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Chapter 2 Becoming a Critical Reader
This chapter will help you put into practice the strategies of mindful and reflective questioning introduced in Chapter 1 "Writing to Think and Writing to Learn". After surveying a Note 2.5 "Gallery of Web-
2.1 Browsing the Gallery of Web-
Learning Objectives
1.Show how the web can be mined for a wealth of academically useful content.
2.Introduce the concept of writing essays based on free, web-
3.Explore how such texts lend themselves to critical inquiry.
Given that the focus of this chapter is on reading texts, the first section introduces a Note 2.5 "Gallery of Web-
Regardless of how you use these archives of texts, they’re meant to inspire you and your instructor to go on a scavenger hunt for other authoritative collections on the web. If your instructor is using a course management systemA web-
This collection of web-
Because these noncommercial, nonpartisan websites are sponsored by governmental and educational entities and organizations, they are not likely to disappear, but there are no guarantees. If links go dead, try your favorite search engine to see if the documents you’re seeking have been lodged elsewhere.
The selection principle for this gallery is that the sites listed should be free of cost, free of commercial advertisements, free of partisanshipTaking an entirely one-
Finally, remember, just because these sites are free of charge and free of copyright doesn’t mean you don’t have to cite them appropriately if you end up using content from them in your writing. See Chapter 22 "Appendix B: A Guide to Research and Documentation" of this book for information on how to document electronic texts. You and your instructor also need to be aware of any copyright restrictions on duplicating and redistributing content on these sites. These restrictions will usually be found at the site itself, but when in doubt, consult your college library staff.
Gallery of Web-
Title: The Ad Council
URL: http://www.adcouncil.org
Brief description: Includes an archive of more than sixty-
Possible uses: Analyses of rhetorical technique in advertising; studies requiring historical context; comparisons of commercial and public-
***
Title: American Experience
URL: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience
Brief description: Full-
Possible uses: Studies requiring historical context, comparisons of documentary and popular filmmaking, and comparisons of education and entertainment.
***
Title: Arts and Letters Daily
URL: http://www.aldaily.com
Brief description: A clearinghouse of web-
Possible uses: Essays on contemporary topics; studies of the style and ideological cast of a particular commentator or columnist; generating ideas for possible topics for further research.
***
Title: The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
URL: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/major.asp
Brief description: Yale University Law School’s collection of documents, including among many other items “Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents” (from which the demonstration text in Section 2.3 "Reading a Text Carefully and Closely" is taken).
Possible uses: Cross-
***
Title: Big Questions Essay Series
URL: http://www.templeton.org/signature-
Brief description: A growing collection from the nonprofit Templeton Foundation, made up of essays by writers from different disciplines and backgrounds on several “big questions” (about a dozen essays per question).
Possible uses: Essay assignments on “great questions” requiring citation of conflicting sources; exercises on exploring alternative points of view; analyses of how biases, assumptions, and implications affect argument and rhetoric.
***
Title: C-
URL: http://www.c-
Brief description: An archive of more than 160,000 hours of digitized video programming on C-
Possible uses: Analyses of political advertising and comparisons with other kinds of commercials; analytical summaries of ideological positions along the American political spectrum from 1987 to the present; analyses of argumentative technique in political debates.
***
Title: From Revolution to Reconstruction…and What Happened Afterwards
URL: http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/index.htm
Brief description: A collection of documents from American history from the colonial period to the present, sponsored by the United States Information Agency (USIA).
Possible uses: Analyses of rhetorical and argumentative strategies of documents in American history and government.
***
Title: Gallup
URL: http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx
Brief description: More than seventy-
Possible uses: Analyses of American political and social trends from the 1930s to the present; comparisons with contemporaneous, parallel polls from other organizations; political science studies of polling methodology.
***
Title: Google Books
URL: http://books.google.com
Brief description: Includes not only in-
Possible uses: Access to free, out-
***
Title: The Internet Archive
URL: http://www.archive.org
Brief description: Created by The Internet Archive, a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 that is committed to preserving digitized materials, this collection includes not only websites in their original forms but also audio and video collections.
Possible uses: Historical analyses of websites since their inception; popular cultural analyses of film, television, radio, music, and advertising.
***
Title: The Living Room Candidate
URL: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org
Brief description: A collection of hundreds of television advertisements of presidential campaigns from 1952 to the present, sponsored and operated by the Museum of the Moving Image.
Possible uses: Analyses of the rhetoric of political television advertising across time (from 1952 to the present); comparisons between television and print advertising in politics; summaries of political party positions and ideologies.
***
Title: MIT Open Courseware
URL: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
Brief description: One of the best collections of university lectures on the web, along with Yale’s (see Open Yale Courses).
