First Assignment
Choose one of the topics below and write an essay in response. Your essay should be at least two and a half pages in length
and should not exceed four pages. Use double-space lineation, a 12-point serif font, and one-inch margins on all sides. Please
do not include a title page. Your writing is expected to be error-free and up to university standards.
Your essay is expected to have a thesis: a main point that the whole essay attempts to support or prove. Your essay should
carefully support every claim it makes, usually using argumentation and/or examples, and (almost) every claim should relate
back to supporting the thesis. Your goal is not to treat the topic comprehensively, but to bring insight to your topic and treat
at least one of the main components of the topic in considerable detail.
The essay is due on October 29th. Consult the course outline for information about late assignments.
A. Corporate web site analysis
Compare the following two corporate web sites: Burger King (Canada) and Wendy’s (Canada).
Write a report on the different strategies used by the web sites to create an identity. Note that you are not evaluating the
effectiveness of the web sites, nor are you evaluating the marketing strategies used on the web sites: you are identifying how
identity is created. This will involve summarizing the identities as they are presented on the web sites, but will mostly involve
discussing how various features on the web site contribute to the overall identity being put forth.
B. Personal web site analysis
Choose a web site from the following list:
Write a report on the different strategies used by the web site to create the person’s identity. Try to keep in mind the
distinction between the real person and the person represented by the web site. How do the features of the web site contribute
to creating an identity for that person? Focus your analysis on: home page images, home page text, web site colours, biographical
text, and the type and variety of links (internal and external).