c




A good critical reader should be able
to:

! Distinguish between Fact and

Opinion
! Determine the different types of
opinion
! Evaluate opinions
 c

! 6an be checked for accuracy or
correctness
! 6an be proved true or false

! Is not affected by the writer’

writer’s
background or training
! ©elies on names, dates and statistics

! Is not usually the subject of

argument
 
  

r


! Forhis work on atomic structure,

scientist Niels Bohr was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics½
Physics½
    
! 6an be evaluated but cannot be
verified for accuracy or correctness
! 6annot be proved true or false

! Is shaped by the writer’

writer’s background
! Often communicates value
judgments
r
 Ôennifer Lopez is an artist of
extraordinary talent.
 x
 c
  

! ourjob as a critical reader is to
make sure that you recognize when
and where facts and opinions blend.

r
 In 1944,
1944, ©ussian troops
entered eastern 6zechoslovakia, and
the nightmare of life under
communist rule began.
 0 

 


!d
 are backed by evidence or

reasons and are relevant to the facts
being expressed

!^ 
 lack adequate evidence

and take several forms
 ^ 
   
! 6





: instead of offering support
to justify his/her opinion, the author makes the
same claim over and over again; i.e. relies on
repetition

! Example: We Americans like to brag about

progress, but, in fact life was better in the
nineteenth 6entury than it is now. People were
happier and more at peace with themselves.
There just wasn’t the same kind of anxiety and
tension that there is today. If we had a chance,
we would probably all get into a time machine
and go backward, rather than forward. All of
our highly touted technological progress has
not brought us an increased measure of
contentment.
 ^ 
    ’
! d



 the author supplies
facts that are unrelated to the opinion
being expressed.

! Example: Health care workers must be tested

for the virus that causes AIDS. To date, more
than 100,000 people have died from AIDS-
related illnesses. In addition, current figures
from the national 6enters for Disease 6ontrol
show that thousands more are already infected
with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and will
probably develop full-blown AIDS.