课程门户-章节详情

思辩英语阅读与写作（2022春）

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1 Unit 1: Critical reading skill: Identifying the argument
- 1.1 Distinguishing between fact and opinion
  - 1.1.1 course briefing
  - 1.1.2 course introduction
  - 1.1.3 facts and opinions
  - 1.1.4 Review 1
- 1.2 Identifying the structure of an argument
- 1.3 Distinguishing between argument and non-argument
- 1.4 Identifying position and conclusion
- 1.5 Recognizing the key information
- 1.6 Review 2
2 Unit 2 Critical reading skills: Developing the argument
- 2.1 Developing an argument
- 2.2 Keeping internal consistency
- 2.3 Keeping logical consistency
- 2.4 Refuting alternative arguments
- 2.5 Review 3 （for skill 5 & 6）
- 2.6 Review 4 （for skill 7 to 9）
3 Unit 3: Critical reading skills: Evaluating the argument
- 3.1 Comparing independent reasons with joint reasons
- 3.2 Comparing summative conclusion with logical conclusion
- 3.3 Detecting flaws in an argument
  - 3.3.1 Skill 12（1）
  - 3.3.2 skill 12 （2）
- 3.4 Skill 13 Adopting effective language
- 3.5 Review 5
- 3.6 Review 6 （for skill 12）
4 Unit 4: Critical reading and writing practice （I）
- 4.1 critical reading evaluation
- 4.2 text 1
- 4.3 text 2
- 4.4 text 3
- 4.5 text 4
- 4.6 comments on the mid-term exam
- 4.7 comments on writing 2
5 Unit 5：Critical reading and writing practice(II)
- 5.1 text 5
- 5.2 text 6
- 5.3 text 9

Distinguishing between fact and opinion

Course Introduction

The name of this cause is Critical Thinking, Reading and Writing. Andthe final goal of this course is to developcritical thinking through reading and writing. What is critical thinking? Toanswer this question, you can divide it into two sub-questions.

Sub-question 1: What would a criticalthinker do?

Sub-question 2: Are you a criticalthinker?

How well do you know yourselfin terms of critical thinking?

Do you consider yourself aperson who asks why?
A. Yes B. No
When people use storyillustrations do you quickly see the purpose of the story?
A. Yes B. No
Do you let people give theiropinion so that you can see another point of view?

a. Yes B. No

4. How do you feel when othersdisagree with you?
A. hate them
B. be unhappy
C. feel insecure with what youbelieve
D. it will cause you to questionwhat you believe
On a scale of one to five ，how is your courage to disagree with others if you see it violatesor harms others by their actions? One to five scale ____________________.
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4 E. 5
6. On a scale of one to five how would you rate your personal critical thinking skills?
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4 E. 5

What is critical thinking？

Critical thinking is a cognitiveactivity, associated with using the mind. Learning to think in criticallyanalytical and evaluative ways means using mental processes such ascategorization, reference, judgment and assessment. Generally speaking, criticalthinking is thinking that analyzes thought, assesses thought and transformsthought for the better.

What are the benefits ofcritical thinking?

Critical thinking helps to improveobservation, to be more accurate and specific in noting what is relevant andwhat is not, and to detect flaws etc... If we can think critically, we will notaccept what is presented to us blindly and will not be influenced by otherseasily, which is vital to the development of creativity and innovation.

How to think critically？

In our fast-paced lifestyle of themodern world we spend much of our time gathering information. The internet andcell phone world we live in has changed our lives forever. What should we dowith all this information? How do we make it useful to our everyday lives?

Four basic steps in critical thinking:

Gather theinformation: We are in an information age when theinternet gives us all we want to find. Learn how to find things and doextensive research. （searching ）
Sort theinformation: Once you have information you need todecide what is valuable and what is not. (analyzing)
Evaluate theinformation: How do you know what information is trueor what is just made up? Are you allowed to think for yourself or are you justaccepting what someone told you who might be respected but you can’tquestion? (evaluating)
Use theinformation: Once you have done the work of evaluationyou can use the information. Here is one important step not to miss. Justbecause you think you have done the work you might be presented in the futurewith new information that you have not thought about yet. Be ready to change tomake it for better use. (creating)

Critical thinking teaches us how toquestion things, how to see wrong ideas and how to form sound arguments for ourconclusion. Most importantly, it teaches us that when presented with the facts wecan change.

