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I frequently have a stack of old magazines
and try to find a use for them (beyond recycling). I've
created some writing assignments that ask students to
consider a particular magazine, generally to hone their
analytical skills by writing an analytical, expository or
persuasive piece.
My students often enjoy this assignment
because they get to work with popular magazines that they
are interested in anyway -- it gives them an excuse to read
that copy of Sports Illustrated, Ebony, or
People. After all, it's now homework. If I ask
students to provide their own magazines for these
assignments, I always have a pile of magazines available in
class for students who can't find a magazine on their
own.
Though it doesn't always fit the
assignment, I ask students to add a page that includes the
bibliographic citation for the magazine that they examine.
When they're working on an assignment such as writing a
sales letter, where the citation really doesn't fit, I add a
lot of explanation to make sure that they understand that
while they need to add the bibliographical citation, it
isn't really a part of the writing assignment -- it's more
like an attached prewriting worksheet or peer review
sheet.
Most of these assignments can be easily
modified for use with a
newspaper -- often by some simple rewording of the
original assignment, replacing the word "magazine" with
"newspaper."
- Assume that you work for an
advertising agency, and your job is to create a
classification system that explains the kinds of
advertisements in a particular magazine to help account
executives determine whether their client's products
would fit in the magazine. You need to explain what kinds
of advertisements are normally included in the magazine,
including some detail about how the advertisements
present the product or service to readers. Here's a
possible way that the document would be used: an account
executive is placing ads for a new children's breakfast
cereal that is targeting health-conscious parents. The
executive would pull your document to see whether the ad
would fit in the magazine that you've examined.
To get started, pull all the advertisements from your
magazine that take up a full-page or more (in other
words, also pull ads that take up two or more pages). Now
go through the advertisements, and create a
classification system to organize them into piles. For
example, you might use a classification system based on
the kind of product, the persuasive appeal used in the
advertisement, or the segments of the audience that the
advertisement is targeting. Once you've created these
large categories, look for sub-categories that fit the
ads (for instance, use of color, amount of text, and so
on). When you've divided all the ads, write a paper that
explains your classification system.
[TWO TIPS: (1) If you ask students to bring their own
magazines to class for this assignment, be sure that they
understand that they need to bring a magazine that they
are willing to destroy. (2) This assignment can be
adapted by asking students to do an analysis of the
magazine readers based on the advertisements that they
find in the magazine.]
- Write an analysis of the
readers who write letters to the editor for your
particular magazine. Because there are only a handful of
letters in any magazine, you might want to look at the
letters from two or three issues to simplify the process
of drawing conclusions about the people who have written
the letters. Who are these readers? Based on these
letters, what are the readers of your magazine interested
in? What issues are important to them? What is the
purpose of their letters? Do the letters show differing
opinions or agreement? What conclusions can you draw when
you think of the letters as a collected group -- what do
they have in common?
You need to turn in the pages from your magazine that
include the letters you're analyzing. If you're working
with your own magazine and you don't mind tearing out the
pages, you can pull the original pages out and staple
them to your paper. If you don't want to tear up your
magazine or you're working with a borrowed magazine or a
magazine at the library, attach a photocopy of the pages.
Be sure to include all the letters for each issue that
you examine.
- Analyze the document design
for your magazine. How have the magazine editors used
page layout, colors, graphics, and fonts to highlight and
present information in the magazine? How are white space,
paragraph length, and indentation used? What clues in the
layout help indicate the significance of an article? How
can you tell a featured article from a regular column?
How does the cover relate to the contents? How does the
layout on the cover draw your attention to the contents
of the magazine? Draw all your ideas together in an
analytical paper that explains the design principles that
are used by the magazine.
[TEACHING TIP: For shorter papers or more focused
pieces, ask students to look at the magazine cover only
or the layout for a particular article or
column.]
- Consider the absences in
your magazine -- what's left out? Begin by going through
your magazine and taking notes on the kinds of things
that are covered in the articles and shown in the
pictures. If you had to describe the magazine to someone,
how would you complete these sentences:
This magazine covers _______, _______, and _______.
It uses lots of _______, _______, and _______ to
emphasize articles.
The pictures in the magazine show _______, _______, and
_______.
The readers of this magazine are _______, _______, and
_______.
Now think about the things that fit the theme and
audience for the magazine but that aren't included in
this magazine. Are there issues that fit the magazine's
focus and audience but that aren't mentioned anywhere?
Are there things that are explained but not pictured (or
things that are pictured but never discussed)? Are there
categories of readers who are never shown in the
pictures? Explore the things that are left out of the
magazine, and write an essay that discusses the things
that are missing. Why do you think that they are
missing?
A note: Don't focus on anything silly -- while it's true
that Sports Illustrated has no articles on baking
pastries, it's a silly point. Articles on baking pastries
would not fit the theme and audience for Sports
Illustrated. Be realistic -- look for things that fit
the magazine but that are not included.
