Critical Reading Skills

Citation preview

Министерство науки и высшего образования Российской Федерации Южно-Уральский государственный университет Кафедра иностранных языков

Ш143.21-9 В689

К.Н. Волченкова

CRITICAL READING SKILLS Учебное пособие

Челябинск Издательский центр ЮУрГУ 2019

ББК Ш143.21-923 В689

Одобрено учебно-методической комиссией института лингвистики и международных коммуникаций Рецензенты: С.В. Лескина, В.П. Новикова

В689

Волченкова, К.Н. Critical Reading Skills: учебное пособие / К.Н. Волченкова. – Челябинск: Издательский центр ЮУрГУ, 2019. – 58 с. Пособие предназначено для магистрантов, аспирантов всех направлений подготовки, молодых ученых, научно-педагогических работников, которые читают литературу по специальности на английском языке и используют ее в профессиональной и научной деятельности. В пособии рассматриваются и отрабатываются на практике стратегии критического чтения научных текстов, приемы, способствующие пониманию научного текста, способы запоминания ключевой информации, способы построения научного дискурса. Особое внимание в пособии уделяется способам оценки научности текстов, приемам построения аргументации и распознаванию логических ошибок в построении высказывания. Пособие включает в себя теоретическую часть и практические задания на развитие умений критического чтения научных текстов. ББК Ш143.21-923

© Издательский центр ЮУрГУ, 2019

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Contents Unit 1. Reading strategies ……………………….…………………..

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Unit 2. Main ideas and supporting details ………………….………..

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Unit 3. Retention strategies …...…………………….…..………..….

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Unit 4. Reading Research Paper ………………..……………………

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Unit 5. Reading Comprehension …………………………………….

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Unit 6. The Argument ….……………….………………………….

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Unit 7. Argument indicator words …………………...……………..

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Unit 8. Argument evaluation ….………………………....……….....

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Unit 9. Logical fallacies ……………………………………………..

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Unit 10. Source paraphrasing ………………..…….…………............

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Appendix ………………………………………………………........... 57 References …………………………………………………………..... 58

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Unit 1. Reading strategies Task 1. Tick the nearest statement below to how you feel about reading. Be honest! Compare your choice with that of your partner.  I enjoy reading all types of things and read often for pleasure as well as for work or study purposes  I quite like reading, depending on the subject etc, and will get on with doing it, particularly for work/study purposes - but I would not say it was my first priority for pleasure purposes!  I am not very keen on reading, but will do it because I have to for work or study purposes. I might, occasionally, do it for pleasure!  I dislike reading, have never really enjoyed it, and try and avoid it whenever possible  If you don’t feel any of these connects with the way you feel about reading, write your own feelings in the space below:

Task 2. Read the comments and express your agreement or disagreement with the ways to make reading enjoyable experience. Your feelings about reading can affect the way you approach and manage it. People who generally enjoy the experience of reading and read for pleasure have often learned instinctively to manage the process. They know that maintaining and enhancing their enjoyment of reading is often about: • finding the right time and place to read • getting into the right mood • getting involved actively with what they read • …and picking the right text to read. These basic reading practices will serve them well in higher education, work and in their personal lives. However, many students have either mixed feelings about reading, or dislike the experience- and do it because they have to! If you are in this latter category, you could begin to address the issue of managing your reading by trying to increase your enjoyment of reading. If you begin to enjoy reading more, this will help you to develop more effective reading and reading management techniques. If you actively dislike the experience of reading, you will not respond as well as you might to the techniques, as your aversion to reading can act as a barrier to change. Three Ways of Making the Experience of Reading More Enjoyable: 1. Try going once a week to buy something to read that really interests you – a comic, a magazine, anything! The brighter, the lighter, the more frivolous, rude, controversial or humorous the better. Try and look forward to this moment in the week. Read it and enjoy it. Stop when you get bored. 2. Try and encourage a friend or partner to read the same thing you selected and then have a discussion on what you have read. 3. Set yourself strict limits for reading things you have to read. Set yourself, a limit of no more than 40-50 minutes reading at any one stretch. And as you read, try and engage more actively with the text. 4

Task 3. Discuss in groups of three. 1. What sort of literature do you read for research? 2. What problems do you encounter when you read the research literature in English? 3. What strategies do you use to comprehend the literature read and to remember it better?

Task 4. Read the text and enumerate the strategies for effective reading. Reading for research is one of the biggest challenges in doctoral studies. However, are you managing your reading efficiently? Consider this cooking analogy, noting the differences in process: Shannon has to make dinner. He goes to the store and walks through every aisle. He decides to make spaghetti, so he revisits aisles and reads many packages thoroughly before deciding which groceries to buy. Once he arrives home, he finds a recipe for spaghetti, but needs to go back to the store for ingredients he forgot. Taylor also has to make dinner. He wants lots of carbohydrates because he’s running a marathon soon so he decides to make spaghetti. After checking some recipes, he makes a list of ingredients. At the grocery store, he skims aisles to find his ingredients and chooses products that meet his diet. Taylor’s process was more efficient because his purpose was clear. Establishing why you are reading something will help you decide how to read it, which saves time and improves comprehension. This guide lists different strategies to try at different stages of the reading process as well as some purposes for reading. Before reading  Establish your purpose for reading  Speculate about the author’s purpose for writing  Review what you already know and want to learn about the topic (see the guides below)  Preview the text to get an overview of its structure, looking at headings, figures, tables, glossary, etc.  Predict the contents of the text and pose questions about it. If the authors have provided discussion questions, read them and write them on a note-taking sheet.  Note any discussion questions that have been provided (sometimes at the end of the text) During reading  Annotate and mark sections of the text to easily recall important or interesting ideas  Check your predictions and find answers to posed questions  Use headings and transition words to identify relationships in the text  Create a vocabulary list of other unfamiliar words to define later  Try to infer unfamiliar words’ meanings by identifying their relationship to the main idea  Connect the text to what you already know about the topic  Take breaks (split the text into segments if necessary) 5

After reading  Summarize the text in your own words (note what you learned, impressions, and reactions) in an outline, concept map, or matrix (for several texts)  Talk to someone about the author’s ideas to check your comprehension  Identify and reread difficult parts of the text  Define words on your vocabulary list and practice using them  Sample graphic organizers Purposes for reading People read different kinds of text (e.g., scholarly articles, textbooks, reviews) for different reasons. Some purposes for reading might be  to scan for specific information  to skim to get an overview of the text  to relate new content to existing knowledge  to write something (often depends on a prompt)  to critique an argument  to learn something  for general comprehension Once you have identified your purpose, then you will need to determine which reading technique to use. Skimming In order to decide which sources are going to be most useful, it is important to get the ‘gist’ of the it, without having to read the whole thing from beginning to end. Skimming through a book allows you to gain a general sense of the text. Look at the index, contents page, headings of chapters and sub-headings to give you an idea if the information you are looking for could be contained within the text. Reading the first and last paragraphs and looking at any diagrams or pictures will offer more clues. This should give you an idea which chapters/sections to read and which are not so appropriate. Scanning is another style of reading. This is most useful when you are searching for something specific in the text – like a word or phrase. An example of use is when you are looking in a telephone directory for a particular person’s name or when you look in the index of a book to see which page contains the information you want. In Depth Reading Once you have located an article or a section within a book, you may then decide to read the chapter/section in full. You may need to work your way carefully through the author’s to gain a full understanding. This process may take time and if the text is very detailed, then it may need to be re-read for clarity. Critical Reading Critical reading requires gaining a complete understanding of a text (like in-depth reading) but it means weighing up the arguments and evidence both for and against. Critical reading takes time and involves identifying and evaluating the ideas put forward by the author and considering how these ideas fit with other authors in the same field. Source: Grabe, W., Stoller, F. (2002). Teaching and researching reading. Harlow: Longman. 6

Task 5. Complete the column Reading technique using the words from the box. Skimming

In-depth reading Scanning

Critical reading

Rapid reading

A brief overview of Reading Techniques and their uses What do you need to do? Gain a general overview of the text

Reading technique ________________

Locate specific information

________________

Recall information

________________

Increase knowledge and understanding

________________

Evaluate ideas

________________

What’s involved? Use to find main ideas and sequences and relationships between chapters/sections Search through the text for specifics details such as key words, phrases, names, dates. Useful for revision – confirming knowledge High level of concentration required, slow, steady and repetitive reading Question and analyse author’s perspective

Task 6. Skim the text and formulate its main idea in two or three sentences. A team of scientists managed to teleport information across several kilometres of optical fibre network in two cities. This form of teleportation differs from that depicted in Star Trek: it involves transferring quantum states of a light particle, not Starfleet officers. But the method offers huge promise. Teleportation over long distances and across optical fibre networks is an important step towards the ultra-secure communications promised by quantum cryptography. And the set-up described in studies published in Nature Photonics journal could be seen as a building block for a future "quantum internet". In the paper, Dr Wolfgang Tittel and colleagues describe how they teleported the quantum state of a photon, or light particle, over 8.2km in the Canadian city of Calgary. The process by which information - the quantum state of a photon - is teleported involves creating two photons at the University of Calgary. One of these photons is sent in a "classical" way along 11.1km of optical fibre to a building near Calgary City Hall, while the other remains behind at the university. Meanwhile, a photon is also sent to the City Hall. This all results in the quantum state of the photon from site A being transferred to the photon which remained behind at the university (site B) through quantum teleportation. This teleportation process occurs via a phenomenon known as entanglement, which describes how sub-atomic particles can be linked even if they are separated by a large distance. The details of entanglement are not well understood; it even befuddled Einstein, who famously described it as "spooky action at a distance". Task 7 Scan the text from Task 6 and say where the research was published.

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Task 8. Active Reading Practice. Study the introduction of the research paper and define its main ideas. Motives and Aspirations for Doctoral Study: Career, Personal, and Inter-personal Factors in the Decision to Embark on a History PhD Ian Brailsford Centre for Academic Development, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Introduction Why would a mature person decide to do a PhD? It is not urban myth that a significant number of doctoral students fail in completing their degrees, nor is the stereotype of the lonely dissertation student toiling away for years and years to finally stagger over the finishing line, exhausted and disillusioned. There is a body of quantitative and qualitative research proving that deciding to do a PhD is a high-risk strategy (Golde, 2005; Lovitts, 2001; Powell & Green, 2007). Why would someone commit several years of his or her life studying for a degree when there was no guarantee of success at the end? These were the questions posed in this study to 11 individuals in Australasia who took up the challenge of a History doctorate; their answers provide, from a student perspective, qualitative data to better understand the complex decisionmaking process. Researchers have explored how doctoral students ‘navigate stages’ (Grover, 2007) of their candidacy, with special Material concern over student isolation as a cause of attrition in doctoral programmes (Ali & Kohun, 2007; Lovitts, 2008). Successfully embedding or socialising doctoral students within their departments has been identified as a key factor in supporting persistence (Austin, 2009). Major studies are also tracking candidates’ career paths beyond the doctorate (Aanerud, Homer, Nerad, & Cerry, 2006; Denholm & Evans, 2009). While our knowledge of doctoral students staying in and then exiting the ‘ivory tower’ is advancing, less is known about the entering phase (Gill & Hoppe, 2009; Leonard, Becker, & Coate, 2005). This paper, therefore, deals with this less understood aspect of the doctorate: the initial journey taken by students to enrolment. It takes its cue from Tatham and Denholm’s provocative question in Supervising doctorates downunder: “If a doctorate is the answer, then what was the question in relation to career development?” (Tatham & Denholm, 2007, p. 262) This study is premised on the conjecture that PhD candidates (and their academic institutions) might avoid (or at least alleviate) the difficulties that the existing research indicates are likely to be encountered during the doctorate if both parties clearly understand the candidate’s motives and aspirations from the outset. There are a few British studies that touch upon the issue of initial motivation. Salmon’s (1992) Achieving a PhD interwove narratives of 10 mature social science candidates recounting their own doctoral journeys in the late 1980s, several of whom were motivated by social justice concerns and their own sense of identity. From their discussions with successful candidates, Churchill and Sanders (2007) in Getting your PhD established five generic headings to categorise motives or reasons for embarking on a PhD: career development; lack of current job satisfaction; a personal agenda; research as politics; and drifting in. Leonard, Becker and Coate’s (2005) study, ‘To prove myself at the highest level’, using the Education doctorate as a case study, discerned from their interview data the “powerful aspirational value of the doctorate” (p. 139). This desire of Education doctoral holders to prove themselves underscored both ‘personal growth’ and ‘training and qualification’ motives. In addition to these British studies, a recent discussion on business professional doctorates (Gill & Hoppe, 2009, p. 31) proposes five motivational ‘profiles’ (and an associated personal objective) that could lead an individual to doctoral study: ‘traditional’ 8

