What? Why?

You will be composing an analysis essay of a WWI
or WWII propaganda poster available from the Uni-
versity of North Texas’s digital archive that applies
Charles Fleming’s approach of understanding
propaganda techniques through semantics. For this
project, you will need to chose a poster and analyze
how it is achieving its goals. What meaning is em-
bedded in it? How are one or two general semantics
principles being abused for its success (we are as-
suming that it was successful)?
The purpose of this paper is to hone your abilities
to identify writers’ use of rhetorical features and
analyze diction and style as sources of and justifi-
cation for inferences about meaning. There are
several layers to meaning in these propaganda
posters: the visual choices, the diction used, and
how those two work together. As a writer, you will
be relying heavily on textual analysis and will be
honing your descriptive and expository writing
skills.

Who?
The audience for this analysis paper are those inter- WWI and WWII
ested in propaganda and generally familiar with Propaganda Posters Paper
WWI and WWII.

How?
MLA format: one inch margins, double-spaced, easily legible font, and two to three pages in length (this means a full two pages is the mini-
mum). Also, include a works cited page with a citation for your poster and for Fleming’s article.

In order to successfully analyze your poster for our purposes, you will need to address how it is making meaning by suspending the general
semantics principles that make meaning. You will also need to use the appropriate propaganda terms that reflect the elements you focus on
in your paper, but the propaganda terms are not the focus, the general semantics principles are.
 Describe the poster so readers are able to understand what you are discussing without seeing the poster. Be concise.
 A Thesis Statement that includes the general semantics you will be applying to your chosen poster.
 What do viewers/readers have to have in common/view the same way/understand for this poster to achieve its purpose with its spe-
cific audience?
 How have groups, people, images, ideas been overly simplified in order for this poster to be effective?
 What relevant information has been left out in order for the poster to be effective?
The answers to these questions all relate to the ways the posters work to suspend the general semantics principles.