Magazine Analysis

Key Elements of Magazine

Analysis
• Debatable thesis

• Careful attention to language and images

• Pick out verbal and visual patterns in the text or themes

of the mag

• An interpretation of how the mag is used to target a

specific audience with a purpose

• “Stay As Sweet As You Are” magazine analysis

example.
 How to Analyze Your
Magazine
1. Get your pencil, notebook, and magazine.

2. Look through the magazine from cover to cover. Write down a one-to-two paragraph summary of your
observations regarding, audience, purpose, and content.

3. Look through the magazine again. Revisit your summary and revise. Write a draft thesis stating your point of
view on the magazine’s audience and purpose: “Parents convinces new mothers to seek parenting advice”

4. Now you must find evidence in the magazine which supports your thesis (2 ads, articles of comination).
Return to the magazine, and locate an ads or articles consistent with your thesis.

5. Examine the language and images used in the text. What images and language are used to target the
specified audience to believe, feel or do something? What patterns of color or language are being used?
How?

6. Find two pieces of evidence (ads or articles) with similar color patterns, types of language, or themes to
support your thesis: What are these? Bright green color, short how-to articles, empowering wording

7. Now you’re ready to move to revise your thesis using the visual and verbal analysis: “Parents’ uses vibrant
green images, empowering wording, and short how-to articles to encourage new mothers to seek
parenting advice ”

8. Now on to writing your first draft!

 Essay Structure
• The magazine analysis must include:

• An introduction with debatable thesis

• The body with support for thesis (evidence)

• Conclusion with summary

• Works Cited page with at least 4 citations

 introduciton
• The first paragraph of the essay must open with a strong attention getter
focused on the magazine's purpose, audience or themes.
• Make sure to italicize the title of the magazine and include the month and year
of the issue! This tells your audience that the magazine will be the focus of
your essay.
• Summarize the magazine’s content in a few sentences. This should include
some of the findings your reported in the preliminary analysis.
• Include at least one source to support the audience or purpose; cite
the source using an in-text citation using MLA format.
• At the end of the introduction, include a DEBATABLE thesis about the
magazine's purpose and audience which is then tied to the visual and verbal
content in the ads, articles or other content you'll be analyzing.
 body
• In the body of the essay, you’ll describe, analyze, and explain the two ads,
articles, or commericals you've chosen.
• Include at least one other source in the material analyzed that
supports your claim.
• For each ad, article or commercial, begin by stating the ad’s or article’s name
in "quotes" and other relevant publication information.
• Then, describe the example fully so that the reader can see the colors,
symbols, images, words, or (sounds even if commercial). This will likely take
one pargraph to fully describe the ad.
• After describing the piece, then analyze the visual elements chosen and explain
how these support the thesis; then analyze and explain the verbal elements
chosen. This will likely take a paragraph or two; use transitions between
paragraphs inside your example and then write another one to transition to the
next example.
• Follow the directions above for the next example; once you've done this, then
write a transition to the conclusion.
 conclusion

• Summarize the essay — (that's briefly write about the medium's purpose and
audience and how the material you've chosen supports your thesis).
• Then expand on what you've written by thinking how the themes, ads, articles,
or other content might been seen more broadly or how it might relate to issues
relevant to our times: That is "Broaden the context" beyond the magazine into
the world.
 Works Cited

• Follow the MLA format for Works Cited pages.

• Include the names of the ads, articles, and the two other sources in the paper.
• Make sure to look up proper Works Cited citations in in Purdue OWL or you LSH.
• On your Works Cited page, you must include. 4 citations :
• Citations for each ad or article (2 required in this paper)
• Citations for the 2 sources used in this paper