Trs601 Part2
Trs601 Part2
Trs601 Part2
Critical
Thinking Skills
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Part 2 moves from skill building to application of the skills that require critical thinking.
Practice activities tied to specific learning outcomes in each unit require a deeper level of
understanding of the academic content.
Struggle influences
social change.
SOCIOLOGY
GETTING STARTED
Go to to listen to Professor Greenberg and to complete a self-assessment.
Discuss these questions with a partner or group.
1. Think about race relations in your home country or another country. How would you describe them
in the present? In the past?
2. The image above shows African Americans being served at a soda counter in Oklahoma in 1958, after
sit-ins prompted racial policy changes—though the shop removed the stools so patrons had to stand.
Think of a human right you strongly believe in and feel that some members of society do not have.
Would you consider participating in a nonviolent action of protest for that right? Why or why not?
3. Consider your own personal identity: student, friend, waitress, churchgoer, and so forth. How have
your experiences and relationships shaped this identity? If you were to work with others to achieve a
goal you believe in, what impact do you think your identity could have on this work?
For more about SOCIOLOGY, see 1 3 . See also and SOCIOLOGY 1 2 3 .
PART 2
DISTINGUISHING FACT FROM OPINION
WHY IT’S USEFUL Distinguishing fact from opinion is necessary in recognizing the main and supporting
ideas of a reading. You may discover that something presented as fact is actually opinion.
Distinguishing fact from opinion in a reading allows you to get the full meaning of the reading.
This unit breaks the skill down into two supporting skills:
• recognizing and interpreting statements of opinion
• recognizing and interpreting statements of fact
NOTICING ACTIVIT Y
A. Read the passage.
P p o of h C l R gh Mo m
1The US civil rights movement is dreamily memorialized as a virtually sacred period of moral
advancement. 2 A national holiday commemorates its preeminent leader, Martin Luther King Jr.,
and school curricula teach children to celebrate the revolutionary ideals of the time. 3 However,
during the period from 1954 to 1968—the heyday of the civil rights movement—public views of
it were not nearly so sanguine. 4 Many white people throughout the United States, not just in the
South, argued that antidiscrimination measures were detrimental to American society. 5 In some
cases, they joined terrorist white supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. 6 Political leaders
such as Alabama governor George Wallace, who ran on an openly racist platform, were reelected
despite—or perhaps because of—their segregationist messages.
7 However, the civil rights movement drew in many supporters as well. 8 National leaders,
B. Look again at the passage. Notice that some sentences are mostly fact, others are mostly opinion,
and others are a balance of the two.
C. Read why Sentences 1–3 are categorized as they are. Discuss why Sentences 4–11 are categorized as
they are. Have they been sorted correctly?
Mostly Opinion: 1, 10: Sentence 1 includes a fact—that the civil rights period is memorialized—but
the main point is that this memorialization is “virtually sacred,” an opinion.
Mostly Fact: 2, 4, 5, 7, 9: Sentence 2 states that a holiday commemorates Martin Luther King Jr.
and that schoolchildren learn about him. There is an element of opinion in that the author calls King
“preeminent,” but this is not the main idea of the sentence.
Almost Equally Fact and Opinion: 3, 6, 8: Sentence 3 factually states that 1954–1968 was the peak
(“heyday”) of the movement and that there is a di erence in public opinion then and now, which
common sense indicates is probably a fact. It also includes a statement of opinion in that it labels
modern views as “sanguine” (excessively positive).
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
Fact: As of 2014, the rate of union membership had fallen 9 percent over
the past 30 years.
Fact + opinion: It’s a shame that as of 2014, the rate of union membership had
fallen 9 percent over the past 30 years.
The former is a pure fact because the statement is wholly neutral, containing no language that suggests
an opinion provided by the author. The latter is demonstrative of a fact framed by an opinion, signaled
by the phrase It’s a shame that …, which carries a connotation—one of the several types of language
attributes to look for when attempting to recognize opinions within a text.
PART 2
Klan. Notice the negative bias conveyed in the underlined words and phrases. For the words
values and ideal, the negativity is communicated by the quotation marks, turning otherwise
positive words into sarcastic remarks.
The Ku Klux Klan—a despicable organization that upholds “values” of white
supremacy and anti-immigration— should be condemned by all individuals who
believe in equality. While this group claims to promote American and Christian
values, it actually has used terroristic methods to instill fear in and commit
violence against those it deemed “impure.” It has gone about this in inhumane
and often brutal ways, including burning crosses, beating and maiming people
who don’t fi t in with its “ideal” society, and even going so far as to murder them.
Despite what its members argue, there is nothing positive or redeeming about this
wretched organization.
• Signal phrases are another feature of some statements of opinion. A signal phrase may indicate
the author’s own opinion, or it may indicate the opinion of someone else.
Author’s opinion: In my opinion, the current administration
seems to be putting civil rights on the back
burner.
Opinion reported by an author: The current administration is thought to be
putting civil rights on the back burner.
The mere addition of the phrase is thought to be in the second example tells a reader that the writer
is not expressing his or her own opinion; rather, the writer is conveying an opinion held by others.
EXERCISE 1
A. Circle the word in each pair that has the more negative connotation.
1. oppressive / tyrannical 4. mutinously / defi antly
2. violate / disobey 5. introduce / impose
3. discard / dump 6. barbaric / inhumane
B. Read the passage. What is the tone? How does the author set that tone? Point to specifi c elements
of the passage (e.g., word choice, selective use of examples and evidence, syntax, and punctuation)
that help you determine this.
