Critical Reading: Arguments

8/9/2019 Critical Reading: Arguments

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Critical Reading of An Essay's Argument:

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/reading_basic.html

Some logicians call it "critical reading." Others call it "close reading," or "active reading," or a host of other terms.

All these labels refer to the same general process. his website attempts to define more clearl! what it is, and tooutline a strateg! for it. e#pect such readings from the class, so it behooves students to give this website itself aclose reading. $rint out a cop! if !ou want one for reference.

%ducated adults e#ist in a delusional state, thinking we can read. n the most basic sense, we can. After all, we&ve

made it up to this point in the sentence and understand it all, right' And what about all those hundreds of books we

read before now' hese statements are onl! partl! true( am here to tell !ou the opposite. Odds are, some of us can&tread, at least not as well as we would like. oo man! college students are capable of onl! some t!pes of reading, and

that painful lack reveals itself when the! read a difficult te#t and must talk criticall! about it.

)ortimer Adler speaks of an e#perience while teaching an honors course that illustrates the problem perfectl!:

*hat am going to report happened in a class in which we were reading homas A+uinas&s treatise on the

passions, but the same thing has happened in countless other classes with man! different sorts of material.

asked a student what St. homas had to sa! about the order of the passions. e +uite correctl! told me that

love, according to St. homas, is the first of all passions and that the other emotions, which he named

accuratel!, follow in a certain order. hen asked him what that meant -and how St. homas arrived at thatse+uence. he student looked startled. ad he not answered the +uestion correctl!' told him he had, but

repeated m! re+uest for an e#planation. e had told me what St. homas said. ow wanted to know what

St. homas meant. he student tried, but all he could do was to repeat, in slightl! altered order, his originalanswer. t soon became obvious that he did not know what he was talking about, even though he would

have made a good score of an! e#amination that went no further than m! original +uestion or +uestions of a

similar sort. 0 How to Read a Book:The Art of Getting a Liberal Education 123

t was clear from conte#t that the student above had read the entire work, and the student clearl! understood the

conclusion of Saint homas&s argument. owever, he did not understand the most important part: how Saint homas

reached that conclusion. e grasped the e#ternal features of the treatise, but he did not comprehend its internal

anatom! of ideas. hough intelligent and possessing a keen memor!, the student had learned to read in a certain wa!that was onl! useful for e#tracting information. e had not learned how to read be!ond that level. e had not

practiced reading in a wa! that allowed him to grapple substantivel! with an idea. hus he could not provide an!

useful commentar! of his own, onl! summar!.he act of reading to extract information and reading critically are vastl! different. he current educationals!stem in American primar! schools 0and man! colleges3 heavil! emphasi4es the first t!pe of reading and de5

emphasi4es the latter. n man! wa!s, this tendenc! makes sense. 6eading to e#tract information allows a student to

absorb the raw materials of factual information as +uickl! as possible. t is a t!pe of reading we all must engage in

fre+uentl!. owever, each t!pe of reading calls for different mental habits. f we do not learn to ad7ust from one t!peof reading to another when necessar!, we cripple our intellectual abilities to read criticall!. f we cannot read

criticall!, we cannot reach the ultimate goal of reading synoptically 0which we will discuss later in this webpage3.

8ut let&s not get ahead of ourselves. *hat are the differences between 093 reading to e#tract information and 03

reading criticall!' *h! are the differences between the two skills so important'

• he! have different goals. *hen students read to e#tract information, usuall! the! seek facts and presume

the source is accurate. o argument is re+uired. On the other hand, when students read criticall!, the! tr! to

determine the +ualit! of the argument. he reader must be open5minded and skeptical all at once,

constantl! ad7usting the degree of personal belief in relation to the +ualit! of the essa!&s arguments.• he! re+uire different t!pes of discipline. f students read for the purpose of learning raw data, the most

efficient wa! to learn is repetition. ;or instance, in grade5school, when !oungsters memori4e the

multiplication and division tables, the! read and recite them over and over again. On the other hand, ifstudents read criticall!, the most effective techni+ue ma! be to break the essa! up into logical subdivisions

and anal!4e each section&s argument, to restate the argument in other words, and then to e#pand upon or

+uestion the findings.

