Learning Session Overview
In this learning session, we’ll use six common question words —who, what, where, when, why, and how—to make sense of rhetorical artifacts and their contexts. All of us encounter rhetoric in academic settings and beyond, and it’s important that we understand the rhetorical choices of others as a foundation for using rhetorical strategies in our own communication. Through this module, you will identify rhetorical qualities (audience, purpose, context, and timing) in a variety of texts and situations and practice using language consciously in order to fit a given situation.
Preparation and Instructions
This learning session is designed to take about 50 minutes. It includes 1 short video and 4 writing activities. Your activity writing in this learning session is private and ungraded—you won't need to submit it on Canvas. Instead, you will choose your own writing space. You can handwrite your responses in a personal notebook, type them into a notes application or word processor, or use whatever mode makes sense to you as a writer in this class. Keep your writing space easily accessible, as you'll use it throughout the session and be asked to revisit some of your responses multiple times across activities.
After you have viewed the videos and completed the writing activities, you will participate in this discussion thread as your final deliverable, submitting entries in accordance with your instructor's course policies and requirements for discussions, including number and type of posts or replies.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completing this session, you should be able to do the following:
Identify rhetorical qualities (audience, purpose, context, and timing) in a variety of texts and situations
Apply journalistic question words to a rhetorical situation
Practice using language consciously in order to fit a given situation
Contents
Warmup (5 minutes)
Part One: Applying the Five Ws (20 minutes)
Part Two: Understanding the How (20 minutes)
Cool-Down (5 minutes)
Discussion
Warm-Up (5 minutes)
Warmup activities like stretching and low-rate cardio are critical for preparing your body for exercise; similarly, reflection and writing prepare your mind for learning, priming your cognitive resources and activating prior knowledge and experience.
Activity #1: Warmup Writing
To start, spend about 5 minutes writing a response to the following prompt:
Do you talk to your parents the same way you talk to your friends? Tailoring how you address different audiences is an essential rhetorical skill, and it is likely a skill you have been using without being consciously aware. Describe a time where you tailored your message, approach, or delivery to take into account your audience or goals; this situation could be either formal or informal. Why did you make the decisions that you made?
Part One: Analyzing Rhetorical Context with the Five Ws (20 Minutes)
This section includes a short video overview of common question words used in journalistic investigation: who, what, where, when, why, how. We'll use the Five Ws from this video to analyze the context for a visual advertisement. Begin by watching the video, then complete Activity #2.
Video: "Applying the 5Ws"
Activity #2: Analyzing the Context (Who, What, Where, When, and Why)
Nothing that an advertiser does in designing an artifact is accidental; instead, each aspect of the advertisement is chosen for a reason. Because they are so carefully crafted, advertisements make great examples to study—you may have noticed that many of the examples in the above video are different types of ads. Take a few moments to search the web and choose a visual advertisement as your artifact for analysis. This could be a video commercial (often available on YouTube), social media sponsored content, a banner ad on a webpage, or a magazine/print advertisement.
Once you've selected your visual advertisement, use your writing space to analyze the rhetorical context for the artifact in response to the following questions based on the Five Ws:
Who:
Who created or sponsored the artifact?
Who is the artifact’s intended audience? How can you tell?
Who is 'speaking' in this artifact? Whose perspective is shown?
Who is represented in the artifact and who is left out?
What:
What kind of artifact are you looking at? What do you know about it?
What do audiences typically expect from this kind of artifact?
What are the constraints and affordances of this kind of artifact?
Where:
Where would you expect to encounter it? Where would it seem out of place?
Where is the content of the advertisement set? What places are depicted?
When:
When was this artifact created?
Was anything happening around that time that might add helpful and important context?
Why:
Why was the ad created? What is the message?
What are they trying to get the audience to do?
Part Two: Understanding the How (20 Minutes)
When we encounter an advertisement in our daily life, we're more likely to consider its content on a surface level. Understanding the connections between the various people, places, times, purposes, and the kind of artifact opens up new ways of looking at an artifact, revealing the intent behind the content.
Activity #3: Analyzing the Content (How)
Now that you've considered the rhetorical context for the advertisement, look closely at your artifact to analyze the content. Think about what you learned in Activity #2 to help you figure out why the advertiser made the choices that they did. Our aim here to discover how the artifact works.
In your writing space, analyze the rhetorical strategies used in the artifact by working through some of the following ten questions about its narrative structure, appeals, and design elements. This is a long list, so don't try to answer all of these questions. Instead, use them to figure out what the most important elements are in your artifact and how they are used. Note that some of these may not be applicable depending on your artifact type.
Appeals
(1) How does the advertiser appeal to reasoning? What claims do they make to promote their product or discredit the competition?
