A.

After reading Gagich, choose one (1) of the following three Youtube
shorts below. Then, identify which of the five modes from the text are
present within them. The modes of communication come from an author
outside of Gagich, so you will need to do an indirect source in-text citation.
In the Easy Writer you will find the instructions in Ch. 16d, "16. Indirect
source (source quoted in another source)" for MLA and Ch. 17c, "10:
Source reported in another source" for APA.
- In Arola, Sheppard, and Ball’s “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing
Social Futures” published in 1996, the five modes of communication are
“…linguistic, visual, spatial, gestural, and aural” (qtd. in Gagich 66). In my
chosen Youtube short to analyze titled “College vs. trade school: which is
for YOU?” By @AboveTheNoise (KQED) on Youtube, the creator uses a
couple of these modes. He uses linguistic mode as when he speaks the
content, there are subtitles, visual when the background animations come
into play, and spatial as the screen is at some points divided in half when
the animations are in the top and he’s speaking in the bottom. Additionally,
he uses gestural mode as he uses his hands when speaks to help
emphasize certain points, as well as the aural mode because I can hear
him speak, and there are transition noises between animations.
B. After doing that with your chosen short, analyze the rhetorical situation
using the steps mentioned in the "Determine Your Rhetorical Situation"
section of the chapter. Remember you want to look not just at the
information on Youtube, but what each author (whether it be an
organization or person) focuses on in terms of content. Youtube should
have descriptions of each of their channels.
- The Youtube creator’s intended audience is any high schooler or younger
considering their future path to take. His unintended audience could be
older adults who may be interested in re-determining their path.
Additionally, another unintended audience could be anyone like me who
has to analyze it as an assignment even when they’ve already determined
their path. The medium is the Youtube website, but specifically Youtube
shorts. The genre fits the typical characteristics of a Youtube short, as it’s
less than 60 seconds and is fast paced. The purpose is to help those
curious about the future decide their path in a friendly manner.
C. In Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts", she talks about the kind of writing
process she goes through as a professional writer. However, even those
who don't plan to write professionally will still end up doing a significant
amount of writing, whether it be on social media, for certain careers or
creative projects. In your case, does the process she describes go against
how you were taught to write? Do you see yourself trying to draft this way?
- Originally, Lamott’s strategies to first draft writing did go against my writing
process. My first draft had to be essentially perfect, until I went back and
made minor tweaks. However, after taking ENC 1101, my drafting process
as completely shifted. I now draft the way suggests, I just spew all my
thoughts and ideas into the paper.

D. Find an image using the Smithsonian website database given to you on

this page. Then, referencing the guide on Ch. 4d of the Easy Writer,
describe the image in detail, following the format that Cohen uses to
describe his images in "Understanding Visual Rhetoric".
- This Image is titled “Young Couple”
- Line: The original artist uses lines to a create a sort of border around the
image to make it appear clean and organized, as well as direct your focus
to the image itself.
- Color: The image is only black and cream white, as it is an old image made
of ink and parchment paper. However, the artist uses different shades of
black to show distance and depth.
- Shape: The artist used diverse and non generic shapes to create this art.
There are mainly elipses, as the birds and leaves are comprised of such.
- Size: The birds are much larger than all other elements in the image to
direct your focus to them.
- Value: The birds and leaves use different shades of black towels with
artistic emphasis.
- Space: Behind the birds and the branch is blank space to keep your focus
on the birds, so that the observer is not overwhelmed with stimuli.
- Texture: The author creates very cool texture on the birds, leaves, and
branches. The birds have texture to create feathers, the branches appear
to be rough and lumpy, while the leaves appear to be textured to show the
Xylem and Phloem.