(entry into academia); ‘advanced entry’ (professional development); ‘continuing development’ (professional advancement); ‘transition’ (entry to a new career); and ‘personal fulfilment’ (self-enhancement). They also suggest that the first four profiles accord with different career stages; ‘traditional’ and ‘advanced entry’ relate to early-career candidates while ‘continuing development’ and ‘transition’ relate more to mid- to late-career candidates. The final profile, ‘personal fulfilment’, could apply to individuals at different stages of their career. Finally, they note that more than one profile could motivate an individual candidate. The empirical research in this paper builds from these earlier studies’ exploratory insights to better understand the motives for doctoral study and the decision-making process (such as seeking independent advice or exploring alternative options) using the History PhD as a case study. Publicity materials on university websites offer prospective students multiple reasons for doing postgraduate research. They represent the official inducements to attract would-be graduate students and act as a useful digest of how universities envision the benefits of graduate education for the student, in contrast to the research literature cited above. A sample from four leading Australasian research-led universities gives a flavour of the marketing messages in circulation. The University of Otago (2009) promises: “Studying at New Zealand’s top-ranked university for research quality is a great career move. Your Otago postgraduate experience will equip you with the skills and knowledge to be successful anywhere in the world.” Victoria University of Wellington (2009) proclaims: “Victoria University has a huge reputation internationally for academic excellence and calibre of its research and postgraduate study. Our graduate programmes are flexible and continually changing to meet your needs, developments in the research community and the demands of the workplace.” The University of Melbourne (2009) poses the question “Why do graduate research at Melbourne?” One of the reasons is that it “enrols and graduates more research students than any other Australian university”. Under the heading ‘Prepare for an engaging career’ the website states: “Graduate research does a lot more than create specialist knowledge. Research students develop valuable professional skills for the research environment and beyond. In Australia, the majority of research graduates take on professional roles in business, government and other organisations, while about one third go on to careers in academia.” The University of New South Wales (2009), under the strap-line ‘Make the leap into postgraduate study’ proclaims: “Upgrade your qualifications and progress your career development with a postgraduate program by coursework or research.” Ali and Kohun (2007) have noted that these publicity materials rarely mention the challenges of graduate study, as their purpose is to attract new students. However, they do provide a set of extrinsic motives (better career prospects and access to a highquality research culture) for study in contrast to the some of the intrinsic factors identified in the British studies mentioned above. Unlike the North American PhD with its structured programme of study with taught courses, comprehensive exams, and eventual candidacy, admission to a humanities doctorate in Australasia is generally based on a would-be candidate applying for admission with a good Bachelors or Masters degree coupled with an original research topic that has the support of an academic department. While many Australasian universities will have a provisional year of candidacy to ensure that doctorates are progressing in a timely fashion, it is fair to characterise admittance to the Australasian doctorate as having fewer formal stages to pass through than the North American one. The doctorate is awarded solely on the merits of (and, in some instances, a defence of) the PhD thesis (dissertation). This state of affairs means that would-be candidates have potentially more ownership or attachment to their research topics from an earlier stage; however, they may miss opportunities to socialise without formal courses. Source: International Journal of Doctoral Studies Volume 5, 2010. 9

Unit 2. Main ideas and supporting details Task 1. Match the terms with their definitions. A. Paragraph 1. The subject that the selection is about. B. Topic

C. Main idea

D. Topic sentence

2. A group or specially and intentionally related sentences; a thought unit; sentences that revolve around a single idea and is a writer’s attempt to develop an idea or part of an idea. 3. Statement of the main idea. It is the statement under which all other material in the paragraph – examples, reasons, facts, details and other evidence – can fit. 4. Chief point an author is making about a topic. It sums up the author’s primary message.

Task 2. Define the topic of the paragraph. Consumers concerned about the hazards or noise can reduce noise pollution in many ways. They can purchase noisy products such as garbage disposals and lawn mowers with reduced noise levels. They can also use sound-absorbing materials in their home. Carpeting can be installed instead of hard flooring, and cork and fabric can be used in rooms that tend to be noisy. Also, people can become less noisy themselves. They can learn to avoid shouting, to close doors without slamming them, and to play radios, TV sets, and stereos at moderate levels. Task 3. Study the material below and do the tasks after it. Organization of a Paragraph  Statement of the main idea.  Elaboration of the main idea and supporting details.  Restatement of the main idea-summary of main ideas or conclusions. Location of the Topic Sentence Topic sentences are usually in the first sentence of the paragraph, but not always. They may also be located within the paragraph or at the end of the paragraph. They may even appear twice – at the beginning and at the end. Within a paragraph The physical complaints of neurotics – people who are overly anxious, pessimistic, hostile, or tense – were once largely ignored by physician. Many doctors believed that the frequent complaint of neurotic were exaggerations. However, new research shows that neurotics are, fact, more likely to have physical problems. Specifically, researchers found neurotics stand a grater chance of having five particular ailments: arthritis, asthma, ulcers, headaches, and heart disease. In addition, there is evidence that people who are pessimistic in their teens and twenties are more likely to become ill or die in their forties. End of the paragraph A study at one prison show that owning a pet can change a hardened prison inmate into a more caring person. Another study discovered that senior citizens, both those living alone and those in nursing homes, became more interested in life when they were given pets to care for. Even emotionally disturbed children have been observed to smile and react with interest if there is a cuddly kitten or puppy to hold. Animals, then, can be a means of therapy for many kinds of individuals. 10

Beginning and end of the paragraph We are on our way to becoming a cashless, checkless society, a trend that began with the credit card. Now some banks are offering “debit cards” instead of the credit cards. That costs of purchases made with these cards are deducted from the holder’s bank account instead of being added a monthly bill. And checking accounts, which are mainly used for paying bills, are going electronic. Now some people can make computer transactions over their pushbutton phones to pay bills by transferring money from their account to the account of whomever they owe. Soon we may be able to conduct most of our business without signing a check or actually seeing the money we earn and spend. Main ideas that are inferred Sometimes a selection lacks a topic sentence but that does not mean that it lacks a main idea. The author simply lets the details of the selection suggest the main idea. You must figure out the implied idea by deciding the points of all the details. No sentence is a good topic sentence that covers all other sentences. In this case, the details show that people have explained mental illness in man different ways over the years. In ancient times, irrational behavior was considered the result of demons and evil spirits taking possession of a person. Later, Greeks looked upon irrational behavior as a physical problem – caused by an imbalance of body fluids called “humors” – or by displacement of an organ. In the highly superstitious Middle Ages, the theory of possession by demons was revived. It reached a high point again in the witch-hunts of eighteenth-century Europe and America. Only in the last one hundred years did true medical explanations gain wide acceptance and were categories of illnesses changed. Supporting details A paragraph contains facts, statements, examples-specifics, which guide us to a full understanding of the main idea. They clarify, illuminate, explain, describe, expand and illustrate the main idea and are supporting details. Types of Supporting Materials COMPARISONS in which one thing is shown to be like another. EXAMPLE: Skilled college students are like the unskilled students in their desire for a diploma. CONTRASTS in which one things is shown to differ from another. EXAMPLE: Skilled students are different from unskilled students in that they use a method to read a textbook. STATISTICS EXAMPLE: 75 percent of the students who do not attend class regularly receive grades of C or worse. GRAPHS EXAMPLE: Figure 9-1 is one type of graph. QUOTATIONS from authorities EXAMPLE: Professor Smity admits, “I tell students they don’t need to attend my class if they don’t want to. I know, however, that if they don’t come, they won’t pass.” Source: Ten steps to advanced college reading skills. John Langen and Lynn Jenkins, p. 14-37.

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Task 4. Look at each of the following paragraphs and then complete the outline for each paragraph. Notice that words such as first, also, another, and finally often signal each new item of support. 1. High schools should require all students to wear uniforms. To begin with, uniforms would save parents money. Parents could simply buy two or three inexpensive uniforms. They wouldn’t feel any pressure to spend money on designer jeans, name-brand shoes, or other high-priced clothes. Also, students wouldn’t have to worry about what to wear. They would get up every morning knowing how they’d be dressed for school. Their attention, then, could be more on learning than on making a fashion statement. Last of all, uniforms would help all students get along. Rich students wouldn’t be able to show off by wearing expensive clothes, and poor students wouldn’t have any reason to feel shabby. When rich and poor wear the same uniforms, there’s a sense that everyone is equal. Point: ________________________________________________________________ Supporting detail: 1. ____________________________________________________ Supporting detail: 2. ____________________________________________________ Supporting detail: 3. ____________________________________________________ 2. Many people think that they can’t improve their writing. The truth is that some tips can help you become a better writer. First of all, write often. Writing improves with practice. Secondly, organize your writing with an outline. An outline gives you a structure to build on. In addition, write in a plain style. Don’t try to use fancy language. Write as you would speak. Say what you mean simply and clearly. Finally, stick to your main ideas. Nothing improves writing more than avoiding unneeded words and statements. Point: ________________________________________________________________ Supporting detail: 1. ____________________________________________________ Supporting detail: 2. ____________________________________________________ Supporting detail: 3. ____________________________________________________ Supporting detail: 4. ____________________________________________________ 3. Certain basic fears are part of our lives. For one thing, we fear being disrespected. Bullies play on this fear. They cruelly tease their victims and take away their self-respect. And we feel hurt and disrespected when someone doesn’t return our phone calls or walks past us without saying hello. Another of our deepest fears is being alone. We all know in our hearts that we need each other. Not having other people in our lives makes us feel empty inside. A third basic fear, once we become adults, is growing old. Every year, Americans use plastic surgery to try to turn back the clock. And our magazines and TV shows and movies are full of beautiful young people. We do not want to be reminded that the clock keeps ticking. Point: ________________________________________________________________ Supporting detail: 1. ____________________________________________________ Supporting detail: 2. ____________________________________________________ Supporting detail: 3. ____________________________________________________

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Task 5. Active Reading Practice. Read the text about a smart city Songdo and spot the topic sentence in each paragraph. Songdo, South Korea: The Smartest Of Smart Cities Christoph Neidhart Songdo likes to call itself "the smartest of the world's smart cities." Within a decade $35 billion worth of resident and office high-rises had been erected on elevated ground. Around 100,000 people are now living in Songdo, and some 60,000 jobs have been created. It is forecast that Songdo will eventually be home to 600,000 people. Cisco is wiring the new city and installing a communications system, which would allow people to contact the municipal administration from their televisions. Additionally, developers have installed 300 interactive security cameras, equipped with emergency call systems. Everything is monitored in a control center with a gigantic data screen. In Songdo, everything has a "U" in front of it: U-traffic, U-safety, U-governance, U-health, and of course U-entertainment. The "U" stands for "ubiquitous," omnipresent. At the New Cities Summit, a sociologist called Songdo "a skyrocketing suburb." The automobile is king, especially electric vehicles. The city has already deployed charging stations for them. There are also bike paths and indoor parking spaces. Despite prohibitions, residents grow vegetables on the undeveloped land. Otherwise, there is very little that is recognizably Korean in Songdo — apart from the restaurants. A bridge spanning more than 21 kilometers connects the Incheon international airport to Songdo, which was thought as an Asian hub for multinational companies. Four international universities have established a campus here. Well-to-do Koreans have bought the majority of apartments. Many young families have moved to Songdo. Some say it has the best schools in Korea. "International means success in Korea, and success means wealth," he says. Koreans attach great importance to status symbols, and living in Songdo is one. Songdo was planned to be a model for the future. According to a UN report, by 2050, there will be 400 million more people in Indian cities, almost 300 million more in China, and 200 million in Nigeria. Consequently, these three countries together will need to build a new city every month. No wonder that Chinese mayors make a pilgrimage to Songdo to study it as a model. Opinions of Songdo are divided. The city was criticized as pedestrian-hostile and sterile: a typical top-down project that never thought to inquire about residents' needs. More than half of all urban spaces where humans will live in 2050 have not yet been built. Therefore, it's vital that construction companies and authorities get urban design right. And Songdo has done much correctly. It was the first city to receive LEED certification, an accolade for environmentally-friendly performance in energy, transportation, trash and water. Shortly before midnight, the wide streets are empty. Here and there, a young woman scurries home, her gaze directed toward her smartphone. A young man whizzes by on his hoverboard, with an electric motor and neon-lit wheels. The night suspends the strict separation between streets and people. A little life takes over the artificial city.

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Task 6. Read the introduction section and underline the topic sentence for each paragraph. Big Data Analytics and Decision Making Big data is becoming an increasingly important asset for decision makers. Large volumes of highly detailed data from various sources such as scanners, mobile phones, loyalty cards, the web, and social media platforms provide the opportunity to deliver significant benefits to organizations. This is possible only if the data is properly analyzed to reveal valuable insights, allowing for decision makers to capitalize upon the resulting opportunities from the wealth of historic and real-time data generated through production processes, customer behaviors [4]. Moreover, organizations are currently accustomed to analyzing internal data, such as sales, shipments, and inventory. However, the need for analyzing external data, such as customer markets, has arisen, and the use of big data can provide cumulative value and knowledge. With the increasing sizes and types of unstructured data on hand, it becomes necessary to make more informed decisions based on drawing meaningful inferences from the data [7]. Accordingly, [8] developed the B-DAD framework which maps big data tools and techniques, into the decision making process [8]. Such a framework is intended to enhance the quality of the decision making process in regards to dealing with big data. The first phase of the decision making process is the intelligence phase, where data which can be used to identify problems and opportunities is collected from internal and external data sources. In this phase, the sources of big data need to be identified, and the data needs to be gathered from different sources, processed, stored, and migrated to the end user. Such big data needs to be treated accordingly, so after the data sources and types of data required for the analysis are defined, the chosen data is acquired and stored in any of the big data storage and management tools previously discussed After the big data is acquired and stored, it is then organized, prepared, and processed. The next phase in the decision making process is the design phase, where possible courses of action are developed and analyzed through a conceptualization, or a representative model of the problem. The framework divides this phase into three steps, model planning, data analytics, and analyzing. Here, a model for data analytics, such as those previously discussed, is selected and planned, and then applied, and finally analyzed. Consequently, the following phase in the decision making process is the choice phase, where methods are used to evaluate the impacts of the proposed solutions, or courses of action, from the design phase. Finally, the last phase in the decision making process is the implementation phase, where the proposed solution from the previous phase is implemented [8]. As the amount of big data continues to exponentially grow, organizations throughout the different sectors are becoming more interested in how to manage and analyze such data. Thus, they are rushing to seize the opportunities offered by big data, and gain the most benefit and insight possible, consequently adopting big data analytics in order to unlock economic value and make better and faster decisions. Therefore, organizations are turning towards big data analytics in order to analyze huge amounts of data faster, and reveal previously unseen patterns, sentiments, and customer intelligence. According to Manyika et al.’s research, big data can enable companies to create new products and services, enhance existing ones, as well as invent entirely new business models. Such benefits can be gained by applying big data analytics in different areas, such as customer intelligence, supply chain intelligence, performance, quality and risk management and fraud detection [14]. Furthermore, Cebr’s study highlighted the main industries that can benefit from big data analytics, such as the manufacturing, healthcare, telecom, and banking industries [4]. Source: Big Data Analytics: A Literature Review Paper by Nada Elgendy and Ahmed Elragal 14

Unit 3. Retention strategies Task 1. Read the information below and share in groups of three the strategies you use to remember things.  61% of what you read is lost after the first hour and 100% is lost after 24 hours unless…you revisit the information  For a memory to persist, the information must be attended to, deeply processed, and connected in a meaningful way with existing knowledge.  Practicing the retrieval of information can facilitate retention because reconstructing memories alters them and makes them “stronger.”

