Describe the topic you plan to use for Project #2 and provide at least 3 texts you are considering using. What key strategic differences or similarities do you note thus far in your texts? Why do you think these differences and/or similarities exist?
The topic that I plan to use for project two is "dating advice for single men." There are an excessive amount of books and magazine articles devoted solely to providing single men with advice on how to meet women. In addition to books and magazine articles, there is a plethora of web articles, web videos, and other media targeted toward single men who are interested in the dating scene and connecting with women. One text that I am considering analyzing is the men's online magazine, AskMen.com. This website has a variety of relevant articles, videos, and content. Another text I am considering using is the website entitled the art of manliness. This website has a relationship & family section which provides advice on aspects of dating. The third text that I might use for project two is information from TopDatingTips.com. One of the first strategical similarities that I noticed these three texts using was the implementation of pictures that display smiling, happy couples. In pictures on at least two of the websites, the physical appearance of the women is what western (specifically American) society considers to be attractive. This similarity exists because placing pictures of happy couples and attractive women, that appeal to men's physical nature, above articles filled with dating advice is, an important rhetorical move. This is an important rhetorical move because it asserts, without ever saying a word, that if men follow the article's advice they will be happily involved with beautiful women.
This sounds like a perfect idea for this project! It's humorous and rather interesting in my opinion. Plus, it's definitely doable since the topic is fairly narrowed down and there's a lot of material to choose from. Perhaps other texts to consider might include blogs, related articles written by women or actual dating sites.
ReplyDeleteThis would be a very interesting topic to analyze. I am interested to see if each website uses some of the same strategies to give advice to single men. It definitely seems doable and it will keep the interest of your readers. It might be interesting to look at whether a man or a woman is writing the tips and advice, it might make some difference to the effectiveness of the articles.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, this is a really interesting topic. You've already made some good observations on the types of info included. Now just make sure to really integrate the terminology from class (Chapter 2 provides a decent example of how to integrate rhetorical terminology with the design strategy terms).
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