A significant issue for many college students is the management of the student loans that many college students have to take out in order to afford classes. In addition to the stress of having to pay back these loans at some point in the future, there is the added issue of paying interest on these student loans. While the average interest rate for an undergraduate student loan is 4.29% which may not seem high, this interest rate is applied to loans that are often very large which results in the relatively low interest rate turning into a larger financial risk. The issue with the current interest rate being charged on student loans is that it is higher than the average inflation rate for the United States during a healthy economic period. In fact, the last time the United States inflation rate was higher than the rate at which student loan interest is charged was during the financial recession of 2008. So, with the current structure of student loan payments, the government is attempting to make a profit from the furthering of education in a way that discourages the pursuit of higher education.
The solution to part of the issue that high student loans pose to college students is the lowering of charged interests rates to a number that matches inflation, rather than a number that attempts to exploit the need of financial aid for a profit. By making this change, the government can encourage an educated society and increase the long-term value of the tax payer rather than sacrificing a long-term return for a smaller short-term profit.
This issue is particularly interesting to me because it impacts peers and almost 70% of students graduating from college. I am interested in helping find solutions to student loan problems because I believe that there is a solution that can help encourage a more educated and better off society.
In order to help analyze the situation behind student loans, the rates charged on them, and the potential long-term returns on a more educated society, I intend to analyze various sources of information including numbers on student loan debt, average inflation rates, and the projected tax returns of a more educated society. Sources for this information include debt.org, the united states inflation calculator, and studies published by institutions such as rand.org.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Thursday, November 5, 2015
IMRaD Report
Alexander
Masada Corey
11/3/15
RHET:1030:0055
Effectiveness of Social Media Advertising
Abstract
Advertising has been thoroughly
studied by many research teams and one of the most important parts of
advertising is the ability to reach the intended audience. However, with the
rise of social media, a new type of advertising has been created, advertising
to a target audience through posts made by other social media users. A survey
was designed collected information on how many college students use social
media, and how they are exposed to advertising through their use of social
media. The study of this survey revealed that all students who participated in
it use social media at least once daily. Participants were also asked about the
use of ad-blocking software and it was found that 42% of participants do use
ad-blocking software. Based on these initial findings, it already appears that
peer advertising through social media has the ability to reach a part of the
target audience that would otherwise be out of reach.
Introduction
Studies have been conducted
on the effectiveness of advertising strategies. Advertising is the most important
aspect of connecting business and consumer. A recent development in how
consumers spend their time is social media. As a means of communication, social
media has become a platform for advertising. This is ‘peer’ advertising done by
users of social media which integrates advertising social media. Research exists
on the effectiveness of traditional advertising but not peer advertising. The
question then is how effective is peer advertising in comparison to traditional
advertising. This comparison is made by considering the efficiency of
advertising.
To compare
different traditional advertising and peer advertising, consider the purpose of
advertising. From a study conducted by Booth, the impact of advertising is to “act as a brandbuilding tool and/or a reminder” (Booth). To show a
large number of advertisements to create a brand or remind consumers of the
company. The important idea for analyzing the effectiveness of peer advertising
is whether peer advertising can meet these expectations. Additionally,
traditional advertisement must reach those interested in a product. The concept
associated with this is that, “the key to successful marketing can
be summed up by the STP strategy—that is, segmentation, targeting, and
positioning” (Cornell). Targeting is the best way to efficiently advertise. Traditional
advertising follows this, but users of social media don’t follow the same logic.
Therefore, the question is how does peer advertising meet a target?
Methods
Participants:
21
students participated in this survey. Each student was currently enrolled at
the University of Iowa at the time they took the survey. Each student who
responded to the survey indicated daily use of some form of social media.
Procedure:
Participants
were either asked to take the survey in class or asked personally outside of
class to participate in the survey. By spreading the survey in this manner, it
was ensured that those who answered the survey were current students at the
University of Iowa. Each student was allowed to respond to the survey only once
in order to ensure that they could not overly influence the results of this
survey.
Data
Analysis:
Data
from this survey was analyzed in order to determine the percentage of students
who use social media and compared to that number, how many of them recognized
an exposure to peer advertising in their use of social media. In addition to
this comparison, the number of students using ad-blocking software and also the
number of students who felt impacted by peer advertising were compared both to
one another and also to the overall number of students who were exposed to peer
advertising and also the number of students on social media. By comparing all
of these results to one another side by side on a bar graph, it is easier to
quickly gain an understanding of how these influences size up to one another.
Results
Figure
1: Results of survey on Social Media
Advertising
This chart shows the results of
different survey questions that were posed to students and shows the success of
peer advertising in reaching the audience of social media users. Of the twenty
one students surveyed, only one student said that they were not exposed to peer
advertising. In addition to this demonstration of effectiveness in reaching the
target audience, the results of the question about the use of an ad-blocker
when compared to the results about whether students felt influenced by a social
media ad indicates that even students who use an ad-blocker can be influenced
by a social media ad. This is demonstrated by the fact that while nine students
claim to use an ad-blocker, only seven students said that they were in no way
influenced by a social media advertisement.
Discussion
This survey indicates both that
advertising on social media is an effective way to reach a target audience and
also that advertising on social media can reach an audience that is otherwise
more or less unreachable through traditional advertisements. Of the twenty one
students who took the survey, all of whom use social media daily, twenty agreed
that they had been reached in some way by peer advertising. This is a 95%
success rate in peer advertising reaching the entire audience of the survey, a
relatively high number considering the age of social media. In addition to
proving to be effective in simply reaching an audience, this study also
indicates that social media advertising also inherently reaches their target
market and may hold the key to unlocking audiences that actively avoid
advertisements through the use of an ad-blocker.
