Chapter 6 CRCB : Finding Supporting Details

What are supporting details?



Authors use details to illustrate and explain their main ideas. Unlike topics or main ideas, which are more general in nature, details consist of facts, examples, and other specific information.

Major Supporting Details
Major supporting details provide support for the main idea of a reading. They are commonly presented in the form of examples, illustrations, explanations, definitions, facts, or opinions, and they typically answer who? what? when? how? or why? question about the main idea.

Minor Supporting DetailsMinor supporting details are intended to clarify and enhance the major supporting details and are not usually considered as important. However, some of them are significant and useful to remember.

Chapter 6 TFY : Opinions : What's Believed?

Types of Opinions

Opinions take many forms: judgments, advice, generalizations, personal preferences, and general public sentiment.

Distinguishing Between Responsible and Irresponsible Opinions

Not all opinions deserve careful consideration

Opinions as Claims in Arguments

Opinions function as primary claims in arguments that are supported by facts, other claims, and reasoning. In an essay, the thesis is a statement of opinion.

Composition Writing Application

1. First Opinion: A Short Argument Supporting an Opinion

2. Second Opinion: A Short Expository Essay about an Opinion

3. Third Opinion : A Short Essay Analyzing Three Opinions

4. Peer Review

Chapter 5 CRCB : Locating Stated Main Ideas

Topic is

- a word or short phrase that summarizes the general ideas presented on a page or in a chapter, book, or journal article.

- most general ideas of reading, not sentences but words or phrases that sum up the subject you are reading about

Previewing is a strategy that helps you mentally prepare for reading new material and involves reading the title of an assignment, the introduction, any headings and, if there is one, the summary. Once you have done this, you should be able to predict the topic.

Main idea is the major point the author makes about the topic.

Details are more specific that prove, clarify, justify, or otherwise support the main idea

Chapter 5 TFY : Assumption : What's Taken for Granted

Assumptions meaning to take up. when we assume, we take up or accept something.

Understanding AssumptionsAssumption can be forgotten inferences.

Types of AssumptionsAssumptions can be conscious or unconscious, warranted or unwarranted.

Identifying Hidden Assumptions in Reasoning

Hidden assumptions expert a powerful effect on our reasoning; however, identifying them is not always easy.

Hidden Assumptions in Arguments

Good arguments are not based on assumptions

Value or Belief Assumptions

Value assumptions are the beliefs we take for granted. Although we may not be aware of their presence and influence, they greatly affect our reasoning.

Assumption Layers in Arguments

A value assumption can form the base of a pyramid that supports many layers of hidden assumptions, all of which provide support for one idea expressed at the top.

Chapter 4 TFY : Inference : What Follows?

Understanding the words Infer and InferenceInfer meaning to bring in or to carry
when we infer, we imagine, guess, surmise, speculate, estimate, predict and conclude.

Distinguishing Inferences from FactsGood writing distinguishes inferences from facts, description from interpretation

Generalizations Are Inferences

A good scientist, like a good writer, knows how much evidence is needed to support a generalization.

Chapter 4 CRCB Managing Your Reading Time

What is efficient reading?Efficient reading can be defined as being able to read and comprehend textbook material in an appropriate amount of time for you.

Speed-ReadingSpeed-reading consists of visually grouping words together, reading them in chunks instead of separately.

Critical ReadingCritical Reading is to slow down, take time to digest an author's points (perhaps even disagree with them), relate the newly learned information to previous knowledge on the subject, and think about what you are reading. Critical reading is thinking, and thinking takes time. Speed-reading is not a critical reading strategy.

Skimming
Reading only some of the words on a page is called skimming. Skimming is helpful when you are doing research and want to know if a book or article is going to be useful to your studies.

Rereading or RegressingIf you don't understand a word, it helps to reread the sentence it is in and try to figure out its meaning using context clues. If this does not work, you can look it up in your dictionary and then reread the sentence. When you do not understanding a point an author is making, regressing, or rereading the paragraphs preceding the one you are having trouble with, will give you another chance to piece together what is being said.

SubvocalizingSubvocalizing, or reading aloud, is helpful because you use both your eyes and your voice to read.

PacingPacing your reading by using your fingertips to follow each word, or group of words, can improve your reading speed because you become more physically involved in the process, which heightens your ability to concentrate .

Developing a Daily Reading PlanTips for Developing a Daily Reading Plan
1. Keep a record of your pages per hour reading rate for each of your classes.
2. When reading for more than one class in a single study session, complete the reading for your most difficult or least favorite class first.
3. Plan your reading time for when you are most alert.
4. Each day, schedule the reading tasks for every class you have attended into your daily plan.

Chapter 3 TFY : Facts : What's Real?

Beginning with the World FactDefinition of fact :1. a deed, something done
2. something known with certainty through experience, observation, testimony, record, or measurement.
3. something that can be objective demonstrated and verified
4. something that people will agree corresponds to a reality

Facts and RealityWhat we call facts do not necessarily represent what is real and true.
Facts are our interpretations of what is real and true
Reality is another term that we all use every day, yet few of us can define.

Facts are not absoluteThe most we can say about any fact is that certainty is higher or lower in probability

Distinguishing Facts from FictionSurprisingly enough, we can sometimes be led to believe that the difference between fact and fiction doesn't really matter.

Feeling can be facts
Feeling can deceive as well as illuminate

Facts and Social PressureOur need to have our perceptions verified by others also makes us susceptible to manipulation

Facts and our limited senseBoth science and wisdom are needed to help us compensate for the limitations of our sense.

Standards We Use to Determine Facts: Verifiability, Reliability, Plausibility, Probability
Verifiability means the data can be confirmed by another source.

Reliability : a second standard for determining facts

Probability : as tested through time and repetition, represents another standard used to determine the reliability of a fact.

Plausibility is a fourth standard for facts, meaning they undergo the test of credibility.