Activities

1. Recall the definitions of bias and propaganda in nonfiction.
   
   
2. Recall common techniques used in propaganda.
   
   
3. Compare two texts that use propaganda techniques and explain what they have in common.
   
   
4. Construct a chart listing and explaining common propaganda techniques.
   
   
5. Critique a nonfiction text that uses either implicit or explicit bias for how it manipulates information and evidence as part of its argument.
   
   
6. Cite new evidence to counter-argue a point made in a nonfiction text that uses bias or propaganda techniques.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Students recall the definition of bias as the prejudiced interpretation of evidence towards a specific, fixed and finite viewpoint without regard to other opinions, and propaganda as the deliberate misrepresentation of information in a text in order to persuade readers to a specific, fixed and biased conclusion.
   
   
2. Students list and subsequently define common propaganda techniques (for example: ad hominem, appeals to authority, red herring, false dichotomy, appeals to fear, scapegoating and straw man).  
   
   
3. Students read and compare two texts that employ propaganda techniques. These texts may be both written and visual or a combination of the two. Students not only look for particular techniques that the two texts share, but parallels in tone, voice, audience, and purpose. Students begin to understand propaganda may be both explicit and implicit in texts.
   
   
4. In order for students to better understand common propaganda techniques, students construct a chart organizing and explaining common propaganda techniques. Charts should include explicit examples of each technique from readings.
   
   
5. Students read and analyze a nonfiction text for how it presents and frame evidence. Students look for patterns of prejudice and bias in nonfiction writing. Students analyze how the author manipulates and interprets information for the purposes of presenting a one-sided viewpoint.
   
   
6. Students provide new and outside background knowledge or information in order to disprove a claim made in propaganda. Students analyze and evaluate a text of propaganda in how it misrepresents truth.

Suggested Rubric:  This rubric may be used to assess a student’s overall mastery of the standard or eligible content.