- Choose three major articles
in your magazine. Compare their content, technique, and
presentation. Why are the three of them in the same
magazine? Begin by looking closely at three areas in the
magazine:
- What common ideas or issues do they discuss? How are
the three related to the audience for the magazine? Why
do the people who read this magazine care about the
issues that these articles cover? What makes the ideas
significant? The editors could have included a great
number of articles; why did they choose these three?
- How does the technique -- the organization, the genre,
description, style, and so forth -- compare? What
similarities and differences do you notice?
- Finally, take a look at the document design. If you
just looked at the three articles, without reading them,
would you know that they were from the same magazine?
What visual clues does the magazine use to provide
continuity from one article to the next?
After you gather all your observations together, write a
paper that analyzes the similarities and differences
between the articles and draws conclusions about their
relationship to one another and to the larger magazine as
a whole.
[TEACHING TIP: You may need to give students guidance
in choosing their articles. The assignment provides the
widest range when students work with unrelated articles.
The magazine a student is working with may have a section
of related pieces (for instance, a news story on a recent
happening, an interview with someone who was involved in
the event, and an editorial commentary that considers the
significance of the event). Urge students to work with
only one of these three articles, choosing their other
articles from another section of the magazine.]
- Write a letter to the
editor, responding to one of the articles or issues that
is covered in the magazine. First, you'll need to go
through the magazine and choose an article that catches
your attention. You need to choose an article that covers
something you are interested in and can say something
about.
Next, gather your ideas for the letter by completing
these sentences:
- I am interested in this article because
_____________________.
- I feel _______ about this article because it
_____________________.
- In response, I want to say _____________________ to
the editor.
With your ideas gathered, you can begin shaping your
letter. The letter should begin by indicating the article
that you're responding to and a brief statement of the
reason that you're writing. The letter should then
explain each point that you want to make to support your
argument. Turn to the letters included in the issue of
the magazine you have for examples. Remember that you
need to follow letter format, beginning with "To the
Editor" and ending with a signature block.
[ALTERNATE ASSIGNMENT: Students might write a letter
to an author whose article appears in the
magazine.]
- You're an editorial
assistant working for a publisher. The publisher is
interested in launching a new magazine, and your job is
to examine the competition to help the publishing company
focus their efforts. Write a complete analysis of one of
the competing magazines. What themes, ideas, or issues
are the main arena of the magazine? What do the articles
cover? What kind of depth and detail does the competing
magazine use? Who reads the magazine? What can you tell
about the audience? Think about questions such as these:
how old are they? What are their hobbies and interests?
do they have children? and so forth. What style does it
use? How does the magazine use document design? What is
the "look and feel" of the magazine? What makes it stand
out in the rack of magazines at the store? What makes it
different and identifiable? In your paper, outline the
characteristics that make the magazine that you're
examining special, with an eye to the special features
that your new magazine will need to be aware of.
- Take a look at the Table of
Contents for the magazine you're examining. What
information is included? How do the titles listed in the
Table of Contents compare to those on the actual
articles? What do the short descriptions under the titles
say? Are author's names listed? How are color and layout
used to highlight articles? How are pictures and graphics
used? How many pages are used for the table? How are the
articles divided into categories? How are the sections
subtitled? Write an analytical paper that explores the
way that the Table of Contents represents the magazine
and the persuasive techniques that the editors have used
to draw your attention to the articles.
- Write a short sales letter
for the magazine, urging the reader to subscribe or to
purchase a gift subscription. Take a look at the articles
and advertisements in the magazine to get an idea of who
reads the magazine and what their interests are.
Brainstorm a list of things that readers look for in the
magazine, the reasons that they would want to read the
articles. Once you've gathered your list, shape the ideas
into a letter that persuades someone to subscribe to the
particular magazine. To help shape your language, take a
look at the way that things are phrased in the magazine.
Think about the style that the magazine uses and the way
that style affects the style that you use in your sales
letter.
- Brainstorm a list of words
that come to mind when you think of the magazine that
you're examining. The words might describe the focus of
the magazine, the ideals that are important to the
readers, or qualities that the readers possess. Once
you've created your list, choose one term and write a
paper that discusses how that term is represented in the
magazine. Explore how the magazine defines the term in
its presentation of articles and advertisements. If this
magazine were your only way to know what words like
"beauty," "fitness," or "love" mean, what would the
definition be? Be sure that your paper (1) gives the
definition and (2) provides details from the magazine
that support your definition.
Originally
Posted September 13, 1998 on
the Daedalus Website.
Posted Sunday, 12-Jun-2005 09:09:13 PDT
Copyright © 1998-2011 Traci Gardner, P. O. Box 11836, Blacksburg, VA 24060-1836.
These materials may be referenced, linked to, and indexed, but their contents
may not be duplicated without express written consent of the author. See the
Copying and Sharing page for more details.
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