Samantha Gonzalez

Monica Hanna

ENC1102

2 February 2024

Research Proposal

I. Project Title: “Sorry the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now” A Rhetorical

Analysis of Taylor Swift’s Social Media during her Reputation Era

II. Research Question(s):

1. Why Taylor Swift utilized social media to announce her Reputation album

a) Why she wiped her social media pages clean

b) Why she started posting black and white photos leading up to it

c) What was she trying to communicate with the audience

III. Statement of Significance (1-2 Paragraphs):

Social media has always been used for a variety of situations. I am going to focus

on what role social media, especially Instagram, played during Taylor Swift’s

“Reputation Era.” Before she released Reputation, she was completely inactive on

social media. Then, randomly, she completely wiped all her social media platforms

clean so no one could see her old photos, hinting that something was changing. I plan

to research how Taylor Swift used social media to communicate with her fans that

something new was starting.

This is important for research because it shows how people use other forms of

communication besides word of mouth. They can also use photos and social media as
 subliminal messages to convey a message they want to spread to their audience. This

relates to writing studies because writing studies focus on how people communicate

with each other through words, pictures, or other means. This focuses on just one

aspect but is utilized all the time by other celebrities and people daily.

IV. Research design/description of study

I will conduct my primary research, looking for articles analyzing how Taylor Swift used

social media during this transition. I will also find if there are any videos of interviews with

Taylor Swift talking about why she deleted her social media and what her intended goal was. I

will look at about ten sources and examine photos from Instagram in that period. I will

accomplish all this research to fully understand how social media can be used in writing studies

as a form of rhetoric.

V. Sources

A. Rasher, Sydney. A Rhetorical Analysis of Taylor Swift’s Persona,

digitalcommons.acu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1625&context=etd. Accessed 27
Jan. 2024.
B. Shifting Personas: A Case Study of Taylor Swift,
uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=ltt_etds. Accessed 30
Jan. 2024.
C. The Taylor Swift Case, www.diva-
portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1730287/FULLTEXT01.pdf. Accessed 31 Jan. 2024
D. Hoffman, Ashley. “Taylor Swift Deletes Instagram, Twitter, Website: Reactions.” Time,
Time, 18 Aug. 2017, time.com/4906762/taylor-swift-deletes-social-media/.

6. Include PowerPoint separately

https://ucf-
my.sharepoint.com/:p:/r/personal/mo853399_ucf_edu/Documents/research%20proposal.pptx
?d=wf1204e4ef5c145eb8237dfda1320c923&csf=1&web=1&e=3puX7K