EOI REVIEW

Session II:

Part I: Author’s viewpoint & credibility

Part II: References and Research

Multiple-choice questions:

• Comprehension

• Vocabulary

• Literature

• Research and Information

Each question will have a stem and 4 possible answers. One correct and three distractors.

All stems will be positively worded – no use of the word not.If a negative is required the format will be, “All of the following . . . except.”

Part I: Analyzing author’s viewpoint & credibility

• Informational text:

• Who is the man “behind the curtain” and what is he up to?

•Attitude, •Purpose, •Bias or slant

Wizard of Oz

Tips

Tip 1: Be aware of author’s bias: both the author and/or the publication.

Tip 2: Read between the lines to discover the author’s purpose: is the tone neutral and fair or approving or disapproving.

Tip 3: Pay attention to writing techniques. How do they support the author’s purpose.

Tip 4: Evaluate fact and opinion in the passage, realizing that facts can be

distorted.

• Fact: can be checked: research it to see if it is true.

• Opinion: “This is what I believe.” Cannot be proven true or false.

Statement 1: The massive tax cuts promoted by the Reagan administration (1980-1988) created a huge federal debt that we are still paying off.

• Fact: The Reagan administration was in power from 1980 to 1988.

• Fact: The Reagan administration promoted tax cuts.

• Opinion: Reagan’s tax cuts were “massive.”• Opinion: The federal debt is “huge.”• Opinion: Reagan’s tax cuts caused the debt to

increase.

Tip 5: Recognize propaganda techniques.

• PROPAGANDA encourages people to act based on their emotions instead of solid reasoning.

• Advertisements are the most concentrated form of propaganda.

• Examples: Bandwagon, Repetition, Stereotyping, Scare tactics, Oversimplification, Snobbery

Tip 6: Beware of faulty logic. Propaganda goes hand-in-hand with faulty logic.

– Overgeneralizations based on one or two facts.

– Over-simplify a problem or solution

– Contradict himself over the course of the argument.

– claiming one thing causes another without evidence.

– Assumptions: that may be false or merely opinion

Tip 7: Identify persuasive techniques used in writing: these are not used to mislead you, but ways to get your

attention, emphasize a point, or polish the writing.

• Analogy

• Anticipating an objection

• Cause and effect

• Example

• Overstatement (hyperbole) for emphasis or effect

• Quotation

• Rhetorical question

• Understatement: for ironic effect or as a way to avoid an unpleasant idea.

Tip 8: Identify appeals to reason, emotion, and authority.

• Appeal to Reason

• Emotional appeal

• Appeal to authority

All three appeals are useful for persuading readers. Yet you shouldn’t accept an argument just because it uses one of them. Each appeal can have a dark side.

Practice: Identify the appeal

1. If you wish for world peace, if your heart bursts with love for all people, drink Compassion Fruit Juice, the beverage of universal harmony.

2. Women’s hockey star Ruth “The Tooth” Booth says the best hockey players come from Canada.

3. There has been no solid evidence to show that the Loch Ness Monster is a dinosaur; therefore, we must conclude that it is an alien.

4. According to a recent survey conducted by medical expert Dr. Will Nautilus, people who exercise regularly are generally happier than those who don’t.

5. Only a tiny fraction of auto accidents involve a unicycle, so clearly unicycles are safer vehicles.

Part II: References and Research

• As a test-taker you may be asked to evaluate the effectiveness of a variety of sources such as textbooks, library reference materials, and technological resources.

Textbooks: to double-check dates, facts, and figures.

• Tip 1: Look at the publication date and how specific the information is.

• Library reference materials:– Almanac: facts and figures

– Atlas: maps: bodies of water, land formations, political borders

– Dictionary: word definition or etymology

– Encyclopedia: alphabetized articles of general interest.

– Thesaurus: find words and their synonyms and antonyms.

– Journals: publications of academic papers

• Tip 2: Look at TABLE of CONTENTS and INDEX.

• Tip 3: Periodicals: for timely information.

1. Would the encyclopedia be a useful resource to find out more about the making of the movie Titanic?

2. Which of the following magazine articles from the computer index would be most effective in providing information for a report on the sinking of the Titanic?a. Titanic opens in U.S. amid hoopla.b. Titanic cleans up at Oscar ceremony.c. Maiden voyage, final voyage (book review).d. Deep sea exploration shed light on old mystery.

Tip 4: Narrow your Internet search.

• Common web domains

.com personal, commercial, or media/news site

.net part of a network; similar to .com

.edu educational site

.org institutional, usually not-for-profit organization site

.gov governmental agency or department site

.mil military site

Tip 5: Be aware of the functions of different websites

• Primary sources: first-hand information

– A survivor of the Titanic or diary written by the captain.

• Secondary sources: second-hand account of an event

– An essay by the granddaughter of a survivor.

Tip 6: Evaluate whether the source is appropriate for a specific audience and purpose.

3. Which of the following would most likely provide the most appropriate information for a research paper about global warming?

a. A website called www.hotearth.comb. an article from People magazine.c. an interview with your math teacherd. an article from the Journal of Scientific

Discoveries.

Tip 7: Evaluate source quality, credibility, and usefulness.

• Quality

• Credibility: Authority and Accuracy

• Usefulness

Match the topic with the resource that would be most useful.

A. Almanac

B. Atlas

C. Brochure

D. Computer library catalog

E. Dictionary

F. Encyclopedia

G. Index

H. Magazine

I. Newspaper

J. Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature

K. Table of contenct

L. Textbook

M. Thesaurus

1. A map of Muskogee, Oklahoma2. A list of all the Academy Award winners last year3. A listing of recent births in your local hospital4. Titles of books and tapes about Native American history5. General biographical information about Shawnee-native Brad Pitt.6. The name of the author of Shiloh7. An interview with the singer and actress Reba McEntire8. A discussion of the underlying causes of the Civil War9. A list of newspaper and magazine articles about Tibet10. The meaning of the word egregious11. Words that have meanings similar to the word gullible.12. a general overview of the information covered in a book titled Cooking for Dummies.13. Information about where different exhibits are located in a natural history museum..

Tip 8: Summarize, paraphrase, or quote relevant information.

• Summarize: the author’s main points

• Paraphrase: the author’s main point AND details in YOUR OWN WORDS.

• Quote: copying his writing word for word.

Tip 9: Synthesize information from multiple sources.

• Synthesize: bring information together to draw conclusions that go beyond those found in any of the individual pieces of information.

Example: Global warming: one article says it is a problem. The next article says it is not. You can say that experts apparently disagree about whether global warming is a problem. That conclusion is only supported when you put the two sources together.

Testing Research using a reference guide, sample, and then questions.

Reference Guide

The thinking here is that we should not be teaching

students to memorize MLA

format, but teaching them to read and follow

whatever reference guide

the professor requires.

Sample Paper withErrors.

Questions to correct errors.

“Distractors”

People who write standardized test create incorrect answer choices designed to distract you from the right answer.

1. Read all the answer choices before choosing one.2. Do not mark the first answer choice that seems

correct.3. Common distractors:

1. True statement, but not relevant to the question.2. Answer choices that relate to the wrong part of the

passage3. Answer choices that are too broad or too narrow.