Chapter 13: CRCB: Reading beyond the words

Levels of Thinking
Asking and answering questions about your reading material, at all levels of thinking, is critical reading.

1. Knowledge
The knowledge level of thinking is the most literal one-the one you are operating on when you recall facts or recognize the correct answer from a list in a multiple-choice question.
Example : define, describe, label, list, match, reproduce, select, and state

2. Comprehension
At the comprehension level of thinking you are able to paraphrase, draw conclusions from, and make predictions about you reading material
Example : convert, defend, explain, infer, summarize, rewrite, distinguish and predict.

3. Application
The application level of thinking requires you to solve problems by selecting and utilizing the appropriate concepts, principles, or theories.
Example : change, compute, demonstrate, discover, manipulate, modify, prepare, show, solve, apply and use.

4.Analysis
At the analysis level of thinking, you take a difficult or complex concept.
Example : break down, differentiate, infer, outline, classify and trace the growth of.

5. Synthesis
The synthesis level of thinking requires you to arrive at an understanding of the "bigger picture" by combining the individual elements that contribute to it.
Example : categorize, write, relate, reconstruct, design, create, compose and tell.

6. Evaluation
The evaluation level of thinking involves making a value judgment based on specific criteria rather than on one's own opinions.
Example: justify, support, appraise, judge and conclude.

Chapter 12 : CRCB : Identifying and Evaluating Arguments

What is an Argument?Arguments are also the logical structures that people use when they write and speak to present ideas and to persuade others to support those ideas.

Parts of an Argument
An Argument consists of two or more statements that include one conclusion and at least one reason that supports it.
A conclusion is the judgment. decision, or opinion you reach after thinking about or investigating an issue.
A reason is statement that explains, justifies, or otherwise supports a conclusion.

Identifying Arguments
Argument Word Clues
1.Reason Word Clues
Example :
may be inferred from/ may be deduced from
in view of the fact
as shown by
in the first place/ in the second place
because
first of all
for the reason that
as indicated by
first, second
for example
finally
since

2.Conclusion word clues
Example :
therefore
hence
shows that
it follows that
consequently
as a result
it should be
then
demonstrates that
points to
clear that
leads me to
implies that
proves that
believe that
in short
in my opinion
thereby showing
the point I'm making is
so
the truth is
thus

Types of Arguments
1. Deductive Arguments
Deductive Arguments begins with a general statement or a general law that is then supported by specific details, reasons, or examples that prove or explain it, which are called premises.
Deductive Arguments are judged as either being true or false.

2. Inductive Arguments
Inductive Arguments begins with a series of specific observations and concludes with a generalization that logically follows from it.
Inductive Arguments is judged as being strong or weak.

Evaluating Argument
Knowing how to evaluate arguments is useful because it helps you to follow an author's line of reasoning and therefore understand his or her ideas more clearly.

Determining Dependability in Arguments
Key strategies :
1. Check Date of Publication
2. Check Source of Publication
3. Check Authorship

Determining Fact from Opinion
Facts are statements that can be proved to be true. They can be verified through research, observation, experimentation, or direct experience.
A fact does not reflect personal feelings or attitudes.

Opinions are the expression of personal perspectives or points of view regarding issues or topics, and cannot be proved or disproved.
Sometimes use absolute words such as worst, best, least, or other emotive words that express strong feelings such as exciting, annoying, delightful, horrible, beautiful, or ugly.
Also use word should or ought.

Detecting Fallacies
Fallacies are errors in reasoning.
1. Either/or Thinking : it allows for only two answers to a problem when in fact there may be more.
2. Hasty Generalization/ Overgeneralization : using too few or weak reasons to support a broad, sweeping conclusion
3. Red Herring (irrelevant material): want to distract their readers' attention away from important information that does not support their conclusion.
4. False Cause : fails to explain how the conclusion and reasons are connected to each other, or provides unclear or provide faulty connections between them.
5. Slippery Slope : authors assume that one event will precipitously lead to another event.
6. Ad Hominem : avoid the true issue of an argument by attacking the person they disagree with.
7. Circular Reasoning : make two statement that essentially say the same thing

Chapter 12 : TFY : Deductive Reasoning : How do I Reason from Premises

What is Deductive Reasoning?
Deduction is taught through the study of formal logic, or the science of good reason

The Basic Vocabulary of Logic
1. Argument : appear in both deductive and inductive forms.

