Identifying Fallacies (Propaganda Techniques) Worksheet
Sharon Haigler
Overview
- This worksheet is adapted from “Exploring Author’s Point-of-View: Reading Critically [Resource]” by Sharon Haigler. It is part of a larger lesson plan titled “Reading Critically for Propaganda Techniques.”
- This worksheet requires students to be familiar with logical fallacies. The following chapter “3.7 Logical Fallacies” from Informed Arguments, an OER, is an additional resource on this topic.
- The objective of this worksheet is for students to detect propaganda techniques by comprehending how fallacies can distort or shape biased arguments.
Worksheet
Read the short passages below and identify each by the appropriate letter of one of the following propaganda techniques:
a. straw man argument
b. bandwagon appeal
c. half-truth
d. loaded word
e. obfuscation (confusing the issue).
Write the letter of the correct answer next to each sentence.
-
- He felt like he does now more than he did when he first came in.
- HARRY: “You think that we should do it this way, Bill, but I took a poll that showed most of the others think that way is better.” BILL: “Yeah, I have rethought the situation and have changed my mind. That way really is better.”
- Congressman Jones voted against gun control. It is rather obvious that he doesn’t care if good honest citizens are shot down in the streets by common criminals.
- All the doctors that I spoke with said that Med A works better and faster that Med Z. [What wasn’t mentioned was that all the doctors had PhD’s in History.]
- You sure do not want to take Prof. Smith’s class this semester. His lectures are pure torture.
- Candidate Simms will probably lose the election because the polls show that she has the support of only 30% of the potential voters. [The rest of the story is that the other votes are split between 12 other candidates with the person in second place having 15% support.]
- A roommate accidentally flips the off-light switch as she leaves the room, and her roommate yells, “That just proves how selfish you are!”
- This event is truly historic! I have been waiting for this for a long, long time.
- It has been reported that because of the control that the Sentinel Society has in the rankings of the setting of the agenda for the sake of duplicitous and acrimonious ventures in the economic well-being of this nation, Sen. Bradshaw is absolutely the worst candidate for re-election.
- Orders for the new GLITZ cellphone are coming in by the thousands. Get yours now while you can.
Click here to download a Word Doc version of the “Identifying Propaganda Techniques” worksheet:
Identifying Propaganda Techniques worksheet
Attribution:
Haigler, Sharon. “Identifying Fallacies (Propaganda Techniques) Worksheet.” Strategies, Skills and Models for Student Success in Writing and Reading Comprehension. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2024. This work is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).