How do I evaluate the usefulness,
significance, accuracy,
comprehensiveness and limitations
of different “representations of the
Vietnam conflict?
Part C: Evaluating Representations
How COMPREHENSIVE is this
representation/source?
• How complete is this representation of the
issue/s being explored?
• Support your view with examples and
references to the source
• Bring in your own knowledge where
appropriate
How OBJECTIVE is this representation?
• Is this representation balanced or biased? Why?
– Who produced it?
– Why was it produced?
– What was the purpose/aim of this representation?
• Support your view with examples and
references to the source
• Bring in your own knowledge where
appropriate
How ACCURATE is the
source/representation?
• Does this representation give a clear picture of
the issues being considered
• Support your view with examples and
references to the source
• Bring in your own knowledge where
appropriate
The Question:
• You may see the question and the representations two
weeks before the assessment is written, but you may not
take the representations out of the classroom. When you
do your answer, you MUST refer to all three
representations.
• Analyse the representations and
choose the one which you think is
the best representation of the
strength of support within the USA
for America’s involvement in the
Vietnam conflict.
How to analyse the representations
• Your teacher will provide you with THREE
representations (similar to the ones below).
• You must analyse all three representations
looking at how well they show the STRENGTH
of support for US involvement in the conflict.
• REMEMBER the focus is on the strength of
support for (or opposition to) the war WITHIN
the USA itself.
Introducing your analysis
• Explain that you will analyse all representations
and explain which is the most useful/best in
representing the level of support/opposition to
the Vietnam conflict.
Then
• Decide your order of usefulness/priority
• Look at each source in turn analysing how good it
is and what its weaknesses (if any) are. State
which one is best and why, which one is second
best and why and which is least valuable and
why.
Analysing Representation 3b
• Your analysis of this representation might note that
– It should be objective , as it is taken from a school textbook
– It explains why support changed to opposition – give
examples
– It tries to outline some of the reasons for support and
opposition – give your own examples
– It gives specific examples of opposition
– There are more examples of opposition than support for the
war – is this objective? Give reasons
– It mainly covers the period 1964-65, so not all of the period
is represented.
– What are the strengths and weaknesses of this
representation for the purpose of showing the level of
support in the USA for the war?
– Give a summary of your thoughts about this representation
Analysing Representation 3c
• Your analysis of this representation might note that
– It is objective , as it is taken from a school textbook
– It explains why opposition grew – give examples
– It focuses on the period from 1969 to the end of the war –
it does not cover the whole time period
– It seems biased against Nixon – give examples
– It focuses mainly on opposition to Nixon and the war –
explain why with examples
– What are the strengths and weaknesses of this
representation for the purpose of showing the level of
support in the USA for the war?
– Give a summary of your thoughts about this
representation
Analysing Representation 3d
• It is a cartoon so is not intended to be fully objective –
how objective is it? Give your view and reasons for this
• It has no specific date – implications
• What can we learn from this representation about the
level of support for the conflict
• It seems to give both sides: support and opposition –
explain how
• The caption is ironic, but it makes a serious point –
explain this
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of this
representation for the purpose of showing the level of
support in the USA for the war?
• Give a summary of your thoughts about this
representation
Coming to a conclusion
• In your final conclusion reiterate the reasons
why your chosen source is a better
representation of the level of support for US
involvement in the Vietnam conflict, Also
explain why the others are less good.
• In your actual assessment, the focus will be
the same, but the sources will be different.