Task 2. Read the text below and identify three strategies that you use on a common basis and three strategies that were new for you, if any. How to Remember What You Read The strategies you choose to assist you in remembering are a matter of preference and learning style. You might find one strategy that works very well for you; however, we recommend using multiple modalities (e.g. many senses) to increase retention and recall. Many academic disciplines require students to read vast amounts of dense scholarly material in addition to keeping up with lecture notes. Just reading the required number of pages can seem next to impossible, much less remembering what you have read. Here are some proven strategies that can help you organize and remember the information. Focus on Main Points The first or second paragraph following a heading often contains a summary of the main points, but check other paragraphs as well. Take note of overt statements of the author’s intent, such as, “My aim is ….” Try to notice the author’s style. Are important points mentioned more often at the beginning, middle, or end of paragraphs? Put It in Your Own Words Put main ideas into your own words, whether saying them out loud or writing them down. If you can’t do it, you probably don’t yet understand the material. Make separate summary notes for an easy overview, and then test yourself after each paragraph, section and chapter. Make Full Use of Your Textbook Don’t be afraid to write in your books—you paid for them! The value of making margin notes to enhance your learning will far outweigh the resale value of a spotless secondhand textbook. First Read, then Underline and/or Highlight Reading a section first will help you see key ideas and avoid underlining too much. Using different colours and symbols (in moderation!) helps categorize types of information such as definitions, important people and new concepts. Write in the Margins Be brief, but clear. You can jot down examples that will remind you of key ideas or your own thoughts about and reactions to the text. Use Sticky Tabs 15

For future reference, bookmark important sections and ideas, labeling your tabs with key words so you won’t waste time trying to find those ideas later. You may also want to make notes about where to find related ideas, for example, “definition on p. 20.” Read Headings Pay attention to headings and sub-headings, which are usually clear summaries of the section. Sometimes using these headings can also be helpful in organizing your notes. Notice Text Layout Notice bold and italicized words, which often signify key terms or definitions. Diagrams and other visuals can also represent important concepts. Read captions! View Chapters Holistically Recognizing the relationship of ideas within and between each chapter will help build a more complete understanding of the material. Are the ideas organized chronologically, by cause and effect, or in some other logical sequence? Get Personal If possible, connect with the material on a personal level. Some topics can elicit responses or trigger memories which can help make the material stay in your memory. The more invested you are in the material, the better your chances of retaining it. Draw It Out Increase your interaction with the text by turning words into diagrams and diagrams into words. While writing is a left brain activity, drawing uses the right side of your brain; therefore, doing both will store information in both brain halves as well as developing more creative thought connections. Diagrams or doodles in your notes also draw your eye to specific places on the page, saving time when you’re skimming to find a certain point. Don’t worry if you’re not Michelangelo (who is?)—your doodling is merely a processing tool, for your eyes alone. Accentuate the Positive Stay open to and positive about the text. Getting frustrated or negative will only make understanding more difficult. Take a break if necessary. Be Flexible Choose notetaking strategies that suit not only your own learning style but also the requirements of the subject. For example, you will need to take a different approach for a language or math course than you use for history or psychology. Let the format of the textbook suggest a useful approach. Task 3. Active Reading Practice. Read the text and use the retention strategies to remember the most important information from it. Emerging Applications of Liquid Crystals Based on Nanotechnology Jung Inn Sohn, Woong-Ki Hong, Su Seok Choi, Harry J. Coles Liquid crystals (LCs), first discovered in 1888 by an Austrian botanist, Frederick Reinitzer, continue to attract intense research interest because of their orientational order, the existence of strong dipoles and easily polarizable groups, the rigidness of the long axis, anisotropic features in the structural, optical, electrical and magnetic properties, as well as their easy response to electric, magnetic and surface forces [1–5]. Much effort has been devoted to the great scientific and technological developments and achievements for advanced photonic devices and high-performance display applications of LCs, as well as for creating novel device concepts and new LC applications. As a result, LCs will be able to become ubiquitous in diverse applications, ranging from displays to electronics, sensors, lasers and optical computing in our daily life [2,6]. 16

To date, besides the familiar displays being the most common applications of LC technology, numerous studies on LCs have been performed to provide unparalleled opportunities to facilitate the basic understanding of the science and to develop new nondisplay applications. In this regard, especially, ferroelectric LCs that possess a variety of advantages, such as a permanent electric polarization, high flexibility and fast response time, have attracted considerable attention in recent years as the basis for noble field effect transistors (FETs), memory cells and optical switching device applications [5,7]. In particular, among FET-based non-volatile memory devices, the ferroelectric FET, an important type of memory cells without a storage capacitor, is significantly attractive for memory and switch applications, because of the wide range of its interesting features, including small cell size, non-destructive read-out, low-power consumption, good retention and fast response time [8–15]. Another example of emerging applications based on LCs is holography, which is an ideal technology to realize three-dimensional (3D) dynamic images by changing the refractive index [16,17]. However, unfortunately, photo-refractive materials and photo-chromic materials require high external voltages and long response times, respectively, to modulate the refractive index [18–22]. To avoid such difficulties, arrays of carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/nanofibers were introduced to locally modulate the refractive index of the LC medium at low operation voltages [23–25]. Recently, we also developed a transparent, active-type 2D optical array that operates at low voltage using a graphene/CNT hybrid structure instead of using opaque metals [16]. In addition to demonstrating proof-of-principle concepts for individual single LC device applications, it is also possible to achieve technological advances and revolution into a rapidly growing multidisciplinary field involving displays, electronics and energy harvesting to integrate displays into a self-powered system [26,27]. Recent developments in piezoelectric power generators harvesting energy steadily from ambient mechanical vibrations without regard to time, place or any external conditions, present innovative and emerging research topics [26,28–32]. Among various piezoelectric materials and structures, a ZnO nanowire has been intensively studied as one of the most attractive materials. In particular, recent advance in the ZnO nanowire-based piezoelectric power generators exhibited highly promising piezoelectric performance for a self-powered source, due to its dimensionality and piezoelectric semiconducting properties containing nontoxicity, eco-friendliness and geometrical versatility [28,30,33]. In this paper, we aim to present and review snapshots of our recent research carried out on emerging applications of LCs, particularly focusing on the development of new applications based on a combination of LCs and functional nanomaterials, such as, ZnO nanowires, CNTs and graphene. In addition, we will briefly discuss novel device concepts and basic principles of programmable transistors, a transparent and active-type 2D optical array and multifunctional hybrid systems based on LCs. These explorations will give insights not only in comprehensively understanding the technical and scientific applications of LCs, but also developing new discoveries of other LC-based devices. Source: Materials 2014, 7, 2044-2061; doi:10.3390/ma7032044 Task 4. Discuss in pairs. 1. What retention strategies did you use? 2. Which ones do you consider the most efficient ones?

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Task 5. Active Reading Practice. Find the paper in your field of study, read it and mark up the text. Then, bring the marked up paper into the classroom and give it in.  Underline key ideas – for example, topic sentences.  Box or circle words or phrases you want to remember.  Place a checkmark or a star next to an important idea.  Place a double star next to an especially significant idea.  Put a question mark near any unfamiliar reference or a word you need to look up.  Number the writer’s key supporting points or examples.  Use different color highlighters.  Don’t be afraid to write your thoughts in the margins or on a separate sheet of paper (like the dialogic journal). Task 6. Read the text, choose one of the strategies of note-taking and present the key content of a research paper from your field of study in the forms of notes. Note-making strategies. There are many different types of note-making strategies. Two of them are Cornell system and Mind mapping. Cornell System The Cornell system produces an excellent note from which you can review ideas. It incorporates a section for traditional notes with a ‘Review Column’ and a ‘Summary’ section. The Review Column, on the left of the page, allows the note-maker to write key terms, concepts, sequences, and/or questions that will cue the brain to remember the detail notes. The bottom section of the page is reserved for a brief summary, which is very useful when reviewing notes. Mind Mapping Why might you choose to make a concept or mind map as your note? First of all, consider your learning styles: visual, auditory, and tactile. Learners who are visual and/or tactile will benefit from constructing a graphic map of the information read. Visual learners like to see a visual representation of the reading materials while tactile learners like to do something when they read. For visual learners, mind mapping appeals to their love of images, pictures, and colours. For tactile learners, constructing a mind map while reading keeps you active so you don‘t lose concentration and focus. They are fun to make and can be easily redrawn for review purposes. Irrespective your learning style, all readers can benefit from concept/ mind mapping as this type of note making requires the reader to distinguish main ideas from details. It is, therefore, a particularly useful method to employ if you are a reader who ‘gets lost in the detail’. 18

Unit 4. Reading Research Papers Task 1. Skim the paragraph and formulate the answer to the question posed. Why Learn to Read Papers? Reading papers certainly builds character because it often takes many hours and there is no guarantee you walk away with the whole story. This is not to disparage you, but merely to be open and transparent. Reading papers is difficult. Advances in fields such as machine learning, deep learning, data science, databases, and data engineering often come in the form of academic research, whose language is that of academic papers. Looking at the field of deep learning it seems as though a new critical paper is coming out every few days or weeks. The only way to stay on top of it is to get a hold of the paper and give it a read. Source: Guide to Reading Academic Research Papers. Kyle M. Shannon https://towardsdatascience.com/guide-to-reading-academic-research-papers-c69c21619de6 Task 2. Discuss in groups of three the difficulties of reading a research paper. Make a list. Task 3. Study the figure and formulate the conclusion for the graphs presented.

Fig. Different sections of scientific papers are considered easy to read and important at different stages of academic careers. The further an academic progresses into a researcher career, the easier he/she finds each section of a paper to read. An interesting point is how the various career stages view the importance of each section. Methods, Results and figures seem to be very important, ostensibly because as academics they have greater skill in their field, allowing them to be critical of a paper’s methods. It also means they know their field very well, therefore, the introduction and abstract have less importance. Early stage PhD students find the methods, results, and figures fairly difficult to understand. This makes perfect sense as those are the areas of a paper that require the most knowledge of a field to get through. You are likely to have a similar experience. Source: Guide to Reading Academic Research Papers. Kyle M. Shannon https://towardsdatascience.com/guide-to-reading-academic-research-papers-c69c21619de6 19

Task 4. Read the information about the difficulties of reading a research paper and compare the list with one from Task 2. What is it exactly that makes going through this process so difficult and time consuming?  Authors tend to assume significant background knowledge from readers  Academic syntax is dense and thus difficult for readers to parse  Mathematical expressions are typically condensed and equations reordered for concision, often skipping steps in derivations  Substantial knowledge gaps are filled if a reader has read cited papers  Not all conclusions drawn are correct. Small sample size and power, poor study design, researcher bias, and selective reporting ensures that you must be a critical reader! Source: Guide to Reading Academic Research Papers. Kyle M. Shannon https://towardsdatascience.com/guide-to-reading-academic-research-papers-c69c21619de6

Task 5. Scan the text and enumerate the sources of research papers and examples of reference management software. Tools to find and store research papers You can find papers primarily from several sources: arXiv: is an open-access repository (maintained at Cornell) where you can freely download and read pre-print research papers from many quantitative fields. Here is some more general info about arXiv. Many papers you find on the web will link back to the arXiv paper. PubMed: They say it best: “PubMed Central® (PMC) is a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM).” PubMed has a robust search feature if you are looking for medical or life science related papers. Google Scholar: Simply search for a topic, author or paper and google gets to work, on your behalf. As Google puts it “Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.” Sci-Hub is a website that provides free access to millions of research papers and books by mirroring official sources, often bypassing publishers' paywalls in various ways. Sci-Hub provides many of the papers by ignoring copyrights regulations. Social media: I find out about a lot of new papers simply by following and keeping up with several people who actively publish. Added bonus – they typically push other papers they find interesting and which you might want to know about or read. University: going to your local college or university gives you access to libraries, librarians and many journals where you can find and read articles that are typically behind online paywalls. As you begin to read more papers you are going to want to store them somewhere. Most researchers use a reference manager. Zotero, Mendeley and PaperPile are very popular. They have a simple, refreshing user interface, and a really good tagging and folder hierarchy system. A reference manager will quickly become your best friend as you collect and read more and more papers. Source: Guide to Reading Academic Research Papers. Kyle M. Shannon https://towardsdatascience.com/guide-to-reading-academic-research-papers-c69c21619de6 20

Task 6. Study the text and make up a mind map for it. The Art of Reading a Research Paper Step 1. Engage! Begin by reading the introduction (not the abstract), then glance through the pages just to look at any illustrations, pictures and plots, and finally read the final summary and conclusions. Now, set the paper aside and ask yourself a number of questions:  What is the paper about?  What problem does it claim to help solve?  Why is the problem important? (motivation, challenges)  What is the proposed solution? (hypothesis, key idea)  Is the problem or the solution of interest to you?  What does the paper accomplishes? (main contribution, important findings)  If you were to tackle this problem, could you think of other (or better) solutions? If you ask yourself these questions, you are engaging with the paper in a way that you do not when you are reading a textbook! This quick skim will take you just a few minutes. Whether you decide to read the paper, it will be useful to make a note and describe the paper using few sentences based on your answers to above questions. In fact, try to produce an ‘unstructured’ indicative abstract. This is a very brief overview of the paper (one paragraph of 150 to 200 words) that summarizes and communicates the research reported in the paper to other researchers. Step 2. Siege! If you decided to dig deeper, you need to read the paper with greater care but at this stage ignore details such as theorem proofs. Your aim should be to try to understand the key ideas of the paper. Here is a strategy: read the paper front to back but leave out any equations or complicated descriptions, so that you don’t slow down your progress through the paper. It can help if you print out the paper and grab something to write and highlight with (put a question mark next to things you don’t understand and move on, circle words you do not know, jot down further ideas, questions or criticism). Reading is an active task; as you read the paper ask yourself some more questions: Does the paper propose a method in which case, is it sound? does it work?  What are the main contributions? key ideas?  How does their work fit in with other similar works?  What improvement/extensions do they contribute?  What are the main assumptions? Do they appear to be valid?  What are the limitation of the approach?  What are the novelties/strengths? How is the method evaluated?  Are there any experimental/analytical errors?  How the authors demonstrate/prove that their solutions work?

