Need Help?
For individual research help, schedule an appointment to meet with a librarian.
ENG 112: Essay 3 – A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words: The Visual Analysis Essay
You’ve heard the cliché “a picture is worth 1,000 words,” I am sure. That old saying has become all the more important in the modern world: Thinking critically about images and understanding how they impact you as an individual, as well as your society, is a very important skill. Our third and final main assignment is divided into two parts. First, as a group, you will collect research about the photo you have been assigned. Next, you will write a 5-to 7- page essay which combines our skills of analysis and argument.
Assignment:
Using the iconic history photo you were assigned, write an essay of at least 5 pages explaining how the image impacted America. Therefore, what you must argue and prove is how and why, because of this photograph and its massive media distribution, some aspect of America – whether it was American people themselves, or the ways others defined us (or some combination)— changed in some way.
For more information, please review the Photo Analysis Essay document.
Images
Lange, Dorothea. "Migrant Mother." Image Quest. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1936, quest-eb-com.eznvcc.vccs.edu/search/dorothea-lange-migrant-mother/1/139_1910677/Migrant-Mother. 23 November 2020.
Drew, Richard. "Falling Man." Time 100 Photos. Time, 11 September 2001, 100photos.time.com/photos/richard-drew-falling-man. 23 November 2020.
Counts, Ira Wilmer "Will," Jr. Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Brown, "The Scream Image." 1957. Indiana University Archives Photograph Collection, webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/archivesphotos/results/item.do?itemId=P0026600. 23 November 2020.
Riboud, Marc. "USA. Demonstration Against the Vietnam War. Washington, D.C." Artstor. ITHAKA, 21 October 1967, library.artstor.org/#/asset/AMAGNUMIG_10311563853. 23 November 2020.
Burtynsky, Edward. "Oil Fields #19a, Belridge, California, USA." Art Works for Change. Art Works for Change, 2003, www.artworksforchange.org/portfolio/edward-burtynsky/. 23 November 2020.
Levy, Charles. "Mushroom Cloud Over Nagasaki." Time 100 Photos. Time, 1945, 100photos.time.com/photos/mushroom-cloud-over-nagasaki-lieutenant-charles-levy. 23 November 2020.
Souza, Pete. "The Situation Room." Time 100 Photos. Time, 1 May 2011, 100photos.time.com/photos/pete-souza-situation-room. 23 November 2020.
Anders, Bill. "Apollo 8: Earth Rise." NASA. NASA, 24 December 1968, www.nasa.gov/image-feature/apollo-8-earthrise. 23 November 2020.
"Black Power Salute, Olympic Games, 1968." Image Quest. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1968, quest.eb.com/search/140_1801045/1/140_1801045/cite. 23 November 2020.