Friday, March 26, 2010

Week Two - Reading Critically

ASSIGNMENTS
Major Writing Assignment: Critical Reading

Go to the ITT Tech Virtual Library > Periodicals > EBSCOhost > Ebscohost Databases > Read "How Bingeing Became the New College Sport." By Barrett Seaman. Time; 8/29/2005, Vol. 166 Issue 9, p80-80, 1p, 1c

Complete the following exercises related to the Seaman article:

• Preview the Seaman reading assignment to identify the title of the article, the author’s name, and the date and place of publication. Along with that information, include a sentence or two about what you feel you can expect from the article based on this information.

• Skim the reading and note its topic and claim. Describe these in one or two sentences, also note the author’s point of view.

• Consider your own experience – Write one or two paragraphs (or more if you’ve had a lot of experience on the issue) on your own experience with the issue covered in the article. What have you seen or heard about the issue? What have you experienced? If you haven’t experienced anything about the issue, write down some questions you have about the issue.

• Summarize – Write a one-paragraph summary of the article.

Minor Writing Assignment: Identifying Logical Fallacies

For each of the following statements, identify the fallacy or fallacies that best describe it (there may be more than one).  Offer a brief one- or two-sentence explanation of your reasoning.  NO SENTENCE FRAGMENTS!!

You can find my class notes, including the list of fallacies, here (NB. you need MS Powerpoint to open the file)

a. When did you stop hiring other people to take your exams for you?

b. He’s too smart to play football; besides, he broke his leg ten years ago.

c. If we don’t stop the publication of this X-rated material now, it won’t be long before our children will be reading it at school.

d. Karen must be depressed; she wore dark clothes all weekend.

e. How can you accuse me of being late? You’re such a slowpoke.

f. Rap music isn’t music because it’s just noise and words.

g. He’s at least 6 feet 6 inches tall, so he must be a terrific basketball player.

h. WGBB is the most popular radio station on campus because it has more listeners than any other station.

i. Indians living on reservations get the necessities of life at government expense, so they have no worries.

j. Take Tummy Tops laxatives instead of Mellow Malt, because Tummy Tops contains calcium, while Mellow Malt has aluminum and magnesium.

k. Lite Cheese Popcorn contains 34 percent fewer calories!

l. Any decent person will agree that Nazism has no place in modern society.