Assignment/Activity Title Cartoon Analysis Year Sophomore

Skill Writing, Research Portfolio Category Social Awareness

This semester in CAP Journalism, we were assigned a project that required us to use our new knowledge
of political cartoons to analyze the work of a specific artist or a specific topic. We were asked to select six
political cartoons and analyze their components. Once we had all six cartoons analyzed, we wrote a reflection
based on the collection of cartoons. I decided to do my project about a specific topicthe Ukraine and Russia
conflict. I chose my topic because I had learned a lot about it through CAP Congress, and I thought it would be
interesting to see how viewpoints about it have changed since then.

I found it helpful that I had a lot of prior knowledge on the issue. This made it easier for me to interpret
and understand the cartoons. I had some trouble, at first, finding cartoons that worked well for my topic. While
there are many political cartoons about Russia, I had to make sure they dealt with Russia, Ukraine and if
possible, the US. Many of the cartoons I previewed seemed too simple for the project, I wanted to make sure
that my cartoons were intricate enough to successfully analyze. Once I found the final six, I found it fun to use
what we had learned about political cartoons to interpret the cartoons. I tried to use the cartoons to see what
people were concerned about relating to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. I had thought, before the project, that the
conflict was dying down, and that people werent really as focused on it. I realized that while some of the
commotion has decreased, there is still a lot of attention on the issue. Most of the cartoons pointed out not only
Russias aggressiveness, but also Ukraines lenience to do anything. Some of the cartoons also pointed out
Obamas actions, and his indecisiveness on how to deal with the issue.

Although I knew about the conflict prior to the project, this project increased my knowledge, and
allowed me to learn the general social viewpoint on the issue. This project connects to the social awareness
category as it increased my awareness of societys ideas on the issue. Through the cartoons, I learned that
Obama is primarily viewed as weak for not following through with his threats to Putin. Russia is mainly seen
as aggressive, and Ukraine is seen as passive to Russias actions. Not only did I learn about the topic I focused
on, but I also learned more about political cartoons. I was able to understand the motives of the artists, which
helped me understand some of the general styles of political cartoons, and the different methods illustrators use
to get their specific point across.

Overall, this project helped increase my social awareness. I was able to learn more about the Ukraine-
Russia conflict, as well as the different opinions of the public on the issue. This helped me to expand my
knowledge, and learn more about political cartoons, and the messages they are trying to get across.




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Assignment/Activity Title YearFreshman, Sophomore
SkillWriting, Media, Research. PortfolioCritical Reasoning, Ethics.

Metacognitive ReflectionThe following questions ARE NOT A SCRIPT!! Use the ideas
within the questions to reflect on the assignment and its significance to you.

Your reflection MUST use Times New Roman font, size 11, single spacing
How does this assignment reflect your growth in the category in which you are placing it?
How have you changed as a result of this assignment?
Why is it important to include this piece in your portfolio?
How and where does this fit in with your prior knowledge?
How do you think that others will react to this product?
What process did you use to complete the product?
What did you learn by doing this assignment?
How does the portfolio product illustrate the connection(s) you've made between yourself and
the course material?
In what ways would you do things differently if you could do it over again?
What did you discover about yourself?
How does it relate to your future?
How does it illustrate your strengths and/or weaknesses?
What obstacles and challenges did you have to deal with, and how did this struggle change you?
How does the portfolio product show that your perspective on the world has deepened?
How does it relate to your understanding of the world around you?
Which of your accomplishments makes you feel most proud?








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