Writing Homework Help

ENGL 1101 (Composition I) Guidelines “The Power of Advertising” Essay

1.  The essay must have: 

          An introduction

          A thesis statement

          A body of main ideas 

          A conclusion 

2.  For your essay to fit into the essay guidelines, you need to analyze commercials and/or print ads. Pick your focus from one of the following: 

          a.  a company/business/product such as McDonald’s, General Mills (cereal), Cadillac Escalade, and Microsoft.

          b.  A campaign cause such as anti-drugs or drinking while driving. A theme such as racism/sexism. 

3.  After picking a focus, you will and analyze current print ads and/or commercials. Then you will compare and contrast current ads with how the ads were presented in a past decade of your choice. For example, you can research how similar and dissimilar the 1950’s ad campaigns about cigarettes compare to the ads presently. 

4.  Here are some points you need to address: 

    a.  Audience- what group of people/demographic (gender, sex, age, race, etc.) is the product being marketed to past and present.     Has the audience changed over the years? What is significant about the audience changing or staying the same? 

    b.  How are the ads marketed on different channels (Comedy Central, BET, Paramount, Hallmark Channel.)  How are ads marketed on Major networks like ABC and the local affiliates like WALB) and/or print ads (People magazine, The New York Times, etc.) presently? How does the ad campaign changed to suit a different target audience?

    c.  Research the impact of the ad in the past and currently. How have the ads changed over time? What are the significances of those changes? 

7.  Be sure give your sources in the paper. These include commercials and print ads. You can use quotes, but keep them to a minimum. Most of the info should be coming from you. You can also paraphrase and summarize your sources. “According to” is one way to address the sources, but don’t do it for every source. You can also just put the source in parentheses at the end of the info. Also, be sure to list your sources. You can copy and paste print ads. I can also set up a forum for everyone to post their commercials that you discuss in your essay.