• he! re+uire different t!pes of mental activit!. f a student reads to gain information, a certain degree of

absorption, memori4ation and passivit! is necessar!. 0*e can&t memori4e the multiplication charts



effectivel! if we waste time +uestioning whether eight times three reall! does e+ual twent!5four.3 f a

student is engaged in reading criticall!, however, that student must be active, active, active< e or she must

be prepared to preread the essa!, then read it closel! for content, and reread it if it isn&t clear how the author

reached the conclusion to the argument. he critical reader must take the time to consider the argumentfrom numerous angles including logical, rhetorical, historical, ethical, social, and personal perspectives. n

short, critical readings means actuall! thinking about the sub7ect, moving be!ond what the original essa!

concluded to the point of how the author reached that conclusion and the degree to which that conclusion is

accurate.

• he! create different results. $assive reading to absorb information can create a student who 0if not

precisel! well5read3 has read a great man! books. t results in someone who has, in the closet of the mind, a

staggering number of facts to call to memor! at an! moment. t creates what man! call "book5smarts."owever, critical reading involves original, innovative thinking. t creates a person who intentionall! and

habituall! reads with the mental habit of reflection, intellectual honest!, perceptivit! to the te#t, subtlet! in

thought, and originalit! in insight. %ach method of reading has its place, but critical reading is too often

supplanted b! reading for information.

• he! differ in the degree of understanding the! re+uire. 6eading for information is the more basic, and thus

more fundamental, of the two reading skills. f one cannot make out the meaning of individual words, it is

pointless to tr! and evaluate their importance. owever, reading criticall! is the more advanced of the two,

because onl! critical reading e+uates with full understanding . o illustrate the difference, imagine thefollowing situation. f a worker were watching the monitors at a nuclear power plant, it would take little

brainpower to "read" the dials and determine that "he =eiger counter reads 9>? rads." hat is one t!pe of

understanding, the understanding of fact. he worker has read ever! word on that gauge, and can repeat it

word for word. A far more important t!pe of understanding is the abilit! to discern what that statementmeans for the reader in practical terms, i.e., what the implications are. @oes it mean the nuclear power plant

is running within normal parameters' hat it is leaking to#ic waste' hat the villagers below the plant are

all going to die because of cancerous tumors' hat the reactor vents should be shut' his t!pe of

understanding, the abilit! to take the statement, think through the implications, and put the fact into ameaningful conte#t for oneself and one&s communit!, is central to critical reading.

ltimatel!, what we want is the conscious control of our reading skills, so we can move back and forth amidst the

various t!pes of reading. ow do we do that' he techni+ues will var! from reader to reader, but in a surefire wa! to

achieve critical reading and true understanding of a te#t is to be s!stematic and thorough. he following outlinecontains five general stages of reading. Bou should follow this with ever! assigned te#t. 0%ach label in the outline is

anchored to a fuller description. Bou can go directl! to the term b! clicking on it, or leisurel! scroll down to read

each in turn3.

I. Pre-Reading 0%#amining the te#t and preparing to read it effectivel!3

II. Interpretive Reading 0nderstanding what the author argues, what the authorconcludes, and e#actl! how he or she reached that conclusion3

III. Critical Reading 0Cuestioning, e#amining, and e#panding upon what theauthor sa!s with !our own arguments3

IV. ynoptic Reading 0$utting the author&s argument in a larger conte#t b!

considering a s!nopsis of that reading or argument in con7unction with s!nopses

of other readings or arguments3V. Post-Reading 0%nsuring that !ou won&t forget !our new insights3

Dlick here for A 8rief Outline of the )aterial Above

know what !our initial response is: ";ive stages< ;or each essa!' sn&t that e#cessive'" ot at all. t is necessar! if

!ou want to truly understand an essa!&s argument, rather than merel! e#tract a conclusion. "8ut that will takehours<" ndeed, it ma! at first. 8ut keep in mind three important factors:

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where !ou will end up, which gives !ou a better chance to determine how the

author arrives at that conclusion.3

$. Classification

he human mind has an easier time dealing with material if it can classif! it. As !ou skim, determine the following

as best !ou can:• u%&ect atter: *hat does the general sub7ect matter appear to be' Dreate a

brief but e#act definition of the sub7ect matter, such as "politics55ancient =reece"or "environmental issues55American." As !ou read the essa!, double5check to

make sure it is still talking about that sub7ect5matter. $erhaps what initiall!

seemed like the main issue is not reall! the point. f part of the essa! talks about

one sub7ect, and later discusses something different, !ou must determine what thelarger categor! is that encompasses both sub7ects.