2. Reasoning : Both arguments use reasoning to arrive at a conclusion.
Deductive arguments start with one or more premise, then reason to consider what conclusions must necessarily follow from them.

3. Syllogism : Logic arranges deductive arguments in standardized forms that make the structure of the arguments clearly visible for study and review.

4. Premises and Conclusion : A syllogism usually contains two premises and conclusion. The first statement is called the major premise and the second is called the minor premise.

5. Validity : The standards used for testing reliability are based on some specific rules that determine an argument's validity and soundness.

6. Soundness : Standards for judging arguments refer not only to correct reasoning but also to the truth of the premise.

Standardized Forms in Syllogisms
1. All___are___.
2. All___are not ___.
3. No__ are__.
4. Some___are____.
5. Some___are not___.
6. If___, then___.

Chapter 11 : CRCB : Reading, Understanding and Creating Visual Aids

Understanding and Interpreting Visual Aids

The statement is more powerful than you probably realize. Visual aids are a very important part of textbook reading. They are tools designed to help you learn and remember new concepts and key information.

Purpose of Visual Aids: shows you how ideas connect or relate to each other.

Visual Aids and Main Idea: a way to illustrate and explain their main idea

Previewing Visual Information

1. Read the title and explanation

2. Check the source of the material to see

3. Look for clues to the purpose of a visual in the headings and labels used.

4. Circle key word in the title and associated text to help you remember

5. Get into the habit of asking yourself the following three questions and answering

Types of Visual Aids

Charts and Tables condense large amounts of material into a format that makes it easy to see how different items of information relate to each other.

Diagrams : Connections between related pieces of information using simple to complex drawing

Illustrations is a drawing that allows an author to show you the sections or parts of a machine, plant, or building, more clearly than a photograph could.

Graphs are used to make amounts of information easily accessible so that you can see at a glance the similarities or differences between the items being discussed or recognize trends over time.

Bar Graphs : illustrate information by using parallel rectangular bars of varying length to contrast information.

Line Graphs are grids with vertical and horizontal axes.

Pie Graphs represents data by using a circle to show the whole, and slices or wedges to show how that whole is divided up.

Pictographs represent data through the use of picture

Photographs help you make associations with information in the text.

Time Lines are visual aids that use labeled marks on a straight line to show the time sequence or chronology of a series of events.

Outlines provide an overview or summary of information. Tables of contents are outlines. They provide the chapter titles, headings, and subheadings as guide to the framework of the text.

Creating Your Own Visual Aids is an effective study tool. The process increases your understanding of the information you are reading and also serves as an intensive study session.

Selecting the type of Visual to Use

Charts and Tables are popular visual aids because they are effective and easy to use. The format lets you see, relatively easily, how different items compare with each other.

Outlines

You must categorize the information in a reading assignment, nothing the topic, the main ideas, and the supporting details.

Time Lines : It can also be helpful to add any other relevant information about historical events.

Mind maps are visual aids that use shapes and lines to show the relative importance of idea.

Free-Form Drawings is a useful way to illustrate and organize what you read so you can remember it.

Chapter 11 : TFY : Inductive Reasoning: How Do I Reason from Premises

Induction mean to lead in

Induction is to reason to a conclusion about all members of a class on the basis of an examination of a few members of a class.
Induction reasons from the particular to the general.

Reasoning from Sensory Observation

Major scientific discoveries have resulted from accidents that just happened to be given close attention by someone who was both a curious skilled observer and an inductive thinker.

Sensory observation is the awareness of self and of the world through the basic senses of sight, touch, taste, smell ,and hearing. Ancillary senses include a sense of time, weight, energy, pressure, motion, balance, direction, sexuality, feelings, emotions, pain, strength, weakness, solidity, lightness, darkness, color, fluidity, heat, cold, pitch, tonality, and vibration.

