Introduction

How do we find the truth? How do we shape the truth to fit our own needs and desires? What is truth after all?

This WebQuest is designed to stimulate your thinking about these and other important questions.
You will be asked to examine a controversial issue, with the goal of separating fact from fiction,
truth from lies, unbiased information from propaganda. In the process, you will be honing
information literacy skills that will serve you for the rest of your life.

Setting The Scene

You have been hired by an independent "think tank" to conduct research on a controversial issue.
Your employers are paying you $40,000 for this six-week project, and you will be working as a
member of a team of 4-5 people.

In Phase One of the project, you will attend strategic planning meetings with the other members
of your team. These meetings will allow your team to explore a number of controversial issues,
and reach consensus on the one issue that will become the focus of your team's research project.

Each team member will then complete the think tank's Personal Opinion Survey(pdf), which asks you
to examine your own beliefs about the topic of your research. As a team, you will use these surveys
to assign an "Expert Role" to each team member.

Finally, you will learn more about the role of think tanks (like the one that now employs you),
in the public dialogue about the important issues of our time.

Phase Two requires that you conduct independent research on the topic, becoming a mini-expert
on the ways in which one particular entity (interest group, organization, company, etc.) portrays
its public stance on the issue at hand. During the course of your research, you will be expected to
apply your knowledge of rhetorical devices(pdf) by identifying their use by the entity you are studying.

In Phase Three, team members will assemble to compare the results of their research. Together,
team members will analyze research findings, evaluating the ways in which each entity uses
rhetorical devices to achieve a particular result. The team will then collaborate to create a
report that makes sense of these findings. This report will form the basis of a PowerPoint(pdf)
presentation given by your team at the prestigious Think Tank Research Conference.

The WebQuest ends with your personal reflection(pdf) on the process, and evaluation(pdf) of your work.

On you go!

Tasks - Please click on the links below to continue your WebQuest

 

PHASE ONE: Strategic Planning

 

PHASE TWO: Conducting Research

 

PHASE THREE: Reporting Findings

 

 

Conclusion

The skills that you have applied throughout the course of this research project
are skills that you will continue to develop for a lifetime. If you are truly a
seeker of truth, you must also be a seeker of lies, deceit, bias, and the many
forms of propaganda that are used to distort the truth.

You can be proud of the work you have done. Whether or not you were able to
find TRUTH at the end of your quest, give yourself credit for embarking on
the quest in the first place. You are a better seeker of truth at the end of this
project than you were at the beginning. And that's the truth!