• (ind of Essay: Skim through the essa! +uickl!, glancing at each page. *hat kind

of essa! is it' s its argument about factualit!' About an anal!sis of histor!' s it a

political treatise' A scientific discourse'

C. )imming for tructural Analysis: *eeing t"e )eleton*

• +vert u%divisions: As !ou skim, look for sub5divisions clearl! marked within

each chapter or essa!. dentif! areas with e#tra space between lines or paragraphs,which ma! indicate a change in sub7ect matter.

• +utline: As !ou read, scratch out an outline of the ma7or parts of the essa!.

• Relations: *hen !ou have a complete outline of the ma7or parts of the essa!,

think about the relation of each ma7or part to the others. 0)ortimer Adler calls this

"seeing the skeleton."3 *hat is the effect of presenting the parts in that order' *asthat order necessar!' *h!' s it organi4ed chronologicall!' ;rom least importantto most important' @oes it use one premise as the foundation of later arguments

and build each argument afterward on the premise that came before'

• #"e $asic Pro%lem: *hat is the author&s point' @efine the problem the author is

tr!ing to resolve in a single sentence. f !ou can&t define it in a single sentence,

!ou probabl! don&t have a clear idea of what the essa!&s purpose is.

• As) ,uestions A%out t"e Essay Before Reading It: As soon as !ou determine

what the author is tr!ing to do, make a list of +uestions that will help !ou spot

important bits. ;or instance, after reading the opening and closing of an essa!about povert!, !ou might think. "hat&s an odd conclusion. ow does the author

reach the conclusion that GH povert! is necessar! for economic health' *h! that

percentage' ow did the author deal with the ethics of intentionall! leaving

people poor' *h! did the author avoid talking about attitudes toward the pooruntil so late in the essa!'" *rite +uestions down as the! occur to !ou, and when

!ou have finished with the essa!, see if !ou can come up with an answer to them.



@oing this sort of $re56eading onl! takes five or ten minutes, and it prepares !ou to read the entire essa! with much

greater odds of understanding it on the first shot, letting !ou focus much more energ! on making connections

between each section. t also prepares !our mind to begin thinking about the main issues before the! appear within

the te#t. hen !ou can move below to Stage : nterpretive 6eading.

II. Interpretive ReadingBou&ve skimmed through the essa! briefl! to get the gist of it. ow, nterpretive 6eading re+uires !ou to read

through the whole essa! slowl! and carefull!, looking at ever! single sentence, ever! single word. @on&t skim now<Bou had !our chance for that during $re56eading. n practical use, nterpretive 6eading can sometimes be done at

the same time as Stage 0Dritical 6eading3. owever, the two are distinct in their purposes. nterpretive 6eading

occurs when we make sure we reall! understand the author&s ideas. oo man! students agree or disagree with an

author&s conclusion without reall! understanding how the conclusion was reached. t is pointless to agree or disagreewith an idea we don&t understand. n the words of *a!ne 8ooth, readers must "understand" the argument 0or see

how the argument works3 before the! can "overstand" it 0take a meaningful position concerning the merits or flaws

of the conclusion3.

A. !oo) for t"e Important ords

• Recurring ords: @o words appear repeatedl! throughout the essa!' he! ma!

be important to understanding it. *rite them down in the margins or in a

notebook. )ortimer Adler wrote: "An essa! is all a blur for students who treat

ever!thing the! read as e+uall! important. hat usuall! means that ever!thing ise+uall! unimportant" 09I3. o avoid that bland sameness, identif! the terms that

seem pertinent to the argument as a whole.

