APPLICATION ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT
ENGLISH COMPOSITION
Basic Requirements:
Introduction & Outline: Oct 31
Working Draft: Nov 5
Final Draft: Nov 16 via turnitin.com, Nov. 19 in class
Format:
Write a 5 to 6-page paper on the topic below (page length does not include block quotations).
All drafts must be typed, double-spaced, have standard one-inch margins, and be
in 12-point Times New Roman font. Black ink only. Paper format (including textual
citations) should follow MLA style. If you have a question regarding formatting, please see Rules
for Writers or the Owl@Purdue link on our course website. You are required to include a
“Works Cited” page at the end of your essay. If you do not turn in a draft on time, you will
not receive a passing grade on the assignment.
Assignment:
Good arguments develop in conversation with other arguments. One way to enter into this
conversation is by reading the works of others and applying their insights to a new text, object,
or idea. In Understanding Rhetoric, Losh and Alexander illustrate this when Alexander looks at
a text through his Gender-vision glasses, meaning that he is taking a feminist approach to the
text he is studying. You have already done something similar in the advertising analysis when
you applied the ideas of Hirschberg and Butler to an individual advertisement of your choice.
Building upon the skills you developed in the ad analysis, you will produce an interpretive
analysis about an online community (e.g., a group on Facebook or an online subculture) or
digital object (e.g., a Youtube video or a website) that draws upon the ideas of at least one
thinker found in The Social Media Reader or one of the other assigned readings. Your thesis
must answer the following questions:
1. How does this online community/digital object function socially? What is significant
about it?
2. What is the larger significance of your argument? How does it contribute to the
debates around social media of which you are now familiar?
While the answers to the above questions will constitute your overall argument, in framing your
analysis throughout the essay you must also consider the questions below:
3. What would the writers in The Social Media Reader have to say about your online
community/digital object? Do you agree with their assessment? Why or why not?
4. What would someone say who disagreed with your argument? How would you
address their concerns? Note: In answering this question, you can either imagine the
objections your argument might receive or you can cite a source directly.
Throughout this unit, we will be modeling application analyses by pairing a text with an online
community or digital object. You are free to write your papers on these topics, but you are also
free to scour the web and find an online community or digital object that interests you. Feel free
to write about communities that you participate in.
Notes:
Producing an application analysis requires you to carefully explain the object you are arguing
about and to clearly explain the ideas that you wish to apply to that object. Here are the steps in
the process. The order of these steps is just one option of many; however, you should probably
address all the points listed below.
Step 1: In your introduction, produce a clear and concise summary/description of the
community/object under consideration. Assume that your reader has never heard about this
object. In other words, you will have to quickly but thoroughly explain what you are talking to
about to your reader.
Step 2: In your introduction, define all of the key terms or concepts that you will be applying
from the writers from the course. Introduce the writers (or the main writer) you will be
discussing in your work.
Step 3: In your introduction, construct an arguable thesis statement that addresses questions
one and two above. This probably should be two to three sentences, but no more than that.
When we are done reviewing the prompt, write a template sentence on a notecard that could be
used to answer questions one and two but is not specific to a particular object or theorist.
Step 4: In your body paragraphs, construct body paragraphs that address the question how the
online community or digital object functions socially. Your topic sentences should appear to
logically answer the question: how does [x] function socially? If they do not rephrase the topic
sentence. You must cite evidence from the website whether that be direct textual citation or
describing an image. Your analysis should justify the claim you made in the topic sentence and
explain how the evidence proves that claim. In your analysis, you should cite The Social Media
Reader as necessary. In establishing your own point of view relative to the viewpoints expressed
in The Social Media Reader, remember to consult the templates in They Say/I Say.
Step 5: Once you have established your point of view, acknowledge that there are other points
of view on the topic. Represent these topics fairly, drawing upon the skills you gained in the
summarizing activity. Then, carefully and fairly explain why these interpretations carry less
validity than the one you have provided.
Step 6: In your concluding paragraphs, explain how your interpretation of [x] changes or
augments what we know about social media. Explain to your academic audience why they
should care about what you have written.