© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Chapter 11: Critical Reading Breaking Through: College Reading, 7/e Brenda Smith

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. What Critical Readers Do: Use direct statements. Make inferences. Use prior knowledge. Use language clues.

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Critical Readers Recognize the Author's Purpose/Intent To inform To persuade To entertain

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Critical Readers Recognize the Author’s Point of View Point of View: Author’s opinion or position on the subject. Bias: an opinion or a judgment has a negative connotation associated with prejudice

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Critical Readers Recognize the Author’s Tone/Attitude Angry Cheerful Depressed Distressed Formal Frustrated Humorous Objective Optimistic Pessimistic Serious Righteous

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Critical Readers Distinguish Fact from Opinion Fact: a statement that can be proven true or false Example: The temperature in the class is 78 . Opinion:a statement of feeling that cannot be proven right or wrong Example: This classroom is always hot and stuffy!

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Critical Readers Recognize Valid and Invalid Support for Arguments Fallacy: an error in reasoning that can give an illusion of support. Example: Everybody has these shoes; so should you. Propaganda:where fallacies are prevalent, especially in advertisements. Example: Tiger Woods in an ad for shoes.

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Fallacies in Argument Testimonials Bandwagon Transfer Straw person Misleading analogy Circular reasoning

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Testimonials Celebrities who are not experts state support. Example: Tiger Woods appears in television advertisements endorsing a particular brand of tennis shoes.

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Bandwagon You will be left out if you do not join the crowd. Example: All the voters in the district support Henson for Senator.

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Transfer A famous person is associated with an argument. Example: George Washington indicated in a quote that he would have agreed with us on this issue.

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Straw Person A simplistic exaggeration is set up to represent the argument. Example: The professor replied, “If I delay the exam, you’ll expect me to change the due dates of all papers and assignments.”

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Misleading Analogy Two things are compared as similar that actually are distinctly different. Example: Studying is like taking a shower; most of the material goes down the drain.

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Circular Reasoning The conclusion is supported by restating it. Example: Papers must be turned in on time because papers cannot be turned in late.

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Reading and Studying Letters of Opinion What event prompted the letter? What is the thesis or opinion of the author? Do the details prove the opinion? What is left out? Are the sources, facts and other support credible?

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Evaluating Internet Information What are the author’s credentials? Who paid for the Web page? What is the purpose of the Web page? How do the biases of the author affect the material? Is the reasoning sound?

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Summary Questions What do critical readers do? What is an author’s purpose or intent? What is the author’s point of view? What is bias? What is tone?

© 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Summary Questions What is a fact? What is an opinion? What is a fallacy? What is propaganda?

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