Reasoning from Enumeration

Induction can involve a simple counting of parts in order to draw conclusions about wholes.

Enumerate means (1) to count off or name one by one or (2) to determine a number from counting.

Analogical Reasoning

Inductive reasoning also draws conclusions from making comparisons in the form of analogies.

Analogy means (1) to find a correspondence of similarity between things that seem different or (2) an inference that if two thinks are alike in some respects, they will be alike in other respects.

Discovering Patterns

Inductive reasoning looks for patterns, notes their characteristics and draws conclusions about their nature and significance.

Pattern is a design or form that is perceived. A pattern can involve shapes, images, ideas, words, signs, entities, sound, or smells that suggest some recognizable configuration or rhythm.

Reasoning From and About Cause

We use inductive reasoning to determine the probable causes of events.

Cause meaning reason or purpose.

Cause means that which produces an effect, or result, or a consequence, something that is responsible for an event or a source of influence.

Reasoning with Hypotheses

Science formulates and tests hypotheses in order to explain and predict phenomena.

Hypothesis meaning a supposition. A hypothesis is the name given to a trial idea, tentative explanation, or working assumption that can be used to further investigation.

The conclusion of an inductive study generalizes to produce a universal claim based on empirical findings. This conclusion may or may not confirm the hypotheses tested. Yet such a conclusion remains probable rather than totally certain because further evidence could challenge its findings.

Reasoning Through Statistics and Probability

Induction uses the sciences of statistics and probability to gather, organize and interpret data and make predictions with these data.

Statistic: The mathematics of the collection, organization, and interpretation of numerical data.

Probability: In statistics, the ratio of the number of actual occurrences of a specific event to the total number of possible occurrences.

Fallacies of Inductive Reasoning

1. Hasty generalization is the fallacy of overgeneralizing, of drawing a conclusion about the whole from an insufficient sampling of its parts.

2. Either-Or Fallacy, or False Dilemma is a fallacious argument that over simplifies a situation, maintaining that there are only two choices when actually other alternatives exist.

3. Questionable Statistic is the fallacy of offering statistic that are unknowable, faulty, or misleading.

4. Contradictions and Inconsistencies is the fallacy of making claims or offering evidence that contradicts the conclusion.

5. Loaded Question is the fallacy of using a biased question in order to obtain a predetermined result.

6. False Analogy is the fallacy of basing an argument on a comparison of two things that may have some similarities, but also significant differences that are ignored for the sake of the argument.

7. False Cause is the fallacy of claiming a causal connection between events without reasonable and sufficient evidence to support the claim.

8. Slippery Slope is the fallacy of arguing, without sufficient proof, that if one event is allowed to occur, a disastrous and uncontrollable chain reaction will result. The slippery slope appeals to fear and urges agreement on the basis of a situation that contains too many variables and unknowns.

Chapter 10 : CRCB : Textbook Marking

What Is Textbook Marking?

Textbook marking is a systematic way of marking, highlighting, and labeling ideas to show how they are related to each other and which are most important.

Marking Important Information3 elements to mark: main ideas, major supporting details, and new vocabulary.

Steps in the Process of Textbook MarkingStep 1 : Previewidentify unfamiliar vocabulary words and look them up in dictionary. Then develop questions using the title and sub-headings and try to predict what the reading will be about.

Step 2 : Study-ReadIt is important to think about each section as you read so you can check your comprehension and mentally piece the whole chapter together. Make sure you understand each section before continuing to read.

Step 3 : Mark or Highlight TextYou should also circle the word clues that alerted you to the main idea and major supporting details and mark any new vocabulary words

Step 4 : Write Margin CuesMargin Cue is a symbol or notation you write in the margin of your text beside important information to indicate what you marked and why.
Symbol Textbook Information
def Vocabulary/Definitions
MI Main idea
ID Important detail
EX Examples
? Don't understand
* Important information
1,2,3 Steps, sequence, ordering
Con Conclusion
Opin Author's opinion

Margin cues can also be in the form of short margin notes, called annotations.
Annotation are shorthand messages - words, phrases, abbreviations- that alert you to particular areas of your textbook and briefly explain their importance.

