2025-8-30 Jenkins, Blog Post #2 - Research Topic & 7 Sources

 Topic

    The topic I chose to go with was analyzing the rhetorical tactics used in popular YouTube video thumbnails. I decided to specifically focus on analyzing whether there are any similarities or differences between hooks used in videos meant to educate and those meant to entertain.

Tentative Sources

Andeweg B., de Jong, J., & Hoeken, H. (1998). "May I have your attention?";: Exordial techniques in informative oral presentations. Technical Communication Quarterly, 7(3), 271-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572259809364631

Jahanian, A., Vishwanahan, S. V. N, & Allebach, J. P. (2015). Colors - messengers of concepts: Visual design mining for learning color semantics. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1145/3009924

Kane, B. (2020). Hook point: How to stand out in a 3-second world. Self-published.

Pflaeging, J., & Hartmut, S. (2021). Tracing the shapes of multimodal rhetoric: Showing the epistemic powers of visualization. Visual Communication, 20(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/14703572211010370

Swarts, J. (2012). New modes of help: Best practices for instructional video. Technical Communication, 59(3), 195-206. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43092991

Vickers, P., Faith, J., & Rossiter, N. (2013). Understanding visualization: A formal approach using category theory and semiotics. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 19(6), 1048-61. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2012.294

Young, S., Driessen, S., Pridmore, J., & Davis, T. (2025). "We lied to you...and we'll do it again": Communicating science via YouTube. Kairos: A Journal fo Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, 30(1). https://kairos.technorhetoric.net/30.1/topoi/young-et-al/




















Comments

  1. Hailey PetersonSeptember 2, 2025 at 9:52 AM

    This looks like a really good topic to get into! It’ll be interesting to see what thumbnails are popular and really hook people in, especially with some of the over saturated thumbnails or creative ones I’ve just seen around. I think it’s interesting as well that you’re not just focusing on the visual aspect but the written aspect as well (if I’m understanding right). A good title certainly goes a long way in a world of competing videos. Your sources also look good and seem like they’ll be helpful in parsing through information. It kind of reminds me of your project from last semester which also involved YouTube videos, so you have some experience with seeing what’s effective.

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  2. Arya JenkinsSeptember 3, 2025 at 6:35 PM

    Reflection & Revision Plan:
    I definitely need more sources from the specific TWDR journal articles that were provided. These sources I found, while somewhat relevant, are likely not the most valuable for my literature review. I will need to do more thorough research using a variety of keywords in order to find more relevant sources. I will need to look broadly at the variety of research done, maybe searching under the umbrella of "visual rhetoric" rather than the more specific "thumbnails," "YouTube," or "hooks." Really, I feel like the best course of action would be to find as many sources as possible on a variety of relevant topics, so then I can come to a more informed conclusion on which sources are actually most relevant to my research and most reflective of the current research on my topic. I will search exclusively in the TWDR journals provided, starting with Computers and Composition, but I also want to look for any more textbooks in our field that may prove relevant. Potential topics or categories I can search under include: thumbnails, titles/hook points (e.g. news), visual rhetoric (colors, semiotics, etc.), educational vs. entertainment media, clickbait, marketing, and multimedia hooks/rhetoric.

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  3. florence08September 5, 2025 at 2:33 PM

    Hi Arya,

    Looks like you had a good start!! I am very pleased to know that your topic interest is a bit more distilled at this point and, as you plow through and annotate these sources, I suspect you'll gain an even tighter focus leading toward your proposal. Based on your reflection and revision plan, I like the direction that you shared so far, including trying out new sets of keyword search, etc. It's always our goal as scholars to make a study more beneficial and applicable to practitioners within our field, and you are definitely on the right track! (As always, feel free to set an appt. with me anytime if you need help -- am here).

    Keep up the good work!

    Best,
    Dr. B

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