Use a recognizable scholarly format (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.). Remember that failure to properly cite ideas or exact wording from other texts constitutes plagiarism, which is a major academic violation

You will submit TWO copies of your paper: a hardcopy and a digital copy (via bCourses). This essay accounts for 15% of your course grade. Any paper turned in after the beginning of lecture on February 19 will be penalized 10% of the total assignment grade per day.

Semiotics

Choose a widely-circulated photographic image (not something only shared to friends) from within the last year and explain its myth. Break down the photo using those semiotics-related terms and methods relevant to your purpose of articulating and analyzing the specific cultural message of the photo’s myth and how the image attempts to convey it.

(Please attach the photographic image and a caption citing where you found it to your essay.)

Authorship

How do advertisements complicate the “author function”? Choose an ad no more than two years old and argue that it is an authored work. Use the text and the author’s body of work as support. Consider how the attribution of authorship to the ad is capable of changing discourses about the advertised product/ service and the author that produced it.

(Please attach or provide a link to the advertisement as part of your essay.)

Postmodernism

Choose a visual media text from the past three years and examine how it expresses a) postmodern aesthetics and b) postmodern themes to c) make a specific statement about the “postmodern condition.” Describe and analyze these themes and aesthetic approaches as support—but only the ones that apply explicitly to your argumentation.

(Please provide a link to the text as part of your essay if the text is available online.)