Critical Reading and Evidence Identification

Presented by Cindi Davis Harris, EdDSummer Academic Reading Institute - Summer 2011

Critical vs. Non-Critical Reading

• To non-critical readers, texts provide facts. Readers gain knowledge by memorizing the statements within a text.

• To the critical reader, any single text provides but one portrayal of the facts, one individual’s take on the subject matter. Critical readers thus recognize not only what a text says, but also how that text portrays the subject matter. They recognize the various ways in which each and every text is the unique creation of a unique author.

• A non-critical reader might read a history book to learn the facts of the situation or to discover an accepted interpretation of those events. A critical reader might read the same work to appreciate how a particular perspective on the events and a particular selection of facts can lead to particular understanding.

Reaching for an Interpretation

•Non-critical readers are satisfied with recognizing what a text says and restating the key points.

•Critical reading goes two steps further.

•Having recognized what a text says, critical readers reflect further on what the text does by making such remarks. Is it offering examples? Arguing? Appealing for sympathy? Making a contrast to clarify a point?

•Finally, critical readers then infer what the text, as a whole, means, based on the earlier analysis.

Saying, Doing, Meaning

• What a text says = restatement

• What a text does = description

• What a text means = analysis and evaluation .

From SDSU - RWS 100

• What do you notice about this assignment (other than it’s quite challenging)

• What reading skills will a student need in order to accomplish this assignment?

• To what extent does our work here prepare students for this kind of work?

Identification of Evidence

Once aspect of Critical Reading

What is evidence?

•The American Heritage Dictionary defines evidence as: “the data on which a judgement can be based or proof established.”

•Effective arguments are supported by evidence

•What counts as evidence varies according

to the context of the argument

A non-effective use of evidence given context.

Claim: Mom, I should put pink streaks in my hair because it will look better.

Evidence: Kayla put purple streaks in her hair and I think she it looks wonderful

• Personal Experience

• Statistics/Research/Known Facts

• Example

• Authority

• Analogy

• Allusion

• Hypothetical Situation

Types of Evidence

Personal Experience - What is it?

•Definition: A specific actual event that includes information that shows the reader the event is real

•Should include:

•What happened

•Who was involved

•When did it happen

Personal Experience - Example

•Claim/Reason: Students who drive to school should carpool because it makes driving to and from school safer.

•Personal experience evidence: Joe, Carla, and Anna are 11th graders. They carpool to campus for evening musical rehearsals because they know there is safety in numbers. They talk to one another about their other classes or about movies they’ve recently seen to avoid falling asleep on the trip home when they get done with rehearsal very late.

Statistics/Research/Known Facts - What is it?

•Definition: Numbers, findings, or proven information the writer uses to support a reason.

•Data may be reported in percentages, fractions, decimals, whole numbers, etc.

•Known facts are commonly held or accepted beliefs

•Conclusions of studies may be cited as evidence.

• It’s the responsibility of the writer to report statistics & facts accurately & objectively.

Statistics/Research/Known Facts - Example

•Claim/Reason: Students should carpool to campus because it saves money.

•Statistical evidence: Last semester Joe spent approximately $50.00 on gasoline each week. Since he started carpooling to class this semester, he spends 40% less on gasoline, a savings of $20.00.

• Definition: Detailed presentation of texts or events in order to apply the ideas of the writer to something tangible & thus support the argument.

• Examples may come from historical, cultural, or societal events or occurrences or could be references to other texts. They should be as specific as possible in order to be effective. Sometimes a writer will use a single striking example; at other times a whole string of examples may be presented.

Example - What is it?

Example - Example

•Claim/Reason: Carpooling will allow for better parking on campus & reduce tardiness to class because students are still looking for parking spots when the bell rings.

•Example evidence: In Harry Potter, everyone commutes to school by train-they all carpool. There are never any parking problems at Hogwarts.

Authority Evidence - What is it?

• Definition: A person or organization with credentials that demonstrates expertise in the topic being discussed.

• The person or organization should be clearly identified in the text.

Authority Evidence -Example

•Claim/Reason: Carpooling reduces the risk of traffic accidents.