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What are the findings?  Do their results make sense? Are the findings supported by persuasive evidence?  Is there an alternative interpretation of the data that the authors did not address?  How are the findings unique/new/unusual or supportive of other works in the field? What is the most important figure? What are future direction of this research?  What are some of the specific applications of the ideas presented here?  Can the research results be applied to another context?  What are some further experiments that would answer remaining questions? Is the approach something that you might use in your work? How do these results relate to the work you are interested in? To other work you have read about? In order to siege the paper and force it to surrender and reveal its secrets you shall write a summary note at this stage as well. Organize your thoughts by writing a structured abstract for the paper. A structured (a.k.a complete or informative) abstract contains a deeper and more extensive overview of the paper that outlines the main points including for example assumptions made, arguments presented, data analyzed, main results and conclusions drawn. Structured abstracts are still short (typically less than 500 words) and usually formatted with any of the following subheadings: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions. In your notes, also write down your questions and comments such as any limitations or extensions you see for the ideas in the paper, your opinion of the paper (primarily, the quality of the ideas and its potential impact). It is also useful to make note of most important figures/tables/etc. and interesting references to follow upon. Your notes can act as a standalone entity instead of the paper for your future references. Step 3. Conquer! In order to understand a paper, you often only need to go through step1and2; most papers surrender after you Engage and Siege! Sometimes however, you have to get in, delve deep and Conquer! Here is a strategy: read the paper much more carefully, trying to work through all the nitty-gritty details. This will involve looking up points that were not fully explained by consulting the references, textbook, online resources (such as Wikipedia), etc. Above all, be critical. Read the paper as if you were asked to review it. As a reviewer you need to evaluate the paper in term of its contribution, originality, strength and weaknesses. Ask yourself:  Is the research problem significant? Are the contributions significant?  Are the claims valid? Are the correct conclusions drawn from the findings?  What is a good argument against the case made by the authors?  What does this study add? Be aware, reviewing is a challenging task: to form a truly educated opinion on a scientific subject, you need to become familiar with current research in that field. Remember: don’t feel unworthy if you don’t understand all of the details! The fact is, there will be things you simply do not understand because either you do not have the adequate background or they are just too complicated. Don’t be afraid to ask questions of people who may know. Understanding a research paper at depth might require reading it several times. Source: AliMadooei School of Computing Science Simon Fraser University

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Task 7. Active Reading Practice. Find and read a paper from your filed. Write an indicative abstract to it. Questions to be answered Indicative abstract (150-200 words) What is the paper about? What problem does it claim to help solve? Why is the problem important? (motivation, challenges) What is the proposed solution? (hypothesis, key idea) Is the problem or the solution of interest to you? What does the paper accomplishes? (main contribution, important findings) If you were to tackle this problem, could you think of other (or better) solutions?

Task 8. Active Reading Practice. Read a research paper from your field and write an informative abstract to it. Questions to be answers Informative abstract (up to 500 words) What are the main assumptions? Do they appear to be valid? What are the main contributions? How does the work fit in with other similar works?

Background Objectives

How is the method evaluated? How do the authors demonstrate/prove that their solutions work?

Methods

What are the findings? Are the findings supported by persuasive evidence? Is there an alternative interpretation of the data that the authors did not address? How are the findings unique/new?

Results

What is the most important figure? Can the research results be applied to another context? How do these results relate to the Conclusions work you are interested in? What are future direction of this research?

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Task 9. Discuss in groups of three. 1. How do you read research papers? Do you follow the linear model of reading or you have your own order of reading the parts of a paper? 2. Which section of research papers should be read first? Explain your choice. Task 10. Study the rules for efficient paper reading and express your agreement and disagreement with the reading strategies offered. Rules for efficient paper reading 1. Read sections in an order, which facilitates speed and comprehension. 2. Question yourself as you read to keep the process active and critical. The following order is recommended for faster and more effectiveness paper reading. 1. ABSTRACT--It‘s very important to read the Abstract closely to determine whether you need to read the whole paper. Ask yourself: What specific results are mentioned? Are the findings relevant to my own research questions? Reading strategy: read closely to determine connect to your research questions 2. DISCUSSION--The Discussion (also known as ‘analysis’ or ‘conclusions’) gives important results and reasons for conclusions. This section gives more DETAIL on the specific results and, therefore, helps you determine whether this paper is relevant to your research, Ask yourself: Are these results useful? Do you agree with the logic of the author‘s conclusions? Reading Strategy: speed read 1st, then read for details, might need to read several times 3. INTRODUCTION--The Introduction explains the motivation and importance of the research. It gives prior research and what the accepted understanding in the field is. Ask yourself: Do you understand the background information? Do you need to look up references? Reading Strategy: skim 4. RESULTS--The Results provides raw data you might need for your own research. Figures and tables provide data in a condensed, easy to view way. Understanding Figures is very important to understand the paper. Ask yourself: Do you know what the axes mean? What units are used? Do the curves make sense? Reading Strategy: review Figures closely 5. METHODS--The Methods is often the hardest section to read as it contains specialized techniques. A well written Methods section is allow you to understand how you could replicate the experiment, if you wanted to. Reading Strategy: skim to pick out the basic method first. If the method is important to your research, then read again for more detail.

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Task 11. Active Reading Practice. Find the paper in your field and analyze it using the technique called «Dialogic Journal» described below. Dialogic Journals (Double Entry Journal) Before reading, answer these questions: Why are you reading this piece? What do you hope to learn as you read it? Fold a page in your daybook in half (long ways) and follow these steps to complete your dialogue journal: Write the title and author of the article at the top of the page. In the first column, “write down anything from the reading that catches your attention, seems significant, bores you silly, confuses you, or otherwise causes you to take note (or stop taking note).” Make sure to also write down the page number from which you have taken the quote. In the second column, explain what made you write the quote in the first column and/or respond to, question or critique the quote. Note: You will ping-pong between the two columns. When you find a quote you want to write down, you will write that quote in column one and then respond to it in column two. Then you will go back to reading, notice a new quote you want to write down in column one and respond in column two. For this assignment, choose at least two quotes per page. When you have finished reading, answer these questions: How is this reading useful or not useful for my purpose (in this case, for your inquiry project)? If it is useful, what is useful about it, and what in the reading illustrates that use?

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Unit 5. Reading Comprehension Reading comprehension is the active construction of meaning from text (it’s more than sounding out words, it’s UNDERSTANDING) Task 1. Read the general recommendations on reading comprehension and single out the three you find most useful. It is quite easy to read a text and then think to yourself ‘what did I just read?’ You may have felt like you were reading, but you have to be aware of whether you are actually taking in that information. Good comprehension involves:  Being able to select and understand what you need  Retaining and recalling the information  Linking the new information to existing information Comprehension is affected by:  Level of difficulty, complexity, and even interest  Background knowledge  Jargon, new vocabulary  Knowledge of English language structure Types of reading comprehension According to Makau (1990) there are 3 types of reading: 1. Content reading — understanding the information 2. Empathic reading — understanding the spirit of the message 3. Critical reading — combines the first two with analysis and evaluation Monitoring comprehension Monitor your comprehension by stopping from time to time to ask yourself what you have just learnt. Could you write down in your own words what you have just read? If you can, then your understanding of the text is very high. If you feel you can’t, then re-read the passage to improve your understanding of the text. Don’t be tempted to copy down big chunks of the text (unless you will be using it as a quote) as this will not aid your understanding! Write as much of it as you can in your own words.

Reading length If you are reading texts, which require great amount of concentration then you may find it more productive to read it in chunks and in smaller bursts. Reading solidly for 20 minutes at a time can be more productive and lead to a better understanding rather than feeling the need to read for a lengthier time. This will allow you to stop and reflect on what you have read and give you the opportunity to write notes if need be. Everyone has his own reading habits, so see what works best for you

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Task 2. Active reading practice. Study the B/D/A Strategy and apply it to one of the papers in your field. Strategy 1. B/D/A Strategy Before Reading 1. Take note of the title, author, and any headings in the text.

Title ________________________________________________________________ Author_______________________________________________________________ 1. Based on the title, author, and headings, what might this text discuss? What clues lead you to make this prediction? 2. What is the text’s genre? That is, what type of text are you reading (essay, short story, journal article)? 3. What preliminary questions do you have about the text? During Reading 1. If the text is an essay, short story read the whole text to get an overview of its content. If you are reading a lengthy text, such as a novel, you may wish to read one or two chapters at a time. 2. Then, read the text a second time. Use the strategies below to help you analyze and annotate the text. A) Underline important concepts and circle any new vocabulary words. B) Take notes and write any questions in the margins. You can later return to your questions and notes, paying particular attention to certain passages. You might also take notes using an outline such as the following: Main Idea (1-2 sentences): Author’s Point of View: My Questions: New Vocabulary Words: 3. If you are having difficulty with a paragraph, try these strategies: A) Read the paragraphs that come both before and after it to provide context clues. B) Identify the topic sentence. Remember, the topic sentence may appear in the first or last sentence of a paragraph. The topic sentence may also be implied. C) Determine the main idea and supporting details. Then try to answer the following questions about the passage: Who? What? Where? When? Why? D) Look for transition words that might indicate a shift in the text’s meaning, such as next, before, then, consequently, moreover, in addition, but, however. 4. If you are learning English, concentrate on the main ideas of paragraphs. Avoid translating each word or idiom in a sentence. Before looking up an unknown word in the dictionary, use context clues to determine the word’s meaning. If you find a definition in the dictionary, write the definition in the margin. After Reading 1. Review your notes and reread the text’s introduction and conclusion. 2. Talk aloud or write about the material. Use your own words to review the material. Answer your questions from your pre-reading and those that emerged during reading. 3. Think about the relationships among your ideas. How do they compare or contrast? How could you classify or group together some ideas? 4. Write a short summary that highlights the main ideas. What are the most important ideas and themes from the text? If you are reading literature, focus on writing about the literary elements and themes, not just plot summary. 5. Study your additional notes.

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Task 3. Active reading practice. Study the SQ4R Strategy and apply it to one of the papers in your field. Strategy 2. SQ4R: Survey, Question, Read, React, Recite, Review SQ4R is a powerful approach that incorporates a number of reading skills and techniques such as skimming, elaborating, note-making, and reciting. SQ4R can also be applied to any written genres such as research papers. SQ3R stands for:  SURVEY the text Skim the text to see if it is suitable for your needs and to get a general idea of what it is about.  QUESTION Ask yourself why you are reading the text and what you want to get out of it so that you read with a specific focus. Your comprehension improves if your mind is actively searching for answers to questions.  READ Read carefully, breaking up your reading into small sections, looking for main ideas.  RECALL Mentally go through the ideas you have just read and pick out the main points. Check that you can answer your initial questions. Check that you have assimilated and gathered the information you need.  REVIEW Look back to see if the passage has answered everything you wanted. How much can you remember?

