09 text and context connection

• Critical reading


  Evaluating claims, seeking definitions, judging information, demanding proof, and questioning assumptions
• Critical reading is not taking anything at face value. It is watching out for the author's limitations, omissions, oversights, and arguments in the text.
• Critical reading goes beyond the reading of the written text. The reader takes an effort to create images and pictorial concepts through his sense impressions of the words written by the author.
• Critical approach to reading


  • Readers should always bear in mind that no text contains its own predetermined meaning. Everything is subject to the reader's own interpretation, understanding, and acceptance
  • To be a critical reader, one should interact with the material being read. Look for connections, ask questions, respond, and expand ideas
  • Use a variety of approaches, strategies, and techniques to connect to the presentation of the text
• Explicit information


  Information that is clearly stated in the text
• Implicit information


  Ideas that are suggested in the text
• Claim


  The most important part of the text that summarizes the writer's main point
• Characteristics of good claims

  • Argumentative and debatable
  • Specific and focused
  • Interesting and engaging
  • Logical
• Claim of fact


  A quantifiable assertion or measurable topic based on data and reliable sources
• Claim of value


  An argument about moral, philosophical, or aesthetic topics, making judgments based on certain standards
• Claim of policy


  A claim that specific actions should be chosen as solutions to a particular problem
• Context


  The social, cultural, political, historical, and other related circumstances that surround the text and form the terms from which it can be better understood and evaluated
• Intertextuality


  The connections between language, images, characters, themes, or subjects depending on their similarities in language, genre, or discourse
• Hypertext


  A non-linear way of showing information, connecting topics on the screen to related information, graphics, or videos
• Assertion


  A declarative sentence that claims something is true about something else
• Types of assertions

  • Fact
  • Convention
  • Opinion
  • Preference
• Counterclaim


  A claim made to rebut a previous claim, providing a contrasting perspective
• Textual evidence


  Details given by the author to support their claim, including facts, statistics, expert opinions, and personal anecdotes
• Characteristics of good evidence

  • Unified
  • Relevant to the central point
  • Specific and concrete
  • Accurate
  • Representative or typical
• Defining Claim

  The claim is the most important part of the text. The quality and complexity of the reading depend on the claim because the claim defines the paper’s direction and scope. The claim is a sentence that summarizes the most important thing that the writer wants to say as a result of his/her thinking, reading, or writing.
• Claims of Fact

  It states a quantifiable assertion or a measurable topic. They assert that something has existed, exists, or will exist based on data. They rely on reliable sources or systematic procedures to be validated; this is what makes them different from inferences
• Claims of fact usually answer a “what” question. When determining whether

  something is a claim of fact, the following questions are useful.

  Is this issue related to a possible cause or effect?

  Is this statement true or false? How can its truthfulness be verified?

  Is this claim controversial or debatable?
• Claims of Value Assert something that can be qualified. They consist of arguments about moral, philosophical, or aesthetic topics. These types of topics try to prove that some values are more or less desirable compared to others. They make judgments, based on certain standards, on whether something is right or wrong, good or bad, or something similar.
• Claims of Value Attempts to prove that there are things that are more or less valuable and desirable. It involves judgments, evaluation, and appraisals.
• Claims of value attempt to explain how problems, situations, or issues ought to be valued. In order to discover these explanations, you may ask the following questions:

  What claims endorse what is good or right?

  What qualities should be considered good? Why is that so?

  Which of these values contend with others? Which ones are more important, and why? Whose standards are used?

  What are some concrete examples of such values?
• Claims of value are subject to prejudices. It uses words and phrases such as “best strategy,” “most favorable,” “a very good way of…,” “an effective style of….”
• Claims of Policy

  Posit that specific actions should be chosen as solutions to a particular problem. You can easily identify a claim of policy because they begin with “should,” “ought to,’ or “must.” Claims of policy, because they defend actionable plans, usually answer “how” questions.
• The following questions will be useful in evaluating a claim of policy:

  Does the claim suggest a specific remedy to solve the problem?

  Is the policy clearly defined?

  Is the need for the policy established?

  Is the policy the best one available? For whom? According to whose standards?

  How does the policy solve the problem?
• ⦁ Intertextuality

  In this strategy, the author borrows a prior text from another author and integrates it in his writing. This way, the readers are able to see the interrelationship among texts and are able to generate a deeper understanding of the topic being discussed.
• ⦁ Intertextuality

  It is the modeling of a text’s meaning by another text. It is defined as the connections between language, images, characters, themes, or subjects depending on their similarities in language, genre, or discourse.
• ⦁ Hypertext – is a non-linear way of showing information. It connects topics on the screen to related information, graphics, or videos that are related to the text. This information appears as links and is usually accessed by clicking. The reader can jump to more information about a topic, which in turn may have more links. This opens up the reader a wider horizon of information or to a new direction.
• ⦁ Fact – is a statement that can be proven objectively by direct experience, testimonies of witnesses, verified observations, or the results of research.

  Example: The Sampaguita’s roots are used for medicinal purposes, such as an

  anesthetic and sedative
• ⦁ Convention – is a way in which something is done, similar to traditions and norms. It depends on historical precedent, laws, rules, usage, and customs.

  Example: The Sampaguita belongs to the genus Jasminum of the family Oleaceae.
• ⦁ Opinion – is based on facts but are difficult to objectively verify because of the uncertainty of producing satisfactory proof of soundness.

  Example: The popularity of Sampaguita is most evident in places of worship.
• ⦁ Preference – is based on personal choice; they are subjective and cannot be objectively proven or logically attacked.

  Example: Sampaguitas are the most beautiful and most fragrant of all flowers.
• The following questions will help you formulate a counterclaim:

  ⦁ What are the major points on which you and the author can disagree?

  ⦁ What is their strongest argument? What did they say to defend their position?

  ⦁ What are the merits of their view?

  ⦁ What are the weaknesses or shortcomings in their argument?

  ⦁ Are there any hidden assumptions?

  ⦁ Which lines from the text best support the counterclaim you have formulated?
• The evidence is defined as details given by the author in order to support his/her claim. The evidence provided by the author substantiates the text. It reveals and builds on the position of the writer and makes the reading more interesting.

  ⦁ Evidence can include the following:

  ⦁ Facts and statistics (objectively validated information on your subject)

  ⦁ Opinion from experts (leading authorities on a topic, like researchers or academics)

  ⦁ Personal anecdotes (generalized, relevant, and objectively considered)