Critical thinking and argument

Actually, the focus of critical thinkingis often referred to as the “argument”. Thus, studying arguments is the majorlearning tasks of this course.

Then let’s see whatis an argument? Argument is using reasons to support a point of view, sothat known or unknown audiences may be persuaded to agree. In simple words, itis persuasion through reasons. From this book, you will learn a series ofconcepts and terms relevant to “argument”, a system of critical thinking skills,and get sufficient opportunities to practice using these skills in your readingand writing. After learning, you are expected to:

Firstly, improve your abilityto evaluate the arguments of others. When you understand how arguments aresupposed to be constructed and also how theyshould not be constructed, you will find all sorts of bad arguments outthere.

Secondly, allow you to improvethe quality of the arguments you use. If youlearn how to identify valid arguments, you may find it easier in constructingyour own arguments. When you create logically soundarguments, you are much more likely toconvince people that you have a valid point to make, or get them to agree withyou.

There are 5 units in this book. In thefirst 3 units,13 critical thinking skills will be introduced with examples andpractice exercises. The last 2 units focus on applying the skills you learn toreading and writing. The contents covered are listed in the following table forreference:

Unit1 Identify the argument	Skill 1	Distinguishing between fact and opinion
	Skill 2	Identifying the structure of an argument
	Skill 3	Distinguishing between argument and non-argument
	Skill 4	Identifying position and conclusion
	Skill 5	Recognizing the key information
Unit 2 Develop the argument	Skill 6	Developing an argument
	Skill 7	Keeping internal consistency
	Skill 8	Keeping logical consistency
	Skill 9	Refuting alternative arguments
Unit 3 Evaluate the argument	Skill 10	Comparing independent reasons with joint reasons
	Skill 11	Comparing summative conclusion with logical conclusion
	Skill 12	Detecting flaws in an argument
	Skill 13	Adopting effective language
Unit 4 Reading and writing (I)	Text 1-4
Unit 5 Reading and writing (II)	Text 5-10

After learning, you are expected to be equipped withnecessary critical thinking skills and ready to open your mind to different thoughts and ideas with wisdom andbecome skillful in expressing your views effectively.

Unit 1 Identify the Argument

Skill 1：Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion

It is important to distinguish between facts andopinions because a fact is a truth based on evidence, while an opinion is aview that is not based on checkable evidence. People use facts to createtheir own opinions about a certain topic. Opinions can carry a bias and may bejudged by who is giving them. The biggest difficulty in distinguishing factsfrom opinions is: when you agree with the writer’s opinions, you may take thosesubjective things for granted, that is, you may mistake opinions for facts.Certainly, when you define a fact as any statement that can be proven to betrue or false, you will concern yourselves less with whether the statement isaccurate and focus more on whether each statement can be proven. Hence, youwill better be able to identify facts and opinions.

Facts: statements that can be verified or tested andproven true or false.

Opinions: statements of beliefs, or judgments that cannot be tested or proven.

Examples:

---There are 10,000 feet in a mile. ( Eventhough this statement is incorrect, it is still a fact. )

--- He is so good looking, smart and funny. ( Maybe you also think the same as the writer that he is good looking, but itdoesn’t mean other people will accept this idea. This is just an opinion.)

Activity: Read eachstatement and then circle whether it is a fact or opinion.

1. The fastest land-dwelling creature is theCheetah.

Fact orOpinion Explain: ______________________________________

2. Michael Jordan has a career average of 30.4points per game.

Fact orOpinion Explain: ______________________________________

3. George Washington was the first President ofthe United States under the Constitution. Fact or Opinion Explain:____________________________
4. The ugliest sea creature is the manatee.

Factor Opinion Explain: ______________________________________

5. Michael Jordan is the greatest basketballplayer of all time.

Factor Opinion Explain: _______________________________________

6. There seems to be too much standardized testingin public schools.

Factor Opinion Explain: _______________________________________

7. Prison is one of the worst places on theplanet.