1 Mahatma Gandhi’s most successful acts of to mobilize for a collective movement, and they
civil disobedience against Britain’s oppressive rule provided people with constructive work that would
aimed to involve people from all socioeconomic eventually lead a nation to independence.
groups and bring sweeping changes to the entire
Khadi Campaign
society. These acts speci cally employed methods
2 Gandhi began his work as a civil rights leader
of protest that were easily accessible to all.
not in India, but rather on the distant shores of
Regarded today as an exemplar of protest activism,
South Africa, where he campaigned for equal
Gandhi’s so-called “khadi campaign” encouraged
rights for much of his two decades of residence
Indians to spin cotton into yarn, weave that yarn into
there. Returning to his homeland of India in 1914
cloth, and boycott British manufactured textiles.
as a recognized rabble-rouser, he soon discarded
In a similar vein, Gandhi encouraged Indians to
Western clothing and donned the homespun cloth
disobey British salt laws by producing their own
of India known as khadi as a way of symbolically
salt. Spinning and weaving and salt-making are
casting off British rule. Britain controlled the textile
among the most humble of tasks, but according
market in India, and Gandhi began encouraging
to Gandhi, they boosted self-respect among those
Indians to wear homespun cloth as a way of both
viewed as the hoi polloi, they trained citizens
C. Read these excerpts from the passage, each of which contains biased language. Explain what
language makes each excerpt biased.
1. Regarded today as an exemplar of protest activism, Gandhi’s TIP
so-called “khadi campaign” encouraged Indians to spin cotton Biased or unbiased? While it is true
into yarn, weave that yarn into cloth, and boycott British that news reports are intended to
be informative (and thus unbiased),
manufactured textiles. one part of them is o en very biased:
the quotes embedded in them. News
2. Spinning and weaving and salt-making are among the most reporters write their stories objectively,
humble of tasks, but according to Gandhi, they boosted self- but the individuals who provide the
quotes o en give their opinions about
respect among those viewed as the , they trained the topic at hand.
citizens to mobilize for a collective movement, and they provided
people with constructive work that would eventually lead a
nation to independence.
3. Returning to his homeland of India in 1914 as a recognized rabble-rouser, he soon discarded Western
clothing and donned the homespun cloth of India known as as a way of symbolically casting o
British rule.
4. He further called the tax inhumane and unjust, declaring that it was unconscionable to tax a commodity
that millions of poor people required.
5. Gandhi’s idea, though initially met with skepticism, turned out to be ingenious because it created ripples
that reached the farthest edges of the nation and spread word of the Indian independence movement
throughout the world.
6. British-backed forces jailed more than 60,000 marchers and brutally beat many of them, but most
marchers continued to adhere to nonviolent resistance even amidst the crackdown.
D. Discuss your answers with another student. Use information and examples from the passage to
explain and support your answers.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
Fact and Opinion 139
SUPPORTING SKILL 2
RECOGNIZING AND INTERPRETING STATEMENTS OF FACT
WHY IT’S USEFUL By considering types of language that typically characterize facts, you will be able
to evaluate whether a reading excerpt is indeed a fact (versus an opinion). This will further develop your
critical thinking skills and your ability to analyze and interpret what you are reading.
A fact is a piece of information that is known to be true. The ability to identify a statement of fact, and to
distinguish that statement of fact from other types of statements—statements of opinions and statements
of facts + opinions—is essential to your understanding of a reading.
Features of Factual Statements
TIP
• Phrases suggesting a citation, including: Be careful. In academic writing, watch
According to out for phrases like researchers suggest,
As reported by scholars lament, and historians have
established . At times, these phrases can
As stated in be followed or preceded by pure facts,
It is a fact that but they o en contain a fact combined
with the author’s opinion about it. Facts
The author discusses / explains / writes, etc. are also frequently combined with
The facts show that opinions when an author reports on
others’ biases. Such an example of fact
The results demonstrate / indicate plus opinion is shown in this excerpt from
• Direct and indirect quotes (which often include quotation the online reading “Distorting E ect”:
However, in the years since his
marks and in-line citations) assassination in 1968, King’s slow
• Neutrality of vocabulary: This refers to an absence of ascension to a hero’s pedestal has,
scholars lament, frozen his character
connotative language and bias as well as an objective tone. in time, thereby watering down the
• Hedging: This is a type of cautious language that is often way in which his message speaks to
continuing racial inequality today.
used in academic writing when a writer is presenting facts
and wants to be as precise as possible. Examples of hedging:
it appears
it could be the case that
may, might, can, could (modal verbs)
probable / possible
some
tend(s) (not) to
X indicate(s)
X suggest(s)
• Informative or enumerative tone: As mentioned earlier, an informative tone is one in which an
author provides information about a topic without inserting any personal evaluation about the
topic. When an author employs an enumerative tone, he or she is supplying a list of the objects,
concepts, ideas, and so on that fall under a given construct, again, without adding opinions
about the concept.
Informative: A large number of legislators, state representatives, and high-level
government o cials now believe in providing all individuals with
equal opportunities.
Enumerative: Exactly 650 legislators, 401 state representatives, and 12 high-level
government o cials now believe in providing all individuals with
equal opportunities.
However, the presence of an informative or enumerative tone does not mean that the information
is necessarily purely factual. The inclusion of words that have strong connotations is often indicative of a
PART 2
with fact.
Gandhi’s Salt March was enormously influential, leading future civil rights leaders to
adopt a tactic unparalleled by any other: civil disobedience.
While it is true that Gandhi’s Salt March was infl uential, author bias is evident in the example above
with the word “enormously.” It is also a fact that future civil rights leaders adopted the tactic of civil
disobedience, but it is clear that the author is inserting an opinion through the addition of the phrase
“a tactic unparalleled by any other.”
EXERCISE 2
A. Read this excerpt from “Gandhi’s Influence” and identify the factual information. Circle the ten
words and phrases in bold that are neutral. Then paraphrase fi ve facts from the reading and write
your paraphrases below.
American civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. drew heavily upon the
strategies of Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign to combat social injustice, but he was not the first
civil rights leader to draw parallels between the oppression of the Indian people and the injustice
inflicted upon black people in America. In fact, King was one of many in a long line of leaders
inspired by Gandhi’s style of civil disobedience. Decades before King emulated Gandhi’s salt
march with his historic march from Selma to Montgomery, civil rights leaders were working
hard to bring Gandhi’s message to the United States. As early as the 1920s, political leader
Marcus M. Garvey depended on Gandhi for intellectual legitimacy, and in 1929, author and
activist W.E.B. Du Bois published a letter from Gandhi in an influential NAACP magazine that
was widely distributed throughout the black community.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Gandhi’s Influence
1 American civil rights movement leader Martin Gandhi’s style of civil disobedience. Decades
Luther King Jr. drew heavily upon the strategies before King emulated Gandhi’s Salt March with
of Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign to combat social his historic march from Selma to Montgomery,
injustice, but he was not the rst civil rights civil rights leaders were working hard to bring
leader to draw parallels between the oppression Gandhi’s message to the United States. As early
of the Indian people and the injustice in icted as the 1920s, political leader Marcus M. Garvey
upon black people in America. In fact, King was depended on Gandhi for intellectual legitimacy,
one of many in a long line of leaders inspired by and in 1929, author and activist W.E.B. Du Bois
Continued
Fact and Opinion 141
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NAACP magazine that was widely distributed community lauded Gandhi’s work and prepared
throughout the black community. the way for an eventual charismatic leader of their
2 Gandhi’s campaign targeted multiple social own. Civil rights leader James Farmer studied
ills including the repressive rule of the British, Thurman’s writings about Gandhi, and in 1942
the divisive “caste” system, and the pitting of he proposed a ve-year plan of mobilization
Muslims against Hindus. It was Gandhi’s focus that called for acts of noncooperation, and
on the integration of a group of people from the economic boycott, both of which constituted
lowest caste, the “untouchables,” that was of civil disobedience. Farmer went on to become
particular interest to many black Americans. director of the Congress of Racial Equality, an
Millions of Indians born into this caste system organization that led a series of acts of civil
were marginalized and ostracized in Indian society disobedience in protest against segregation on
to a degree that was almost unfathomable, and buses. Another leader in the black community,
the integration Gandhi envisioned and labored Howard University president Mordecai Wyatt
for struck a chord with black Americans. In 1932, Johnson, visited India in 1949 and returned
America’s preeminent black newspaper, the inspired. When Martin Luther King Jr. attended
Atlanta Daily World, printed a front-page article seminary, he heard a sermon by Johnson about
citing comments from Republican lawmaker Gandhi and soon after bought six books about
William E. King about Gandhi’s efforts to achieve the Indian leader.
integration for India’s lowest class. The lawmaker 4 Johnson, Thurman, and others preached of
compared the plight of the untouchables of India Gandhi’s greatness as a leader who followed
to Southern black people. revolutionary principles while adhering to
3 The message spread. In 1936, a group nonviolent methods. Gandhi, who referred to
of leading black educators, including Howard the untouchable caste as “children of God,” was
Thurman, dean of historic Howard University, echoed by King, who spoke of a moral obligation
visited Gandhi in India. Gandhi asked the leaders to uphold the values of all humans, especially
why they had not yet adopted the approach of civil the oppressed. King himself visited India in 1959
disobedience, stressing nonviolence as the only and later used many of Gandhi’s strategies in the
means for effective change. During and following US civil rights movement.
2. Reread this sentence from Paragraph 3. Identify the neutral verb(s) and the verb(s) with
connotation: Gandhi asked the leaders why they had not yet adopted the approach of civil
disobedience, stressing nonviolence as the only means for e ective change.
3. Look back at Paragraph 4. Which sentence contains the most neutral language?
D. Discuss the questions in Part C with another student. Use information and examples from the
passage to support your answers.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
PART 2
UNDERSTANDING AND PRODUCING CRITIQUES
WHY IT’S USEFUL In American universities and professional situations, you will very often need to
understand passages that evaluate or critique something. You may also be asked to critique work you
read. This involves making reasonable evaluative judgments that capture the strong and weak aspects of
someone else’s writing. While active reading inherently involves this critical function, in a critique, you
express those value judgments and support them.
A critique is a piece of writing that examines the good and bad aspects of a work of art, a political
campaign, a college course, or some other e ort. Usually a critique attempts to apply reasonable
criteria in its analysis, not simply o er unsupported approval or disapproval. Examples of kinds
of critiques include book reports, analyses of historical events, assessments of scientific research,
commentaries about political positions, and comparisons of possible solutions to problems.
Characteristics of Critiques
• Critiques make evaluative remarks about CULTURE NOTE
work, ideas, and so on. Therefore, critiques use the College Culture: The Proper Persona in a Critique
language of opinion along with the language of fact. College students are sometimes uncomfortable
discussing a critique or writing their own. Young
• Critiques o er evidence or at least explain a basis undergraduates, especially, may feel awkward
for evaluative remarks. making value judgments about material written by
scholars more knowledgeable than they are. They feel
• The best critiques apply certain criteria as they like the persona they create in critiquing the work of
judge or assess things. This lends structure to the others is false—only pretending to know what they’re
talking about. Some thoughts to keep in mind:
critique and makes it seem more reasonable. • TRAIN. Assignments that require you to analyze and
• Part of being reasonable is applying criteria that evaluate a piece of writing train you to be part of the
academic discourse community. You have to start
can reasonably be met. For example, you would not somewhere. Academics and professionals routinely go
hold a high school fi lmmaker to the same standards through the process of reading, considering, gathering
more data, evaluating, reacting, and proposing
as a professional. alternate ideas. You may not have much to say yet,
• The best critiques attempt to be fair. Therefore, but you’re preparing for the day when you do.
• SEARCH. Thanks to search engines, it's easier than
critiques often balance positive and negative ever to fact-check the statements in a piece of writing
remarks. and gather information for your own critiques.
• Critiques may include the language of hedging (“X • LEAD. Even outside of academic writing, readers
appreciate a writer who is confident. Confidence
may be exaggerated,” “ it appears that Y happened”) comes from knowing what you want to say and
and the language of certainty (“X is clearly saying it in reasonable terms. In a typical reading
or discussion situation, the author or the initial
incompetent”). speaker is a leader. When delivering a critique in
• Critiques often speculate about what might have writing or speech, take responsibility; lead strongly
and e ectively.
happened in di erent circumstances. For that • SHOW HUMILITY. Still, no academic reader or
reason, they often include unreal conditionals discussion partner likes an arrogant know-it-all
or sarcastic critic. You don’t know it all, so be
(“If X had singled out more incidents of Klan humble enough to admit when you are unsure
violence, his claims would have carried more of something—or avoid areas about which you
are unsure. Most importantly, don’t make cutting,
weight”). sarcastic, or disparaging remarks about what you
critique. Even if you think of something very clever
to say, restrain yourself. Tell it as a joke to your
READING AND WRITING CRITIQUES friends later on, but don’t use it in a critique or a
In a reading class, you could be asked to read and discussion of a critique.
understand a critique that someone else has written. You
may also be asked to write your own critique—to analyze and evaluate something you have read. The list
of critique characteristics above can serve two purposes: 1) to help you look for certain characteristics in
what you read, and 2) to guide you in writing your own critiques.