Social media advertising reaches the target market in
away unique from most other ads because rather than conducting research on the
best channel or website to advertise on, advertisements given through social
media take advantage of the idea that people are in contact with others on
social media that share similar interests. The sharing of interests therefore
inherently targets an advertisements ideal demographic. This is because those
who feel that something is relevant enough to them that they would want to post
it to show others what they think, to enter a prize pool, etc. then those in
contact with them through social media should also share similar interests.
This lends an efficiency to social media advertising that in fact goes beyond
what traditional advertisements are capable of because advertising via social
media takes advantage of groups and associations we form naturally rather than
working to make the distinction.
To address the topic of those who use ad-blocker, we
must consider that ad-blockers are designed to filter out traditional online
advertisements. This again gives an advantage to social media advertising because
it can bypass ad-blocker and also influence the audience it reached beyond an
ad-blocker. Traditional advertisements not only are unable to reach past an
ad-blocker, but because there is no data on ads available that are blocked
because consumers never see them, peer advertising is automatically reaching
the target audience better in this area as well. Overall, the results of this
survey indicate that peer advertising on social media is an important and
powerful tool that can reach consumers with a high success rate and can even go
beyond boundaries faced by traditional online advertising strategies. This is
shown by the advantages demonstrated in both reaching a target market and also
in going beyond limitations of traditional advertising.
Possible problems with this survey
include a lack of recognition of what constitutes peer advertising on social
media, as the survey did not provide diverse and specific examples of peer
advertising before asking students if they had been influenced by it.
Self-awareness also played a large part in this survey, as questions were asked
that require the student answering them to be able to recognize when they
themselves had been influenced. Additionally, this survey did not focus on one
social media site in particular which could result in a less specific target
audience because each social media site encourages a different type of user to
use their platform.
Future research on this topic could
be more reliable by showing examples of peer advertising alongside the question
about whether or not the person taking the survey had been exposed to peer
advertising. By making sure the definition of peer advertising is clear to
those participating in the study, a more reliable data set can be taken from a
survey. In addition to making sure that the data is more reliable, future
studies could also focus more on relationship between the use of ad-blocker and
how those users who have an ad-blocker installed reacted or were influenced by
advertising on social media. By connecting the data in this way, the efficiency
of peer advertising can be analyzed in a new way which would allow for a better
understanding of how efficient peer advertising is at reaching an audience that
chooses to restrict the access of traditional advertisement.
Works
Cited
Manchanda, P., Dube, J., Goh, K.,
& Chintagunta, P. (2006, February 1). The Effect of Banner Advertising on
Internet Purchasing. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
Lynn, M. (2011). Segmenting and
Targeting Your Market: Strategies and Limitations. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
Appendix
1
Survey
Question
1 : Do you use some sort of social media regularly?
Yes / No
Question
2 : Do you use an ad-blocking software?
Yes / No
Question
3: How often do you check social media throughout the day?
1-5 Times
5-10 Times
10 or more times
Question
4 : On social media how often do you see brands or company names in posts made
by contacts on social media?
Never / Infrequently / Frequently
Question
5 : Do you feel that these posts resulted in you purchasing a product made by a
company?
Yes / No
Question
6 : Do you feel that seeing a company or brand name through social media
exposure serves as a reminder or the motivation to buy a product?
Motivation
Reminder
Neither
Revised Introduction
Introduction
Studies have been conducted
on the effectiveness of advertising strategies. Advertising is the most important
aspect of connecting business and consumer. A recent development in how
consumers spend their time is social media. As a means of communication, social
media has become a platform for advertising. This is ‘peer’ advertising done by
users of social media which integrates advertising social media. Research exists
on the effectiveness of traditional advertising but not peer advertising. The
question then is how effective is peer advertising in comparison to traditional
advertising. This comparison is made by considering the efficiency of
advertising.
To compare
different traditional advertising and peer advertising, consider the purpose of
advertising. From a study conducted by Booth, the impact of advertising is to “act as a brandbuilding tool and/or a reminder” (Booth). To show a
large number of advertisements to create a brand or remind consumers of the
company. The important idea for analyzing the effectiveness of peer advertising
is whether peer advertising can meet these expectations. Additionally,
traditional advertisement must reach those interested in a product. The concept
associated with this is that, “the key to successful marketing can
be summed up by the STP strategy—that is, segmentation, targeting, and
positioning” (Cornell). Targeting is the best way to efficiently advertise. Traditional
advertising follows this, but users of social media don’t follow the same logic.
Therefore, the question is how does peer advertising meet a target.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Report Introduction and Method
Introduction
Title : Social Media and Peer Advertising
The current generation of young adults in America almost all use social media in order to communicate and connect with friends, family, and the world. These days, it's harder than ever to find someone without some kind of online footprint, a trend resulting from the integration of technology into our daily lives from a young age. The use of social media and technology has changed how we reach one another, how we communicate, and how the world reaches us. So, with all of this change going on, businesses have to be looking for a way to use social media to their advantage. While we have all seen and been annoyed by traditional advertisements online for different companies, businesses have started to reach their target market in a new way through social media. Through social media, people can share pictures, ideas, and thoughts with one another and companies are always present in the products behind these moments. Through peer exposure in this way, companies were given a taste of the power of social media. The right person with the right logo can boost sales of a product even before it hits the shelves. This power lead to companies coming up with new ways to amplify their presence in social media interaction, whether it's asking consumers to post a picture emphasizing a brand, use a corporate hashtag, or to re-post an official corporate advertisement. Many studies have been done with regards to the effects of advertisements online and how likely they are to result in an increase in revenue, but there are still questions about the effectiveness of social media for advertising and how much additional power it gives to a corporate advertising scheme.
