Using Analysis and Synthesis to Evaluate Credibility

Introduction:

For the last several days, as you have used Synthesis Spiders and SKUM Analyses to dig into texts, I have asked you to use your findings to informally judge the credibility of of the messages that were being conveyed to you. Take a moment to go back to the work you did with political commercials and print advertisements. As you look over this work, identify what criteria you used to evaluate the credibility of these texts.

When we shared out, we came up with the following list of criteria we considered when evaluating credibility.

Credibility Considerations

(these will also be posted under the topic Important Class Resources on Google Classroom)

Task: Put your Analysis/Synthesis Skills and the Credibility Considerations to use

Today we are going to use our analysis and synthesis skills, along with our new list of credibility considerations to evaluate different pieces of propaganda. At the end of this activity we will also spend some time adding to our list of credibility considerations for use in future learning.

Definition:

Propaganda is a term that generally carries with it a negative connotation. Consider these different definitions:

"information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view"

"the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person"

"ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause"

"Propaganda is the spreading of information in support of a cause. It’s not so important whether the information is true or false or if the cause is just or not — it’s all propaganda. The word propaganda is often used in a negative sense, especially for politicians who make false claims to get elected or spread rumors to get their way. In fact, any campaign that is used to persuade can be called propaganda."

Digital Gallery Walk:

Using the skills you have learned as we have practiced both SKUM Analysis and Synthesis Spiders, complete the Gallery Walk of the attached images. Each image represents an example of propaganda. Using the note catcher, linked below and on Google Classroom, analyze 15 of the 18 images - identifying the main argument (claim) of the image, what key details you used to infer that argument, and finally how credible you find that image and why.

Images for the Propaganda Digital Gallery Walk

Here is the note catcher you need to use to track your evaluations of these images.