1. What criterion is the author using to judge the significance of the marches of Coxey’s Army?
a. the time of year it occurred
b. who led it
c. its eventual goal
d. its ability to tolerate hardship
2. Is the author’s opinion of the 1894 march positive or negative in terms of that criterion?
a. positive
b. negative
c. part positive and part negative
3. What is one piece of evidence the author gives to support his evaluation of Coxey’s Army in terms
of that criterion?
a. the distance the marchers traveled
b. the country’s economic situation
c. the message the marchers expressed
d. the identity of the “army’s” leader
The size of the crowd at Martin Luther King Jr.’s march on Washington
in August 1963, o cially known as the March on Washington for Jobs
and Freedom, was enormous, weighing in at about a quarter of a million
people. It was far better attended than any of the approximately ten
similar major marches that had preceded it in US history. For comparison,
note that Coxey’s Army was probably no larger than 400. However,
considerations of size have to grant the top prize to 1995’s Million
Man March. This was an e ort to highlight a range of troubles in black
communities—from unemployment to gang violence to police abuse—
co-promoted by a motley alliance of leaders ranging from former DC
mayor Marion Barry (who had served six months in prison on drug
charges) to Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam (infamous for his
disparaging
p g g remarks about Jews). J It produced
p no inspirational
p oratoryy
4. What criterion does the author use to judge the marches on Washington, DC?
a. the troubles they meant to protest
b. the leaders who organized them
c. the number of people in the march
d. the degree of violence among marchers
5. Is the author’s opinion of the 1995 march positive or negative in terms of that criterion?
a. positive
b. negative
c. part positive and part negative
6. The author implies that the 1995 march is not admirable on some counts. What are the faults he
implies? Choose TWO.
a The problems it protested were not very serious.
b. Some of its leaders had reputations for bad behavior.
c. It produced no consequential outcome.
d. It came at the wrong time in US history.
EXERCISE 4
A. Read the article.
Continued
3. What is the most accurate restatement of the author’s view of Malcolm X as expressed in
Paragraph 2?
a. His movement did not have a strong intellectual basis.
b. The roots of his thinking seemed strange to most Americans.
c. His e ectiveness was lessened because he had been jailed for murder.
d. He was less thoughtful than Marcus Garvey.
4. What criterion does the author use in Paragraph 3 to critique the approaches?
5. What is the most accurate restatement of the author’s view of the Black Panther Party as expressed
in Paragraph 3?
a. Their militant image made them seem ominous to white people.
b. Their willingness to use guns gave them more influence.
c. Their use of guns and talk of revolution was only a show.
d. Their association with Rosa Parks changed their approach.
6. What criterion does the author use in Paragraph 4 to critique the approaches?
7. What speculation about the future does the author most strongly imply in Paragraph 5?
a. The ability to give good speeches would have made non-King activists more e ective.
b. If King had lived longer, he would have led the Panthers and Nation of Islam, too.
c. Non-King activists would have been more successful if their leadership had been better.
d. The Nation of Islam and the Panthers would have eventually killed each other o .
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
PART 2
UNDERSTANDING SIGNPOST EXPRESSIONS THAT LIMIT OR DEFINE
WHY IT’S USEFUL Critiques and many other forms of academic writing may be careful to limit the extent
of what they say. Their authors try to be ver y precise. Understanding certain signpost expressions will
help you appreciate the true extent of what an author says. By integrating such expressions into your own
vocabular y, you can express yourself more accurately.
Some vocabulary items are mostly functional. The “depth” of their lexical (word-like) meaning is not very
great, but they are very useful for a certain purpose. We are interested here in those whose purpose is to
signpost (indicate) the limits of or restrictions on an author’s comments.
Most of these signposts introduce a topic area. For instance, study this sentence:
When we consider wages, African Americans fall behind most other groups.
The signpost when we consider is used to introduce the topic of wages, but it can do more than that. It
not only introduces but also limits, as if to say “I’m not talking about all areas, but in the area of wages,
African Americans fall behind.” This is an important function, especially when talking about a sensitive
topic like race. The author wants to make sure the reader does not think he or she is claiming that
African Americans fall behind in other areas.
Signposts often indicate one limitation within a series of limitations. For example, consider the signposts
in bold in this paragraph:
Pol al Co d o fo
Af a Am a
The second decade of the 21st century has brought a mixed bag
of political circumstances for African Americans. By one criterion,
things have never been better. A man whose father was a black African
became president of the United States. When it comes to future political
influence, however, blacks have taken a hit, as the Supreme Court
weakened some provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. When we
consider future elections, this court action will make voting harder for
hundreds of thousands of blacks. If we define political progress to be
greater participation in legislative bodies, blacks have had something
to celebrate. In 2015, there were 46 black members of the House of
Representatives, representing a steady rise since the 1980s. However, in
terms of their power, they saw a reduction when the Republican Party
took over the House of Representatives. The Republican leadership failed
to name even one black person to a committee chair, one of the most
powerful positions in the legislative branch.
The limitation signposts are especially valuable in a text like this, where the commentary swings from
one issue to another, and from remarks about positive points to remarks about negative points. Notice
that some limitation signposts introduce definitions.
EXERCISE 5
A. Reread “Political Conditions for African Americans” on the previous page. Then complete the chart.
Signpost Expression Topic or Area Introduced
1 By one criterion whether an African American is president
2
3
4
5
PART 2
the passage with limiting or defining expressions from the list on the previous page. Use
information from the fact sheet as necessary.