Methods
Participants: Over 20 current University of Iowa students participated in a survey taken online over Survey Monkey.
Procedure / Questions: On Survey Monkey, participating students answered these questions -
Title : Social Media and Peer Advertising
The current generation of young adults in America almost all use social media in order to communicate and connect with friends, family, and the world. These days, it's harder than ever to find someone without some kind of online footprint, a trend resulting from the integration of technology into our daily lives from a young age. The use of social media and technology has changed how we reach one another, how we communicate, and how the world reaches us. So, with all of this change going on, businesses have to be looking for a way to use social media to their advantage. While we have all seen and been annoyed by traditional advertisements online for different companies, businesses have started to reach their target market in a new way through social media. Through social media, people can share pictures, ideas, and thoughts with one another and companies are always present in the products behind these moments. Through peer exposure in this way, companies were given a taste of the power of social media. The right person with the right logo can boost sales of a product even before it hits the shelves. This power lead to companies coming up with new ways to amplify their presence in social media interaction, whether it's asking consumers to post a picture emphasizing a brand, use a corporate hashtag, or to re-post an official corporate advertisement. Many studies have been done with regards to the effects of advertisements online and how likely they are to result in an increase in revenue, but there are still questions about the effectiveness of social media for advertising and how much additional power it gives to a corporate advertising scheme.
Methods
Participants: Over 20 current University of Iowa students participated in a survey taken online over Survey Monkey.
Procedure / Questions: On Survey Monkey, participating students answered these questions -
- Do you use some sort of social media regularly?
- Do you use an ad-blocking software?
- How often do you check social media throughout the day?
- On social media, how often do you see brand or company names in posts made by contacts on social media?
- Do you feel that these posts result in you purchasing something made by a company?
- Do you feel that seeing a company or brand name through social media exposure serves as a reminder or the motivation to buy a product?
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Survey Questions
1) Do you use some sort of social media regularly?
2) How often do you check social media throughout the day?
3) On social media, how often do you see brands or company names in posts made by contacts on social media?
4) Do you feel that these posts motivate you to purchase something made by a company?
5) Do you feel that most often seeing a company name servers as a reminder or motivation to buy a product?
2) How often do you check social media throughout the day?
3) On social media, how often do you see brands or company names in posts made by contacts on social media?
4) Do you feel that these posts motivate you to purchase something made by a company?
5) Do you feel that most often seeing a company name servers as a reminder or motivation to buy a product?
Monday, October 26, 2015
Research Questions and Reading Comparison
Questions
1) What is the main purpose of student use of social media and what is the impact of this use on the effectiveness of advertisements? Breaking down the use of social media to connect with peers, keep up with news / events, or for entertainment purposes. Comparing these priorities to how students react to advertisements that are primarily, funny, informative, serious, or involve advertising based on celebrity appearance or a peer connection.
2) While using social media, how to students react to certain types of media and how do they react to ads that follow a similar pattern? Are students more likely to create or spread funny posts, serious posts, etc.? How does the likelihood of a student to be involved with certain types of media impact how they react to advertisements that follow a similar pattern?
In order to gather information to help answer these questions, I would ask students questions designed to help inform me about how they would react to each different focus of social media. This would be done through asking them directly if they are more likely to spread something they consider funny, serious, informative, etc.. To help understand how these preferences impact the effectiveness of advertisements, I would ask them how they would classify the last advertisement they remember seeing on social media and how they reacted to that advertisement. In addition, I would ask about the last effective and ineffective advertisement they can remember from social media. These questions could be posed in a mixture of multiple choice and short answer format. Multiple choice would allow me to narrow down the use of social media by students and how they prioritize different aspects of social media while short answer would help gather information about reactions to different advertisements.
Comparison
Although both articles cover economics and bagels, and do so in an academic nature intended to inform the reader, they cover to different subjects entirely in their actual content. The reading from Freakonomics covers how a bagel company can be used to examine the moral fiber of corporations and the association of this knowledge with white collar crime. The paper by Levitt by contrast analyzes profit maximizing choices that are made by firms based on the example of the same bagel and donut company. Although the papers have different focuses, they use the same data and they both set out to inform the reader about a larger issue that can be distilled into a pure form and related to concrete examples given by the simple bagel business that Feldman started.
In terms of organization, the paper by Levitt follows the IMRaD structure more closely, while the reading from freakonomics is less formally structured. Levitt uses a clearly labelled abstract, introduction, and gives models and examples of data and how it relates to the issue he is exploring. In contrast, the freakonomics reading does all of the same things, except providing literal charts analyzing the data. Both readings offered an abstract or point, provided a background, and then used data from the bagel business Feldman ran in order to relate an abstract or general idea to concepts and proofs provided by a real world business.
1) What is the main purpose of student use of social media and what is the impact of this use on the effectiveness of advertisements? Breaking down the use of social media to connect with peers, keep up with news / events, or for entertainment purposes. Comparing these priorities to how students react to advertisements that are primarily, funny, informative, serious, or involve advertising based on celebrity appearance or a peer connection.
2) While using social media, how to students react to certain types of media and how do they react to ads that follow a similar pattern? Are students more likely to create or spread funny posts, serious posts, etc.? How does the likelihood of a student to be involved with certain types of media impact how they react to advertisements that follow a similar pattern?
In order to gather information to help answer these questions, I would ask students questions designed to help inform me about how they would react to each different focus of social media. This would be done through asking them directly if they are more likely to spread something they consider funny, serious, informative, etc.. To help understand how these preferences impact the effectiveness of advertisements, I would ask them how they would classify the last advertisement they remember seeing on social media and how they reacted to that advertisement. In addition, I would ask about the last effective and ineffective advertisement they can remember from social media. These questions could be posed in a mixture of multiple choice and short answer format. Multiple choice would allow me to narrow down the use of social media by students and how they prioritize different aspects of social media while short answer would help gather information about reactions to different advertisements.