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Unit 6. The argument Task 1. Scan the text and find the definitions of terms premise and conclusion. What synonyms for the terms premise and conclusion are given in the text? At the heart of critical thinking is the ability to recognize, construct, and evaluate arguments. By argument we mean the presentation of a reason or reasons in support of some claim. A single statement of a belief or position is not an argument. There must be at least two statements in an argument. One of those statements must represent a claim or action being defended, and one of the statements must represent a reason given in support of that claim or action. The reasons given in an argument are called the premises of the argument. The claim they try to support is called the conclusion of the argument. These are the technical terms of logic: «premise», «conclusion», and «argument». However, there are many non-technical terms that describe premises or conclusions. In a court of law, evidence (premises) is presented to support a verdict (conclusion). In a scientific paper, results of experiments or data (premises) are used to support conclusions. In a scholarly mathematical paper, proofs (premises) are given to justify certain propositions (conclusions) and certain propositions (conclusions) are said to follow from other propositions (premises). A scientist is not likely to write that her premises prove her conclusion. She is more likely to say that her data support her conclusion. In ordinary English, many different words are used for the technical terms «premise» and «conclusion». Depending on the situation, evidence, support, data, fact, and opinion mean the same as premise. A verdict or an inference is a conclusion. Proofs or verification are arguments. Clearly, before one can begin to evaluate an argument, one must be able to recognize when an argument is being made. One must be able to separate premises and conclusions from other material. Only then can one begin to evaluate the reasons and the reasoning of the argument. Knowing the language of argument can help in the process of identifying premises and conclusions. Task 2. Read the text and answer the questions after it. Any sentence used to state or assert that something is the case could be used as a premise or a conclusion. It is generally the declarative sentence, however, that is used to make a statement. A sentence makes a statement or an assertion when it is used to state some fact (There were three hundred and twenty robberies in Chicago last week), assert some opinion (Capital punishment is immoral), or make some claim (There could be life on other planets in other solar systems in other galaxies). Statements can be simple (The crime rate is declining) or complex (The crime rate is declining but press coverage of crime is increasing; or Either the crime rate is rising or the drug rate is increasing; or If the drug rate is increasing, then the crime rate is rising). Statements become premises or conclusions when they are related to one another as reason to claim or action supported. Not every group of statements makes an argument, 29

because not every group of statements consists of premises or conclusions. What makes a group of statements an argument is that at least one of the statements is put forth as a reason for accepting at least one other statement. In other words, no statement is a premise or conclusion in and of itself. A statement becomes a premise only if it is used to support another statement. A statement becomes a conclusion only if another statement or set of statements is offered in support of it. For example, the assertions ‘Jack is a politician’ and ‘Don’t vote for Jack’ might be used in an argument by using the first statement to support the second. Task 3. Answer the questions to the text. 1. When does a sentence make an assertion? 2. What are the types of statements? 3. When does a statement become a premise? 4. When does a statement become a conclusion? Task 4. Study the standard form of an argument and say what the basic elements of a standard form of an argument are. The standard form of an argument is a way of presenting the argument, which makes clear which propositions are premises, how many premises there are and which proposition is the conclusion. In standard form, the conclusion of the argument is listed last. In standard form, an argument is presented like this:

Premise 1 Premise 2

Premise 3

Therefore,

Conclusion

Example: I'm on leave this week. I never answer work emails when I'm on leave. Therefore, I'm not answering work emails this week. P1 I'm on leave this week. P2 I never answer work emails when I'm on leave. Therefore, C I'm not answering work emails this week.

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Task 5. What does the argument look like in standard form? Choose the variant 1,2,3, or 4. Argument Tim promised his daughter that he would pay for her to have a holiday on the Gold Coast if she got B or better in her critical thinking class. She got a B+, so he ought to pay for the holiday. Variant 1. P1 Tim promised his daughter that he would pay for her to have a holiday on the Gold Coast if she got B or better in her critical thinking class. P2 Tim's daughter got a B+ in her critical thinking class. Therefore, C Tim ought to pay for his daughter's holiday on the Gold Coast. Variant 2. P1Tim promised his daughter that he would pay for her to have a holiday on the Gold Coast if she got B or better in her critical thinking class. Therefore, C She got a B+, so he ought to pay for the holiday. Variant 3. P1Tim promised his daughter that he would pay for her to have a holiday on the Gold Coast if she got B or better in her critical thinking class. P2 She got a B +.Therefore, C He ought to pay for the holiday. Variant 4. P1 Tim promised his daughter that he would pay for her to have a holiday on the Gold Coast if she got B or better in her critical thinking class. P2 Tim's daughter got a B+ in her critical thinking class. So, C Tim ought to pay for his daughter's holiday on the Gold Coast. Task 6. Read the text and name the kinds of statements that are NOT arguments. Non-arguments You can think of arguments as ways to gather information and to acquire new beliefs. But information is not always given in the form of arguments. It might be that you’re reading some opinion piece in the newspapers, or maybe you’re listening to talk-back radio, or you’re talking with your friends on some hot topic, and they’re not really trying to make a point by using an argument. Sometimes people assert their beliefs without giving reasons; all they do is tell you what they believe. But stating beliefs is not giving arguments! Things that may look like arguments but are not, and are, thus, misconstrued as arguments, are explanations, reports, instructions, and so on. Let’s look at some of those. Explanations An explanation is a statement or collection of statements asserting why or how something is the case. Like arguments, explanations are typically presented as collections of statements. In explanations, however, statements are not presented as reasons to believe other statements; they are not presented as premises. Statements in explanations are trying to make you understand something, not trying to convince you that you should believe it. Example: In 2014, we introduced a new textbook in the Critical Thinking course taught at The University of Auckland, and we negotiated with the publishers to have a discount for 31

Auckland University students. It was agreed with the publisher that the textbook would cost $95, but the book was listed at $130. When students complained about the price, we called the publisher. Eventually, we understood what happened: the textbook was more expensive than we expected because the person with whom we had made an agreement on a reduced price for the University of Auckland had left the company, and the new employee wasn’t aware of the agreement. At some point, the agreement was lost, and that’s why we didn’t get the discount. We gave an explanation to our students to make them understand why the textbook was sold at $130 instead of $95. We weren’t arguing that the book should be sold at $130. We instead gave an argument to the publisher that they should reduce the price to $95 as negotiated and reimburse students. And they did. Advice Like explanations, advice is not an argument, even when expressed as a collection of statements. Suppose Carol says:A good way to stop your dog from getting fleas is to spray them with cider vinegar. With this advice, Carol isn’t arguing that we should spray our dogs with cider vinegar. She was just giving us a way of trying to get rid of the fleas. The advice, however, could be used as part of an argument, since it is a statement. The argument could have as a conclusion that “you should spray your dog with cider vinegar”, as in: Your dog has fleas, and a good way to get rid of fleas is to spray your dog with cider vinegar. Therefore, you should spray your dog with cider vinegar. But on its own, advice is not an argument. Instructions Instructions are not arguments either. Think about instructions to make a cake. You take flour, and then you put in an egg, and then you put in some milk, and you throw the thing in the oven, and eventually you get a cake. The instructions are not providing reasons for anything. Generally, instructions are not trying to make a point, they don’t have conclusions, and therefore, are not arguments. Source: MOOC «Logical and critical thinking», author, Patrick Girard, University of Auckland Task 7. For each passage below, determine whether it does or does not contain an argument. Give reasons for your judgment. If there is a conclusion, underline it. Passage 1 I don‘t care what you say. I really think that Yvette is in love with John. Why? Because she always wants to talk about him. She even blushes when you ask her about him. Passage 2 Soccer is an active game, which is very popular around the world. The game requires terrific eye-foot coordination, speed, and endurance. Passage 3 Any diet poses some problems. Here‘s why. If the diet doesn‘t work, that is a problem. If the diet does work, then the dieter‘s metabolism is altered. An altered metabolism as a result of dieting means a person will need less food. Needing less food, the person will gain weight more easily. Therefore, after successful dieting a person will gain weight more easily.

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Task 8. Study the organization of Paragraph 1 and analyze Paragraph 2 in a similar way. Paragraph 1. Currently, roads are often congested, which is expensive in terms of delays. It is claimed that building more roads, or widening existing ones, would ease the congestion. But not only is the cost of such work high, but the construction process adds to the congestion, while the resulting extra road space may encourage extra traffic. Therefore, constructing extra roads is unlikely to solve the problem, and other remedies, such as road pricing or greater use of public transport, should be examined.

Paragraph 2. Obesity is a growing problem in many countries. It can lead to various medical conditions, which increase the demand for public health services. There is no clear agreement on the causes of the condition, although some doctors blame a sedentary lifestyle. This does not explain why only certain people suffer from the condition, while others are not affected. Another theory is that a high fat diet, linked to modern processed food, is to blame. Recent research shows that most obesity sufferers do eat this unhealthy diet.

a) Problem Currently, congested, which is . . .

roads

are

often

b) Solution A It is claimed that building more roads, or widening c) Argument against solution A But not only is the cost of such work high, but . . . d) Solutions B and C . . . other remedies, such as road pricing or greater use . . .

Problem_______________________________ _____________________________________ Cause A_______________________________ _____________________________________ Argument against cause A_______________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Cause B_______________________________ _____________________________________ Conclusion in favour of B_______________ ____________________________________

1. Task 9. Use the following points to write an argument in one paragraph: Topic:

University expansion

Problem:

Demand for university places is growing, leading to overcrowding

Solution A: Argument against A:

Increase fees to reduce demand Unfair to poorer students

Solution B: Argument against B:

Government pays to expand universities Unfair to average taxpayer who would be subsidising the education of a minority who will earn high salaries 33

Conclusion: Government subsidises poorer students ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Task 10. For each of the following arguments, underline the premises and circle the conclusions. 1. “There should be no law which regulates when and where an individual may smoke. Such a law would allow government to substitute its laws for our freedom to make individual decisions. It didn’t work with liquor prohibition; it won’t work with smoking prohibitions.” 2. Free speech will be abused. Every liberty is abused. 3. Our diet plan is healthy; no one has been able to prove it isn’t. 4. As Superintendent of Schools, you have a vested interest in the funding bill before this legislative committee. Your arguments for increased funding of the public school system may be justifiably ignored. 5. Philosophy requires a lot of hard thinking. If you take a philosophy class, you will have to exercise your brain extensively. 6. No one ever did anything he or she did not want to do. If Smith robbed that bank, then he wanted to do it. 7. Either Gordonski is lying or she’s telling the truth. She isn’t lying. She must be telling the truth. 8. It’s a good idea to believe in free will. If there is no free will, then no one is responsible for their actions. If no one is responsible for their actions, then no one can justifiably be held accountable for their actions. If no one is held accountable for their actions, there would be chaos. No one wants chaos. 9. If fatalism is true, then everything that happens has to happen. If no one can change what must happen, then there is no sense in worrying about what happens, whether it is good or bad. Fatalism should take away our worries. 10. Alcoholic drinks should be avoided at meals. Liquor taken before or during meals encourages overeating. 11. “Milk is the only perfect, complete or standard food combination in Nature. This is evident from the fact that it contains all the elements of nutrition which the new born infant body needs, not only for its vital activities but also for the building of its rapidly multiplying cells and tissues.” – Henry Lindlahr, M.D., The Practice of Nature Cure 12. You should give the man a raise. After all, he has worked for you for fifty years and he’s never once taken a day off.

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Task 11. Identify the right conclusion in the arguments. 1. Ninety percent of students at the University of Auckland graduate with a B.A. degree. Li Fong is a student at the University of Auckland. So Li Fong will graduate at the University of Auckland. A. Ninety percent of students at the University of Auckland graduate with a B.A. degree. B. Li Fong is a student at the University of Auckland. C. Li Fong will graduate at the University of Auckland. 2. If chocolate tastes terrible, beer tastes terrible too. Chocolate does taste terrible, so beer tastes terrible too. A. If chocolate tastes terrible, beer tastes terrible too. B. Chocolate does taste terrible. C. Beer tastes terrible. 3. Undemocratic societies kill the human spirit. The reason is clear: unless the people have the power in their society, the human spirit withers. A. Undemocratic societies kill the human spirit. B. Unless the people have the power in their society, the human spirit withers. C. The spirit withers. D. The people have the power in their society. Task 12. Identify all the premises for each argument. 1. Like it or not, the New Zealand Prime Minister is incredibly popular. Most New Zealanders think he is doing a good job. You can’t argue with public opinion. Therefore, the New Zealand Prime Minister is doing a good job. A. The New Zealand Prime Minister is incredibly popular. B. Most New Zealanders think the New Zealand Prime Minister is doing a good job. C. You can’t argue with public opinion. D. The New Zealand Prime Minister is doing a good job. 2. These days, university students pay for their classes much like customers pay for a product. Obviously, one of the first goals of a company is to make a product that pleases the customers. Thus, one of the first goals of a university teacher should be to run a class that pleases the students. A. These days, university students pay for their classes much like customers pay for a product. B. One of the first goals of a company is to make a product that pleases the customers. C. One of the first goals of a university teacher should be to run a class that pleases the students. 3. Insurance! Who needs it? If you suffer a loss against which you are insured, then even if they shell out, it doesn’t give you back what you lost. And If you don’t suffer the loss against which you were insured, then you’ve just thrown away good money. A. No one needs insurance. B. If you suffer a loss against which you are insured, then even if they shell out, it doesn’t give you back what you lost. C. If you don’t suffer the loss against which you were insured, then you’ve just thrown away good money.

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Task 13. Study the information about complex arguments and do the Task 14. The simplest argument has a single premise and a single conclusion. Complex arguments may have several premises and one or more conclusions. Some complex arguments are constructed by linking together several simpler arguments. The linkage may be made by having the conclusion of one argument serve as a premise in another argument. A very common form of complex argument is to present several sub-arguments in support of a single main conclusion. A sub-argument is one whose conclusion is not the main conclusion of the argument. For example: Drugs should be legalized because it would cut down on street crime. Criminals wouldn’t have to commit crimes to get their drugs because their drugs would be cheap. And it would save the taxpayer a lot of money. We wouldn’t have to build so many jails and we wouldn’t have to hire so many cops to enforce drug laws. This argument has sub-arguments. A tree diagram might be helpful to illustrate this point. First, let’s rewrite the argument, numbering each statement. Then, we’ll diagram the argument using the numbers of the statements to represent the statements in the diagram. To give a visual representation of the role of premises as supports in an argument, we represent premises below their conclusions, as in diagram 1. [1] Drugs should be legalized because [2] it would cut down on street crime. [3] Criminals wouldn’t have to commit crimes to get their drugs because [4] their drugs would be cheap. And [5] it would save the taxpayers a lot of money. [6] We wouldn’t have to 2 build so many jails and [7] we wouldn’t have to hire so many cops to enforce drug laws. 5 The diagram shows the sub-arguments. Statements 2, 3, and 4 make up a chain argument: Statement 4 supports statement 3 and statement 3 supports 3 2. Statements 5, 6, and 7 make up another 6 7 statement sub-argument. (Each of these groups of statements has a conclusion that is not the main conclusion of the argument.) And each of the sub-arguments has a 4 statement that serves as both a premise and a conclusion in the overall argument. (Remember: the terms ‘premise’ and ‘conclusion’ are relational terms. Just as the same man can be both a son and a father, the same statement can be both a premise and a conclusion in an argument.)

