PowerPoint on developing a thesis and structure for Ad Analysis essay

PowerPoint on developing a thesis and structure for Ad Analysis essay

Okay, as I suggested in the last lecture-- mini lecture-- I want to talk now about thesis statements and how to put together this essay. Hopefully, you've done a bit of brainstorming now about topics and have some ideas. But hopefully this presentation will help you figure out how to move forward and what to do next. I looked at this screen in the last presentation. Suggested some ways that this essay poses new challenges.

I wanna focus on these especially right now. How do you develop a good argument and a strong thesis statement? It might seem strange to talk about developing an argument about advertising or about analysis even. Here's, again, how the basic tasks are summarized and, again, I want to look at these two. How do you support and defend a thesis?

How do you develop a thesis about ads besides just saying, "Oh, here's some interesting things I see going on in the ads"? One way to think about it is these three-- these three elements of a good essay really belong together.

Obviously, you're trying to write a clear, compelling argument. To do that, you need to have a clear, coherent structure. And I want to think a little bit about that in this presentation.

And, really, to have either one-- both of those are guided by a clear thesis statement. Now, perhaps you've been taught about thesis statements before. I want to talk a little bit about what I mean by that and why I think it's so important. But the biggest reason is that it's difficult to write a compelling argument with a clear structure without a good, clear thesis statement. And it's much easier once you have one.

So, what is a thesis statement? And what's the strongest, most successful thesis statement? A few things-- first, it's a single sentence. I've had students say, "Well, my thesis "is sort of these three sentences kind of here." And I know what they're doing, but there's something important and worthwhile in summarizing your argument in a single sentence.

So, we'll talk about that. It sums up concisely what you want to argue in the essay. Two, it's clearly stated. It says "precisely," again, what you want to say in the essay. So, "concisely" means "short." "Precisely" means "exact"-- just what you want to argue. Not something like, "There are many pros and cons "to going to college." That's very vague and broad and general, even though it's concise. So, you need to be precise. It should appear somewhere near the start of the essay.

Very often, students will write their way to a thesis in the end of an essay. I want you, then, to sort of move that to the beginning and say, "Here is what this essay, in a sense, "will be about," without saying, "Here's what this essay will be about." So, very often, people put the thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph. You write an introduction and then come to your thesis statement. And then, it announces what you will argue in the rest of the essay.

And then, fourth and fifth, it's arguable. And it makes a point that someone might, at least in theory, challenge or question. And that's a tough one. Especially with analysis papers. You don't necessarily need to come up with a controversial argument.

That's not the point. The point is a fresh-- or, as this one says, a "thought-provoking"-- a kind of fresh idea about something. Your thesis should challenge readers to think. It shouldn't allow readers to predict everything you will say in the paper.

And, if not necessarily provocative, at least intrigues or invites the reader to read on.

You should not have a thesis that everyone will read and say, "Oh, okay, great! "I agree with that-- I don't need to read on." A good thesis about ads-- and now this is going to look familiar-- might do any number of these things. I brought this back in for an important reason.

If you notice what's in italics in each case-- that's what makes these thesis ideas provocative in some way or fresh in some way.

So, this does not simply say, "Compare how three ads work "on viewers or influence viewers." It says, "Compare how three ads work on us "beyond what's obvious at first glance." So, you're giving us something that the average viewer wouldn't catch right away. Or this approach-- three seemingly similar ads to show how they work in different ways.

So, your thesis will be, "These ads look the same "or sell the same product, but they aren't really."They sell the same product in very different ways"

Or, "These three ads look like they have nothing "to do with each other-- one's for an SUV, "one's for an energy company-- "but, in fact, they appeal to the same love of the outdoors "or individualism," or something like that.

So, in each case-- and you can look back at these or come back to this screen-- these suggestions say, "Look for a fresh angle." Not just a connection between two or three ads, but a sort of fresh angle you could argue. You might be wondering, "What should such a thesis statement "look like-- can you give me an example?"How do you write a whole paper about a few ads? "How do you move from a good thesis to a good essay?" So, I want to talk a little bit about some sample thesis statements and some sample structures for this paper, because I know this is a challenge in this kind of paper.

It's very different than telling a story. It's-- to build and develop an argument is what you really need to do.

Let me give you a few suggestions. Now, you may use something very similar to these or something very different, but it's okay if you want to sorta copy or mimic these a little bit. But this would be-- let's say a thesis and an essay comparing how two or three seemingly similar ads do something different. Here's my thesis-- "While luxury car ads "would seem to be all targeting the same buyers, "a closer look reveals a surprising variety "of product claims and emotional appeals in such ads." And so, what I set up is-- there is a similarity here, but I'm going to point out something that's surprising-- a surprising variety.

And then, I might structure it this way, right? I might have a paragraph on ad number one. I'll look at the product claims and the emotional appeals in ad number one, and then ad number two, and ad number three, and then a conclusion. Now, I might go about that in very different way. I might say, "While luxury car ads "use many different strategies to sell vehicles, "most rely on three key appeals "to the viewer's values and emotions."This, this, and, above all, this." Now, suddenly, I've set up the structure of my essay to be very different. I'm not going to look ad by ad. I'm going to look, maybe, appeal by appeal, or value, or emotion by emotion. So, at first, the ads all appeal to rugged individualism or all appeal to patriotism.

And then, I might look closely at one ad or look at two or three altogether.