Comparison
Although both articles cover economics and bagels, and do so in an academic nature intended to inform the reader, they cover to different subjects entirely in their actual content. The reading from Freakonomics covers how a bagel company can be used to examine the moral fiber of corporations and the association of this knowledge with white collar crime. The paper by Levitt by contrast analyzes profit maximizing choices that are made by firms based on the example of the same bagel and donut company. Although the papers have different focuses, they use the same data and they both set out to inform the reader about a larger issue that can be distilled into a pure form and related to concrete examples given by the simple bagel business that Feldman started.
In terms of organization, the paper by Levitt follows the IMRaD structure more closely, while the reading from freakonomics is less formally structured. Levitt uses a clearly labelled abstract, introduction, and gives models and examples of data and how it relates to the issue he is exploring. In contrast, the freakonomics reading does all of the same things, except providing literal charts analyzing the data. Both readings offered an abstract or point, provided a background, and then used data from the bagel business Feldman ran in order to relate an abstract or general idea to concepts and proofs provided by a real world business.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Big Stuff, Small Stuff Analysis
Through reading Big Stuff, Small Stuff, I learned that there are many key differences between an IMRaD report and the typical argument based research paper that I have written in the past. One of the first differences is the tone of an IMRaD paper, which is more formal. Another key difference is the type of research and analysis that you do for an IMRaD paper as opposed to a typical argument based research paper. I've never had to write a formal report over information that I've gathered myself, although I have had experience in drawing conclusions from polls and personal research in the past. The structure of an IMRaD report is also very different from a typical argument based paper because you are analyzing raw information and creating a source similar to what a student may have previously used to write their own argument based research paper. This different purpose in writing an IMRaD report means that a different structure is the best way to effectively communicate the ideas behind the report. The structure itself means that the writer needs to include an abstract, introduction, methodology statement, and also graphs and other assessments of data in order to thoroughly prove a point. The use of multiple ways to communicate information in one report is something that is entirely new to my experience with writing reports and in addition to the different structuring sets this assignment apart from previous work that I have done.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Speech Outline
Alexander Masada
Corey
RHET:1030:0055
Speech
Outline
Introduction
Hook
- Did you know that the University of Iowa has over 31,000 students currently
attending classes, and that of those 31,000 students, over 5,000 were admitted
as Freshmen this semester?
Thesis -
The University of Iowa uses Ethos and Pathos in advertisements used to attract
students. The University incorporates Ethos and Pathos to distinguish itself by
presenting the stories of credited alumni used to both inspire students and
build faith in the success story of previous students at Iowa and through
simple and inclusive slogans.
Overview
-
I will focus on how the University brands itself through online and print
advertisements and how these ads fit into the application of Ethos and Pathos
through the aspects mentioned above. Overall advantage of the advertising
scheme at the University is building credibility in the success of alumni and
connecting students to that success through slogans and other inclusive
branding devices. University differentiates itself by citing the success of
Alumni and incorporating hopeful students into that success, introduces the
idea of a Hawkeye Network and recognition.
Body
Transition
–
Idea of the good work ethic associated with the Midwest, example of how
employers (PWC, CLA) have mentioned this to one of my classes. The idea spread
through a history of respected alumni and success associated with attendance of
schools like Iowa.
Alumni
success / placement
1. Topic
Sentence / Focus : The University of Iowa places a strong emphasis on the
success of Alumni and uses Alumni success stories to help build trust with
students through advertisements.
2. Example
: (Ad 1, Alumni meet) Many chances to meet Alumni are offered through the
University of Iowa and are advertised regularly to current students. These
opportunities to meet successful alumni are also communicated to prospective
students who have relevant areas of interest.
3. Synthesis
: The opportunities to meet alumni offered by the University of Iowa are
valuable for students and help to inspire confidence in the applicability of
programs of study through the University. Being able to talk to someone who has
completed a path similar to the path you plan to take at Iowa and seeing where
they are helps to make the goals you hope to meet more tangible and manageable.
The ability to have a real conversation with someone who can explain and expand
on answers to questions you ask is invaluable and builds confidence in an idea
in a way no other experience can.
Slogans
1. Topic
Sentence / Focus : The University of Iowa applies the credibility it builds with
students through Alumni success stories to the students themselves through the
use of slogans intended to help students feel a personal connection with Alumni
success.
2. Example
: “Iowa will change you, you will change the world” and “It’s great to be a
Hawkeye” quote slides showing two slogans that are meant to connect students to
the history of success and also the network of Hawkeye Alumni.
3. Synthesis
: This slogan (addressing audience, quote 1) is intended to help make you feel
included in the success associated with the University of Iowa. The idea that
Iowa will change you and that you will then change the world connects attendance
at the University of Iowa with success in a broad field of future careers. This
statement is reinforced by the previously mentioned trust in the University of
Iowa built through examples of alumni success. This second slogan (addressing
audience, quote 2) reinforces the connection of students to the diverse alumni
network that is a result of attending Iowa. The slogan is intended to form a
mutual feeling of Hawkeye pride between alumni of the University of Iowa which
can be a valuable advantage in the competitive workforce.
Differentiation
from the crowd
1. Topic
Sentence / Focus: The University of Iowa uses stories of Alumni success and
inclusive slogans in order to form a brand that stands out from others schools through
a history of placement and achievement.
2. Example
: Advertising of certain schools at the University are emphasized. For example,
the University prioritizes advertisement of the college of business which
consistently ranks as a top school in the nation and was recently ranked #1
best for your money and #2 best in finance, worldwide, according to Financial
Times.