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Task 14. For each of the following, first determine if the passage contains an argument. If it does, underline premises, circle conclusions; or number the statements and diagram the argument. 1. “Since [beauty] is no creature of our reason...[and] since it strikes us without reference to use...we must conclude that beauty is, for the greater part, some quality in bodies acting mechanically upon the human mind by the intervention of the senses.” 2. “For over two thousand years mathematicians have been making correct inferences of a systematic and intricate sort, and logicians and philosophers have been analyzing the character of valid arguments.” - Patrick Suppes, Introduction to Logic 4. The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything except our modes of thinking. Therefore, we will drift toward unparalleled catastrophes. - Albert Einstein 36

5. “We are an intelligent species and the use of our intelligence quite properly gives us pleasure. In this respect the brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.” --Carl Sagan 6. “Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak. But experience more than sufficiently teaches that men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues.” --Spinoza, Ethics, pt. III, proposition 2, note. 7. “No educated man stating plainly the elementary notions that every educated man holds about the matters that principally concern government could be elected to office in a democratic state, save perhaps by a miracle. His frankness would arouse fear, and those fears would run against him; it is his business to arouse fears that will run in favor of him.” --H.L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy 8. “Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live unreflectively and begins to devote himself to his life with reverence in order to raise it to its true value. To affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward, and to exalt the will to live.” --Albert Schweitzer, Out of My Life and Thought 9. “If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.” --John Stuart Mill, On Liberty 10. “I refer those actions which work out the good of the agent to courage, and those which work out the good of others to nobility. Therefore temperance, sobriety, and presence of mind in danger, etc., are species of courage; but modesty, clemency, etc., are species of nobility.” -Spinoza, Ethics, pt. III, proposition 59, note. 11. I just don’t see why multi-cultural education is so popular or why people think it is valuefree. Multi-cultural education is not value-free, despite what its proponents say. It teaches children to respect and accept the evil values and practices of other cultures such as genital mutilation of young girls in Africa and handing out death sentences for blasphemy in Iran. 12. “Man can will nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth.” --Jean Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness 13. “A celebrated author and divine has written to me that ‘he has gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble a conception of the Deity to believe that He created a few original forms capable of self-development into other and needful forms, as to believe that He required a fresh act of creation to supply the voids caused by the action of His laws.’” --The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin 14. Since I do not foresee that atomic energy is to be a great boon for a long time, I have to say that for the present it is a menace. Perhaps it is well that it should be. It may intimidate the human race into bringing order into its international affairs, which, without the pressure of fear, it would not do.” --Albert Einstein, Atlantic Monthly, Nov. 1945.

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Task 15. Study the Introduction section of an article in your field, record your ideas in the table below and bring them into the classroom. Notes

Topic/Title of argumentative text

Main claim in the argument

Support for the argument in the text

How strong is the argument? Do you find it convincing? Why? How strong is the evidence?

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Unit 7. Argument indicator words An indicator word signifies the presence of an argument and helps us determine what role the statement plays in the argument, i.e., either premise or conclusion. Some indicator words come before the premise; others come before the conclusion. Indictor words are NOT part of the content, but serve to signal which statements are premises and which are conclusions. They indicate the direction of the reasons in the argument. Learning these words and their meanings will help you spot an argument more quickly. The argument: Indicator words Common Premise Indicators Since Because For Follows from As shown by Given that

Meaning On the grounds that For the reason(s) that As indicated by May be inferred by May be derived from May be deduced from

Common Conclusion Indicators Therefore Thus So Hence Then It follows that In conclusion Accordingly

Meaning For all these reasons we can see that On these grounds it is clear that Consequently Proves that Shows that Indicates that We can conclude that Demonstrates that

Hints about some indicator words 1. ‘Hence’, ‘thus’, ‘consequently’, ‘so’, ‘therefore’ as conclusion indictors = some (maybe all) of the reasons for that conclusion appeared somewhere earlier in the text. 2. ‘Since’, ‘as’, ‘because‘ as premise indicators = the conclusion being supported usually is stated in another clause of the very same sentence! e.g. Since nuclear plants have a life expectancy of under 40 years, they themselves may become the hardest waste disposal problem of all. 3. ‘And’ as Conjunction: preceded by a conclusion indicator word (e.g. and therefore) ≠ an indicator word as Premise: e.g. He is fat and he has diabetes. Therefore, he should go on a diet. = an indicator word

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Task 2. Place each of the following phrases in one of the three columns below, according to whether it is a premise/reason indicator or a conclusion indicator. Phrases 1. Implies that 2. Especially 3. So 4. Being that 5. Seeing that 6. Nevertheless 7. May be deduced from 9. Suggests very strongly 10. In the first place 11. Therefore 12.Thus

Reason

Conclusion

Neither

Task 3. For the following arguments, underline the premises, circle the conclusions and box the indicator words. 1. Justice can not exist for the poor because justice is nothing but the way the rich protect their interests. 2. A politician can not get elected unless she lies. Therefore, all elected officials are liars. 3. We are out of gasoline. Therefore, you had better start walking to the nearest gas station. 4. Children should not enter child beauty contests because photographers will make them pose for sleazy pictures and judges will give them drugs. 5. You do not have a suntan. So, you’re not from California. 6. Since that noise you listen to has no rhythm, harmony or melody, it is not music. 7. King Tutankhamen was not a great king because he died before his twentieth birthday. 8. Everybody does it. So, I ought to be allowed to do it, too. 9. The President’s action was a mistake because he has put his own children in extreme danger. And, it will not reduce, but escalate terrorism. It will lead to further retaliation on our part. It will strengthen the resolve of our Arab enemies. Finally, it will push friendly Arab states into the arms of the Soviet Union. 10. “Astronomy was born of superstition; eloquence of ambition, hatred, falsehood and flattery; geometry of avarice; physics of an idle curiosity and even moral philosophy of human pride. Thus, the arts and sciences owe their birth to our vices.” Jean Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Arts and Sciences. Task 4 Read the paper and identify the argument indictor words.

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Unit 8. Argument evaluation Task 1. Discuss in groups of two. 1. What is a good argument? 2. What is a bad argument? 3. Why do scientists sometimes fail to provide good arguments for their premises?

Task 2. Read the text and be ready to explain the following terms: valid argument, sound argument, cogent argument. Good and bad arguments One important aspect of critical reading is our ability to evaluate arguments, i.e., to judge and assess an argument‘s persuasiveness. If you are persuaded by an argument, you will accept it based on the strengths of the reasons provided. Someone who offers a ‘good’ argument is giving you REASONS and EVIDENCE to accept their claim. Therefore, if you look only at the conclusion and accept or reject it without looking at the reasons (premises), you are ignoring the argument. Valid Arguments

An argument is valid if it’s a deductive argument for which the premises succeed in providing conclusive support for the conclusion. An argument is strong if it’s a non-deductive argument in which the premises succeed in providing strong support for the conclusion. By that, we mean that, if the premises are true, then the conclusion would be given the appropriate support for also being true.

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When we evaluate whether arguments are sound or cogent we consider whether the premises are true or not. Validity and strength of arguments do not on their own tell us whether arguments are good or bad. That’s why we need to introduce two further concepts for arguments: being sound and being cogent. Sound Arguments A sound argument is a valid argument that has true premises. Firstly, a sound argument is a deductive argument. It’s trying to establish conclusive support for its conclusion. Secondly, the argument is valid: the premises, if true, would guarantee that the conclusion is also true. And on top of all that, the premises are actually true. Therefore, a sound argument guarantees that its conclusion is true. We say that a sound argument is a good argument. It is a good argument because it guarantees that the conclusion is true. For example: The province of Québec is part of Canada. Patrick was born in Québec. Therefore, Patrick was born in Canada. This is a valid argument. Can you see why? Furthermore, the premises are true: Québec is indeed part of Canada, and Patrick was indeed born in Québec. Hence, you can be absolutely certain that Patrick was born in Canada, and you ought to believe that Patrick was born in Canada. There’s no way around it. Cogent Arguments A cogent argument is a strong non-deductive argument that has true premises. And again, we say that cogent arguments are good. A cogent argument is by definition non-deductive, which means that the premises are intended to establish probable (but not conclusive) support for the conclusion. Furthermore, a cogent argument is strong, so the premises, if they were true, would succeed in providing probable support for the conclusion. And, finally, the premises are actually true. So, the conclusion indeed receives probable support. For example: Patrick was born in North America and Patrick wasn’t born in Mexico. It’s thus quite probable that Patrick was born in the USA. That is a cogent argument. If all you know about Patrick is what’s contained in the premises, and those premises are true, then that’s a fairly strong argument, because the population of the USA is over 300 000 000, whereas that of Canada is under 40 000 000. This means that the odds that Patrick was born in the USA are roughly 88%, which makes the support for the conclusion quite strong. Furthermore, the premises are true. Therefore, the argument is cogent, and so it is a good argument. This means that we can have good arguments that have false conclusions! Example: I had coffee this morning. Therefore, it’s quite likely that I drank something this morning. This is a strong argument with true premises, so it is cogent and therefore, good. But the conclusion is not guaranteed. It may be that I had coffee this morning by eating it, or by some other means. But of course, this is very unlikely, so the argument is strong, though it’s still possible that the conclusion is false. Still, this is cogent and therefore, a good argument. Task 3. Read two dialogues. Compare and contrast them for ‘good’ and ‘bad’ arguments. Dialogue 1 Peter: Mountain climbing is a terrific sport. It gives people a chance to get out in beautiful country; it gives them good exercise; it builds really strong arm and leg muscles, and it requires great teamwork. Jasmine: A great sport? Isn’t it kind of dangerous? Peter: More than any other sport I know it builds both health and teamwork. Jasmine: I don‘t know. I‘ve heard about a lot of accidents mountain climbing. 42

Peter: Furthermore, you aren‘t going to find a better sport for aerobic strength and arm and leg muscle development. Jasmine: Mountain climbing is really risky. I just can‘t see the point. And besides, why should the public have to pay when these mountain climbers get into trouble? The forest rangers are in there with helicopters and it all costs taxpayers’ money. Peter: We’re going out next weekend and I was going to ask you to come. But I guess I won‘t now. Obviously, you’re not the type. Dialogue 2 Peter: Mountain climbing is a terrific sport. It gives people a chance to get out in beautiful country; it gives them good exercise; it builds really strong arm and leg muscles, and it requires great teamwork. Jasmine: I doubt that mountain climbing is better for developing your muscles better than tennis or soccer. Is it better for developing teamwork than baseball or basketball? I can see why mountain climbing attracts people, in a way, but I think it‘s too risky to be a good sport to take up. Peter: I‘m not saying it‘s the only way to develop muscles and good teamwork. You could do that through sports, of course. But mountain climbing is such a challenge and it‘s so much fun and gives you such a sense of achievement. When you put these together with the good exercise and teamwork, you‘ve really got something. As for risk, why do you think mountain climbing is so risky? Jasmine: It‘s those stories you see in the paper about how the forest rangers have to go out and use helicopters to rescue these mountain climbers who go out on ledges and so on. Analysis of Dialogue 1: They ignore each other‘s arguments to the point where they seem about to lapse into a quarrel. Peter asserts 4 reasons why he thinks mountain climbing is terrific. Jasmine doesn‘t agree with Peter‘s claims. She states another view based on another argument: mountain climbing is not a good sport because it‘s dangerous. She ignores Peter‘s argument totally. She reacts as if Peter didn‘t use any premises (when he uses 4) and she disagrees solely based on his conclusion, i.e., instead of considering his reasons and how they might support her own. Peter then responds in kind and ignores Jasmine‘s arguments Analysis of Dialogue 2: Jasmine considers Peter‘s argument and asks how several of his premises are supposed to support his conclusion. She mentions her own point of view. Peter responds to her argument by asking her why she thinks it‘s risky. He is, in effect, questioning her premise (politely) and asking for a sub-argument. Whether they agree to each other arguments in the end, we can see that much more info was exchanged and the situation is less likely to degenerate into a quarrel, i.e., a fight rather than a reasoned attempt to justify one‘s point of view. Source: Govier, T. (1992). A Practical study of argument. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

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Task 4. Decide whether these arguments good or bad? Choose two arguments, decide if they are good or bad, and explain your answer. Arguments 5 and 6 are more challenging, but the procedure is the same. Make sure you correctly identify the main argument first; this may simplify your task. 1. If fish are mammals, then they’re warm-blooded. However, fish aren’t, in fact, warmblooded, so it follows that they’re not mammals. 2. It seems like we should park on another street. Last time we parked on this street we got towed. We don’t want to get towed again. 3. Smokers are very fit people. After all, they spend a lot of time outside in all weather and they walk long distances to get to places where they are allowed to smoke. 4. If we stop smokers from smoking in bars, then smokers will also be stopped from smoking everywhere else. We do not want to prohibit people from smoking everywhere. Therefore, we should not support a ban on smoking in bars. 5. We need not accept the views of older people who think that electronica, drum-andbass and other current pop styles are degenerate and devoid of creativity. For a start, the views of younger people are just as worth taking seriously as those of older people. On top of that, people’s musical tastes tend to become permanently fixed when they are in their 20s and 30s, so once they are older than this, they are unlikely to be listening objectively to new musical styles. In addition to all that, people (and especially people from age 40 up) have always complained about the music of the youth and yet history soon shows that they were wrong to think it was hopeless. 6. New Zealand only has snow for a fairly short time in a fairly small number of regions. So very few New Zealanders are likely to get much of an opportunity to become competent in the sports that are done at the Winter Olympics. Because of this, it is likely that New Zealand will never have a really good Winter Olympic Team. And if New Zealand will never have a really good Winter Olympic Team, it’s a waste of time for New Zealand to bother entering. The conclusion is obvious!