Possible uses: Completely free access to complete lecture-
***
Title: The National Archives Experience: Docs Teach
URL: http://docsteach.org
Brief description: Classroom activities, reading and writing assignments accompanied by document collections from the National Archives, each concentrating on a specific historical era.
Possible uses: Ready-
***
Title: The Online Books Page
URL: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books
Brief description: A collection of more than forty thousand free books, as well as an extensive e-
Possible uses: Access to free, out-
***
Title: Open Yale Courses
URL: http://oyc.yale.edu
Brief description: One of the best collections of university lectures on the web, along with MIT’s (see MIT Open Courseware).
Possible uses: Completely free access to complete lecture-
***
Title: Project Gutenberg
URL: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
Brief description: The most established collection of more than thirty-
Possible uses: Analyses of older, book-
***
Title: the Poetry Foundation
URL: http://www.poetryfoundation.org
Brief description: Thousands of poems and poetry-
Possible uses: Analyses of poems and poetic language; studies of specific themes as expressed through the humanities.
***
Title: The Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS): Collections Search Center
URL: http://collections.si.edu/search
Brief description: A vast collection of more than 4.6 million books, manuscripts, periodicals, and other materials from the various museums, archives, and libraries of the Smithsonian Institution.
Possible uses: Historical and rhetorical analyses of texts and resources in a variety of disciplines in the arts and sciences.
***
Title: This I Believe
URL: http://thisibelieve.org
Brief description: A regular feature of National Public Radio (NPR) since 2006, a series of personal essays read aloud on a variety of topics, archived together with 1950s-
Possible uses: Comparisons of social issues across two historical periods (e.g., 2006 to the present vs. the 1950s); comparisons between the personal essay and other genres of exposition and exploration; comparisons between oral and written texts.
***
Title: The US Census Bureau
URL: http://www.census.gov
Brief description: A trove of demographic statistics and surveys with a variety of themes from the most recent census and those conducted previously.
Possible uses: Summaries, reports, and causal analyses of demographic trends in American society; evaluations of the uses of statistics as evidence; social science studies of polling methodology.
Key Takeaways
•The web affords writing students and instructors countless opportunities to engage with texts in a variety of media and genres.
•The vast majority of web-
•Your status as a college student also puts you in a great position to make use of any online library databases to which your college subscribes.
•Even though web texts are easily accessible, they still need to be documented appropriately when used as part of a writing project.
Exercises
1.Individually or in a group, go on a scavenger hunt for another web-
2.Individually or in a group, get to know the Note 2.5 "Gallery of Web-
3.Find two texts from two different archives in the Note 2.5 "Gallery of Web-
2.2 Understanding How Critical Thinking Works
Learning Objectives
1.Learn how and why critical thinking works.
2.Understand the creative and constructive elements of critical thinking.
3.Add to the list of productive questions that can be asked about texts.
“Critical thinking” has been a common phrase in education for more than a quarter century, but it can be a slippery concept to define. Perhaps because “critical” is an adjective with certain negative connotations (e.g., “You don’t have to be so critical” or “Everybody’s a critic”), people sometimes think that critical thinking is a fault-
Critical thinkers consider multiple sides of an issue before choosing sides. They tend to ask questions instead of accepting everything they hear or read, and they know that answers often only open up more lines of inquiry. Critical thinkers read between the lines instead of reading only at face value, and they also develop a keen sense of how their own minds operate. Critical thinkers recognize that much of the information they read and hear is a combination of fact and opinion. To be successful in college, you will have to learn to differentiate between fact and opinion through logic, questioning, and verification.
Facts are pieces of information that you can verify as true. Opinions are personal views or beliefs that may have very little grounding in fact. Since opinions are often put forth as if they were facts, they can be challenging to recognize as opinions. That’s where critical thinkers tend to keep questioning. It is not enough to question only the obviously opinionated material in a text. Critical thinkers develop a habit of subjecting all textual statements to a whole constellation of questions about the speaker (or writer), the intended audienceThe individual or group being addressed or targeted by a piece of communication., the statement itself, and the relevance of it.
Considering the speaker:
•Who is making this the statement?
•What are the speaker’s affiliations?
•How does the speaker know the truth of this statement?
Considering the audience:
•Who is being addressed with this statement?
•What could connect the speaker of the statement with the intended audience?
•Would all people consider this statement to be true?
Considering the statement:
•Can this statement be proven?
•Will this statement also be true tomorrow or next year?
•If this statement is true, what else might be true?
•Are there other possible interpretations of the facts behind this statement?
Considering relevance:
•What difference does this statement make?
•Who cares (and who should care)?
