Assignment Two:

Explication: Making an Argument for the Value of a Fifties Horror Comic

Overview

In this assignment you will travel back in time to 1954 and write a letter to the chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency to discuss the merits of a particular comic book story among those placed on electronic reserves. Rather than make a broad argument against censorship, you are expected to defend your story by emphasizing the sophistication of the subtleties of your comic book's visual and verbal logic.

A successful assignment will do the following:

• Analyze specific details in both the words and the images of individual panels.
• Quote material appropriately.
• Avoid hyperbolic or loaded language that would make the committee less likely to take your argument seriously.
• Avoid speculative claims about symbolism not supported by concrete evidence.
• Develop your argument in a letter of 3 to 4 double-spaced typed pages.
• Be promptly submitted to turnitin.com via the UCSD TED site before the deadline.

Looking Ahead

Although future essays that you write in the CAT course may not have such a specific genre, situation, or audience, it is important to think rhetorically about the academic writing that you do at UCSD.

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