Deciding What Else to MarkLectureYou can judge the importance of specific information by their use of word clues such as most important, in conclusion, and in summary. Most textbook information that is restated in a lecture.

LabLab assignments are usually practical applications of the lessons being taught in your lectures and textbook.

Unclear InformationOnce you have obtained clarification, write an explanation of the concept in your journal, class notebook, or at the bottom of the relevant textbook page.

Developing a Personal System of Textbook MarkingUsing Symbols
Using Highlighters

Knowing How much to MarkIt is the key to the strategy's effectiveness. All main ideas, major supporting details, vocabulary words, and word clues should be marked.

Chapter 10 : TFY : Fallacies : What's Faulty Argument?

Fallacies: What’s Faulty Argument?

Fallacy means deceit or trick.

Fallacy is a statement or argument that presents itself as soundly reasoned when it is not

Manipulation Through Language

Fallacies that use deceptive language include the fallacies of word ambiguity, misleading euphemisms, and prejudicial language

1. Word ambiguity : occurs in an argument when a key word with several meanings is left undefined; as a result, the reader must assume what meaning was intended.

2. Misleading euphemisms : meaning "good voice," or to use words of good omen. Euphemisms are inoffensive words used to maintain a level of social formality.

3. Prejudicial Language : an attempt to persuade through the choice of slanted or loaded words that convey a bias. The implication in such a tactic is that words that

Manipulation Through Emotions

4. Appeal to fear

5. Appeal to pity

6. Appeal to false authority

7. Appeal to bandwagon

8. Appeal to prejudice

a. Personal attack

b. Poisoning the well

Manipulation Through Distraction

9. Red herring

10. Pointing to another wrong

11. Straw man

12. Circular reasoning

Chapter 9 : CRCB : Using Preview, Study-Read, and Review (PSR) Strategies

Questioning Yourself: Preview, Study-Read, Review (PSR)

PSR is purposeful, direct questioning before, during, and after reading.

Steps for Preview a Reading

1. Skim the Reading : Skimming means reading quickly skipping details and focusing on the title of the chapter, the introduction, each subheading and the summary.

2.Develop Question : Reread the title and subheadings and develop question about them using these six words: who, what, when, why, where and how.

3.Predict Content: Based on the information you have gathered and the questions you have developed.

Steps for Study-Reading

1. Read and Ask Question

2. Understand Sections

3. Monitor your reading

4. Determine Main Ideas

Steps for Review a Reading

1. Assess Your Understanding of Entire Reading Assignment

A. Summarize

B. What about Topic? (attach new information to old)

C. What parts do you still not understand? (comprehension check)

2. Clarify Confusing Parts

Chapter 9 : TFY : Argument: What's Good Argument?

Critical Reading of Arguments

What an argument first needs is an objective reading or hearing. Afterwards criticism can begin with five questions.

What Viewpoint Is the Source of This Argument?

Arguments represent the bias, internet and objectives of a viewpoint.

What Is the Issue of Controversy?

To assess an argument, we first must determine the issue.

Argument : offering reasons to support a conclusion with the intent to persuade.

Issue: a problem of public concern that is subject to dispute or debate.

Debate question: a question that states an issue, providing a focus for pro and con positions on that issue. Debate questions are expressed in neutral terms, often beginning with such words as "should"

Is it an Argument or a Report?

Arguments and reports are each structured differently and have different objectives. We cannot analyze one according to the standards of the other.

How is the Argument Structured in Terms of Reason and Conclusions?

A quick method for analyzing an argument is to disassemble its structure, first identifying its conclusion and then separating that statement from the reasons offered to support it.

Conclusion: A clear statement of what an argument intends to prove. This statement serves as the argument's thesis, final opinion, or judgment. It clearly shows the author's position on an issue.

Reason: Statements offered to explain, justify, or support the conclusion of an argument. Reason can take the form of statements of facts, statistics, evidence, or reasoning. Any number of reasons can be offered to support one conclusion.

Identifying the Conclusion of an Argument

conclusion is generally understood as a final summary statement in an argument, the conclusion functions more like the thesis of a composition, which something appears first.

