Major Assignment: App Analysis

Look closely at one of the apps on your phone, (in the past, students have analyzed Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, even Tinder, profiles, but given explanation and appropriate persuasion, you may propose another social media profile, to be approved on a case by case basis): write a persuasive rhetorical analysis answering the question: How does this app reflect, hide, mirror, or challenge your authentic self? Is your “digital” self the same as the self sitting in this classroom?

Requirements: 900-1,100 words. Creativity (snapshots of posts, etc) and inclusion of visual material as supporting evidence is highly encouraged.

Writing skills honed: rhetorical awareness, use of argument / analytic thinking

FORMATTING RULES: Double-spaced, 1-in margins, 12 point font, follow MLA style for citations, page numbers.

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Short Writing Assignment #4

In order to rhetorically analyze your app (your primary text in your rhetorical analysis),  you need to write about the audience, texts created, and the circumstances in which this your app was produced or how it is received. In this short writing assignment, you will begin by summarizing a “secondary text” that teaches you something about the audience or the circumstances about your app beyond your usage of the app, which will open and explain your understanding of the history, reception, and social influence of your app. Then, describe how you imagine this will kickstart or encapsulate your paper’s project as a whole. How will this strengthen or preview your Paper 3?

Assignment Overview: Locate a secondary source (using Lexis Nexis, the library’s website, or judicious and vetted Google searching). After clearing the source with your teacher, write a 400 – 500 word evaluation of a text—your secondary text—that you would like to use as context for your analysis.

FORMATTING RULES: Double-spaced, 1-in margins, 12 point font, follow MLA style for citations, page numbers.