6 Jenae Cohn’s Understanding Visual Rhetoric
Writing Spaces Volume 3
The article explains how visual rhetoric is used by writers to help audiences obtain a better grasp of the intentions and purposes found within them. The author introduces real-world examples such as food images and menus to outline the unconscious, yet effective way visual rhetoric impacts individuals through components such as lines, colors, shapes, sizes, spacing, values (“the lightness or darkness of a particular element”), and textures. Instructors can use the discussion questions and suggestions provided by the author to create an introduction to rhetoric in general. This will be beneficial for instructors who teach more complex visual forms, such as music videos, professional advertisements, and recorded speeches. Students will benefit from a simplified explanation that can translate into more academically appropriate content as it relates to both the visual and written form.
“A picture is often worth a thousand words because it implies so much and can give us a lot of information quickly. Seeing may not always be believing, but visual rhetoric can be a pretty powerful way to help people understand an idea differently than they may have otherwise. ”
MLA Citation Examples
Works Cited
Cohn, Jenae. “Understanding Visual Rhetoric.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing Volume 3, edited by Dana Driscoll, Mary Stewart, and Matthew Vetter, Parlor Press, 2020, pp. 45-58.
In-text citation
“A picture is often worth a thousand words because it implies so much and can give us a lot of information quickly. Seeing may not always be believing, but visual rhetoric can be a pretty powerful way to help people understand an idea differently than they may have otherwise” (35).
APA Citation Examples
References
Cohn, J. (2020). Understanding visual rhetoric. In Dana Driscoll, Mary Stewart, and Matthew Vetter (Eds.), Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, vol. 3 (pp. 18-39). New York: Parlor Press.
In-text citation
“A picture is often worth a thousand words because it implies so much and can give us a lot of information quickly. Seeing may not always be believing, but visual rhetoric can be a pretty powerful way to help people understand an idea differently than they may have otherwise ” (p. 35).
Chicago Citation Examples
Bibliography
Cohn, Jenae. “Understanding Visual Rhetoric,” in Writing Spaces: Reading on Writing Volume 3, ed. Dana Driscoll, Mary Stewart, and Matthew Vetter, (New York: Parlor Press, 2020), 18-39.
In-text citation
“A picture is often worth a thousand words because it implies so much and can give us a lot of information quickly. Seeing may not always be believing, but visual rhetoric can be a pretty powerful way to help people understand an idea differently than they may have otherwise ” (Carroll, 2010, 47).
About the author
name: Writing Spaces Volume 3
institution: Parlor Press and WAC Clearinghouse
website: https://writingspaces.org/
Released in 2020, the third issue of Writing Spaces was edited by Dana Driscoll, Mary Stewart, and Matthew Vetter. In addition to the Writing Spaces Website, volume 3 can be accessed through WAC Clearinghouse, as well as Parlor Press.
From Parlor Press
Volume 3 continues the tradition of previous volumes with topics such as voice and style in writing, rhetorical appeals, discourse communities, multimodal composing, visual rhetoric, credibility, exigency, working with personal experience in academic writing, globalized writing and rhetoric, constructing scholarly ethos, imitation and style, and rhetorical punctuation.
From WAC Clearinghouse
Dana Driscoll is Professor of English at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches in the Composition and Applied Linguistics graduate program and directs the Jones White Writing Center. Her scholarly interests include composition pedagogy, writing centers, writing transfer and writerly development, research methodologies, writing across the curriculum, and assessment.
Mary Stewart is Assistant Professor and the Assessment Coordinator for the English Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her research, which is primarily qualitative, focuses on collaborative and interactive learning, blended and online writing instruction, composition pedagogy, and teaching with technology.
Matthew Vetter is Assistant Professor of English at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and affiliate faculty in the Composition and Applied Linguistics Doctoral Program. A scholar in writing, rhetoric, and digital humanities, his research explores how technologies shape writing and writing pedagogy.