Task 5. Study a paper in your field and find 3 examples of valid arguments and 3 examples of invalid arguments.

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Unit 9. Logical fallacies Task 1. Study the types of fallacies and be ready to explain what each fallacy means. A logical fallacy is faulty logic used in writing or speaking. There are many types of fallacies. You need to be able to recognize them when you read and avoid using them in your writing. See Some Common Logical Fallacies. Many of these fallacies have Latin names, perhaps because medieval philosophers were particularly interested in informal logic. You don’t need to know the Latin names: what’s important is being able to recognize the fallacies. 1. The ‘Who are you to talk?’ Fallacy Rejecting an argument because the person advancing it fails to practice what he or she preaches. Doctor: You should quit smoking. It’s a serious health risk. Patient: Look who’s talking! I’ll quit when you quit. Responses like that probably sound familiar. But the doctor’s failure to look after her own health is irrelevant to the argument, resting on a concern for the patient’s health, that the patient should quit smoking. 2. The Red Herring Fallacy. An arguer tries to sidetrack his or her audience by raising an irrelevant issue and then claims that the original issue has effectively been settled by the irrelevant diversion. There is a good deal of talk these days about the need to eliminate pesticides from our fruits and vegetables. But many of these foods are essential to our health. Carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, broccoli is rich in iron, and oranges and grapefruits have lots of Vitamin C. Plans to eliminate or reduce pesticides probably don’t entail stopping the production of common vegetables: the suggestion that they do is an irrelevant red herring. 3. The Strawman Fallacy. Someone distorts or caricatures an opponent’s arguments or views, and then attacks the weakened version rather than the real argument. Margaret: “We have to do something about greenhouse gases. The government should raise vehicle fuel efficiency standards to cut down the amount of CO2 we release over the next 20 years”. Roger: “Margaret’s solution would be a disaster. It would kill the economy. How would people get to work without cars?” Roger claims that Margaret is proposing measures that would eliminate cars. Margaret has not said anything equivalent to that. It’s a strawman. 4. The Ad Hominem or ‘At the Person’ Fallacy. Rejecting someone’s argument by attacking the person rather than evaluating their argument on its merits.

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“Dear Editor, The current campaign against combining drinking with driving is terrorising law-abiding people. Many law-abiding people are cutting their alcohol consumption because they are afraid of being caught by random breath testing. But research shows that the average drink-driver in a fatal accident has an average blood alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit. The current campaign against drinking and driving is failing to achieve what should be our top priority; getting the heavy and hardened drinkers of the road.” Douglas Myers. CEO, Dominion Breweries. “Dear Editor, I read Doug Myer’s letter yesterday but he is the CEO of a major brewing company! He has a vested interest in keeping alcohol sales up, and the anti-drink-driving campaign threatens to reduce alcohol sales. We shouldn’t take any notice of his views about drinking and driving”. But if Myer has given arguments in favour of his view, we should evaluate them like any other argument – are they valid? strong? – rather than writing them off because of facts about him. 5. Fallacious Appeal to Authority. Relying upon the view of apparent (as opposed to genuine) authorities to settle the truth of a statement or argument. Richard Long, a respected retired New Zealand newsreader featured in advertising campaigns for Hanover Finance. Long had no financial expertise. Newsreaders look well informed, but they are essentially presenters. They are well known because they’re on the news: not because they know about investments. If we rely upon a newsreader’s endorsement to settle which investment fund we should trust, we would be accepting a claim without adequate evidence. That would be a fallacious appeal to authority. Appeals to authority also conflict with the basic tenet of good logical and critical thinking, which calls upon us to take responsibility for evaluating the grounds for our beliefs. Adopting a belief merely because someone else simply told us it was true is a way of avoiding good logical and critical thinking. Sometimes, however, good logical and critical thinking will itself lead us to rely on genuine authorities. If I can’t assess the investment option for myself, I might reason that I should trust the advice of a genuine investment advisor. That’s not avoiding logical and critical thinking: it’s reasoning about a matter related indirectly to the question I’m trying to settle. When I consider whether I should rely on a genuine authority, I should consider the following questions: 1. Is the authority a genuine authority: are they experts? 2. Are they giving advice in the areas within which they are a genuine authority? (We should listen to actors about acting; not so much about investing or medicine). 3. Is there a broad consensus among authorities in the area? If not, we should not decide to believe X solely because an authority says X is true, since other genuine authorities say that X isn’t true. 4. Is the authority speaking sincerely (they might be giving an endorsement because they’re paid to do so) and are they free of obvious bias? 46

Only if the answer to all four of these questions is “yes” should we accept a claim because an authority endorses it, and even then, we should only do so if we are not in a position to evaluate the evidence for the claim ourselves. 6. The Fallacy of Composition. Arguing that what is true of the parts must be true of the whole. (All of the parts of the object O have the property P. Therefore, O has the property P.) Rugby players Ma’a Nonu, Jerome Kaino and Charles Piatau are all great players. In 2012, they all played for the Auckland Blues. Therefore, the 2012 Auckland Blues were a great team. The conclusion of this argument was false even though the premises were true. 7. The Fallacy of Division. Arguing that what is true of the whole must be true of the parts. (The opposite of the fallacy of composition: Object O has the property P. Therefore, all the parts of the object O have the property P.) Men are, on average, taller than women. Therefore, Tim is taller than Maria Sharapova. Tim would have to be taller than 188cm/6ft 2in to be taller than Sharapova: he’s not. 8. Equivocation. A key word is used in two or more senses in the same argument and the apparent success of the argument depends on the shift in meaning. Any law can be repealed by the proper legal authority. The law of gravity is a law. Therefore, the law of gravity can be repealed by the proper legal authority. When the two senses of ‘law’ (laws regulating human conduct vs. uniformities of nature) are made explicit, it is apparent that the first premise is irrelevant, hence a fallacious argument.

9. Appeal to Popularity. Arguing that a claim must be true because lots of people believe it. Essential Bible Blog’s Top 10 Reason the Bible is True: Reason 8. Leader Acceptance. A majority of the greatest leaders and thinkers in history have affirmed the truth and impact of the Bible. Reason 9. Global Influence. The Bible has had a greater influence on the laws, art, ethics, music and literature of world civilization than any other book in history. Perhaps the Bible is true, but the fact lots of people believe it to be so is irrelevant to whether it is or not. We should investigate and evaluate their reasons for believing it, rather than taking the mere fact that they believe it as a reason to do so.

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10. Appeal to Tradition. Like appeals to popularity except the appeal is to how long something has been believed, rather than to the number of people who have believed it People have believed in astrology for a very long time, therefore, it must be true. But all of the objections to arguments from majority belief apply here, too. 11. Appeal to Ignorance: Argumentum Ad Ignorantiam. The arguer asserts that a claim must be true because no one has proven it false, or that a claim must be false because no one has proven it to be true. Note: When we describe someone as ignorant, we often mean it as an insult. Here we use it to describe the situation in which we do not know (are ignorant of) something. In this sense, the smartest of us are ignorant of quite a lot. (We don’t want any equivocation in our use of the term ‘ignorant’). There must be intelligent life on other planets: No one has proven there isn’t. There isn’t any intelligent life on other planets: No one has proven there is. 12. Appeals to Emotion. An arguer attempts to evoke feelings of pity or compassion, when such feelings are not logically relevant to the arguer’s conclusion. Student to Lecturer: I know I missed most of the lectures and all of my tutorials. But my family will be really upset if I fail this course. Can’t you find a few more marks? Daughter: Can we get a puppy? Father: No. Daughter: If you loved me, we’d get a puppy. That would be an appeal to emotion, in this case love. Note that the persistent child might continue: Daughter: A puppy would grow up and protect us. Can’t we get a puppy? Father: No. Daughter: If you wanted to keep us safe you’d get a puppy! You don’t care about us! That would be a strawman, not contemplated by the father or entailed by his actual view, and attacking that. Being able to spot the common fallacies can be very useful in the home. 13. Begging the Question. In philosophy, unlike in many other areas, ‘begging the question’ does not mean ‘raises a question which must be answered’. In philosophy, when someone begs the question, they state or assume as a premise the very thing they are trying to prove as a conclusion.

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14. False Dilemma or False Dichotomy. Occurs when an argument presents two options and gives the impression that only one of them may be true, never both, and that there are no other possible options. Either Shakespeare wrote all the plays attributed to him, or Bacon did. There’s good reason to think Shakespeare didn’t write all the plays attributed to him. Therefore, Bacon wrote all the plays attributed to Shakespeare. It’s possible that Shakespeare didn’t write all of the plays attributed to him, but that doesn’t mean Bacon did: there are other possibilities. In the Shakespeare/Bacon case the false dilemma was explicit (either Shakespeare wrote all the plays … or Bacon did), but often the dilemma is implicit. If I spend all of the week partying, I won’t have time to study and I’ll fail. If I spend all week studying, I’ll be over-prepared and stressed and I’ll fail. So I’m going to fail either way. I might as well spend the week partying. Here the dilemma is unstated – “The only options are to spend all week studying or to spend all week partying” – and once stated it surely isn’t plausible: the student could spend some of the week studying and some of the week partying? 15. The Slippery Slope Fallacy. Arguers say that an innocentlooking first step should not be taken because once taken, it will be impossible not to take the next, and the next, and so on, until you end up in a position you don’t want to be in. Don’t get a credit card. If you do, you’ll be tempted to spend money you don’t have. Then you’ll max out your card. Then you’ll be in real debt. You’ll have to start gambling in the hope of getting a big win. But you’ll normally lose. Then you’ll have to steal money to cover your losses. Then your partner will leave you. And you won’t be able to feed the dog, and it’ll die. And it would be bad if the dog died. So you mustn’t get a credit card. Slippery Slope arguments are fallacious if it is possible to stop at one of the steps: couldn’t I get a credit card with a maximum, or exercise a bit of control, or get the local animal protection society to help me feed the dog? 16. Hasty Generalisations. Arguer draws a general conclusion from a sample that is biased or too small. The oldest woman in the world, Jeanne Calment (122 years, 164 days) smoked until her early 110s. Therefore smoking isn’t really bad for you. Andrew Wakefield claimed to have shown a correlation between the MMR vaccine, bowel disorders and autism, but – among other flaws – his research focused on children already thought to have the conditions he claimed were caused by the vaccine. The claim that smoking carries significant health risks isn’t falsified by a single case and trials drawing population wide conclusions must recruit representative study-populations.

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17. Faulty Analogies. The conclusion of an argument depends upon a comparison between two (or more) things that are not actually similar in relevant respects, or without pointing out how the two differ and why it does or does not matter. I need a new car. My last three cars have all been reliable, and they were blue. So I’m going to buy a blue car.

Task 2. Work in pairs. Take turns to explain each other the meaning of the following logical fallacies. Try to think of the examples to illustrate their meaning. 1. The Red Herring Fallacy. 2. The Strawman Fallacy. 3. Fallacious Appeal to Authority. 4. The Fallacy of Composition. 5. The Fallacy of Division. 6. Appeal to Ignorance. 7. Appeals to Emotion. 8. Begging the Question. 9. False Dilemma or False Dichotomy. 10. The Slippery Slope Fallacy. 11. Hasty Generalisations. 12. Faulty Analogies.

Task 3. Decide whether the statements are True or False. Exercise 5-5 Self-test: true or false? 1. It is an irrelevant appeal to authority to try to establish the truth of a controversial point by noting that a well-known expert has taken the position you are supporting. 2. A non sequitur is a type of hasty conclusion. 3. The slippery slope fallacy always occurs when one asserts that a chain of horrible events will follow the taking or not taking of some action. 4. When an arguer assumes something questionable in order to support a questionable claim, she is said to be begging the question. 5. All else being equal, the more reliable a source for a given premise, the more weight the premise ought to be given. 50

6. When a conclusion is based upon insufficient evidence the argument is said to commit the fallacy of hasty conclusion. 7. To try to divert attention away from a charge being made against a person is called an ad hominem. 8. Emotive appeals are rarely persuasive. 9. Human emotions are generally much more powerful motives to action than logical reasons are. 10. The slippery slope fallacy is usually combined with an appeal to vanity. 11. The non sequitur fallacy occurs when a position one opposes is presented in a distorted way by exaggerating it or by presenting only its weakest defense. 12. The ad hominem fallacy occurs when the fact that large numbers of people believe something is taken as a sufficient reason for accepting the belief as true. 13. The fallacy of the argument from ignorance occurs when one tries to argue that something is true only because it hasn’t been proved false or false only because it has not been proved true. 14. If the premises upon which a conclusion stands are false or questionable, then the argument is said to be unsound because based on unwarranted assumptions. Task 4. Evaluate the following arguments. For the arguments, indicate whether the premises are relevant and sufficient to support their conclusion. Identify any fallacies. 1. It is imperative that we prepare for war; for, either the terrorists will conquer the world or the United States will stop them with its military might. 2. God exists; for, the world needs a Creator. 3. Since the majority of voters think that capital punishment is morally justified, it must be morally justified. The majority can’t be wrong about matters of right. 4. If all humans are created equal then it is not right to discriminate. All humans are not created equal. So, it is right to discriminate. 5. We should draft women into the army because it’s a good idea. 6. A politician can’t get elected unless he lies. Therefore, all elected officials are liars. 7. Since women are smaller than men, it follows that men are stronger than women. 8. There are some philosophers who believe that someday it will be possible to develop a computer that thinks. But they are wasting their time. Computers cannot think; for, if something is a machine, then it cannot think. 9. There is no question about it: we simply cannot afford to continue our current high lifestyle. We’re either going to have to quit giving money to charity or quit going out to dinner once a week. 10. Most politicians never intend to keep their campaign promises. So, don’t believe anything this candidate claims he’s going to do. 11. Children should not enter child beauty contests because photographers will make them pose for sleazy pictures and judges will give them drugs. Once they get hooked on drugs they’ll turn to prostitution and pornography to support their drug habit. They’ll probably get AIDS and die from dirty sex or dirty needles.

