-- W 07 -- Opinions, Evaluations; Details, Inferences

-- W 07 -- Opinions-- What's Believed? ,TFY-C6; Evaluations -- What's Judged?, TFY-C7;

Details, CRCB-C6; Inferences, CRCB-C7

TFY Chapter Summaries

Chapter Six Opinions
This chapter explores that familiar word opinion and examines the way it affects our ability to think critically. Again we have a familiar but confusing word that can be used in many different ways. Exercises are offered to help you assess your understanding of the different varieties of opinion. Writing applications ask you to test and expand what you know into essays that articulate, support, describe, or analyze opinions. Readings show you how professional writers can present support for an opinion; in one case through direct statement, and in a second case through a satirical sub-statement.
Chapter Seven Evaluations
This is a chapter about one variety of opinion called evaluations. Evaluations can be openly stated or remain hidden and manipulative. They can be based on explicit or vague criteria, clear or vague feelings. Their effects are powerful. When we mistake them for facts or are influenced by them unawares, we get into trouble. This chapter teaches how to both recognize and detach from evaluations. Exercises and discussion in this chapter will show you how evaluations express and influence feelings, how they can be used covertly to persuade or directly to advise. The writing application in this chapter gives you a choice of analyzing evaluations in advertisements or of writing a critical review. One concluding reading evaluates the monetary evaluation of human life; a second reading evaluates the use of pornography for profit.

Glossaries

Chapter 6
Advice	Advice is to recommend an opinion to someone else.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Judgment	Judgment is a final opinion, decision, conclusion or evaluation about something.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Personal taste or preference	Personal taste or preferences are forms of opinions that express likes or dislikes. They can be irrational and need not be supported with reasons.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Glossary
Chapter 7
Evaluate	To determine the value or worth of something.
Evaluations in word connotations	Highly connotative words can be chosen to convey a person’s likes and dislikes under the guise of offering facts.
Expectations	Mental constructs that anticipate the way things will be or should be.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Premature evaluation	To judge something before one has finished examining it.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Propaganda	Propaganda is the manipulation of public opinion for the benefit of the propagator.
Relativism	Relativism is the belief that concepts such as right and wrong are not absolutes but depend on situations and the cultures.
Skilled Evaluations	Skilled evaluations are opinions formed by experts after a careful and impartial study.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.

Web Links

Web Links
Chapter 6	back to top
EPINIONS
Who says your opinion doesn’t count? Consult a popular site consisting of reviews on cars, books, movies, music, computers, sports, travel etc. made by "real people."
http://www.epinions.com/
READERS’ OPINIONS
Consult this daily section of the New York Times that prints readers’ responses to featured articles.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/readersopinions/index.html
WORLD-WIDE OPINION
Here are links editorials appearing in an international array of newspapers.
http://www.uwb.edu/library/guides/SelectionWorldNews.htm
WRITING YOUR OPINION TO NEWSPAPERS
This excellent site offers specific information about how to write letters to editors and op-eds that will be published. It is especially designed for non-profits.
http://www.ccmc.org/oped.htm Web Links Chapter 7 back to top FRANK ACKERMAN AND LISA HEINZERLING If you want to know more about cost-benefit analysis, read these interviews with the authors of Priceless. http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/23/priceless.html MOVIE REVIEWS Enjoy reading from this wide assortment of movie reviews. Select a film that you have already seen. Evaluate the review. http://rottentomatoes.com PUBLIC RELATIONS This site offers a critical account of Edward Bernays’ creation of the U.S. public relations industry. http://www.americanidealism.com/articles/edward-bernays-forger-of-the-public-relations-industry.html SOME PROPAGANDA BASICS This website can get you started learning more about propaganda. http://www.propagandacritic.com/ WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY In this 1999 Salon interview, learn more about the career of author of Porn, Pervasive Presence: The Creepy Wallpaper of Our Lives. http://www.salon.com/people/feature/1999/09/03/wfb/ WORLD WAR II PROPAGANDA In hindsight, propaganda can seem quaint and obvious. Study the posters shown in this website and see if you agree with this statement. http://www.teacheroz.com/WWIIpropaganda.htm ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Critical Reading for College and Beyond CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER GOALS After learning Chapter 6, you should be able to demonstrate: What supporting details are. How to distinguish between details and main ideas. How to identify and prioritize major and minor details in paragraphs, articles, and textbook chapters. What are supporting details? Supporting details are used to explain, exemplify, or clarify the main ideas. Supporting details are frequently introduced by word clues and phrases. Details can be described as major or minor, depending on their function in a reading. Major Supporting Details Directly support the main idea Answer who, what, when, where, and why Commonly presented in the form of: examples illustrations explanations definitions facts opinions Minor Supporting Details Clarify and enhance the major supporting details Not usually considered important Prioritize the Details Once you identify the main idea, divide the rest of the information into two categories: major details minor details Important to know the major details Minor details interesting, but less valuable Helps you decide what you need to know Look for the Bigger Picture Always keep in mind the big picture when reading Chapters tend to have many “main ideas” but they have one larger, main point Paragraphs tend to support the general concept Chapter Vocabulary details minor supporting details major supporting details ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Critical Reading for College and Beyond CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER GOALS After learning Chapter 7, you should be able to demonstrate: What inference is. Strategies you can use to infer an author’s meaning as you read. What limits the amount of information you should infer. How to identify implied main ideas. What is Inference? Inference is the process of making assumptions and drawing conclusions about information when an author’s ideas are not directly stated. Inference Strategies Understand an author’s purpose. Note comparisons and implied similarities. Understand an author’s use of tone. Detect an author’s bias. Recognize information gaps. Tips For Recognizing Information Gaps Consider all information presented. Note author’s use of key words and phrases. Identify when an author leaps from one idea to the next, and mentally fill in the blanks. Knowing How Much to Infer Recognize author’s perspective. Use the text to support your conclusion. Chapter Vocabulary inference diction imply purpose tone author’s bias information gaps implied main idea Reading for Thinking Exercises