READING CRITICALLY

Believing and Doubting

334–35

333–34

One way to develop a response to a text is to play the believing and doubting game, sometimes called reading with and against the grain. Your goal is to LIST or FREEWRITE notes as you read, writing out as many reasons as you can think of for believing what the writer says (reading with the grain) and then as many as you can for doubting it (reading against the grain).

First, try to look at the world through the writer’s perspective. Try to understand their reasons for arguing as they do, even if you strongly disagree. Then reread the text, trying to doubt everything in it: try to find every flaw in the argument, every possible way it can be refuted—even if you totally agree with it. Developed by writing theorist Peter Elbow, the believing and doubting game helps you consider new ideas and question ideas you already have—and at the same time see where you stand in relation to the ideas in the text you’re reading.

Thinking about How the Text Works: What It Says, What It Does

340–42

Sometimes you’ll need to think about how a text works, how its parts fit together. You may be assigned to analyze a text, or you may just need to make sense of a difficult text, to think about how the ideas all relate to one another. Whatever your purpose, a good way to think about a text structure is by OUTLINING it, paragraph by paragraph. If you’re interested in analyzing its ideas, look at what each paragraph says; if, however, you’re concerned with how the ideas are presented, pay attention to what each paragraph does.

What it says. Write a sentence that identifies what each paragraph says. Once you’ve done that for the whole text, look for patterns in the topics the writer addresses. Pay attention to the order in which the topics are presented. Also look for gaps—ideas the writer has left unsaid. Such paragraph-by-paragraph outlining of the content can help you see how the writer has arranged ideas and how that arrangement builds an argument or develops a topic. Here, for example, is an outline of Christian B. Miller’s proposal, “Just How Dishonest Are Most Students?” (see p. 258). The numbers in the left column refer to the essay’s paragraphs.

1To give exams in online classes is to invite cheating.

2Papers are good ways to assess learning in philosophy courses but not in the sciences and other fields, so what can be done to deter cheating on exams in online courses?

3Remote proctoring using tools that monitor the students and their web browsing is one solution, but it assumes that students are dishonest, may infringe on students’ privacy, and may be racially biased.

4A better solution is to extend to online learning honor pledges, which reduce cheating and promote honesty by allowing students to choose not to cheat.

5Honor pledges and codes can have problems: they may only be instituted for public relations reasons, they may be imposed on faculty and students by administrators, or they may be given lip service but mostly ignored.

6However, empirical research studies show that cheating is much less common at schools at all levels that take honor codes seriously.

7Two researchers found that cheating of various types, including plagiarism, crib notes, help with test answers, and other forms of unauthorized help, were all done much less at schools with honor codes than at schools without them.

8The researchers emphasized that students must be seriously committed to the honor code for it to work.

9A few schools hold a ceremony at which the students pledge to uphold the code and may also require that the code be affirmed on every assignment.

10Research as well as our experience in life shows that most people will cheat if they think it will go undetected; but at the same time most people consider themselves honest and know that it’s wrong to cheat, even if they sometimes are tempted to do so. A way to create a moral reminder of those basic values is to ask students to sign an honor code.

11Another research study paid students taking a difficult test money for each correct answer. One group was graded by the researchers, a second group graded themselves, and a third group also graded themselves—but signed an honor pledge before taking the test. Some in the second group cheated by inflating their scores, but no one in the third group did.

12The research done in face-to-face class environments shows that honor codes work, but their results should be extended to online instruction as well.

13Honor codes are not a perfect solution, as some “deeply dishonest” students will cheat no matter what; but research and teachers’ experience agree that most students, with moral reminders through honor pledges, will behave with honesty.

What it does. Identify the function of each paragraph. Starting with the first paragraph, ask, What does this paragraph do? Does it introduce a topic? provide background for a topic to come? describe something? define something? entice me to read further? something else? What does the second paragraph do? the third? As you go through the text, you may identify groups of paragraphs that have a single purpose. Here is a functional outline of Miller’s essay (again, the numbers on the left refer to the paragraphs):

1Introduces the topic by defining a problem; author establishes credibility

2Describes a flawed solution

3Describes a second flawed solution

4States the thesis; introduces a recommended solution

5Describes potential problems with this solution

6Offers a reason for adopting the solution

7Presents evidence: describes a research study’s results

8Outlines what the proposed solution requires to be successful

9Describes how the proposed solution is implemented

10Offers another reason: summarizes how the proposed solution achieves its purpose

11Presents evidence: describes a research study that shows the solution’s effectiveness

12Concludes with a call to action

13Acknowledges and refutes a counterargument to the proposal

Identifying Patterns

474–82

437–44

Look for notable patterns in the text—recurring words and their synonyms, as well as repeated phrases, metaphors and other images, and types of sentences. Some readers find it helps to highlight patterns in various colors. Does the author repeatedly rely on any particular writing strategies: NARRATION? COMPARISON? Something else?

542–54

Another kind of pattern that might be important to consider is the kind of evidence the text provides. Is it more opinion than facts? nothing but statistics? If many sources are cited, is the information presented in any patterns—as QUOTATIONS? PARAPHRASES? SUMMARIES? Are there repeated references to certain experts or sources?

In visual texts, look for patterns of color, shape, and line. What’s in the foreground, and what’s in the background? What’s completely visible, partly visible, or hidden? In both verbal and visual texts, look for omissions and anomalies: What isn’t there that you would expect to find? Is there anything that doesn’t really fit in?

If you discover patterns, then you need to consider what, if anything, they mean in terms of what the writer is saying. What do they reveal about the writer’s underlying premises and beliefs? What do they tell you about the writer’s strategies for persuading readers to accept the truth of what they are saying?

See how color-coding an essay by New York Times columnist William Safire on the meaning of the Gettysburg Address reveals several patterns in the language Safire uses. In this excerpt from the essay, which was published just before the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Safire develops his analysis through several patterns. Religious references are colored yellow; references to a “national spirit,” green; references to life, death, and rebirth, blue; and places where Safire directly addresses the reader, gray.

But the selection of this poetic political sermon as the oratorical centerpiece of our observance need not be only an exercise. . . . Now, as then, a national spirit rose from the ashes of destruction.

Here is how to listen to Lincoln’s all-too-familiar speech with new ears.

In those 266 words, you will hear the word dedicate five times. . . .

Those five pillars of dedication rested on a fundament of religious metaphor. From a president not known for his piety—indeed, often criticized for his supposed lack of faith—came a speech rooted in the theme of national resurrection. The speech is grounded in conception, birth, death, and rebirth.

Consider the barrage of images of birth in the opening sentence. . . .

Finally, the nation’s spirit rises from this scene of death : “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” Conception , birth, death, rebirth . The nation, purified in this fiery trial of war, is resurrected . Through the sacrifice of its sons, the sundered nation would be reborn as one. . . .

Do not listen on Sept. 11 only to Lincoln’s famous words and comforting cadences. Think about how Lincoln’s message encompasses but goes beyond paying “fitting and proper” respect to the dead and the bereaved . His sermon at Gettysburg reminds “us the living” of our “unfinished work” and “the great task remaining before us”—to resolve that this generation’s response to the deaths of thousands of our people leads to “a new birth of freedom.”

The color coding helps us to see patterns in Safire’s language, just as Safire reveals patterns in Lincoln’s words. He offers an interpretation of Lincoln’s address as a “poetic political sermon,” and the words he uses throughout support that interpretation. At the end, he repeats the assertion that Lincoln’s address is a sermon, inviting us to consider it differently. Safire’s repeated commands (“Consider,” “Do not listen,” “Think about”) offer additional insight into how he wishes to position himself in relation to his readers.