• n)no/n ords: Are there words !ou do not know' Fook them up in the

dictionar!. All of them. 0t&s good for !our vocabular!, and !ou can&t reall!

understand what the author is sa!ing if !ou don&t know what the words on the

page mean.3 f !ou are reading a pre5?th centur! te#t, tr! the O#ford %nglish

@ictionar! to find possible outdated meanings. One student in m! class wasconfused b! an essa! for hours, but as soon as she bothered to look up the word

"rela"sarian, the whole essa! suddenl! made sense, as the idea of prelapsarian paradise was central to the author&s argument about religious belief in America.

• +ddly sed ords: Sometimes, an author will use the word in a wa! that

implies a special sense or meaning. ;or instance, Eohn Focke and homasEefferson make a distinction between "atural 6ights" and "Divil 6ights." Jarl

)ar# means something +uite specific b! "$roletariat." *hen !ou sense such a

pattern, make a note. r! to interpret how the author is using the words differentl!than most people do or how !ou use it.

• Identify Am%iguous ords: Sometimes, confusion can result when the author

uses the word in one sense, but the reader interprets the word in another sense.;or instance, "Save soap and waste paper." s the word waste functioning as anad7ective describing paper' Or is it a verb telling the reader what to do with

paper' f !ou find something confusing, look for words with multiple meanings.

Fikewise, abstract or vague words can become confusing. r! substitutings!non!ms and see if !ou can make sense of the passage that wa!.

$. Parap"rase and ummari0e

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• Parap"rase: %ver read through a difficult passage seven times in a row' ;ind that

!our e!es slide over the words, but at the bottom of the paragraph !ou can&t

remember a single bit of what !ou read' o avoid this traged!, make a habit ofrepeating passages in !our own words. 6eaders do not intellectuall! possess the

sub7ect5matter until the! make it their own b! translating it into their own,

familiar terminolog!. @o it aloud, or write brief paraphrases of hard passages inthe margin.

• ummari0e: f !ou are trul! reading criticall!, at the end of each paragraph !ou

should be able to give a one5sentence summar! of what that paragraph said. Boumight also make a two or three word summar! at the top of ever! couple of pages,

then a longer two5 or three5 sentence summar! at the end of the reading.

C. !ocate and Identify t"e Parts 1ou do not nderstand.

• ar) Confusing ections: )an! students read through a tough essa! all the wa!

through. *hen it is complete, the! are confused, but the! are unable to indicatewhat confused them. As !ou read, keep note of whether or not !ou are

understanding the material. As soon as !ou reali4e !ou are lost, make a note in the

margin so !ou can tr! to remed! !our confusion at that moment.

• Reread Confusing ections: Sometimes, rereading the passage after some

thought is all it takes to make a confusing passage clear. ake the time to slowl!

re5read it. r! rewriting the passage in !our own words once more.

• #al) it over /it" ot"er Readers: Ask other students who have read the passage

to e#plain it to !ou. f !ou are both confused, talking about it ma! be all !ou needto break the mental barrier.

• leep on it: Sometimes putting the essa! aside for the da! and returning to it

fresh in the morning is a good wa! to cure confusion. t gives !our subconsciousmind a chance to chew on the problem.

III. Critical Readingf we have finished interpretive reading successfull!, and we full! understand ever! tidbit of the author&s argument,

we can now do a fair and honest 7ob of critical reading 0at last<3. t is important, however, that the reader full!understands how the author reached his conclusion before determining whether or not the reader agrees. t is also

important not to fall into the common misconception that critical reading is "doubting ever!thing !ou read." As our

good friend )ortimer E. Adler again reminds us: we must understand and then assess the debate, and there is no

reason we must find fault in ever! argument:

Bou must be able to sa!, with reasonable certaint!, " understand," before !ou can sa! an! one ofthe following things: " agree," or " disagree," or " suspend 7udgement." hope !ou have not

made the error of supposing that to critici4e is alwa!s to disagree -and to be completel! skeptical.hat is an unfortunate, popular misconception. o agree is 7ust as much an e#ercise of critical

7udgement on !our part as to disagree. o agree without understanding is inane. o disagree

without understanding is impudent. 55"he %ti+uette of alking 8ack." How to Read a Book 0page

G93

Fet us clear up that misconception. Dritical reading is not simpl! the act of doubting ever!thing we read. A health!

amount of skepticism is an important part of intellectual rigor 0and it is better than naKve acceptance of ever! printed



statement3. Still, critical reading is more than paranoid doubt, or tr!ing to "slam" ever! essa! the reader finds.

