Know Your Meme makes an analytical argument about where “Yo Dawg, I heard you like X” meme gets its meaning, how it works, and why it caught on among internet users. I recommend watching for an example of how to construct a rhetorical analysis. Even though the presenter here does not use the key terms of a rhetorical situation, as you are expected to do in your essays, he offers a rhetorical analysis nonetheless because he identifies the key elements of the applicable exigences, the background knowledge involved in being its audience, assumptions about the internet and memes the make the meme relevant and timely (related to context, audience, constraints), how insiders and outsiders are identified in the meme audience through its use, and the necessary constraint of its basic formal structure, “You dawg, I heard you like X….” Your analysis, of Wang’s or Crawford’s presentation, or of “Critical Questions for Big Data,” is intended to be something like a “Know Your Meme” episode in that you will explain how the author produces a convincing perspective–that is, identify the intended effects (exigence) and the choices made to produce or achieve those intended effects–choices which are categorized according to the elements of a rhetorical situation.
Please watch:
Lessons this week are being posted as they are made. This week, you are revising your zero draft. Many of you are going to need to write more, and you may even wonder what else there may be to write. That’s not uncommon. The Rhetorical Analysis is an exercise in learning to find material to write about when it seems like there isn’t much to write about. I’ve given you a lot of options, but as you focus on the more specific points of finding a thesis and organizing your ideas you will uncover ways to produce more interpretive insights. Let’s start with working through the elements of an analytical thesis statement. Watch the following video and spend about 10 minutes working on your thesis to integrate the material covered in the lesson.
Notice:
The focused essays will be accepted for full credit regardless of their current condition as drafts (full, partial, outline, etc.). The final draft will be graded according to the expectations listed in the Overview and the Final Draft documents. Incomplete or failed final drafts will be need to be rewritten.