Identifying Reason

Reasons are statements of opinion, propositions, premises, or statements of evidence offered to explain, justify, or support conclusion.

More on Distinguishing Reasons from Conclusions

Implied Conclusions

Conclusions in a series

Conclusion at the Beginning

Conclusion in the Middle

Is Any Information False, Contradictory, or Irreconcilable?

Although we may not be able to prove falsehoods, we can pay attention to such warning signs as discrepancies, contradictions, incongruities and inconsistencies.

Discrepancy: Something diverges from what we expect; an inconsistency, as between facts and claims.

Incongruity: Something that does not meet our expectations about what is correct, appropriate, logical, or standard. The word means not in agreement.

Consistency: Something that is consistent has constancy and therefore dependability. The term means to stand. Something that is inconsistent lacks constancy or logical coherence and may contain contradictions.

Contradiction: To make claims that cannot both be true or both be false at the same time, to do or say something, then deny it was done or said; to say one thing but do the opposite.

Irreconcilable: Conflicting ideas, beliefs, or information that cannot be fully explained or resolved.

Conclusion indicator words include therefore, so, in fact, the truth of the matter is, in short, it follows that, indicates that, suggests that, proves that, we may deduce that, points to the conclusion that, in my opinion, and the most obvious explanation is.

Reason indicator words include because, first...second, since, for, for one thing, in view of the fact that, for the reason that, is supported by, for example, also.

Chapter 8 CRCB : Textbook Methods of Organization

Why Authors Use Methods of Organization

Authors use different methods of organization in order to present information in a logical format that suits the subject matter and goals of their book.

How to Use Methods of Organization

Once you recognize the patterns being used in a textbook chapter, you can use them as a blueprint for predicting the types of exam questions you might be asked

Organizational Word Clues: OWCs

OWCs are used to indicate the overall organization of a reading passage, journal article, or textbook chapter.

Textbook Methods of Organization

Listing

Authors use the listing method of organization to enumerate events, ideas, or other concepts.

They organize their lists in a variety of ways: alphabetically, numerically, by order of importance, or by category.

Cause/Effect

When authors use the cause/effect method of organization, they show why something happened, the effects of something that occurred, or the outcome of an event.

Comparison/Contrast

they examine the similarities or differences between two or more ideas, people, objects, events, or other things.

Definition/Example

Authors use the Definition/Example method of organization to clarify the meaning of key concepts. To aid in this clarification, they use analogies, provide direct definitions with examples, or offer description.

Sequence

they show the steps in a process or the chronological order of certain events. This organizational method is used not just to list ideas or events, but to highlight the fact that the order in which they occurred is important.

Identifying Methods of Organization

As you read, look for word clues that will indicate how the author is trying to convey his or her message. If you get stuck, go back to the lists of OWCs provided for each organizational method. While they do not include all the organizational word clues an author could possibly use, they do provide examples of the types of words authors use for each method, and can give you clues to the pattern an author is using.

Organizational Methods in Longer Readings

Loot at the entire reading, whether it be 10 pages or a whole chapter.

- To conclusion about the overall method of organization

- Determining an author's overall method that will help you confirm what the main idea

Chapter 8 TFY : Viewpoints : What's the Filter

The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate the benefits of such attitudes and skills.

Critical thinking means learning to recognize viewpoints and how they shape the content of any message.

Viewpoints - like assumptions, opinions, and evaluations - can be either conscious or unconscious

We communicate best when we are aware of our own viewpoint and can understand and respect the viewpoints of others as well.

Writers shape their stories through their choice of a point of view; their choices include third-person, first-person, and multiple points of view. These viewpoints may be omniscient or humanly limited.

Unconscious viewpoints include the egocentric, ethnocentric, and religiocentric.

Left, right, and centrist perspectives exist within both the Republican and Democratic parties.

The Internet provides a vehicle for the expression of a wide range of viewpoints not well represented in the U.S. corporate media. Such viewpoints include third political parties, feminists, gays and lesbians, ethnic minorities, labor, environmentalists, religious groups, and immigrants.

Periodicals can express viewpoints through images, words, and in the framing given to information. Framing decisions made by an editor can exercise a hidden influence over the reader.