3. Synthesis
: The University makes sure to differentiate itself through the emphasis of
areas of study where Hawkeyes excel. This helps draw more students from across the
country and around the world into the programs offered at Iowa. An example of
the powerful draw of the college of business is the high numbers of foreign and
out of state students that attend classes at Tippie. The fact that Iowa can
draw out of state students to the college of business in spite of higher
tuition rates is a great example of the success of advertising by the
University.
Conclusion
Summary
- The
University of Iowa is an institution that connects itself to students through
stories of success, a focus on creating a network, and distinction by helping
students see that they can perform to meet examples of achievement that they
see in others.
Thesis
restated - The appeals of Ethos and Pathos in
University of Iowa advertisements help to draw in potential students by
building credibility with success stories, creating a feeling of purpose and
acceptance through slogans, and distinguishing the University by showcasing
achievement.
Ad
Sources
1. http://itsnt774.iowa.uiowa.edu/be-remarkable-archive/portfolio/print-ads/pdf/ConnectionsNIACC.pdf
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Speech Proposal
For my speech, I will be analyzing advertisements used by the University of Iowa. I chose the University because I have lived both in and near Iowa City for my entire life and the University has been as much a part of my life as any local brand or company could be. Living around the University has meant exposure from an early age to University advertising and I am interested in how the University builds advertisements to effectively reach the potential student audience.
For my analysis, I have chosen print and video advertisements for the University. Many of these advertisements focus on the diversity and forward thinking attitude associated with the University of Iowa campus. For comparison, I will analyze advertisements from Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa to help highlight differences and find common ground between their advertisement strategies.
The University of Iowa uses primarily logos and pathos in order to attract and retain students in the various programs of study offered at Iowa. I have found that primarily logos and pathos are used through the analysis of the print and video ads that I have found. Many of the advertisements focus on Iowa being a good step forward for a student's career and any that do not focus on the purpose of Iowa as the next step in education focus on the concept of the Hawkeye Community. The advertisement of Iowa as a productive step forwards in education is a specific example of the use of logos or logic. For example, a quote from a picture on the U of I admission site states,"Iowa will change you, you will change the world". This quote is meant to demonstrate that Iowa is an essential part of getting students from where they are now to where they want to be. The quote that I chose above can also be used as an example of an appeal to Pathos because it appeals to the hopes and aspirations of incoming students as a part of attracting them to Iowa.
Throughout my speech, I plan to display relevant advertisements and explain how they break down into different aspects of the rhetorical triangle. Whether I am comparing two advertisements or just showing and analyzing one, I plan to have content relevant to my presentation on the projector at all times. I will likely not play entire video advertisements but rather show pictures of video advertisements that are relevant to my presentation which will help condense information.
For my analysis, I have chosen print and video advertisements for the University. Many of these advertisements focus on the diversity and forward thinking attitude associated with the University of Iowa campus. For comparison, I will analyze advertisements from Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa to help highlight differences and find common ground between their advertisement strategies.
The University of Iowa uses primarily logos and pathos in order to attract and retain students in the various programs of study offered at Iowa. I have found that primarily logos and pathos are used through the analysis of the print and video ads that I have found. Many of the advertisements focus on Iowa being a good step forward for a student's career and any that do not focus on the purpose of Iowa as the next step in education focus on the concept of the Hawkeye Community. The advertisement of Iowa as a productive step forwards in education is a specific example of the use of logos or logic. For example, a quote from a picture on the U of I admission site states,"Iowa will change you, you will change the world". This quote is meant to demonstrate that Iowa is an essential part of getting students from where they are now to where they want to be. The quote that I chose above can also be used as an example of an appeal to Pathos because it appeals to the hopes and aspirations of incoming students as a part of attracting them to Iowa.
Throughout my speech, I plan to display relevant advertisements and explain how they break down into different aspects of the rhetorical triangle. Whether I am comparing two advertisements or just showing and analyzing one, I plan to have content relevant to my presentation on the projector at all times. I will likely not play entire video advertisements but rather show pictures of video advertisements that are relevant to my presentation which will help condense information.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Advertisement Analysis
http://admissions.uiowa.edu/sites/default/files/slide16.jpg
The advertisement that I chose comes from the University of Iowa. The University of Iowa is one of the top public research universities in the nation, and attracts an international student body. The advertisement that I chose to analyze is an image from the admissions page of the University of Iowa website and says, "Iowa will change you, you will change the world". The University of Iowa is identifying itself as a positive and proactive step forwards in life for potential students, saying that through experiences at Iowa students can pursue their interests in meaningful ways. The purpose of this advertisement is to communicate to students that by attending the University of Iowa, they will be gaining a better experience than they could at a competing school. The advertisement conveys this message through logos and pathos. The words on the advertisement are an example of logos used to convey the idea, but what the words say is what engages pathos. By stating that students can change the world using experiences gained at the University, the advertisement engages pathos and makes students think ahead about how their time at the university can help them pursue their ambitions in the real world. Through this combination of logos and pathos, superimposed over a picture of the Old Capital, a symbol of the University, I believe that this is an effective advertisement in connecting Iowa with an image of success beyond a student career.
