Blog Post 3: Where's the gap?

 Before writing my Literature Review, I worried too much about how I was going to find the gap. I like to have all my ducks in a row when I write my papers. The duck that was missing with this assignment was the gap. After talking to Dr. Bacabac for the second time (thank goodness for such a patient and helpful professor!), I finally sat down and wrote my review. Well, guess what... I found my duck!

By the end of my Literature Review, I realized that the gap is showing the public how to identify visual rhetoric. This means that I need to call for a study that shows the ways viewers react to design choices such as color, word/picture placement, text (font size, shape, boldness), verbiage, and even punctuation. I would like to even include how people react to verbal(??) rhetoric as well: doublespeak, inflated language, jargon, and bamboozling. A couple of years ago, I wrote a research paper called "The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: A Look At BP’s Rhetoric," for my Engl 3030 class. The paper describes the rhetoric BP used throughout their entire campaign of keeping the blame off of their company while, at the same time, trying to smooth over tensions with the residents of the Gulf Coast. They used both visual (including the color of shirts the CEO would wear) and verbal rhetoric. I would like to try to incorporate the findings in my paper with the gap that was revealed in my Literature Review. It's important to make people aware of the different tactics companies use as persuasive measures. I'm not sure if this will work out, but it's worth a try. Stay tuned!

Comments

  1. McBRachelOctober 14, 2020 at 9:26 AM

    I always feel more focused and confident after chatting with Dr. B.!

    I think we are so inundated with visual stimuli that we stop noticing certain things. Then, our subconscious takes over and allows the rhetorical values to work without us making conscious choices. MANIPULATION!

    So is there a specific focus in category for your paper/research gap? Restaurants? Oil refineries? Cereal boxes? Executive clothing styles at important press conferences? Or, would you just do a broad overview of a few instances of visual rhetoric? Is it marketing?

    Or, am I creating more invisible ducks? Duck, duck, GOOSE!

    ReplyDelete

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