Th Sho H da of h Bla k Pa h
After a strong run in the late 1960s
and early 1970s, the Black Panther
Party for Self-Defense (eventually
known simply as the Black Panthers)
faded into irrelevance. Of all the major
branches of the black power struggle,
(1)
lasting political infl uence, the
Black Panthers come up short.
(2)
appeal to mainstream American society,
the Black Panthers could not compete
with peaceful resistance groups like
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. Although some branches of
the Panthers had successes delivering
social services such as food assistance
and health care to the poor of large cities,
American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos during
(3) the award ceremony of the 200 m race at the 1968 Olympic
Games in Mexico City. In an expression of defiance, both
the party’s public profile, such removed their shoes, bowed their heads, and raised a
black-gloved fi st as the national anthem played.
activities had little e ect. The group
cultivated an image of armed resistance, and (4) the
minds of most Americans, that’s who they were. Perhaps the least violent image of supposed
Panther politics was still very controversial, the incident during the 1968 Olympics when two
sprinters hung their heads and raised black-gloved fists as the US national anthem played. But
(5) that neither athlete was a member of the party, this is
not really an e ective softener of the Panther ethos. (6)
its political associations, the Panther leadership was deliberately provocative, visiting North
Continued
PART 2
WHY IT’S USEFUL By applying the skills you have learned in this unit, you can successfully read this
challenging text and learn about Henry David Thoreau and his approach to standing up for what he
believed in.
Henry David 3
TAX REFUSAL
9 It was not one, but two taxes Thoreau
Thoreau’s Civil refused to pay in the 1840s. 10 The fi rst was
a church tax, a tax that funded a clergyman
Disobedience in a church Thoreau did not attend, and the
second was a poll tax, a state tax that went to
1 1 When it comes fund multiple ventures. 11 Between the two,
to social activism, the church tax nonpayment was a smaller
Henry David indiscretion, and Thoreau questions in his
Thoreau, a classic essay whether the church should have the right
American writer
to levy the tax. 12 He explains that he avoids it
and a radical of
summarily by having the town clerk remove his
his time, is one of
name from the church’s register. 13 As for his
history’s greatest
refusal to pay the poll tax, however, Thoreau
catalysts, inspiring
appears to be more indignant, outlining his
with his 1849 essay
opposition with stronger, moral reasons, stating
“Civil Disobedience”
that he wished “to refuse allegiance to the
several of the
most renowned State” that sanctioned slavery and the invasion
activists of the past century, including Mahatma of a foreign nation. 14 Thoreau refused to pay
Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. 2 In the essay, the poll tax for six years and lobbied others to
Thoreau appeals to others to break laws he join him, arguing that “if a thousand men were
deems unjust, defi ning these as any law that not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would
“requires you to be the agent of injustice to not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would
another.” 3 He also outlines the principles on be to pay them, and enable the State to commit
which he opposed the state’s taxation system, violence and shed innocent blood.” 15 He goes
the consequences he faced for disobeying the on to name such mass civil disobedience a
tax law, and the profound effect his act of civil potential “peaceable revolution,” a declaration
disobedience had on his perspective of his town that was revolutionary in itself in the sense
and neighbors. that pacifi cism was considered a “radical”
2 4 Thoreau came of age during the 19th century approach.
and penned “Civil Disobedience” after completing 4 16 In terms of taxes in general, Thoreau did
his more widely known work, Walden . 5 Thoreau,
not disagree with all of them, as he happily
like his contemporary Ralph Waldo Emerson,
admits in his essay when he states that he never
was part of the Transcendentalist movement,
refused to pay a highway tax because he desires
which placed great emphasis on the merits of
to be a good neighbor, and likewise when he
nature, thought, and spiritualism. 6 Though best
affi rms paying taxes that fund schools because
known for living in the woods, an experience
he supports educating others. 17 In the instance
he writes about extensively in Walden , Thoreau
of his unpaid poll tax, an anonymous person
also details his journey to a very different
space—jail. 7 Thoreau found himself in jail by paid the bill on Thoreau’s behalf, which was why
way of deliberately disobeying the tax laws of the he spent only one night in jail instead of many.
time, arguing that his dollars tied his allegiance
18 Thoreau admonishes whoever paid his tax—
to a government that enacted measures and though he does not reveal the person’s name—
participated in acts he reviled, including the for allowing personal feelings to interfere with
Mexican-American War and slavery. 8 For his the good he believed would come from his act of
crime, he spent one night in jail. civil disobedience.
PART 2
5 19 The time Thoreau served for his crime, jailhouse gossip, and reading poems composed
though abbreviated, left an indelible time in jail by inmates. 28 His recollections are romantic
on him. 20 When recounting his time in jail, he and describe the jail as giving him a new
insists that his intellectual and moral senses perspective entirely on his town, as though he
remained free despite being locked inside a had “never heard the town-clock strike before,
cell, and that the physical barriers of jail were nor the evening sounds of the village ... It was
inconsequential compared to the impervious to see my native village in the light of the
boundaries of personhood. 21 Thoreau declares Middle Ages.”
that he lost all respect for the state, which he 7 29 After his release the following morning,
writes has only physical strength, not wit or Thoreau writes that he emerged a new man,
honesty. 22 “As they could not reach me,” he writes, shocked and dismayed by the reactions of his
“they had resolved to punish my body; just as neighbors and friends, and he describes a barrier
boys, if they cannot come at some person against between himself and them. 30 He feels ostracized,
whom they have a spite, will abuse his dog.” and laments that some friendships were for the
6 23 According to Thoreau’s reflections on his “summer weather only.” 31 It is significant to note
time in jail, he views himself as a person visiting that while fi rst recounting his sojourn in jail,
a new land, which we experience by way of his Thoreau describes it as a new land, but when he
descriptions of the physical dimensions of the is later released, he seems to have undergone a
whitewashed stone walls, iron grating, and low transformation, and it is his former friends and
lighting. 24 He also details his night in jail, which neighbors who have become the foreigners.
passes uneventfully, beginning with getting 8 32Thoreau ends his jail recollections on a
to know his fellow jail-mate, a man whom he high note, writing that after being released, he
assumes to be innocent. 25 Thoreau writes that completed his errand of retrieving his shoe from a
when asked, the man stated, “They accuse me cobbler, and following this errand, he ventured out
of burning a barn; but I never did it.” Thoreau
26 with friends. 33 In the context of his entire essay,
shrugs off the man’s alleged crime, speculating which is a larger examination of the individual’s
that he simply fell asleep while drunk and relationship to the state, the details of his jail stay
smoking a pipe, and then benefited from what are important because they reveal, along with his
the jail had to offer: a clean room, free boarding, lofty philosophy of resistance and his unwavering
and decent treatment. 27 Thoreau spends the rest stance on the government’s involvement in war, a
of the evening talking to his jail-mate, examining level of personal emotional reaction.