•Authority evidence: According to Jose Montoya, a local police officer, carpooling reduces the number of cars on the road, which means less traffic congestion & fewer accidents.

Analogy Evidence- What is it?

•Definition: A comparison between two different things that also have significant similarities.

Analogy - Example

•Claim/Reason: Carpooling reduces air pollution

•Analogy evidence: A room in which only two people are smoking has significantly less air pollution than a room of comparable size with four or more people smoking. Similarly, our city will have less air pollution if we carpool because there’ll be fewer cars producing pollutants.

Allusion Evidence - What is it?

•Definition: A brief reference to a person, text, event, place, or phrase that the writer expects the reader to have some knowledge.

•The knowledge the reader possesses about the allusion is used to support or explore the claim usually through application of the writer’s argument.

Allusion Evidence - Example

•Claim/Reason: Students should carpool because we need to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels as a nation.

•Allusion evidence: If we don’t change our habits of consumption of gasoline, we are headed for the same kind of crisis faced by the vanished civilizations of the Mayas, Romans, & Incas.

Hypothetical Situation - What is it?

•Definition: Incident created to feel real.

•A writer should create details that tell what happened, to whom it happened,& where & when it happened when using a hypothetical situation.

•Writers should rarely use hypothetical situations to support their reasons because as evidence they aren’t as strong as real life examples, statistics, authority, & analogies.

Hypothetical Situation - Example

•Claim/Reason: Students who carpool to class have more time to study.

•Hypothetical example: Driving to & from the college takes time which can be used to study. Suppose that Alex, a freshman student who drives to & from campus 5 days a week, spends approximately 30 minutes driving to & from school each day for a total of 100 & 50 minutes a week. If he carpooled with 4 other students & only had to drive to school 1 day rather than 5, he would cut the time he spent driving to 30 minutes.

A Side Note

• This is but one typology that describes the types of evidence, but in my reading, I have seen many others from those that describe three types of evidence to those that describe 12.

• Examples (including comparisons of examples (or analogies), commonly held beliefs or facts, and allusions)

• Personal experience

• Hypotheticals

• Statistics and Research

• In the big picture, it matters less that students are able to correctly identify the specific type of evidence, than that they recognize the difference between the evidence and a claim AND that they see that the evidence has been used purposefully and intentionally by a writer for an intended effect.

Questions...

•What questions do you have about evidence?

•Let’s Start with “Joe and Jane Go to College”

•Where does Wolanin use evidence?

•What type is it?

•What does the evidence do? (In other words, what claim is it working in support of?)

Identifying Evidence in “Joe and Jane Go to College”

Example of evidence:Include quotation marks and paragraph citation & Type

What is the evidence saying?

Context. What is the evidence doing? How is the author using the evidence to help make his or her argument?

10% percent of undergraduate students have char. of traditional students, attend a 4 year and live on campus (para 5).

Statistics/Research/Known Facts

A very small amount of all students fit the stereotype of a college student seen in film, newspapers and TV. Living on campus and going to a 4 year school is not the norm even if the student has many of the traits of our traditional ideas of a college student.

The writer is slowly narrowing the amount of students who actually fit into our dominate image of a college student in order to convince the reader that college life has been misrepresented by the media. He starts by saying that 75% of college students are non traditional and breaks that number down through definition. Then he goes on to discuss how few students there really are who fit the image we have in our head of a college student. This 10% is in the middle of that discussion. The use of numbers and percentages support the claim that the media misrepresents college life by calling into question the common picture that people have of college students.

Your Turn

•At your table identify and discuss at least two other pieces of evidence that Wolanin uses in “Joe and Jane Go to College.”

Example of evidence:Include quotation marks and paragraph citation & Type

What is the evidence saying?

Context. What is the evidence doing? How is the author using the evidence to help make his or her argument?

Example of evidence:Include quotation marks and paragraph citation & Type

What is the evidence saying?

Context. What is the evidence doing? How is the author using the evidence to help make his or her argument?

Reflection

•Write for the next several minutes about the following

•What did you learn about evidence from today’s activity?

•What do you still have questions about evidence?