Ch.2 Critical Reading
1. Pay attention to the title, as it should state the purpose of the argument in specific terms.
2. Work hard to understand the kind of text you are reading.
Modes of Discourse:
Narration: telling a story to promote an argument
Persuasion: using all available means of convincing an audience
Satire: making fun of a flaw in society to promote social change
Exposition: informing the audience of a specific topic
3. As a rule, the more information you know about an author, the easier and more
productive your reading will be.
I. See if the writer is a credible, respectable, non-biased person of character.
II. Look up the background information/bio of the writer.
4. Imagine the context in which the author was writing and the target audience.
I. Note the rhetorical situation: speaker, audience, context (time periods; norms of society);
message; purpose; success of the argument.
Tips for Comprehension
1. Find the claim. It is usually in one of the first two or few paragraphs.
2. Pay attention to/Identify topic sentences! They are your friends! They give you the main idea
of each paragraph.
3. Highlight lightly—not the entire page or paragraph.
4. Write marginal notes! We have glorious used books, so use them!
5. Don’t overlook subject headings or transition words that show you shifts.
Ex. But, however, nevertheless, yet, moreover, for example, etc.
For example, use “but” to shift from conceding the opposing viewpoint to refuting it.
6. If the text is very difficult, try re-reading the introduction and conclusion or the first few and
last few paragraphs.
Read Aristotelian/Classical example of Argument: “Don’t Mourn Brown v. Board of Education”
See website handouts for text.
In college writing, we will often write rhetorical summaries (like rhetorical analysis in AP) and
referential summaries (claim and topic sentences).
Referential Summary: (what a piece of writing says)
Juan Williams praises and buried the Brown decision as he asks his readers to consider the
current state of public education in America. He admits that the Supreme Court made a brave
decision to fight racial discrimination, but he challenges the reader to focus on the present—and
on the need for education reform for children of all races.
Rhetorical Summary: (how a piece of writing says it)
Juan Williams uses Aristotle’s classical form and his appeals to prove that although Brown v.
Board of Education was a step toward racial equality, the key issue now is improving the entire
educational system—not just equal funding for all students. He utilizes his own reputation as a
journalist and the reputation of former Supreme Court Justice Marshall to validate his position.
*When you read an essay written by one of your peers, you should be able to find the claim and
topic sentences. You should be able to write a referential summary from these.
*Secondly, you should read the essay and look for flaws in logic or lack of support for the main
claim or topic sentences. Then you should be able to write a rhetorical summary of the strategies
your peer has used to form his/her argument.
Library Lesson 1:
1. Google “Aristotle.” How many hits do you get?
2. Google “Aristotle” and “Argument.”
3. Google “Aristotle’s argument.”
4. Google “Aristotle” and “rhetoric.”
5. Google “Aristotle’s rhetoric.”
If you google these same words in a database such as Expanded Academic ASAP, you will
receive these hits:
1. 1869 Subject search; 3370 keyword search
2. 79 results
3. 79 results
4. 15 results
5. 15 results
When you narrow your choices down to 15, skim the titles for texts relevant to your research
topic.
Library Lesson #2:
Let’s say you needed to read (at least a summary of) Brown v. Board of Education. How would
you find this.
Do not use Wikipedia as a source for your college classes! Wikipedia is only useful when you
want some general information about something that is not as important as academic work.
.com is a commercial site.
.gov is a government site.
.edu is usually a college or university
.org is usually a group or non-profit. Many of these are BIASED and may not be useful for your
essays.
I quickly found a .gov that gave me a summary of Brown v. Board. I searched “Brown v. Board
of Education+summary of case.” I simply chose the .gov site over Wikipedia or About.com.