world war 1 propaganda poster assignment

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You're the Author: WWI Propaganda Creation Project

In this lesson, students will view a variety of examples of WWI propaganda posters and discuss their message and why they were important for the war effort. After the discussion, students will create their own examples of WWI propaganda posters.

To inform students why WWI propaganda posters were so effective and important for the war effort.

• Define the concept of propaganda.
• Explain why the use of propaganda was of particular significance during this time period.
• Evaluate the different strategies and tools used in the creation of propaganda.
• Demonstrate their knowledge of propaganda characteristics, strategies, and tools by creating their own piece of propaganda.
• 9-12.AH.3.CC.B - Evaluate the motivations for United States’ entry into WWI.
• 9-12.AH.3.PC.D - Assess the impact of WWI related events, on the formation of “patriotic” groups, pacifist organizations, and the struggles for and against racial equality, and diverging women’s roles in the United States.

WWI Propaganda posters - examples can be found at http://www.ww1propaganda.com/ , http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/wwipos/background.html , http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/women-in-wwi/war-posters , and other various internet and print sources

DAY 1 Students will walk into the classroom that has various examples of WWI propaganda posters (see primary sources above) on the walls. Students will walk around the classroom examining the posters and write quick notes about the posters. Students will pay close attention to:

• Message/theme
• Effectiveness
• Author/organization

After students have had time to examine the posters, the class will discuss propaganda What does propaganda mean? Propaganda is information that is spread for the purpose of promoting a cause or belief. During WWI, posters were used to

• Recruit men to join the army
• Recruit women to work in the factories and in the Women’s Land Army
• Encourage people to save food and not to waste it
• Keep morale high and encourage people to buy government bonds

Why were propaganda posters needed during WWI? Countries only had small standing, professional armies at the start of the war They desperately needed men to join up and fight Most people did not own radios and TVs had not yet been invented The easiest way for the government to communicate with the people was through posters stuck on walls in all the towns and cities How were men encouraged to join the army? Men were made to feel unmanly and cowardly for staying at home How were women used to encourage men to join the army? Women were encouraged to pressurise their husbands, boyfriends, sons, and brothers to join up How was fear used? Some posters tried to motivate men to join up through fear Posters showed the atrocities that the Germans were said to be committing in France and Belgium People were encouraged to fear that unless they were stopped, the Germans would invade Britain and commit atrocities against their families How were women encouraged to work in the factories or to join the army or the land girls? When the men joined the war, the women were needed to do their jobs There was a massive need for women in the factories, to produce the weapons, ammunition and uniforms needed for the soldiers There was a major food shortage and women were desperately needed to grow food for the people of Britain and the soldiers in France Posters encouraged everyone to do their bit Through joining up Through working for the war effort By not wasting food Through investing in government bonds Why are WWI propaganda posters important? For historians today, propaganda posters of WWI reveal the values and attitudes of the people at the time They tell us something about the feelings in Britain during WWI Class will discuss the assignment (poster creation) Students will begin brainstorming ideas for their own propaganda posters in small groups Students will begin creating their propaganda posters

DAY 2 Students will continue working to create their propaganda posters

DAY 3 Students will be given 15 minutes to finish their posters and hang them up around the classroom Students will walk around the room and look at the posters created by their classmates Students will play close attention to:

Directions: You will create an effective propaganda poster on one of the topics below that could have been used in World War I. • Possible topics: • Enlistment and recruitment • The role of women • Financing the war • Food conservation • Aiding our allies • Entering the war • Guidelines • The poster will be drawn or printed (using photoshop or etc) on 8 ½” by 11” paper and graded on your use of message/theme, creativity, neatness, historical accuracy, explanation, and use of characteristics/techniques

Lessons of Liberty: Patriotism - Analyze WWI Propaganda Posters

This lesson plan asks students to examine their understanding of "patriotism" by analyzing over 60 primary source propaganda posters that called America to action during World War I.

Resource Links

Sharing teaching and learning resources from the National Archives

Education Updates

Primary Sources & Teaching Activities for World War I

You can find primary sources and online teaching activities for World War I on our DocsTeach World War I page .

Find primary sources for topics such as:

• New weapons like airplanes , trench warfare , machine guns , submarines , and tanks
• Women in WWI
• WWI Posters
• The Homefront
• Espionage, sedition, and spying
• Armistice, the Treaty of Versailles, and the end of the war
• The Harlem Hellfighters
• The 1918 Flu Pandemic

See WWI draft cards for personalities like Babe Ruth, Al Capone, Charles Hamilton Houston, and Ty Cobb. Students can use Babe Ruth’s Draft Card to identify differences between WWI America and today in the activity WWI America: Babe Ruth’s Draft Card .