Dritical reading is different than skeptical reading. Dritical reading is the deliberate act of testing concepts, tr!ing

ideas on for si4e. A critical reader tries not onl! to think of arguments to refute what he reads, he tries to think of

e#tra arguments to support it. Onl! then does he weigh the argument carefull! and come to a decision. e also triesto determine in what wa!s the argument ma! be relevant and relate those idea to his own life. 6ather than merel!

seeking to "trash" an argument entirel!, the wise reader acknowledges that some parts of an argument are more

compelling than others, and tries to figure out wh!. Donsider three scenarios and ask !ourself which one illustrates

the most thoughtful and respectful reading:

093 Bou draft a letter to !our local congressman, arguing for new safet! laws to prevent

automobile wrecks. Bou show it to a friend L9, asking him for input. e skims through it,then returns it to and sa!s. " agree with !ou. $ages two, si#, and eight are convincing. t

looks reall! good. Bou are sure to convince the governor. Send it off."

03 Bou show it to a friend L, asking him for input. e reads through it for several hours,

and marks up all the margins with comments like these: "*h! should trust the figures

from the safet! commission about the number of deaths' *h! should care about traffic

safet! issues' uman error will alwa!s e#ist. ;rankl!, don&t see much point in tr!ing toobsess over the problem. Bou have not convinced me, and doubt that !ou ever will. he

whole issue is boring."

013 Bou show it a friend L1, asking him for input. e reads through it for an hour, then

sa!s, "he part about human lives being more valuable than the costs of machiner!

makes sense to me. wonder, however, about the issue of consumer choice. Shouldn&tdifferent individuals have the right to make individual decisions about their own safet!'

f !ou can convince me that consumers rarel! make good choices, will agree that

legislation should step in and enact new laws. ntil then, will onl! be partl!

convinced."

Of course, most people would +uickl! agree that friend L9 is the least critical. e is convinced too easil!, and he

doesn&t appear to be doing much thinking about the issue.

)an! students might think that friend L 0the one who is +uestioning ever! fact and statistic3 is the most critical ofthe readers. e is probabl! the most difficult to convince, but that&s not because he&s being critical. 8eing hostile andsuspicious of ever!thing is not critical thinking. Dritical thinking is knowing when to be suspicious and when to be

accepting. ;riend L is asking +uestions of the author, but the! aren&t necessaril! ver! good +uestions. e clearl!

cannot make mental connection as to wh! the issue is important. *h! should he care about issues of traffic safet!'

%gad< is ver! life depends upon it if he ever drives< e asserts that human error will alwa!s e#ist. rue, but thatdoesn&t mean safet! is irrelevant, or that we can&t take steps to reduce human error in drivers, even if we can&t

eliminate these errors entirel!. hat would be like arguing we should eliminate fire departments since fires will

never be 9??H preventable.

Of the three responses, would find friend L1 to be the most critical because he is willing to change his mind aboutthe proposed argument. )indlessl! chanting "no no no !ou can&t convince me" is no more intelligent than

mindlessl! asserting " agree with ever!thing." owever, the ke! is that reader L1 is onl! partiall! convinced. e

will immediatel! change his mind if the writer can convince him of certain points first, and he makes it clear what

those points are. e is critical in that he has clear criteria that must be met before he is convinced, not because hehas the habit of +uestioning ever!thing. Bou can be critical and open5minded at the same time. o achieve this state,

follow these suggestions:

A. As) ,uestions

• #al) $ac) to t"e #ext: alk back to the author. e doesn&t have the last sa! on the

sub7ect. Bou do. e had his chance earlier. f !ou have been reading criticall!, !ou

must have been thinking( !ou have something to e#press in words. f !ou aren&t



creating responses to the te#t as !ou read, paragraph b! paragraph, !ou aren&t

reall! thinking. Bou are merel! absorbing the te#t and falling into passive reading

for information. ake the time to 7ot down responses, even if onl! a few words, as!ou write: "uh'" "Bes<" " dunno." "ot in the case of...." " disagree here

because...." Bou get the idea. *hen !ou talk back to the te#t, !ou can e#pand on

the author&s ideas with original ones.

