FIRST, a reminder that you may still e-mail a rough draft of out of class essay #2 sometime during this week. Please make every attempt to send it no later than Friday if possible. Also, it is best if you send it in an attachment as a Word document. Thanks.
Below you will find the following:
1. A copy of the handout from last Friday's lecture. Since we did not complete the discussion, remember to keep it with your English 20 papers and carry it with you to class until I finish the lecture.
2. Packet # 6 and Packet #7 assignments
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English 20-- College Composition II
C. Fraga
How to Critically Read an
Essay
Educated adults exist in a delusional state, thinking we can
read.
In a most basic sense, we can.
However, odds are, some of us cannot read, at least not as
well as we would like.
Too many college students are capable of only some types of
reading and that becomes painfully clear when they read a difficult text and
must respond critically about it.
Intelligence and a keen memory are excellent traits and most
students have learned to read in a certain way that is only useful for
extracting information. Thus, students are often fairly well skilled in
providing summary.
However, the act of reading to extract information and to
read critically are vastly different!
The current educational system in American primary schools
(and many colleges) heavily emphasizes the first type of reading and
de-emphasizes the latter.
In many ways, THIS MAKES SENSE.
Reading to extract information allows a student to absorb
the raw materials of factual information as quickly as possible. It is a type
of reading we all must engage in frequently. However, each type of reading calls for different mental habits. If we do not learn to
adjust from one type of reading to another when necessary, we cripple our
intellectual abilities to read critically.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN READING TO EXTRACT INFORMATION AND READING
CRITICALLY.
- They have different goals. When students read to extract information, usually they seek facts and presume the source is accurate. No argument is required. On the other hand, when students read critically, they try to determine the quality of the argument. The reader must be open-minded and skeptical all at once, constantly adjusting the degree of personal belief in relation to the quality of the essay’s argument.
- They require different types of discipline. If students read to learn raw data, the most efficient way to learn is repetition. If students read critically, the most effective technique may be to break the essay up into logical subdivisions and analyze each section’s argument, to restate the argument in other words, and then to expand upon or question the findings.
- They require different mental activity. If a student reads to gain information, a certain degree of absorption, memorization and passivity is necessary. If a student is engaged in reading critically, that student must be active!!! He or she must be prepared to pre-read the essay, then read it closely for content, and re-read it if it isn’t clear how the author is reaching the conclusion in the argument.
- They create different results. Passive reading to absorb information can create a student who (if not precisely well read) has read a great many books. It creates what many call “book-smarts.” However, critical reading involves original, innovative thinking.
- They differ in the degree of understanding they require. Reading for information is more basic, and reading critically is the more advanced of the two because only critical reading equates with full understanding.
ULTIMATELY, WHAT WE WANT IS
THE CONSCIOUS CONTROL OF OUR READING SKILLS, SO WE CAN MOVE BACK AND FORTH
AMIDST THE VARIOUS TYPES OF READING.
FIVE GENERAL STAGES OF
READING
1. Pre-Reading—examining the
text and preparing to read it effectively (5 minutes)
2. Interpretive
Reading—understanding what the author argues, what the author concludes, and
exactly how he or she reached that conclusion.
3. Critical Reading—questioning,
examining and expanding upon what the author says with your own arguments. Skeptical reading does not mean
doubting everything you read.
4. Synoptic Reading—putting the
author’s argument in a larger context by considering a synopsis of that reading
or argument in conjunction with synopses of other readings or arguments.
5. Post-Reading—ensuring that
you won’t forget your new insights.
"Why Does Health Care Cost so Much?:
http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/healthcare/art2809.html?getPage=1
(Please note: this article is three pages in length.)
"Why are American Healthcare Costs so High?"
(this is an approximately 8 minute video)
http://www.upworthy.com/his-first-4-sentences-are-interesting-the-5th-blew-my-mind-and-made-me-a-little-sick-2
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PACKET #7
"The Conscience of Television:--TED TALKS
http://www.ted.com/talks/lauren_zalaznick.html
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