Your job in the WebQuest is to expand your media literacy. You will learn about advertising techniques and investigate their use. You'll take a look at stereotyping as one type of bias in advertising. Once you've conducted some research to increase your knowledge of advertising and bias, select a print advertisement to evaluate. Using a worksheet, you'll describe the elements of the print ad and describe biases you observe. The purpose of this evaluation is to help you become more informed about advertising techniques and bias in order to help you make sound judgements on whether or not you advertise on your website.

Webquest is Located HERE

Look at these web sites to find the information that will help you answer questions about bias in product advertising and to gather information to use for your advertisement evaluation.

• http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/index.cfm
  Read about media stereotyping at the Media Awareness Network's Web site to understand why this type of bias poses possible negative outcomes for different groups of people.

• http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/
  handouts/advertising_marketing/common_ad_strats.cfm
  Visit the Media Awareness Network to read about different types of strategies that advertisers use to persuade buyers to look at the products being displayed.

• http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks/
  betheaddetective_1.html
  Visit the Don't Buy It pages at PBSKids.com to investigate where and why companies place advertisements.

• http://school.newsweek.com/extras/ad.php
  This page on Newsweek Magazine's Web site promotes media literacy by providing tips for evaluating how appropriate an advertisement is.

• http://www.naa.org/preview.cfm?AID=1229
  The Newspaper Association of America is an organization that represents the newspaper industry. Visit this page to investigate a set of ideas about what makes a good advertisement.

• http://www.oconee.k12.sc.us/teachers/lharrison/
  ppt/adtech_files/frame.htm
  View the slides in this presentation, created by a teacher in South Carolina, to learn more about commonly-used advertising techniques.

• http://www.oconee.k12.sc.us/teachers/lharrison/
  webquest/adtype.htm
  Take the Advertising Techniques quiz to reflect on your understanding of strategies used to create advertising.

• http://www.cheney268.com/UbDUnits/chs/JustFacts.htm
  Review this page to understand the differences between fact, opinion, and bias.

• http://www.labi-berlin.nubb.dfn.de/lern_mat_1/proj_med/literatur/
  artikel/thoman.htm
  Read this page to explore the idea of media literacy.

• http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rainy/105questionad.html
  This page, written by a professor at Iowa State University, describes questions that a person should ask in the process of evaluating an advertisement.