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Unit 10. Source paraphrasing Task 1. Study the ways to paraphrase a source and do the tasks below. Typical ways to paraphrase:  use of synonyms for non key words (especially verbs, adverbs and adjectives)  change of part of speech, for example: from noun to verb, from noun to adjective, from one category of noun to another category of noun (e.g. science to scientist)  change of nouns and pronouns from singular to plural and vice versa  change of verb form, for example: from –ing form to infinitive, from simple to continuous, from active to passive  change of style from personal to impersonal  reversal of the order in which information is presented  never paraphrase technical words  if the original contains ideas that in some sense ‘belonged’ to the original author,  then this author should be acknowledged. This is true even if you have radically changed the original so that it is now unrecognizable  when quoting the work of a ‘third’ author, cite the reference to that third author’s paper. Task 2. Look at the example. Analyze what has been done. Choose the best paraphrase. It is important that you understand the work you are using in your writing. 1. It is crucial that you completely understand the works you use in your paper [Gratz 2006]. 2. You must have a clear understanding of the reference papers that you quote from in your own manuscript [Gratz 2006]. 3. If you cite any works by other authors in your own paper, it is vital that you really understand the full meaning of what the other authors have written [Gratz 2006]. 4. Researchers should ensure that they fully grasp the meaning of any of the literature that they cite in their papers [Gratz 2006]. Task 3. Study the paraphrase of a paragraph and say what has been done. "The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera. "The cold ocean water around Antarctica flows north to mix with warmer water from the tropics, and its upwellings help to cool both the surface water and our atmosphere. Yet the fragility of this regulating system is now threatened by human activity." From "Captain Cousteau," Audubon (May 1990):17. According to Jacques Cousteau, the activity of people in Antarctica is jeopardizing a delicate natural mechanism that controls the earth's climate. He fears that human activity could interfere with the balance between the sun, the source of the earth's heat, and the important source of cold from Antarctic waters that flow north and cool the oceans and atmosphere ("Captain Cousteau" 17).

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Task 4. Study the example of a paraphrasing process and use it in Task 5. Sample text from Lewis & Foley (2014, p. 61): The challenge for you as a student nurse is to move beyond mastering the skills of data collection to develop your confidence in analysing and interpreting findings, identifying and clustering abnormal data and determining nursing priorities. Although beginning nurses lack the depth of knowledge and expertise that experienced nurses have, they can still learn to improve their clinical judgement skills. Etheridge (2007) found that new nurse graduates learned to "think like a nurse" and develop confidence in making clinical judgements through multiple clinical experiences with a wide variety of patients, support from educators and experienced nurses, and sharing experiences with their peers. Making the most of clinical placements by seeking opportunities to develop these skills is essential in the transition from student nurse to beginning practitioner. Following the paraphrasing process 1. Check personal understanding. Are there any words you don’t understand? Look them up. 2. Put the text aside and make some notes from memory. My notes, for example, might read: → student nurse data -> analysis → priorities → lack of knowledge and expertise → learning to think like a nurse → develop confidence → var. pts → clinical placement opportunities on placement 3. Compare notes with the text. A lot of key information is missing, so I need to go through the text carefully and note the important parts, in particular the direct quotes. 4. Redraft paraphrase. Sentence 1 from source The challenge for you as a student nurse is to move beyond mastering the skills of data collection to develop your confidence in analysing and interpreting findings, identifying and clustering abnormal data and determining nursing priorities. First identify the technical words and language features: → nurse (there is no word that means exactly the same thing as nurse) → data collection → This text uses the second person to appeal to the reader on a personal level. Usually we don’t use ‘I’ or ‘you’ in academic writing, so we need to change this to the third person. What is the key idea of this sentence? Student nurses need to progress from collecting data to being confident in analysing data to find abnormalities and prioritise tasks. Assess: This is both the key idea and a pretty good paraphrase. We’ll keep it. Changes made: → ‘move beyond’ changed to ‘progress’ → ‘data collection’ changed to ‘collecting data’ → ‘develop your confidence’ to ‘being confident’ → Second person (you) changed to third (student nurses) → Singular ‘a student nurse’ changed to plural ‘student nurses’ → Structural change: The second part of the sentence was condensed into analysing data, finding abnormalities, and prioritising tasks.

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Sentence 2 from source Although beginning nurses lack the depth of knowledge and expertise that experienced nurses have, they can still learn to improve their clinical judgement skills. Technical words: → nurse → clinical judgement What is the key idea of this sentence? New nurses don’t have much knowledge or experience but they can learn to improve. Assess: Contractions are informal, so expand ‘don’t’ to ‘do not’. The sentence doesn’t specify what it is that nurses can learn to improve, so we should add more information. New nurses do not have much knowledge or experience, but they can still develop their clinical judgement. Changes made: → ‘beginning nurses’ to ‘new nurses’ → ‘lack the depth of knowledge and expertise that experienced nurses have’ rewritten as ‘do not have much knowledge or experience’ → ‘although’ replaced with ‘but’ and moved to second clause → ‘learn to improve’ changed to ‘develop’ → ‘skills’ omitted (but sense retained) Sentence 3 from source Etheridge (2007) found that new nurse graduates learned to "think like a nurse" and develop confidence in making clinical judgements through multiple clinical experiences with a wide variety of patients, support from educators and experienced nurses, and sharing experiences with their peers. Technical words: → nurse → clinical judgement → patients Note that this sentence contains a citation that you need to incorporate into your paraphrase. What is the key idea of this sentence? Etheridge learned that new nurses could ‘think like a nurse’ and enhance their confidence by gaining experience with patients, being supported by others, and discussing things that happened with their fellow nurses. Assess: This is a little informal. We need to add the year and make it a complete secondary citation, and change words such as ‘things that happened’. We can keep the quotation ‘think like a nurse’ as long as we retain the quotation marks. According to Etheridge (2007, as cited in Lewis & Foley, 2014, p. 61), novice nurses can “think like a nurse” and gain confidence if they have experience with different patients, help from colleagues, and discuss experiences with their fellow nurses. Changes made: → Added ‘according to Etheridge’ and formatted this as a secondary citation → ‘new nurses’ to ‘novice nurses’ → ‘develop confidence’ to ‘gain confidence’ → omitted ‘in making clinical judgements through multiple clinical experience’ → added conditional ‘if’ clause → ‘a wide variety of patients’ replaced with ‘different patients’ → ‘support from educators and experienced nurses’ changed to ‘help from colleagues’ → ‘sharing experiences with their peers’ replaced with ‘discuss experiences with their fellow nurses’ Sentence 4 from source Making the most of clinical placements by seeking opportunities to develop these skills is essential in the transition from student nurse to beginning practitioner. Technical words: → clinical → nurse What is the key idea of this sentence? It’s important to seek opportunities to improve skills during placement to transition from student nurse to novice health professional. Assess: This is a good summary of the key idea but too many words are similar to the original text. We can also restructure the sentence so the student nurse is at the beginning. 54

Student nurses should look to improve their clinical skills during placement to assist in the passage to starting work. Changes made: → The sentence structure: ‘making the most of clinical placements…’ does not have a direct subject, only an implied subject. We have rewritten this as an active construction with ‘student nurses’ as the subject. → ‘Making the most of clinical placements by seeking opportunities to develop these skills’ changed to ‘look to improve their clinical skills during placement’. → ‘the transition from student nurse to beginning practitioner’ changed to ‘the passage to starting work’. → the concept that ‘making the most’ is ‘essential’ has been changed to improving skills being able ‘to assist’ in the transition to work. This is an alteration in meaning but only a small one; the key idea of the sentence has still been preserved. Now let’s compare the original text and our paraphrase: Original

Paraphrase

The challenge for you as a student nurse is to move beyond mastering the skills of data collection to develop your confidence in analysing and interpreting findings, identifying and clustering abnormal data and determining nursing priorities. Although beginning nurses lack the depth of knowledge and expertise that experienced nurses have, they can still learn to improve their clinical judgement skills. Etheridge (2007) found that new nurse graduates learned to “think like a nurse” and develop confidence in making clinical judgements through multiple clinical experiences with a wide variety of patients, support from educators and experienced nurses, and sharing experiences with their peers. Making the most of clinical placements by seeking opportunities to develop these skills is essential in the transition from student nurse to beginning practitioner.

Student nurses need to progress from collecting data to being confident in analysing data to find abnormalities and prioritise tasks. New nurses do not have much knowledge or experience, but they can still develop their clinical judgement. According to Etheridge (2007, as cited in Lewis & Foley, 2014, p. 61), novice nurses can “think like a nurse” and gain confidence if they have experience with different patients, help from colleagues, and discuss experiences with their fellow nurses. Student nurses should look to improve their clinical skills during placement to assist in the passage to starting work.

Task 5. On a separate piece of paper, write a paraphrase of each of the following passages. Try not to look back at the original passage. 1. The twenties were the years when drinking was against the law, and the law was a bad joke because everyone knew of a local bar where liquor could be had. They were the years when organized crime ruled the cities, and the police seemed powerless to do anything against it. Classical music was forgotten while jazz spread throughout the land, and men like Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie became the heroes of the young. The flapper was born in the twenties, and with her bobbed hair and short skirts, she symbolized, perhaps more than anyone or anything else, America's break with the past. From Kathleen Yancey, English 102 Supplemental Guide (1989): 25. 55

2. Of the more than 1000 bicycling deaths each year, three-fourths are caused by head injuries. alf of those killed are school-age children. One study concluded that wearing a bike helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent. In an accident, a bike helmet absorbs the shock and cushions the head. From "Bike Helmets: Unused Lifesavers," Consumer Reports (May 1990): 348. 3. While the Sears Tower is arguably the greatest achievement in skyscraper engineering so far, it's unlikely that architects and engineers have abandoned the quest for the world's tallest building. The question is: Just how high can a building go? Structural engineer William LeMessurier has designed a skyscraper nearly one-half mile high, twice as tall as the Sears Tower. And architect Robert Sobel claims that existing technology could produce a 500-story building. From Ron Bachman, "Reaching for the Sky." Dial (May 1990): 15. Task 6. Compare the example paraphrases with your answers. 1. During the twenties lawlessness and social nonconformity prevailed. In cities organized crime flourished without police interference, and in spite of nationwide prohibition of liquor sales, anyone who wished to buy a drink knew where to get one. Musicians like Louis Armstrong become favorites, particularly among young people, as many turned away from highly respectable classical music to jazz. One of the best examples of the anti-traditional trend was the proliferation of young "flappers," women who rebelled against custom by cutting off their hair and shortening their skirts (Yancey 25). 2. The use of a helmet is the key to reducing bicycling fatalities, which are due to head injuries 75% of the time. By cushioning the head upon impact, a helmet can reduce accidental injury by as much as 85%, saving the lives of hundreds of victims annually, half of whom are school children ("Bike Helmets" 348). 3. How much higher skyscrapers of the future will rise than the present world marvel, the Sears Tower, is unknown. However, the design of one twice as tall is already on the boards, and an architect, Robert Sobel, thinks we currently have sufficient know-how to build a skyscraper with over 500 stories (Bachman 15).

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Appendix Critical Reading Checklist 1. What is the claim? 2. What are the conclusions? 3. What are the premises or reasons for the claim? 4. What are the underlying assumptions supporting the premises and claim? 5. What are the definitional and descriptive assumptions, the value conflicts and value assumptions? 6. What backup evidence supports those assumptions? 7. How could this claim be refuted? Under what conditions can the claim not be made? 8. What terms or phrases are ambiguous or not well defined? 9. Are the samples representative and the measurements valid? 10. Are there flaws in the statistical reasoning? 11. Are there alternative causal explanations? 12. Are there any logical fallacies or errors in reasoning? 13. What significant information is omitted? 14. What alternative conclusions are consistent with the strong reasons? 15. What are my value preferences in this controversy?

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References 1. Gillett, A. 2015. Available at http://www.uefap.com/reading/crit/critfram.htm 2. Govier, T. 1992. A practical study of argument. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Publishing Co. 3. Kurland, D.J. 2000. What Is Critical Reading?. Available at http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_reading.htm 4. The Open University. 2016. Active reading. Available at http://www2.open.ac.uk/students/skillsforstudy/active-reading.php. 5. Learning Strategies, Student Academic Success Services, Queen's University, Kingston, ON http://sass.queensu.ca/learningstrategies 6. Swatridge, C. Oxford Guide to effective argument and critical thinking. Oxford Univeristy Press, 2014. - P. 235. 7. Walden University. 2016. Critical Reading . Available at http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/ASCsuccess/ASCcriticalreading.

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Волченкова Ксения Николаевна CRITICAL READING SKILLS Учебное пособие

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