And then, second, the ads use another similar emotional appeal-- such and such. So, that's a very different structure. A very similar essay with a very different structure. In all these examples, the paragraph and the structure depends on your particular topic and what you have to say.

But here's another example. You might, for example, write something more like this-- intro part A, intro part B, and thesis. You might have a two-paragraph intro. That's fine. You might have appeal number one-- referring to one ad-- appeal number one, continued.

 

And then, two or three more appeals in another paragraph. You don't have to break it up in the same sort of simple or maybe simplistic structure I gave before. It can be more complicated. But-- but the point is a sort of structure that works with your thesis. Here's another one-- a thesis comparing how two or three seemingly similar ads do something different.

"While all SUV ads at first appear to use "identical advertising strategies, "a closer look reveals the subtle ways "that SUV makers try to target specific audiences "and distinguish their products from the competition." So, that's my whole argument in a nutshell.

That's my thesis statement. And then, I might have an intro-- typical SUV ad strategies, rugged terrain, mountains, off-road, etcetera, "but," and then, my thesis statement. But, then again, I might go ad by ad.

Ad number one, how it differs-- how it distinguishes the product, etcetera. And how it targets the specific audience. Ad number two. How that does those things. Ad number three.

Or perhaps drawing those two together. And then, finally-- very importantly in each of these cases-- pulling all these things together and drawing connections between them. Something I could do along the way, but also at the end. One more. I think-- about De Beers diamonds."A diamond is forever." "While appearing to be as simple in content as they are visually, "ads for De Beers diamonds in fact offer a sophisticated blend "of visual eye candy, emotional manipulation, "and cynical materialism "that only corrupts the notion of eternal love." Now this-- if we had time in class, I would talk to you about where this comes from. There's a whole set of ideas about these ads, which all of us know about.

But what I've done in the thesis, again, is, in a very clear way-- even though it seems complicated-- set out three points I want to make.

And then, those become my major paragraphs. I might have four points or two points or whatever, but, in this case, I could then, in each case, analyze, give evidence-- describe and analyze-- how the ads are, in fact, little more than visual eye-candy. How they are emotional manipulation. And how they represent cynical materialism. So, that sounds like it may be a complicated one, but the point is straightforward.

You need to figure out what it is you want to say-- your thesis-- and maybe how you can argue it. So, what steps are involved in developing your own thesis and your own essay? Let me give you a few ideas about this first. The last assignment I gave was-- okay, think about ads and brainstorm topics. This arrow means you kind of have to do that back and forth.

You might look at ads and say, "What can I say about them?" You might say, "I want to write about such-and-such. "Which ads can I choose?" But those will inform each other. Once you've done that, then you can-- sorry about that.

Then you can spend some time analyzing each ad. Spend some more time. Come back to those. Once you've done that, you can move on to things like developing points and particulars. You might add any specific points that you want to make, specific arguments, and particular evidence."How am I going to argue those ideas?" From that, you develop a working thesis statement. Or maybe lots of options. And then, what I want to suggest here is that these things are circular as well. Just like this is, you come up with a kind of rough thesis statement and then you come back and analyze each ad again.

You say, "Can I prove that thesis by analyzing these ads?" That brings you to further points and particulars that lets you refine your working thesis statement, etcetera. And then, finally, think about structure-- how you might organize an essay. "But I shouldn't say 'finally,' "because then that brings you back up here. "What do I-- what is it I really want to argue?"How can I put an essay together?" And this is the stuff, I think, that gets lost if you write your essays the night before they're due.

And all of us have done that. Maybe many times. But-- I certainly have.

But what gets lost is this notion of circular-- kind of circling back to your ideas. And that's one reason I wanted you to do the-- I want you to do the writing workshops. But also to set aside your own essay and come back to it and continually be thinking, "How can I make a strong, clear argument "using evidence, and description, and analysis?" And this is sort of a way of thinking about that process as kind of a circular, back-and-forth process. With that said, then-- now that we've talked about each of these things, I want you to basically start experimenting with possible thesis statements, and to do that, you need to sort of think about this process.

Spend some time-- this might take an hour or two or three to really brainstorm and develop topics and ideas. Don't try to rush this process and say, "Oh, yeah. "I know what I want to write about." But spend some time on it. Come up with many possibilities.

Choose the ones you think you can really do. And don't worry about getting a thesis statement. Just write. Often, I say, "Here, you can't really polish a thesis statement "or even really know what you want to argue "until you've tried to write a draft." That's sort of part of the circle here, too.

I should have written "attempt a draft." And then, that brings you back into this process. That said, though, it's pretty important and pretty helpful to have a tentative working thesis before you start writing as well.

So, I'm saying two opposite things here, in a sense, but I'm saying the drafting will help you figure out your point. But you need a point to start drafting.

You need a tentative working thesis. So, do some brainstorming toward that. Once you've developed a broad topic, chosen the ads you want to write about, and-- that's really the first presentation-- and then, experimented with some working thesis statements. What I want you to do is summarize or upload what you've done in a journal entry on Blackboard.

It doesn't have to be perfect.

It can be rough. But I do want to see the evidence of your thinking and brainstorming at work. That might be a whole bunch of work or just the summary of it, but that lets me see where you're at and maybe offer some help. Once you've done that, I think you're ready to try writing a first draft. If you're the type of person who can't do that stuff till you've just started writing, then go for it.

Start a draft and then come back and do these things, too. I think that's it. If you have questions, email me. I look forward to seeing a lot of interesting arguments about the ads I posted. Thanks.

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