Writing Prompts

Directions: Type your responses to the items below.

1		Evaluate your knowledge of politics and current political issues: explain why you would consider yourself well-informed, somewhat informed, or not informed at all. From which sources, if any, do you get most of your information about politics and current events?
2		In your opinion, what are the reasons most young adults know and care so little about politics?
3		List at least three possible long-term consequences that you think could result from Americans' lack of interest and limited knowledge of politics. What might be the long-term consequences of young adults' interest in politics.

To the Web

Consult one or more of the following websites that pertain to the topic of the reading selection. Then answer the questions based on information obtained from the websites.

http://www.pipa.org

This is the homepage for the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), an organization that "carries out research on public attitudes on international issues by conducting nationwide focus groups and comprehensive reviews of polling conducted by other organizations." At the homepage go to "Misperceptions, The Media and the Iraq War" [October 2, 2003] and click on "Press Release." If you do not see the title listed, type in name of the article or the date in the "Search" box. Read the article and then answer the questions below. This study looked at the sources of information from which those polled obtained their information about the war in Iraq and the frequency of their misperceptions about the war.

4		List the seven media sources that were investigated. People who obtained their information from which source were most likely to have misperceptions? From which media source were those who had the fewest misperceptions were likely to obtain their information?
5		List at least three misperceptions related to the war on Iraq that are held by many Americans who get their news from certain media sources.
6		Who would be more likely to have misperceptions about the war in Iraq: a viewer of CBS or a viewer of CNN?
7		There was one media source whose users had fewer misperceptions as they paid more attention. What was that source?