• As) ,uestions to t"e #ext: he ke! to convert !ourself from a passive reader to

an active one is simple. Bou must ask +uestions, and then !ou must tr! to answerthem. hinking can onl! e#press itself overtl! in language. f tell !ou, "hink

about starvation," !our thoughts probabl! consist of disconnected images of

suffering !ou&ve seen on television. here&s ver! little direction implied in that

command. owever, if ask, "ow could we prevent starvation'" Bour brain probabl! will start whirring, generating lists, considering various approaches to

dealing with the issue. Cuestions b! their ver! nature generate thinking, provided

that we take the time to tr! and answer them. So, as !ou read, ask "wh! did theauthor sa! that'" Or "*hat does this part mean'" Asking and answering +uestions

forces !ou to read acti#ely rather than passivel!. t forces !ou to think, and that&s

the point of critical reading.

• As) ,uestions A%out 1ourself : *hat is !our attitude toward the issue' *hat are

!our pre57udgments about the issue' @oes !our attitude affect how receptive !ou

are to the author&s viewpoint' *hat preconceptions do !ou have about the topic'*hat past e#periences have !ou had that are pertinent to the issue' )onitor !our

own emotions as !ou read. @o certain sections make !ou feel pleased' =uilt!'

Angr!' Anno!ed' Smug' Saddened' @o !ou think the author intended to create

that effect' f not, where did that emotional response originate'

• As) ,uestions A%out Context: hink about the author. *h! do !ou think theauthor takes the position he or she does' s there a personal investment in thematter' *hat larger social, economic, geographical, or political circumstances

might have influenced the creation of this piece of writing' 6ead between the

lines and think about the conte#t in which the material was originall! written andwhat that might mean toda!. Are the original conditions so different toda! that

the! render the argument invalid in other circumstances' Or does it hold 7ust as

true' *h!'

• As) ,uestions A%out $roader Implications: he author asserts that M is true.

*hat logicall! follows if we accept that statement' deas do not e#ist in a

vacuum( the! spread outward like ripples in pond water. f an essa! asserts that alllife is hol!, and killing an! other living organism is alwa!s an absolute wrong,does that impl! we should stop using pesticides to kill bugs' *e should outlaw

fl!5swatters' hat we should cease washing our hands with soap lest we kill

innocent bacteria' hat capital punishment is unethical' %uthanasia' *hatfollows from that statement if !ou accept it unconditionall!' f we can&t accept it

unconditionall!, what e#ceptions must we take into account'



• ee) Relevant Connections: So what' *h! does it matter' *h! should !ou

care' ow does the argument have personal importance to !ou' @oes it have

communal importance for those around !ou' ow does it connect to !our lifenow' hirt! !ears from now' %ssa!s on economics have implications for people

who aren&t economists themselves. Arguments about education and public welfare

have implications for an!one who goes to school or who pa!s ta#es. Argumentsabout raising children one wa! or another not onl! have implications for potential

parents, the! also affect ever!one who must live with the ne#t generation of

!oungsters. t is the sign of a weak or la4! intellect to suggest that such materialhas no relevance in the individual&s life. Apath! is an intellectual sin, and boredom

the fruit of that vice. Seek out the relevant connections, and !ou will find them. f

the topic doesn&t seem important to !ou immediatel!, wh! does the author think it

is important'

$. a)e your ar)2 Ans/er 1our +/n ,uestions

• a)e 3otes in t"e argin: *hen !ou underline or mark important passages, 7ot

down +uick reactions like "wow<" Or "huh'" Or "ma!be." Bes, it will reduce the

resale value of that te#tbook b! ten or twent! dollars at the end of the term, but

consider that !ou are pa!ing thousands of dollars more in tuition in order toe#tract the information within it. )aking notes will help !ou e#tract and

remember that material more effectivel!, as well as find the e#act passage that

confused or da44led !ou. Active reading implies a reaction on !our part. f !ouhave pre7udices against marking up a book 0the! are, after all, hol! ob7ects3, use a

notepad, or 7ot down some ideas on stickit notes. Or compromise and write !our

notes on the inside cover, or the back of the book, rather than on ever! page.