The advertisement that I chose comes from the University of Iowa. The University of Iowa is one of the top public research universities in the nation, and attracts an international student body. The advertisement that I chose to analyze is an image from the admissions page of the University of Iowa website and says, "Iowa will change you, you will change the world". The University of Iowa is identifying itself as a positive and proactive step forwards in life for potential students, saying that through experiences at Iowa students can pursue their interests in meaningful ways. The purpose of this advertisement is to communicate to students that by attending the University of Iowa, they will be gaining a better experience than they could at a competing school. The advertisement conveys this message through logos and pathos. The words on the advertisement are an example of logos used to convey the idea, but what the words say is what engages pathos. By stating that students can change the world using experiences gained at the University, the advertisement engages pathos and makes students think ahead about how their time at the university can help them pursue their ambitions in the real world. Through this combination of logos and pathos, superimposed over a picture of the Old Capital, a symbol of the University, I believe that this is an effective advertisement in connecting Iowa with an image of success beyond a student career.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Conferencing
I found the conferencing time during review to be very helpful with revising my paper and better understanding the assignment and how I should structure my own writing. The conference was useful because being able to talk face to face and ask questions about criticisms of the paper was very valuable in helping me understand how to improve. I would personally prefer individual conferences to group conferences because being able to ask questions specific to my paper would be more helpful than having to try and apply a broad question from someone else to my own writing. Overall I felt that conferences are valuable to learning because they allow us as students to help advocate for our own learning in a more specific environment.
I found the comments on the draft to be helpful, although not as helpful as the conference. The comments on the draft were a good resource to fall back on where my notes over our talk were lacking or invomplete. The comments on the draft also provided more specific examples of what I could recognize in my own writing which again helped me to learn more about myself and identify the patterns in my writing. Overall, the comments were definitely helpful, but I feel that they could be easily dropped from the draft of we were given longer conferencing time. This is because the comments also helped to guide the conversation during the conference so we would need more time to find all the issues, and also because the comments were a good source to reflect on in addition to my notes, but more conference time would allow me to take more complete notes.
I found the comments on the draft to be helpful, although not as helpful as the conference. The comments on the draft were a good resource to fall back on where my notes over our talk were lacking or invomplete. The comments on the draft also provided more specific examples of what I could recognize in my own writing which again helped me to learn more about myself and identify the patterns in my writing. Overall, the comments were definitely helpful, but I feel that they could be easily dropped from the draft of we were given longer conferencing time. This is because the comments also helped to guide the conversation during the conference so we would need more time to find all the issues, and also because the comments were a good source to reflect on in addition to my notes, but more conference time would allow me to take more complete notes.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Mandatory Draft
Alexander Masada Corey
RHET:1030:0055
9/11/15
Writing as an Economics Professor
Writing within the business profession isn’t just a way to land a job or impress co-workers with a spectacular pitch, writing is an essential part of the communication of ideas. You can’t make it into a job without strong writing skills, you can’t move upwards in a corporation, and you can’t convince others to meet with you or that your ideas are worth their time. In the workplace, writing can open doors for you or shut them before you know where they are and this rule holds true for writing as an economics professor. To help connect the significance of traditional business writing to the profession of economics professor, I interviewed Professor John Solow. From the interview with Professor Solow, I learned that although he works in an office environment different from that of a corporation, the skills required to efficiently communicate ideas to peers and present information in understandable, respectful, and persuading ways are vital in the majority of day to day work.
Non-Academic Writing
Something that all professionals and even all people should know how to do in this day and age is how to write an e-mail. E-mails are, of course, a non-academic writing and are a means of communication that nearly every worker finds themselves using daily. Although all people should know how to write an e-mail, there are guidelines that can improve an e-mail and take it to the next level. These guidelines have quickly become the standard in professional communications and employees are expected to know how to properly respond to e-mails and use them as a tool to increase the efficiency of communication. One of the most important things you need to be able to do via e-mail is communicate information effectively, “Find attached the email marketing course you requested. As I said on my website, I’ll keep sending updated versions of the course from time to time” (Oladiran n.d.). This excerpt from a sample e-mail reply does an excellent job of communicating the information and relevant details in an easy to understand way. This is a very important skill in the business field because time is a valuable resource to everyone involved in your communications. As Professor Solow said in our interview, “Most of my day is writing or reading, I can spend fifty percent of my day writing when I’m teaching, and I spend more time reading and writing when I’m not teaching a course”. The large amount of time spent reading and writing means that you need to be able to use your writing effectively, especially in e-mails in order to save time for everyone involved in the communications process.
Another important part of non-academic writing in the professional teaching field is a memo. Memos are used to communicate larger pieces of information, not unlike a lengthier e-mail and because of this, it is important to know how to condense information and provide visual cues on what information is important in a memo. For example, in this fictional memo from Shorenstein Center, “As part of a general deficit reduction problem, the city should take steps to raise the non-resident income tax rate from ½ to 1%. Several strong arguments exist for raising the non-resident income tax rate”. The use of bolding to highlight a key point allows people to skim a memo and gain the key facts while still offering the option to read the full text to those who have more time, or feel that a point from the text is unclear to them personally. This highlighting technique, when used correctly, allows a larger audience to gain the most benefit from a single memo without sacrificing time or information. This style of writing is important to those working as professors because memos are an important means of communication on campus as I learned from Professor Solow, “I spend about forty percent of my day involved with various University of Iowa services which include writing memos and reports”. Much like e-mails, memos can quickly eat up a large part of a professor’s day and so keeping them short but still providing full and informative content is a must.
The final and perhaps most important point about all non-academic writing in business is remembering to maintain respect for the subject and audience of a communication. This applies especially to e-mail communications, as it’s easy to get carried away or forget that such a casual means of communication is still considered to be a part of the professional world. A good example of someone forgetting the professional context of an email comes from this example I found from Protrans International, “Wow, Willow, these guys must be real boneheads if they can’t use our software. I’ll forward some instructions for these deadbeats to you, and you can send it to them in the morning”. This is a great example of someone getting caught up in a situation and failing to maintain a respectful standard in their communication. A failure to maintain respect in a conversation, even about those not involved, is important to avoid due to the nature of professional communication where anyone, including the client, could be included as a copy on an e-mail. This was also brought up in the interview with Professor Solow who, “recently served on the review board for the dean of another college at the University”. These kinds of reviews covers things like the professionalism of the candidate in addition to how well they do their job day to day.
