Raw

• Critical Reading


  • Provides high reflective skills which allow you to stand back and look at the text from different perspectives
  • Lends the ability to see and evaluate how a text presents arguments
  • Without this skill, a reader may run the risk of simply memorizing texts and accepting them even if they are flawed, biased, and subjective
• give one Strategies for effective critical thinking

  1. Evaluate the facts and examples; try to check if there are gaps and inconsistencies

  2. Check for the accuracy and reliability of the sources and distinguish facts from opinions

  3. Assess if the conclusions are acceptable based on the facts presented
• Skills for critical reading

  • Identify and examine fallacies
  • Identify manipulative language
• Skills for critical reading

  • Know how to see ideas are developed and organized
  • Think critically and use higher order thinking skills
  • Know how to evaluate text
  • Check accuracy and reliability
• Guide questions for critical reading

  • How would you describe the tone of the writer?
  • Does the text challenge your own values and beliefs?
  • Does the text contain fallacies? what are those?
  • Are there any assumptions made by the writer?
  • Does the writer oversimplify complex ideas?
  • Does the writer use reasonable generalizations and inferences?
• Intertext

  A work whose meaning is shaped by referencing or calling to mind other texts
• Hypertext


  Characterized by the external links embedded in a text by the writer, allowing the reader to read the text in a non-linear way
• Examples of hypertext

  • Definition of terms
  • Explanation of a certain phenomenon
  • Direction to the next part of the plot
• Types of claims

  • Claim of fact
  • Claim of policy
  • Claim of value
• Guide questions for claims

  • Are the claims presented in the text supported by evidence?
  • Are these pieces of evidence valid and sufficient?
  • Are these pieces of evidence anecdotal or scientific?
  • How does the nature effect the overall credibility of the text?
  • Does the text have references?
  • Are they reliable and recent?
  • How does the writer present facts and opinions?
• Claim of fact


  An argument about a quantifiable topic
• Claim of value

  An argument that asserts whether something is good or bad, based on judgement and evaluation on a philosophical, aesthetic, or moral standpoint
• Claim of policy

  An argument which asserts the implementation of a certain policy, driven by the need to present a solution to problems that have arisen
• Manipulative tactics


  • Name Calling
  • Changing the Subject
  • Using false Information
  • Exaggerating
• Logical Fallacy


  An argument that may seem strong, but is proven wrong with reasoning and further examination
• Examples of Logical Fallacies

  • False Dilemma (False Dichotomy)
  • Appeal to Ignorance
  • Slippery Slope
  • Complex Question
  • Appeal to Force (argumentum ad baculum)
  • Appeal to Pity (Ad Misericordiam)
  • Appeal to Consequence (Argumentum ad Consequentiam)
  • Bandwagon
  • Attacking the Person (Ad Hominem)
  • Appeal to Authority (Argumentatum ad verecundiam)
  • Anonymous Authority
  • Hasty Generalization
  • False Analogy
  • Accident
  • Post Hoc (Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc)
  • Wrong Direction
  • Complex Cause
  • Irrelevant Conclusion
  • Straw Man
  • Affirming to Consequent
  • Denying the Antecedent
  • Inconsistency
• False Dilemma (False Dichotomy)


  Occurs when an argument presents his/her argument as one of only options despite the presence of multiple possibilities
• Appeal to Ignorance


  Occurs when something is instantly concluded to be true just because it is not proven to be false, and vice versa
• Slippery Slope


  The argument that one event will lead to a series of events and eventually will lead to something very bad
• Complex Question


  Occurs when two or more points are rolled into one and the reader is expected to either accept or reject both at the same time, when one point may be satisfactorily while the other is not
• Appeal to Force (argumentum ad baculum)

  Occurs when a threat, instead a reasoning, is used to argue
• Appeal to Pity (Ad Misericordiam)


  Occurs when the element of the pity- is used instead of logical reasoning
• Appeal to Consequence (Argumentum ad Consequentiam)

  Occurs when unpleasant consequences of believing something are pointed out to show the belief is force
• Bandwagon


  Occurs when an argument is considered to be valid because it is what the majority thinks
• Attacking the Person (Ad Hominem)

  Attacking the person making the argument, rather that addressing the argument the person is making
• Appeal to Authority (Argumentatum ad verecundiam)

  Occurs when the argument quotes an expert who is not qualified in the particular subject matter
• Anonymous Authority


  The authority in question is not mentioned or named
• Hasty Generalization


  Making a claim or drawing a conclusion without having enough information
• False Analogy


  Occurs when a writer assumes that two concepts that are similar in some ways are also similar in other ways
• Accident


  Occurs when a general rule is applied to a situation, even when it should be an exception
• Post Hoc (Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc)


  Occurs when the argues claims that since event A happened before event B, A is the cause of B
• Wrong Direction


  Occurs when the direction between the cause and effect is reversed
• Complex Cause


  Occurs when the explanation for an event is reduced to one thing when there are other factor which also contributed to the event
• Irrelevant Conclusion


  Occurs when an argument which supposed to prove something concludes something else instead
• Straw Man


  Intentionally misinterpreting the other side's argument to make it easier to defeat instead of addressing the other side's actual argument
• Affirming to Consequent


  Any argument of the form: If A is true then B is true; if B is true therefore A is true
• Denying the Antecedent


  Any argument if the form: If A is true then B is true; if A is NOT true then B is NOT true
• Inconsistency


  Occurs when an arguments contradict one another