1. Analysis The “root” to understanding

2. Analysis vs. Argument Analysis  Asks questions  Provides answers to the question: “What does this mean?”  Can result in multiple meanings based on the POV or lens used  Not one right answer necessarily  Focuses on explanation/ education Argument  Asks questions  Provides answers to questions about what should be or what is best  Can be argued different ways depending on lens or POV used  Not one right answer necessarily  Focuses on convincing readers

3. Analysis vs. Argument Analysis  Encourages the reader to take a journey with the author  Adopts non-argumentative tone  Reasons from evidence  Focuses on the subject to bring about understanding Argument  Tries to sway readers to the position argued  Values persuasion over understanding  Reasons from evidence  Focuses on a particular stance that surrounds the subject

4. Analysis to Achieve Understanding  Hard evidence must be present in the piece analyzed (Never engage in speculation without a firm base to stand on)  The context must be congruent with any interpretations (Defining the news as popularly known vs. defining it as an impediment to CT)  Avoid overlaying your personal life onto the subject analyzed (Ask: “what other explanations might explain X?”)  Ask what the defining parts are along with how they fit into the whole (So what? method works here)

5. Making the Point  Use a non-adversarial tone (You are explaining a viewpoint, not arguing a stance)  Avoid evaluation until you know what the subject means (often no one right answer exists)  Make the implicit explicit (identify what assumptions exist)  Starts with a question and often produces more questions (the better you understand, the more you recognize that you don’t know what you think you know)  Keep in mind the rhetorical triangle

6. Logos: (information) arguments, evidence, reasons, data, structure Pathos: (audience) beliefs, values, knowledge, experience Ethos: (author credibility) authority, correctness, appearance, eloquence Rhetorical Triangle Writing Context

7. In Other Words...  Use critical thinking: First to analyze Second to interpret and Third to communicate  Consider why you think what you think about your thinking  Consider what your audience needs to understand why you think what you think about what you think