• a)e 3otes to $ring to Class: *hen it comes time to write responses to what

!ou have read, !ou will da44le the class with !our brilliance if !ou take the timeto 7ot down !our profound thoughts so !ou don&t forget them. t will also make iteas! to review. Active 6eading implies activit! on !our part.

IV. ynoptic ReadingDongratulations< At this 7uncture, !ou are probabl! a better reader than I?H of students, and !ou stand to gain muchmore from the material !ou read. he ne#t level of e#pertise is s!noptic reading. he term is )ortimer Adler&s. t

means the student 7u#taposes one reading with other works or arguments on the same sub7ect. hink about it. f !ou

wished to trul! understand a sub7ect, sa! the histor! of the civil war, would !ou pick one book and read onl! it' Of

course not. hat would result in a limited understanding at best, at worst the skewed viewpoint of onl! one author.S!noptic reading occurs when an individual does a close reading of several sources, and then compares and

contrasts them. )an! of the readings in this class will serve well for s!noptic readings. Several of them address

similar issues but present radicall! different conclusions.

A. ee) Confirmation

• f the author&s argument relies heavil! on certain matters of factualit!, double5

check to make sure those facts are accurate. Donsult a current enc!clopedia, a

relevant and trustworth! website, or other hand! resource. his is especiall!

relevant in older works from previous decades.



$. ee) 4isagreement

• f two people agree completel! on ever!thing, one of them is redundant. One wa!

of getting closer to the "truth" is through dialectic and debate. Eu#tapose the

author&s argument with arguments from people who disagree. Often, multiple

points of view will complement, complicate and enrich !our understanding of the problem.

C. ee) ynt"esis

• Of course, disagreement merel! for the sake of disagreement is pointless if all that

results is a 7umble of clashing ideas. t is up to !ou to wade through discordant

writings and re5harmoni4e them b! weighing the various arguments, incorporatingthem into a whole, and adding to it !our own thoughts.

f !ou have done all of these steps, !ou are a critical reader. he onl! item remaining is wrapping up the process

with post5reading.

V. Post-Reading$ost56eading is the stage that wraps up this long process. ere, !ou attempt to create a conclusion to all the previous

work. *hen !ou post5read, do the following things.

A. Revie/ and 4ou%le-C"ec):

• Revie/ the notes !ou took while reading. )ake sure !ou have answered all the

+uestions !ou have raised during $re56eading and Dritical 6eading. f there are

an! unanswered +uestions, take a final crack at solving them before !ou set the

book aside.

$. ummari0e:

• Restate the main argument and the conclusion of the essa! in a single sentence.As advertising agents sa!, if !ou can&t write down the idea on the back of a business card, !ou probabl! don&t have a clear idea. f !ou can&t summari4e the

argument in a single5sentence, go back and re5read the essa! at Stage :

nterpretive 6eading.

• Assess !our reaction. *hat convinced !ou and what did not' *h!' ow did !ou

respond to the essa! as a whole' *h!'

C. Explain:

•

%#plain, in !our own words, how the author reached his conclusion.

• %#plain wh! !ou found it convincing or not.

his techni+ue involves time and effort on !our behalf, but it will pa! off in making !ou the best reader possible.

uggestions for 5urt"er Reading

f !ou are interested in further improving !our abilit! to read, would recommend How to Read: the Art of Getting a

Liberal Education b! )ortimer E. Adler. 0ew Bork: Simon and Schuster, 9IG?3. t is a bit dated, and its section on

reading poetr! is a bit simplistic and touch!5feel! for m! tastes. owever, it is central to m! thinking about what



constitutes critical thinking in this website. Bou will find it is still valuable for thinking about how to improve

!ourself as a careful and close reader of te#ts and for obtaining the best education possible from !our assigned

readings in an! class.

Dlick here for A 8rief Outline of Dritical 6eading 0the material covered in this webpage3Dlick here to go back to Domposition 6esources.



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Critical Reading: Arguments

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