Check out World War I posters to discuss propaganda techniques, food conservation, liberty loans, victory gardens, and recruiting with your students. You can also access poster-based teaching activities .

Students can practice “Decoding an Intercepted Message” in the activity The Zimmermann Telegram to learn about this important document and turning point in the war. They analyze the telegram and make an assessment about whether the United States should have entered WWI based on the telegram’s information and implications.

Other teaching activities on the DocsTeach World War I page include:

• Americans on the Homefront Helped Win World War I
• New Technology in World War I
• Comparing WWI Food Conservation Posters
• Artists Document World War I
• WWI Propaganda and Art
• Baseball on the World War I Homefront
• Baseball: A Morale Booster During Wartime?

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• UNC Libraries
• Course Guides
• English 105 Online Curriculum Module: Rhetoric of American World War I Posters

English 105 Online Curriculum Module: Rhetoric of American World War I Posters: Home

Unit project, lesson context.

The Rhetoric of American World War I Propaganda Posters unit sequence uses primary sources to introduce students to the basics of rhetorical and visual analysis, multimodal composition, and scholarly research and writing. The unit begins with students exploring “ North Carolinians and the Great War ,” the library’s digital collection of World War I posters. In the first feeder assignment, students complete a visual analysis worksheet and analyze the rhetoric and imagery of two posters from the collection. Students can also watch "Analyzing World War I Posters,"  a short video introduction to visual analysis and the history of World War I posters. In the second feeder assignment, students expand their rhetorical analysis by conducting additional secondary source research about one of the posters. Finally, in the unit project, students write an analysis of their poster and share their findings with the class in a five-minute conference presentation.

• Unit Summary - Printable PDF

Unit Summary

​ assignments.

You have been selected to present at a World War I conference. Your research begins with the library’s online collection of the many American propaganda posters created during World War I to recruit soldiers and build national pride. This digital collection, “North Carolinians and the Great War,” focuses specifically on posters that would have been widely distributed in North Carolina to help bolster war efforts in the state. In this unit, you will select one poster to study, analyze, research, and write about. You deliverables include a brief visual presentation about your poster and an essay. As a rhetorician, your goal is to analyze the rhetorical strategies the artist used to create an effective propaganda poster. You should consider include how the artist used images, color, text, and design elements to convey messages related to World War I. Additionally, you should explore the historical context of your poster and how it might have influenced North Carolinians who participated in the war efforts.

Learning Objectives

By working on the feeder assignments and unit project, you will develop the following skills:

identify how rhetorical strategies are deployed in both visual and textual formats;

conduct secondary source research;

place propaganda rhetoric in its historical context; and

synthesize complex research findings in a compelling oral presentation and written assignment.

North Carolinians and the Great War​

World War I propaganda posters are available from Documenting the American South (DocSouth). The goal of the poster collection is to “[examine] how World War I shaped the lives of different North Carolinians on the battlefield and on the home front as well how the state and federal government responded to war-time demands."

• Video: Analyzing World War I Posters This video provides a guide to visual analysis an examples of how to apply analytical questions to WWI posters within their historical context.
• World War I Posters Worksheet This worksheet accompanies the video "Analyzing World War I Posters."
• An introduction to the collection This introduction to the poster collection places the posters in historical context and describes the collection.
• Propaganda posters organized by theme All of the posters are accessible here and organized by topic.

In Feeder One, students will begin by exploring the online collection of American World War I propaganda posters to get a sense of the range and types of posters that were made. Either as an in-class activity or as a homework assignment, students should select a poster they find interesting and analyze it more closely by completing the Visual Analysis Worksheet . 

Once students have practiced their visual analysis skills, they can move on to the second part of the feeder assignment. First, they should select and download two posters they are interested in writing about for their final projects. Next, they should write a short paragraph about each poster that includes the following information:

• their reasons for selecting the poster, such as its color, shape, subject matter, artistic appeal, etc.;
• the message (or messages) they believe the poster was expressing; and
• the historical audience (or audiences) they believe the poster and message were trying to reach. 

Instructional Materials

• Visual Analysis Worksheet - Printable PDF

For Feeder Two, Background Research and Preliminary Analysis , students will choose one poster and examine it from multiple critical vantage points. First, in the research phase of the assignment, students will search for secondary and primary sources that answer key questions about their posters. Their driving goal as researchers in this assignment will be to learn more about the historical and cultural context in which their posters were created and disseminated.

Next, in the rhetorical analysis phase of the assignment, students will use the information they have gained and their own visual and textual analysis skills to draw conclusions about their posters. They will consider questions about the intended audience and purpose of their posters, as well as considering how persuasive techniques are deployed to connect with that audience and achieve that particular purpose.