•So what? What now? What’s next?
Writers naturally write with some basic assumptions. Without a starting point, a writer would have no way to begin writing. As a reader, you have to be able to identify the assumptions a writer makes and then judge whether or not those assumptions need to be challenged or questioned. As an active readerA person who uncovers the biases, preconceptions, assumptions and implications of a text., you must acknowledge that both writers and readers make assumptions as they negotiate the meaning of any text. A good process for uncovering assumptions is to try to think backward from the text. Get into the habit of asking yourself, “In order to make this given statement, what else must this writer also believe?”
Whether you recognize it or not, you also have biases and preconceptions on which you base many decisions. These biases and preconceptions form a screen or a lens through which you see your world. Biases and preconceptions are developed out of your life’s experiences and influences. As a critical thinker who considers all sides of an issue, you have to identify your personal positions and subject them to scrutiny.
Just as you must uncover assumptions—those of the writer as well as your own as a reader—to truly capture what you are reading, you must also examine the assumptions that form the foundation of your writing. And you must be prepared to do so throughout the writing process; such self-
Key Takeaways
•Far from being a negative or destructive activity, critical thinking is actually the foundation of creative, constructive thinking.
•Critical thinkers consider multiple sides of issues, before arriving at a judgment. They must carefully consider the source, the audience, and the relevance of any statement, making a special effort to distinguish fact from opinion in the statement itself.
•Biases and preconceptions are ideas based on life experiences and are common components of most everything you say, hear, or read.
Exercises
1.
Use the set of questions at the end of this section about the speaker, audience, statement, and relevance for a text of your choice from the Note 2.5 "Gallery of Web-
1.A public service announcement (PSA) campaign (Ad Council)
2.A “This I Believe” radio essay (This I Believe)
3.A television ad spot from a political campaign (The Living Room Candidate)
4.An entry in one of the debates on a “big question” (Big Questions Essay Series)
2.Use those same questions for a reading from one of your other classes (even a chapter from a textbook) or a reading in your composition class assigned by your instructor.
3.Go to the Smithsonian Institution (SIRIS) site in the Note 2.5 "Gallery of Web-
2.3 Reading a Text Carefully and Closely
Learning Objectives
1.Demonstrate how to do a close reading on a selection from the Note 2.5 "Gallery of Web-
2.Uncover the assumptions and implications of textual statements and understand how biases and preconceptions affect readers and writers.
3.Show how a close reading of any statement is based on uncovering its assumptions, biases, preconceptions, and implications.
In this section, we’ll use an excerpt from one of the most famous inaugural addresses in American history, from John F. Kennedy in 1961, to demonstrate how to do a close reading by separating fact and opinion; uncovering assumptionsA belief that underlies a writer’s proposition or statement., biasesA deeply held and ingrained belief that can cloud one’s perspective as a writer or reader., and preconceptionsAn idea already held by a writer or reader in advance of making or receiving a textual statement.; and pursuing the implicationsWhat readers can infer from statements a writer makes. of textual statements. (The address is available in its entirety through the Note 2.5 "Gallery of Web-
To prepare yourself to develop a thoughtful, critical reading of a text like this, you might begin with the Twenty Questions about Self, Text, and Context from Chapter 1 "Writing to Think and Writing to Learn", filling in each blank with “Kennedy’s Inaugural Address.”
Twenty Questions about Self, Text, and Context
Self-
•What do I think about Kennedy’s Inaugural Address?
•What do I feel about Kennedy’s Inaugural Address?
•What do I understand or what puzzles me in or about Kennedy’s Inaugural Address?
•What turns me off or amuses me in or about Kennedy’s Inaugural Address?
•What is predictable or surprises me in or about Kennedy’s Inaugural Address?
Text-
•How is Kennedy’s Inaugural Address a product of its culture and historical moment?
•What might be important to know about the creator of Kennedy’s Inaugural Address?
•How is Kennedy’s Inaugural Address affected by the genre and medium to which it belongs?
•What other texts in its genre and medium does Kennedy’s Inaugural Address resemble?
•How does Kennedy’s Inaugural Address distinguish itself from other texts in its genre and medium?
Self-
•How have I developed my aesthetic sensibility (my tastes, my likes, and my dislikes)?
•How do I typically respond to absolutes or ambiguities in life or in art? Do I respond favorably to gray areas or do I like things more clear-
•With what groups (ethnic, racial, religious, social, gendered, economic, nationalist, regional, etc.) do I identify?
•How have my social, political, and ethical opinions been formed?
•How do my attitudes toward the “great questions” (choice vs. necessity, nature vs. nurture, tradition vs. change, etc.) affect the way I look at the world?