B. Reread the questions in Before You Read, Part B. Is there anything you cannot answer? What
reading skills can you use to help you find the answers?
THINKING CRITICALLY
You just read about the consequences of refusing to pay taxes in the 1840s. If an individual
intentionally refused to pay a tax in the present day—citing a reason such as a strong belief against
what that tax supports—do you think the consequences would di er from those Thoreau experienced
for his actions? Why or why not? Consider what you know about significant events—social, religious,
political—in Thoreau’s time, and compare those with events happening today.
1817–1837
Grandfather led
the rst known
student protest in
the United States
Despite having taken
four years of classes
at Harvard, supposedly
refused to pay a
$5 fee to receive
his diploma
Born in Concord,
Massachusetts
1837–1844
As an abolitionist—someone
opposed to slavery—and a
paci st, refused to pay six
years of past-due poll taxes,
citing his opposition to the
Mexican-American War and
slavery. Was jailed for
Moved to Emerson's cabin one night
1845–1846 in the forest, near Walden
Pond, and lived by himself
as a two-year effort to live
life as simply as possible
Timeline of signifi cant events in the first 30 years of Henry David Thoreau‘s life (born 1817, died 1862)
PART 2
A. Read these excerpts from “Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience.” Underline the signpost
expressions that limit or define.
1. When it comes to social activism, Henry David Thoreau, a classic American writer and a radical of his time,
is one of history’s greatest catalysts, inspiring with his 1849 essay “Civil Disobedience” several of the most
renowned activists of the past century, including Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
2. In the essay, Thoreau appeals to others to break laws he deems unjust, defining these as any law that
“requires you to be the agent of injustice to another.”
3. Thoreau found himself in jail by way of deliberately disobeying the tax laws of the time, arguing that his
dollars tied his allegiance to a government that enacted measures and participated in acts he reviled,
including the Mexican-American War and slavery.
4. He goes on to name such mass civil disobedience a potential “peaceable revolution,” a declaration that
was revolutionary in itself in the sense that pacificism was considered a “radical” approach.
5. In terms of taxes in general, Thoreau did not disagree with all of them, as he happily admits in his essay
when he states that he never refused to pay a highway tax because he desires to be a good neighbor, and
likewise when he a rms paying taxes that fund schools because he supports educating others.
6. According to Thoreau’s reflections on his time in jail, he views himself as a person visiting a new land,
which we experience by way of his descriptions of the physical dimensions of the whitewashed stone
walls, iron grating, and low lighting.
B. What is the limitation or definition created by the signpost in each item? Discuss with another
student.
ECONOMICS
GETTING STARTED
Go to to listen to Professor Clerici-Arias and to complete a self-assessment.
Discuss these questions with a partner or group.
1. Think of the last time you crossed a border from one country to another. Did you have to be careful not
to bring in certain things? Which things? Why would a country prevent you from bringing such things
in? Was the reason economic? Environmental? Cultural? Related to some other aspect of life?
2. Think of a country you know well. Does the government impose any extra taxes on items brought in
from other countries? Why or why not? Do the taxes work as the government intends?
3. Think of the same or another a country you know well—perhaps the country where you are living
now. Is there a lot of income inequality? What factors cause—or protect people against—such
inequality? What signs do you see every day that show that inequality does, or doesn’t, exist?
PART 2
UNDERSTANDING IMPLICATION AND INFERENCE
WHY IT’S USEFUL A reading passage may contain ideas that are implied (not stated directly) by the
author. Readers can understand implications by making inferences—considering the information given,
processing it logically, and bringing in their own knowledge of the topic and the world in general.
Understanding implications and your own inferences can allow VOC ABUL ARY T IP
you to get the full meaning of a reading—not just what an author
to imply—to communicate an idea
explicitly states, but also what is indirectly stated. This unit breaks without actually saying it. The reading
the skill down into two supporting skills: passage (and the writer) implies things.
These are implications.
• making strong inferences and avoiding weak ones
to infer—to understand an idea even
• distinguishing between deliberate implications and direct though it is not directly said. You, the
statements reader, infer things. What you infer are
inferences.
NOTICING ACTIVIT Y
A. Read each item. Then choose the best inference about the item. Discuss your answers with another
student.
1. Accounting is more than mere record-keeping. Give ten accountants the same task, and you’ll get
ten di erent results.
a. Accounting does not have a set of rules that everyone follows.
b. Accounting can involve personal creativity.
2. Double-entry accounting demands that each amount is recorded in at least two accounts. It has
long functioned as a tool for discovering errors.
a. Accountants sometimes make mistakes in entering amounts.
b. Accountants suspect one another of trying to take money dishonestly.
3. Double-entry accounting is not the same as keeping two sets of books. The latter will get you
thrown into jail.
a. Double-entry accounting covers up any illegal activities among accountants.
b. Double-entry accounting is legal, but keeping two sets of books is not.
4. Accounting is probably as old as trade itself. Without records of outflow versus income, how could
a trader assess the quality of an exchange?
a. Ancient accounting systems were not very accurate.
b. No one knows when the first accounting system started.
5. It’s only natural that the most powerful merchants of any era—medieval Arabs, Renaissance
Italians, the Dutch, the British, the Americans—could impose their accounting practices
internationally.
a. The status of being the world’s top traders shifts from one country to another over time.
b. The country with the best accounting system is usually the world’s top trader.