• Background Research and Preliminary Analysis - Printable PDF

Possible Expansion: Visit the Undergraduate Library

Request an information literacy instruction session taught by librarians at the Robert B. House Undergraduate Library (UL). In this session, librarians can help connect students with library resources and search strategies to support their background research on their posters. Potential topics may include formulating keywords, searching in databases, evaluating print and online sources, citation, and other information literacy concepts.

For the Unit Project, an Essay and Conference Presentation , students will build on their prior research and thinking from Feeders One and Two by connecting their historical research with their rhetorical analysis. They will consider how the historical events and cultural norms of the time contributed to the visual and textual rhetorical strategies being used in the poster.

Playing the role of participants in a special session at the World War I conference, students will deliver a brief in-class presentation about the propaganda strategies used in their posters. They will also contribute an accompanying essay about their poster to the special issue of a journal published in conjunction with the conference. 

• Essay and Conference Presentation - Printable PDF

Additional Resources

These resources may supplement the instructional materials provided above:

Presentations

• Design Guide: Presentation Slides (UL)
• Presentation Planning Worksheet (UL Design Guide)
• Powerpoint and Google Slides Templates (Slides Carnival)

Public Speaking

• Tips and Tools Handout: Speeches (UNC Writing Center)
• Public Speaking Foundations (Lynda.com Tutorial)

Michael Keenan Gutierrez

Teaching Assistant Professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature

Emily Kader

Rare Book Research Librarian, Wilson Special Collections Library

Cait Kennedy

Carolina Academic Library Associate

Ashley Werlinich

Graduate Research Assistant, Wilson Special Collections Library; Ph.D. Student and Teaching Fellow, Department of English and Comparative Literature​

Discipline Areas

This online curriculum module is designed for use in the humanities unit of English 105; however, it could also be adapted for English 105i: Writing in the Humanities or Writing in the Digital Humanities. 

English 105 Requirements

This unit sequence meets the following English 105 requirements:

• Digital Literacy;
• Information Literacy;
• Multimodal Composition; 
• Oral Presentation;
• Primary Source Literacy; and
• Visual Literacy.

Possible Adaptations

This unit sequence could be adapted to use a variety of other special collections materials, depending on your research interests, desired learning outcomes, and other instructional goals.  Contact the Special Collections to discuss other possible adaptations.

Instruction

Schedule an instruction session.

If you would like your class to visit Wilson Special Collections Library,  request a special collections instruction session .

Teach with the Rare Book Collection

If you have questions about teaching with primary sources, contact Emily Kader .

Visit the Special Collections Research Room  or contact the special collections .

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Let us know when and how you're using materials from the Rhetoric of American World War I Posters online curriculum module by  filling out this brief survey !

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Ask your students to share their experiences with the Rhetoric of American World War I Posters online curriculum module by completing this survey .

Start a Conversation

To start a conversation about how future online curriculum modules can support your English 105 instruction, contact Jason Tomberlin , Head of Research and Instructional Services.

• Last Updated: May 6, 2022 1:53 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.unc.edu/world-war-one-posters

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Canada and the First World War

• Introduction
• Objects and Photos
• Teacher Resources

01 Lesson Plans

Propaganda posters, all provinces and territories except quebec: grades 7 to 12, quebec: secondary 1 to 5.

In this lesson, students discuss and develop an understanding of the techniques used to create propaganda. Using this knowledge, students analyze posters from the First World War.  Download the full package (pdf).  [PDF 1543k] Includes two lesson plans, one worksheet, one handout and high quality poster images.

Lesson Plans – Propaganda Posters

• Grades 7 to 9/Secondary 1 to 3, Lesson Plan, Propaganda Posters (pdf)  [PDF 47k]
• Grades 10 to 12/Secondary 4 to 5, Lesson Plan, Propaganda Posters (pdf)  [PDF 49k]
• Grades 10 to 12/Secondary 4 to 5, Propaganda Worksheet (pdf)  [PDF 33k]

Resources: Propaganda Posters (List of Images)

• Resources: Propaganda Posters (pdf)  [PDF 1534k]
• This Is Your Flag
• Shall we Help to Crush Tyranny?
• Heroes of St. Julien and Festubert
• Les Héros de St-Julien et de Festubert
• Canadiens-Francais, Enrolez-Vous!
• 150e Carabiniers
• The Happy Man
• Help the Boys
• Fight for Her
• Soldiers of the Soil
• Souscrivez à l’Emprunt de la Victoire
• Canadians Must Provide
• Once a German – Always a German!