#rhetoricalreading

[HOMEWORK] Critical Reading Activity

Pick a source that you will use for your keyword definition argument. Scan your marked up text and type up your answers to the questions below. Post them together in a Tumblr post. Due Feb 11, 11:59 PM.

Active Reading – Mark up the Text

Underline key ideas – for example, topic sentences.

Box or circle words or phrases you want to remember.

Place a checkmark or a star next to an important idea.

Place a double check mark or double star next to an especially significant idea.

Put a question mark near any unfamiliar reference or a word you need to look up.

Number the writer’s key supporting points or examples.

Use different color highlighters.

Don’t be afraid to write your thoughts in the margins or on a separate sheet of paper (like the dialogic journal).

Questions to Ask (and Answer) when Reading a Text

What issue is the writer focusing on?

Does the writer take a clear stand on this issue?

What is the writer’s thesis (if there is one)?

What is the writer’s purpose for writing?

Who is the audience for this writing?

What is the writer’s tone?  Why do you think he/she writes with this tone?

Does the writer seem to assume readers will agree with his/her position?

What evidence does the writer use to support the essay’s thesis/central argument?  Does the writer include enough evidence?

Does the writer consider, address and/or refute opposing arguments?

Do you understand the vocabulary?  If not, look the words up.

Do you understand the writer’s references/citations?  If not, look them up.

Do you agree with the points the writer makes?  Why/why not?

[READING] Reading Scholarly Sources

“Read smarter, not harder.”

“Even though it may seem like a solitary, isolated activity, when you read a scholarly work, you are participating in a conversation. ... Your job... is to locate the writer and yourself in this larger conversation. Reading academic texts is a deeply social activity; talking with your professors and peers about texts can not only help you understand your readings better, but it can push your thinking and clarify your own stances on issues that really matter to you.”

“Rhetorical reading refers to a set of practices designed to help us understand how texts work and to engage more deeply and fully in a conversation that extends beyond the boundaries of any particular reading. Rhetorical reading practices ask us to think deliberately about the role and relationship between the writer, reader, and text. When thinking about the writer, we are particularly interested in clues about the writer’s motivation and agenda. If we know something about what the writer cares about and is trying to accomplish, it can help orient us to the reading and understand some of the choices the writer makes in his or her work. As readers, our role is quite active. We pay attention to our own motivation and agenda for each reading. On one level, our motivation may be as simple as wanting to do well in a class, and our agenda may involve wanting to understand as much as necessary in order to complete our assignments. In order to meet these goals, we need to go deeper, asking, “Why is my professor asking me to read this piece?” You may find clues in your course syllabus, comments your professor makes in class, or comments from your classmates. If you aren’t sure why you are being asked to read something, ask! Most professors will be more than happy to discuss in general terms what “work” they want a reading to do—for example, to introduce you to a set of debates, to provide information on a specific topic, or to challenge conventional thinking on an issue.”

“In addition to figuring out what the text says, rhetorical reading strategies ask us to focus on how the text delivers its message.”

Who is the intended audience? For textbooks, it’s students. For scholarly sources, it’s other academics.

Pay attention to the title for clues, as well as the abstract, introduction, section headings, and conclusion.

What is the main argument or idea in this text?

Asking rhetorical questions provokes a process of inquiry-based thinking that is useful for learning how to participate in academic conversations in a way that investigates the decisions writers make when they compose and arrange compositions. As you read, get in the habit of asking rhetorical questions about the composition of texts. 

-- Steven Lessner, Collin Craig

This to me is probably the most important part of rhetorical reading, when i read something that does not make sense to me, naturally i have questions about it. It never occurred to me look at those questions this way. When asking rhetorical questions about the reading you might find yourself answering the question yourself and forming an idea that snow balls in to a river of thought just pouring from your mind to the paper. Asking questions can help if you are stuck in trying to pick a topic to write on from assigned readings.

As a college reader, finding an author’s intent is a commonly learned critical thinking strategy that works for analyzing texts. But engaged reading can also be about discovering how the writing strategies of authors are working to build an essay and convey a message. A good start towards transitioning into college-level writing is discovering what you can stand to gain as a writer from the reading process.

-- Steven Lessner, Collin Craig

Learning to use rhetorical reading would have helped me and i’m sure many other college students get through the trouble or writing good essays based off of assigned reading assignments. If i would have known about this skill i would have been at least attempting to read rhetorically, when reading i tend to get lost and felt overwhelmed, especially if the content does not interest me Then when it comes time to write i have a difficult time because i did not understand what it was i read. Had i known about this skill perhaps i would have had an easier time i my college writing courses.

“Reading rhetorically develops critical thinking skills that not only interrogate ideas but also situates them within a rhetorical situation (context) and works towards determining how the message, intended audience, and method of delivery work together for the purpose of persuasion and effective communication.”

-- Steven Lessner, Collin Craig