For the first essay I am going to ask you to do a comparison piece. We will be taking a look at advertisements and discussing how they try to persuade. Following our discussion I would like you to select two advertisements and write a comparison essay that discusses how the ads are similar in approach and how they differ. When discussing the ads consider such things as placement (where are the ads placed? A particular magazine? Who is the target audience?), images (people, colors, setting), and language (is it present at all? What is the message?). You may select any two ads that you would like, but I will ask that they come from the same medium (both from magazines, both from the internet, t.v., etc…).

KEYS TO THE ASSIGNMENT
CONTENT
-It is not necessary that you cover every possible area; you can probably do more by placing focus on a couple of points of comparison and discussing them thoroughly.
-One of the most difficult issues with comparison papers is avoiding sounding like a bulleted list. Use clever transitions and point of contact to create a paper with a sense of unity.
COMPLEXITY
-Really be decisive about your language choices (do not let the words pick you)
-We will be making a transition in terms of our voice in this paper. This should be more “academic” in its voice (how it reads, how it sounds)