• 2021-04-14
    Passage3Decidewhichsentencewouldbestcompletethepassagelogicallyifinsertedinthecorrespondingblanks.CriticalReadingCriticalreadingappliestonon-fictionwritinginwhichtheauthorputsforthapositionorseekstomakeastatement.Criticalreadingisactivereading.Itinvolvesmorethanjustunderstandingwhatanauthorissaying.__1__Herearethethingsyoushoulddotobeacriticalreader.Considerthecontextofwhatiswritten.Youmayhereadingsomethingthatwaswrittenbyanauthorfromadifferentculturalcontextthanyours.Or,youmayhereadingsomethingwrittensometimeagoinadifferenttimecontextthanyours.__2_Questionassertionsmadebytheauthor.Don’tacceptwhatiswrittenatfacevalue.__3__Lookforfacts,examples,andstatisticsthatprovidesupport,alsolooktoseeiftheauthorhasintegratedtheworkofauthorities.Comparewhatiswrittenwithotherwrittenworkonthesubject.Looktoseethatwhatiswrittenisconsistentwithwhatothershavewrittenaboutthesubject.__4__Analyzeassumptionsmadebytheauthor.Assumptionsarewhatevertheauthormustbelieveistrueinordertomakeassertions.Inmanycases,theauthor’sassumptionsarenotdirectlystated.__5__onceyouidentifyanassumption,youmustdecidewhetherornottheassumptionisvalid.__6__.Indoingthis,becertainthatthesourcesarecredible.Forexample,Einsteinisacrediblesourceiftheauthoriswritingaboutlandmarkachievementsinphysics.Alsobecertainthatthesourcesarerelevant.Einsteinisnotarelevantsourcewhenthesubjectispoetry.Finally,iftheauthoriswritingaboutasubjectinitscurrentstate,besurethatthesourcesarecurrent.Forexample,studiesdonebyEinsteinintheearly20thcenturymaynotbeappropriateifthewriterisdiscussingthecurrentstateofknowledgeinphysics.Identifyanypossibleauthorbias.AwrittendiscussionofAmericanpoliticswilllikelylookconsiderablydifferentdependingonwhetherthewriterisaDemocratoraRepublican.Whatiswrittenmayverywellreflectabiasedposition.Youneedtotakethispossiblebiasintoaccountwhenreadingwhattheauthorhaswritten.Thatis,takewhatiswrittenwith"agrainofsalt."A.Thismeansyoumustreadcarefullyinordertoidentifyanyasassumptions.B.Beforeacceptingwhatiswritten,becertainthattheauthorprovidessufficientsupportforanyassertionsmade.C.Criticalreadinginvolvesquestioningandevaluatingwhattheauthorissaying,andformingyourownopinionsaboutwhattheauthorissaying.D.Ineithercase,youmustrecognizeandtakeintoaccountanydifferencesbetweenyourvaluesandattitudesandthoserepresentedbytheauthor.E.Ifthereareinconsistencies,carefullyevaluatethesupporttheauthorprovidesfortheinconsistencies.F.Evaluatethesourcestheauthoruses.