Academic Writing
Academic writing in business is less diverse than non-academic writing by nature, and it tends to focus more on the communication and support of complex ideas communicated over many pages of long reports or papers on various subjects. An economics professor like Professor Solow uses their position to both teach and research economics which means that in his job he has both built new ideas and also taken the time to synthesize the ideas into teachable lessons. The difference between a report and a lesson in the classroom is generally the removal of extraneous details and development of simple examples that can be explained in fewer pages than a full report.
Academic reports in business consist of research done on a subject, analysis of the research, and a theory based on the results of that analysis. Although many papers can repeat papers or seem nearly redundant when compared to others, each paper seeks to prove a different principle through the analysis of a situation. The idea that each paper is slightly different can be seen from Timsilina (2014),”In this section we present the CGE model developed for the study and the necessary data. Instead of presenting the detailed description of the CGE model, we focus on the aspects where the paper attempts to make a methodological contribution”. This quote is an example of the author of the paper focusing on a subject area where they can make a specific contribution. This is important in academic writing because the point of the writings are to be able to focus on specific ideas and present them effectively to your audience. During the interview with Professor Solow, he mentioned the same idea, “We use descriptive writing to document and identify logic”. As a writer trying to present a new idea based on research and other established principles, it is important to establish the scope of what you are trying to prove, in order to better guide your reader and make your communication more effective.
While writing an academic report for business, you also need to keep your mind on the integration of outside ideas into your own writing. This is where the idea of building on the research of others comes into play because you need to be able to use respected ideas to support your own conclusions drawn from your research. A strong example of incorporating outside ideas can be found in Livingston’s report on The Economics of Glyphosate Resistance Management in Corn and Soybean Production (2015), “Because both the literature and our simulation results suggest that using glyphosate by itself is the main factor underlying the evolution of glyphosate resistance, estimating the impacts on production costs, yields, and returns of using this practice is critical” (23). By stating that previous literature supports the conclusions that he drew from his own simulation, he adds credibility to his own work and the subsequent conclusions that he draws from it. Credibility is key in analytical writing, without credibility your research, analysis, and conclusions are worthless and will be disregarded. This is important because the point of research, according to Professor Solow, is, “To be clear and concise with evident purpose” and to “make an impact”. The use of outside sources and respected opinions adds to the credibility and context of your own research and analysis and is, therefore, essential to a business report.
The idea of academic synthesis in business is of great importance because it is from the synthesis of multiple ideas and reports that applicable models are drawn. This is especially important to teaching professionals because even if they are not writing their own textbooks, they need to have a deep understanding of what they are teaching. A deep understanding of a subject allows the communication of an idea in a building fashion, by introducing ideas that build on one another and can better teach students. A useful report from Linda L. Zhang (2015) on multitype platforming provides an excellent sample of the synthesis of outside ideas, “While these papers provide rich information about product platforms, they do not discuss the above mentioned platform concepts, such as process platforms, layout platforms, flexible platforms, function–technology platforms, multibranded platforms” (1). Zhang identifies the strengths and shortcomings of other reports and papers, and sets the reader up for a shorter and applicable version of the information provided by these other papers. This kind of writing combines both the efficiency that was the major focus of non-academic business writing with the important information and outside support of an academic report, while also presenting the information in a useful way. This style of writing represents all of the ideas for what Professor Solow feels makes his own writing strong, “Efficiency... Evident Purpose… Explanation”. The fact that Professor Solow shares the same values that this report is based on enforces the importance of synthesis and creation of applicable lessons in academic business writing.
In conclusion, the ability to write efficiently, respectfully, and purposefully is very important in the world of an economics professor. The time that you can save others and save yourself is a valuable factor in a professional environment and part of what adds value to an employee. The ability to teach others and teach yourself will allow you to excel in professional writing, especially as a teacher.
RHET:1030:0055
9/11/15
Writing as an Economics Professor
Writing within the business profession isn’t just a way to land a job or impress co-workers with a spectacular pitch, writing is an essential part of the communication of ideas. You can’t make it into a job without strong writing skills, you can’t move upwards in a corporation, and you can’t convince others to meet with you or that your ideas are worth their time. In the workplace, writing can open doors for you or shut them before you know where they are and this rule holds true for writing as an economics professor. To help connect the significance of traditional business writing to the profession of economics professor, I interviewed Professor John Solow. From the interview with Professor Solow, I learned that although he works in an office environment different from that of a corporation, the skills required to efficiently communicate ideas to peers and present information in understandable, respectful, and persuading ways are vital in the majority of day to day work.
Non-Academic Writing
Something that all professionals and even all people should know how to do in this day and age is how to write an e-mail. E-mails are, of course, a non-academic writing and are a means of communication that nearly every worker finds themselves using daily. Although all people should know how to write an e-mail, there are guidelines that can improve an e-mail and take it to the next level. These guidelines have quickly become the standard in professional communications and employees are expected to know how to properly respond to e-mails and use them as a tool to increase the efficiency of communication. One of the most important things you need to be able to do via e-mail is communicate information effectively, “Find attached the email marketing course you requested. As I said on my website, I’ll keep sending updated versions of the course from time to time” (Oladiran n.d.). This excerpt from a sample e-mail reply does an excellent job of communicating the information and relevant details in an easy to understand way. This is a very important skill in the business field because time is a valuable resource to everyone involved in your communications. As Professor Solow said in our interview, “Most of my day is writing or reading, I can spend fifty percent of my day writing when I’m teaching, and I spend more time reading and writing when I’m not teaching a course”. The large amount of time spent reading and writing means that you need to be able to use your writing effectively, especially in e-mails in order to save time for everyone involved in the communications process.