Self-
•How does my personal, cultural, and social background affect my understanding of Kennedy’s Inaugural Address?
•What else might I need to learn about the culture, the historical moment, or the creator that produced Kennedy’s Inaugural Address in order to more fully understand it?
•What else about the genre or medium of Kennedy’s Inaugural Address might I need to learn in order to understand it better?
•How might Kennedy’s Inaugural Address look or sound different if it were produced in a different time or place?
•How might Kennedy’s Inaugural Address look or sound different if I were viewing it from a different perspective or identification?
Note that most of these questions can’t be answered until you’ve made a first pass through the text, while others almost certainly require some research to be answered fully. It’s almost a given that multiple readings will be required to fully understand a text, its context, and your orientation toward it.
In the first annotation, let’s consider Roger (Student A) and Rhonda (Student B), both of whom read the speech without any advance preparation and without examining their biases and preconceptions. Take a look at the comment boxes attached to the excerpt of the first five paragraphs of Kennedy’s Inaugural Address.
Roger does not have any problem with a lack of separation between church and state. Rhonda is unwilling to accept any reference to God in any government setting. Should Roger at least recognize the rationale for separating church and state? Should Rhonda recognize that while the founders of this country called for such a separation, they also made repeated reference to God in their writings?
Perhaps both Roger and Rhonda should consider that Kennedy’s lofty goal of eliminating poverty was perhaps an intentional rhetorical overreach, typical of inaugural addresses, meant to inspire the general process of poverty elimination and not to lay out specific policy.
Roger sees war as a necessary evil in the search for peace. Rhonda sees war as an unacceptable evil that should never be used as a means to an end. To hear what Kennedy is saying, Roger probably needs to consider options other than war and Rhonda probably needs to recognize that history has shown some positive results from “necessary” wars.
If Roger and Rhonda want to be critical thinkers or even if they want have a meaningful conversation about the text, they must think through and past their own personal biases and preconceptions. They must prepare themselves to be critical readers.
In the next set of annotations, let’s look at what you could do with the text by making several close readings of it, while also subjecting it to the preceding Twenty Questions. Perhaps your first annotation could simply be designed to separate statements of verifiable fact from those of subjective opinion.
A careful reader who looks for assumptions and implications of statements will find plenty of them. For example, the beginning of Kennedy’s Inaugural Address includes many assumptions. In your second annotation, you might go on to target some of these assumptions and offer background thoughts that help you identify and understand these assumptions.
Just as you must try to trace a statement back to its underlying assumptions, you must also try to understand what a statement implies. Even when different readers are looking at the same text, they can sometimes disagree about the implications of a statement. Their disagreements often form the basis for their divergent opinions as readers.
Take Kennedy’s assumption that the named people at the beginning of his speech deserve preferential attention. Here are some possible implications of the statement you could come up with that result from that single assumption:
•People who voted for Nixon are reminded that their candidate did not get elected, which makes these people angry all over again.
•People who voted for Nixon feel somewhat comforted knowing that Nixon and Eisenhower are being recognized at the inauguration, and they are pleased that Kennedy is acknowledging them.
•Supporters of Kennedy hear his recognition of Nixon and Eisenhower as an acceptance of them, and thus they look more favorably on members of the opposing party.
•Supporters of Johnson appreciate that Kennedy mentions him first and believe that he is giving the most respect of all to Johnson.
•Those concerned about the relative youth of this new president appreciate the deference he shows to tradition by making this rhetorical gesture of salutation.
•Those suspicious of the power of the executive branch might wonder why Kennedy addresses the former presidents and vice president by name but gives only the title of the Supreme Court chief justice and the Speaker of the House.
You could add more to this list of possible implications, but notice how much you’ve done with the first paragraph of the speech already, simply by slowing down your critical reading process.
Key Takeaways
•Virtually any statement carries a set of assumptions (what the writer or speaker assumes in order to make the statement) and implications (what the statement implies to readers or listeners).
•You need to be able to recognize biases and preconceptions in others and in yourself so you can form your ideas and present them responsibly.
Exercises
1.Apply some of the critical thinking methods outlined in this section to another presidential inaugural address. For a complete collection, check out the Avalon Project in the Note 2.5 "Gallery of Web-
2.Presidential inaugural addresses, having developed over more than two centuries, follow a certain set of unspoken rules of a highly traditional genre. After looking at three to five other examples of the genre besides Kennedy’s, list at least five things most inaugural addresses are expected to accomplish. Give examples and excerpts of those generic conventions from the three to five other texts you choose. Or try this exercise with other regularly scheduled, ceremonial addresses like the State of the Union.
3.Watch at least one hour apiece of prime-
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