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Student activities

Task no. 1

Presenting an analysis

Organise into groups. Choose a different cover from The Sydney Mail, from the selection below (or click here to see more options), for each group.  

Complete the following tasks before presenting your group’s cover to the class: 

  • Identify the key features of a newspaper front cover: masthead, date, headlines, picture. 
  • Analyse the words chosen for the front cover — for example the word ‘Unity’ is used on one cover — what is the impact of that word?  
  • Analyse the use of visual symbols — for example flags, lions, horses, Union Jack — what is the impact of using these symbols? 
  • How is colour used to have an impact on the reader? 
  • Analyse the image: salience, framing, vectors, gaze, angle 

For your presentation, each group is to answer the following question:  

  • Imagine you are reading The Sydney Mail during World War I and this is your only source of information about what is happening at war. What would you think about the war? Why?  

In your response, you should refer to the tasks you completed in the first part of the task.  

Sydney Mail, p. 1,
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Sydney Mail, p. 258,
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Sydney Mail, p. 14,
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Sydney Mail pg 19, 1914
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Sydney mail [Album view] FL3688021, 1912-1938
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Sydney mail [Album view] FL3688038, 1912-1938
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