(2) How does the advertiser appeal to emotions? What do they want the audience to feel and experience throughout the ad, and in what order?
(3) How does the advertiser appeal to credibility? What do they do to gain the audience’s trust? Consider:
Familiar brands and slogans
Spokespersons with expertise or popularity with the intended audience
Symbols of authority or knowledge (state flags; institutional seals; medical lab coats or police uniforms)
Claims about the advertiser’s trustworthiness, longevity, experience, success, popularity, or awards.
Narratives:
(4) How does the artifact use narratives? Consider whether the advertisement uses stories, characters, and scenes. Does it focus more on these narrative elements or on the product being advertised? Why?
(5) How does the artifact draw on cultural knowledge? Consider any activities, inside jokes, film or literary references and tropes, celebrities or public figures, iconic images, cultural landmarks, national symbols and traditions, or historical events the intended audience is expected to recognize.
(6) How does the artifact expect the audience to fill in the blanks? Why do they want viewers to provide these answers themselves? For example:
Do they ask rhetorical questions without giving answers?
Do they list a series of premises or facts and tell the audience to draw their own conclusions?
Do they show a series of scenes and expect the audience to connect them into a coherent story? (For example, a life insurance commercial showing these scenes in order: a newborn girl; a young girl playing; a high school girl meeting a boy; a women getting engaged; a wedding ceremony; another newborn baby.)
Design Elements:
(7) How does the advertiser use text or speech and why? What is spoken or written? How would you describe the language itself? Consider:
Relationship to audience: Does the text or speech address the audience directly as though they are part of the action or conversation? Or does it treat them like passive spectators or readers observing from a neutral perspective?
Tone: formal or casual; wordy or pithy; emotionally charged or relaxed
Familiarity: catchphrases, quotes, or clichés; technical terms or difficult jargon
Dialect: accent features or words associated with particular regions or cultures
Vocals: register (deep, high), quality (smooth, rough), gesture (sarcastic, emotional, intense, relaxed), and volume (loud, quiet, or mixed)
(8) How does the advertiser use visuals and why? Consider:
Quality: Colors (brilliant or dull), lighting (bright or dark), focus (sharp or blurry)
Typography: Text size, font styles, location, readability, duration on screen
Images: Format (cartoons, photos, live action, icons), content, and placement
Camera angles (closeup, distant, shot from above or below, stationary or moving),
Pacing (fast or slow switches between camera angles or scenes).
(9) How does the advertiser use sound effects and why? Consider:
Are on-screen actions accompanied by sound effects or not?
Are sound effects realistic or unrealistic for the setting? What sounds would you expect to hear in that setting? Are they present or absent?
Do they include cartoonish sounds, echoes, distortions, or other exaggerated effects?
Is the audio minimalist or busy? Constant or dynamic? Loud or quiet? Are there any moments of silence?
(10) How does the advertiser use music and why? Consider:
Narrative: Are the characters supposed to be aware of the music (dancing, singing along, listening) or just the audience?
Familiarity: do they use popular songs, company jingles, or music scored specifically for the ad?
Genre (hip-hop, K-pop, jazz, rock, classical, blues)
Instruments (piano, guitar, drums) and types (synthesized, electronic, acoustic)
Tempo (Fast, upbeat, steady, slow) and tempo changes (speeding up, slowing down, or pausing)
Tone (bright, dark, intense, ambient)
Dynamics and volume (mixture of slow parts and fast parts), and timing (when does it start, stop, or change?)
Cool-Down (5 minutes)
Cooling down after exercise is equally as important as warming up beforehand; similarly, taking a moment to reflect in writing at the end of classes and study sessions helps solidify your learning, shifting key information into long-term memory and improving your outcomes.
Activity #4: Takeaways
After completing the entire learning session up to this point (activities #1–3), spend about 5 minutes writing a response the following prompt in your writing space:
Reflect on your learning in this session. After completing this module, how will you think differently or more critically about how you consume and create written communication or media? How might these skills shape how you apply rhetoric in your daily life? What are your biggest takeaways from the material?
Discussion
For the final deliverable of this learning session, participate in this discussion thread. This post will be seen by your instructor and others in your course as a final reflection on what you have learned about rhetorical analysis from these videos and activities. Remember to consider your instructor's course policies for discussion participation when completing this activity, including expectations regarding the number and type of posts or replies.
Discussion post prompt:
How did understanding the context of your artifact (who, what, where, when, and why) help you understand more about its rhetorical strategies (appeals, narratives, and design elements)? Were there any features you missed during your first look at the artifact that you noticed when you started analyzing the artifact?
Have you ever thought this deeply about how advertisements are made and how they work? How will your experience analyzing an advertisement affect how you respond to ads in the future?
To post your reply, choose the "Reply" button. Once you post, you will be able to read and respond others' posts in the class.