6. Paying income taxes every year unreasonably forces average Americans to become temporary
accountants, a role for which they have no training.
a. Americans should learn in school how to become accountants.
b. The income tax system shouldn’t require any accounting skills.
Some Italian
A o g Co x
cities besides 1 (1) Modern accounting developed during the Italian Renaissance
Venice and and gradually insinuated itself wherever Venetians, Genoans, or
Genoa
had trade
others carried it to ensure predictable business practices. But that
during the is not to say that all such trading partners were willing to manage
Renaissance. In some places,
their accounts in the Italian way. (2) Financial and legal systems local traditions
varied in significant ways and were deeply rooted, not easily altered stayed in place
to suit foreign merchants, no matter how rich they were. And despite rich
foreigners.
even in the 15th century, there were technological breakthroughs
(Gutenberg’s printing press, various advances in sailing gear) that
rapidly— (3) at least in relative terms—changed the economic game Developments
that seemed fast
and encouraged the spread of two main types of accounting: code- in the 15th century
based accounting and common law accounting. would not seem
The influence of fast now.
2 (4) Common law, or case law, had developed in Britain during
the
Empire caused the 11th and 12th centuries. It was refined as trade increased during
the Renaissance; later systems in colonies throughout the British In common law
Empire fell under the common law heading. (5) Accounting accounting, a
. practices under common law emphasized adherence to voluntary company that
conventions of transparency and accuracy. Peer pressure and doesn’t follow
potential public shame played a great role. Common law is the rules is
punished by
comparatively flexible, so accounting systems based in it can
be adapted to changing economic conditions with relative ease. .
These common law attributes are still found in the accounting
practices of such former British colonies or dependencies as the
United States, Australia, and India. (6) India, as it grows, is likely At present, India’s
to benefit greatly from the common law framework; typically, as economy is
labor economies transition into service economies, they need the
flexibility that common law accounting provides—as opposed to
.
the more rigid procedures of a code-based system.
3 The formation of a modern accounting system isn’t always such
a gradual process, and common law systems aren’t always the
result. After World War II, the United States worked to establish
A er World War II,
an American-style accounting system in Japan. (7) Within only Japan considered
a couple of decades, many aspects of the system took hold, and American
today Japan has a hybrid accounting system. It has been heavily accounting
influenced by US common law but also by prior experience practices to be
The Japanese
tendency toward with German code law and (8) a credit-focused financial system
some secrecy in that is not inclined toward disclosures. While both India and
the credit system .
Japan went through rapid and occasionally turbulent periods of
had its origins in modernization, each managed to create a system of accounting that
suited its needs.
.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
PART 2
MAKING STRONG INFERENCES AND AVOIDING WEAK ONES
WHY IT’S USEFUL By making inferences that are strong—well supported by material in the reading and
by logic—you can more accurately understand what a writer means to say. By not making weak inferences,
you can keep from developing misunderstandings.
All of the inferences we drew from “Accounting in Context” are strong. A reader can fi nd a clear
statement in the reading passage that supports and leads logically to each inference. Most readers know
enough about money, history, and economies to infer the information.
However, inferences—and the implications on which they might be based—are not always so clear. Given
di erent background experiences, one reader may infer things that another may not. This is an important
distinction. Inferences and implications are di erent things, and they do not always occur together:
• An author may imply something in a reading passage that a reader doesn’t notice. In this case,
there is an implication without an inference.
• Alternatively, a reader may infer something that the author did not intend to imply. In this case,
there is an inference without an intended implication. When a reader infers things the author did
not mean to imply, the inference is likely to be weak.
The following inferences from “Accounting in Context” are so weak that most readers would consider
them wrong. They cannot be clearly supported by evidence from the reading. A reader who makes these
inferences is misunderstanding the passage.
Common law accounting practices cause economies The reading actually portrays a totally di erent scenario.
to become service economies. The accounting system does not change an economy. It is
available in case an economy changes.
Before World War II, Japan had no exposure to The reading directly says otherwise when it uses the
accounting systems from other countries. phrase “prior experience with Germanic code law.”
EXERCISE 1
A. Read the passage actively. (See the section Reading Actively, p. 3.) Ask yourself questions and
formulate guesses about possible implications.
Th Eff of Ta ff o
R a h a d D lopm
1 In the popular imagination, an innovator is a lone genius toiling away
in obscurity before stumbling upon a world-changing breakthrough. We
are attracted to this image because it speaks to the kind of hard work
and struggle all of us must go through to accomplish something. The less
dramatic reality, however, is that innovation is more often a matter of such
uninspiring factors as international trade rules, especially the taxes known
as tari s. Every country imposes some tari s, so we have to speak of a
continuum, from high-tari to low-tari countries. Those with high tari s
Continued
PART 2
or Weak.
2. Countries usually establish tari s for unsuccessful industries but not for
successful ones.
3. No country that says it supports free markets would ever impose tari s.
5. Tari s usually do not help an industry sell its products to a domestic market.
7. Cell phones, the Internet, and other aids to communication make it easier to
protect an industry with tari s.
10. The international migration of highly skilled people would probably decrease
if every economy in the world practiced free trade.
C. Discuss your ratings with another pair of students. Explain the reasons for your answers.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
WHY IT’S USEFUL You can understand an author’s intentions and attitudes more clearly if you can
recognize when he or she deliberately avoids saying something directly. You can develop a sense of the
factors that may be motivating the author. Why does the author think such deliberate implications are
necessary?
Usually, the implications in a reading passage are not meant to hide anything. They are simply a normal
part of the pattern of meaning, said and unsaid, in a passage. However, sometimes an author may
intentionally use implications to make a point that he or she does not want to state directly. This may
occur for any of several reasons.
The author may think that
• saying something directly would cause trouble with authorities—the government, religious
o cials, an employer, and so on.
• being explicit would anger or embarrass certain individuals.
• using direct language would be predictable and boring, so the implication is meant to
entertain.
• an implication would appeal to a subgroup of readers (an “in-group”), making them feel special
because they can understand it.
EXERCISE 2
A. Read each situation. Then discuss the questions with one or two other students.
Situation 1: A worker at a coal company is interviewed by an environmental news website.
