Start by going to a major news website (for example the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, etc.) and choose an opinion article that is current—meaning, at least within the last year. These are normally located in the Opinions or Op-Ed section of the newspaper.
Once you have selected a persuasive article from a reputable source, you will use your critical reading skills to examine the article thoroughly.
Throughout your examination, be aware of which critical reading skills you utilize and find the most helpful.
Before reading your selected article, look over the questions below and keep them in mind as you read through the article. While you do not have to specifically respond to these questions, it might also be helpful to highlight, annotate, or take notes when you come across information in the article that pertains to these questions:
What is the main argument or purpose of the article? What is the topic, problem or issue?
What are the central ideas of the article?
What is the author’s point of view on the topic or issue?
What specific claims does the author make?
What evidence does the author use to support their claims or argument?
How does the author structure their article?
After you have used your critical reading skills to fully read and digest the article, you will compose a written reflection that explores the required questions below and examines your entire critical reading experience.
You may organize your reflection in whatever way you feel will best allow you to analyze and evaluate the article and answer the following questions. You may submit an essay or numbered responses. However you choose to format your response, be sure to answer the questions below.
What is the primary argument or purpose of the article?
What is the author's motivation, stance, or position and how does this effect the validity of the article?
What is the author suggesting or trying to convince the reader of? Evaluate how clear this point of view is for the reader.
What specific evidence does the author use to support their argument/claim? How relevant and sufficient is the evidence the author uses?
Identify one place where evidence is used well and one area where you think it could be developed further.
What reasoning does the author use to support their claim/argument? How valid is this reasoning?
How does the author structure their article?
How effective is the structure?
Does the structure help make the author’s points clear, convincing, and engaging?
Does the article seem organized to you? Why or why not?
Did the author succeed in convincing you of their point or prompting you to take action? Why or why not?
What critical reading strategies did you use to help you explore and examine this article more thoroughly? What strategy did you find the most helpful?
If you were asked to edit this article, what changes or edits would you suggest?
Whatever format you choose to share the above information and write your analytical reflection, make sure that your responses are thorough, and the entire reflection is well-organized.
Please also be sure to copy the link to your article and include it with your finished activity.
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