While written texts remain our primary method of peer-to-peer communication and the most authoritative medium for academic discourse, they are not the most common form of argument we encounter: that form would be advertisements. Advertising often uses images instead of text (or it uses both). Advertisers often choose images over text for some obvious reasons: images can be a more striking way to draw the attention of a passing viewer; they can efficiently deliver a large body of information; they don’t have to be accurate or “responsible” to the same degree as written texts. Furthermore, the technologies that we use most often for entertainment—television, smartphones, computers—are multisensory tools with a strong emphasis on visual stimulus, and that characteristic means that these tools lend themselves to image-oriented media and advertising.

The Norton offers an excellent guide to assembling visual analyses on pages 69-81; the section on organizing the analysis on page 76 is especially helpful. I strongly recommend that you spend a significant amount of time reviewing these materials, for the section will take you through the process in a logical and fruitful way.

There is an example of a student essay on pages 52-57 of the Norton. While this essay is on two print advertisements, analyzing its language, overall structure and progression of ideas will still be useful to you.