Another important part of non-academic writing in the professional teaching field is a memo. Memos are used to communicate larger pieces of information, not unlike a lengthier e-mail and because of this, it is important to know how to condense information and provide visual cues on what information is important in a memo. For example, in this fictional memo from Shorenstein Center, “As part of a general deficit reduction problem, the city should take steps to raise the non-resident income tax rate from ½ to 1%. Several strong arguments exist for raising the non-resident income tax rate”. The use of bolding to highlight a key point allows people to skim a memo and gain the key facts while still offering the option to read the full text to those who have more time, or feel that a point from the text is unclear to them personally. This highlighting technique, when used correctly, allows a larger audience to gain the most benefit from a single memo without sacrificing time or information. This style of writing is important to those working as professors because memos are an important means of communication on campus as I learned from Professor Solow, “I spend about forty percent of my day involved with various University of Iowa services which include writing memos and reports”. Much like e-mails, memos can quickly eat up a large part of a professor’s day and so keeping them short but still providing full and informative content is a must.
The final and perhaps most important point about all non-academic writing in business is remembering to maintain respect for the subject and audience of a communication. This applies especially to e-mail communications, as it’s easy to get carried away or forget that such a casual means of communication is still considered to be a part of the professional world. A good example of someone forgetting the professional context of an email comes from this example I found from Protrans International, “Wow, Willow, these guys must be real boneheads if they can’t use our software. I’ll forward some instructions for these deadbeats to you, and you can send it to them in the morning”. This is a great example of someone getting caught up in a situation and failing to maintain a respectful standard in their communication. A failure to maintain respect in a conversation, even about those not involved, is important to avoid due to the nature of professional communication where anyone, including the client, could be included as a copy on an e-mail. This was also brought up in the interview with Professor Solow who, “recently served on the review board for the dean of another college at the University”. These kinds of reviews covers things like the professionalism of the candidate in addition to how well they do their job day to day.
Academic Writing
Academic writing in business is less diverse than non-academic writing by nature, and it tends to focus more on the communication and support of complex ideas communicated over many pages of long reports or papers on various subjects. An economics professor like Professor Solow uses their position to both teach and research economics which means that in his job he has both built new ideas and also taken the time to synthesize the ideas into teachable lessons. The difference between a report and a lesson in the classroom is generally the removal of extraneous details and development of simple examples that can be explained in fewer pages than a full report.
Academic reports in business consist of research done on a subject, analysis of the research, and a theory based on the results of that analysis. Although many papers can repeat papers or seem nearly redundant when compared to others, each paper seeks to prove a different principle through the analysis of a situation. The idea that each paper is slightly different can be seen from Timsilina (2014),”In this section we present the CGE model developed for the study and the necessary data. Instead of presenting the detailed description of the CGE model, we focus on the aspects where the paper attempts to make a methodological contribution”. This quote is an example of the author of the paper focusing on a subject area where they can make a specific contribution. This is important in academic writing because the point of the writings are to be able to focus on specific ideas and present them effectively to your audience. During the interview with Professor Solow, he mentioned the same idea, “We use descriptive writing to document and identify logic”. As a writer trying to present a new idea based on research and other established principles, it is important to establish the scope of what you are trying to prove, in order to better guide your reader and make your communication more effective.
While writing an academic report for business, you also need to keep your mind on the integration of outside ideas into your own writing. This is where the idea of building on the research of others comes into play because you need to be able to use respected ideas to support your own conclusions drawn from your research. A strong example of incorporating outside ideas can be found in Livingston’s report on The Economics of Glyphosate Resistance Management in Corn and Soybean Production (2015), “Because both the literature and our simulation results suggest that using glyphosate by itself is the main factor underlying the evolution of glyphosate resistance, estimating the impacts on production costs, yields, and returns of using this practice is critical” (23). By stating that previous literature supports the conclusions that he drew from his own simulation, he adds credibility to his own work and the subsequent conclusions that he draws from it. Credibility is key in analytical writing, without credibility your research, analysis, and conclusions are worthless and will be disregarded. This is important because the point of research, according to Professor Solow, is, “To be clear and concise with evident purpose” and to “make an impact”. The use of outside sources and respected opinions adds to the credibility and context of your own research and analysis and is, therefore, essential to a business report.
The idea of academic synthesis in business is of great importance because it is from the synthesis of multiple ideas and reports that applicable models are drawn. This is especially important to teaching professionals because even if they are not writing their own textbooks, they need to have a deep understanding of what they are teaching. A deep understanding of a subject allows the communication of an idea in a building fashion, by introducing ideas that build on one another and can better teach students. A useful report from Linda L. Zhang (2015) on multitype platforming provides an excellent sample of the synthesis of outside ideas, “While these papers provide rich information about product platforms, they do not discuss the above mentioned platform concepts, such as process platforms, layout platforms, flexible platforms, function–technology platforms, multibranded platforms” (1). Zhang identifies the strengths and shortcomings of other reports and papers, and sets the reader up for a shorter and applicable version of the information provided by these other papers. This kind of writing combines both the efficiency that was the major focus of non-academic business writing with the important information and outside support of an academic report, while also presenting the information in a useful way. This style of writing represents all of the ideas for what Professor Solow feels makes his own writing strong, “Efficiency... Evident Purpose… Explanation”. The fact that Professor Solow shares the same values that this report is based on enforces the importance of synthesis and creation of applicable lessons in academic business writing.
In conclusion, the ability to write efficiently, respectfully, and purposefully is very important in the world of an economics professor. The time that you can save others and save yourself is a valuable factor in a professional environment and part of what adds value to an employee. The ability to teach others and teach yourself will allow you to excel in professional writing, especially as a teacher.
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