Transcript:
INTERVIEWER: The Northern Coal Company employs more than half the people in this area. Critics
say the company is ruining this part of the state by cutting forests, destroying mountaintops,
and polluting rivers. What do you think?
COAL MINER: I’ve worked with the company for 20 years. That salary has allowed me to feed
my family and send my daughter to college. They employ lots of folks around here, and I don’t
know what would happen to this economy if you took those jobs away. I’m 52 years old, and
I know there’s no other job for me around here except the one I have. This is a beautiful valley,
and these mountains are my home.
1. What can you infer about the miner’s feelings about the company? About the future?
2. Why do you think the miner avoids answering the question directly?
3. Can you think of similar situations in which a writer or speaker would avoid direct
statements?
PART 2
US government.
Blog Post:
The British people understand that US trade leaders want prosperity for American companies.
It’s every government’s job to promote the economic interests of its people. Part of that is making
sure manufacturers have access to the best materials on the market. Should our American cousins
care to investigate, they will find that jet engines built by British Airfoil have outperformed all
competitors for nearly half a century. I’m sure it’s just an oversight that customs o cials have
limited the importation of 27 BA engines at the dock in Philadelphia.
1. How is the politician’s motivation di erent from the coal miner’s in Situation 1?
2. What is one implied criticism the politician makes of the US government?
3. What can you infer about the possible purpose of the US government’s actions?
4. Why does the politician use the phrase “American cousins”?
5. By calling the action “an oversight,” what is the politician trying to avoid?
6. Can you think of similar situations in which a writer or speaker would avoid direct
statements?
B. Read the passage. Make notes about ideas that you think are being deliberately implied
because the author is reluctant to state them directly.
Smok g, S Tax , a d
Cha g g Hab
1 Throughout the ages, authorities have tried to enforce sobriety and
clean living, but their record at it has been spotty at best. Take the
Ottoman Sultan Murad IV (1612–1640) who not only outlawed co ee
but also imposed a penalty of execution should anyone violate the ban.
(Pretty harsh moves from a man who allegedly had a taste for another
oft-banned substance, fortifi ed wine.) You can judge how well the ban
worked by noting that today Turkish-style co ee is enjoyed in homes
and cafes around the globe. Similarly, the earnest and well-meaning
US Temperance Movement succeeded in getting Congress to establish
Prohibition (a federal ban on the sale of alcoholic drinks that endured
from 1920 to 1933), bringing us moonshine, the Jazz Age, and Al
Capone. Parallels could conceivably be drawn to the modern US War
on Drugs.
2 Governments that recognize the futility of bans often resort to
taxing things instead. Declaring a “sin tax” is straightforward enough:
Simply choose something you want people to avoid and impose a tax
to cover whatever costs you imagine the nasty substance or activity
levies on society. Writing the tax into law is, of course, the easy part.
Implementing it, as history has demonstrated, leads to a multitude of
di culties, particularly black market sales and, worse, angry people who
want their cigarettes, their alcoholic drink, their sugary cola, or even
temporary romance.
Continued
C. Read the questions and choose the best answers. If necessary, use a dictionary to understand
di cult words in the questions.
1. What is the author implying about Murad IV in Paragraph 1?
a. He drank a lot of co ee.
b. His people feared him.
c. He was a hypocrite.
d. His government sold co ee.
PART 2
modern US War on Drugs”?
a. To imply that the War on Drugs is ine ective without deeply o ending antidrug readers
b. Because it’s illegal to write negative remarks about federal laws
c. To indicate that the War on Drugs is a much more respectable policy than Prohibition
d. Because he is not sure whether the War on Drugs is or is not a good policy
3. In Paragraph 2, why does the author use the indirect phrase “temporary romance”?
a. To indicate that taxed substances and activities are attractive to young people
b. To show that laws against a substance or activity cannot eliminate it
c. To introduce the concept that taxed things are often a lot of fun
d. To avoid saying “prostitution,” which might o end some readers
4. In Paragraph 3, what does the author imply about smokers who are undeterred by the
tobacco tax?
a. They are wealthy and unconcerned about taxes.
b. They are young and not worried about health problems.
c. They may be addicted to tobacco and cannot stop.
d. They could put pressure on the government to repeal the tax.
5. In Paragraph 4, what does the author imply about the e ectiveness of taxes on tobacco use?
a. They succeeded in the United States but have failed elsewhere.
b. Their role in changing behavior may appear greater than it really was.
c. They did not really have any e ect on the incidence of smoking.
d. It is dangerous to think that other sin taxes will be e ective, too.
6. In Paragraph 5, what does the author imply about regulation of unhealthful products when he
says, “while it certainly occurs, [public regulation of private matters] does not easily survive once a
media spotlight is shone on it”?
a. Taxes on unhealthful products are imposed through secret government actions, not
through laws.
b. The private lives of Americans were more regulated in the past than they are now.
c. News media make a lot of money from ads for unhealthful products.
d. Americans are not conscious of many ways in which their private habits are regulated.
D. Discuss your answers with another student. Use information and examples from the passage to
explain and support your answers.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to do collaborative activities.
WHY IT’S USEFUL In American universities and professional situations, you will very often need to write
or speak in your own words about things you have read. Capturing an author’s thoughts in your own words
is therefore a crucial skill.
When authors paraphrase, they express someone else’s statement in a di erent way but keep the
essential meaning the same. This is not just a matter of changing a few words. It usually involves shifts
in grammar as well. The most important principle for someone writing a paraphrase is this: Work with
idea groups. When you express things in new wording, work with these groups of words, not with
individual words. See the following examples. Notice, for instance, that in the fi rst example the idea
group, According to one research fi rm has been replaced by another group of words for the same idea,
Research shows.
Original: According to one research firm, the richest 400 people in the United States
own approximately 50 percent of the country’s net wealth.
Paraphrase: Research shows that about half of the net wealth in the United States is
owned by a group of only 400 people.
Original: You might be interested to find out that the Occupy Movement was trying to
draw public attention in 2011 to the fact that the richest 1 percent of earners in
the United States earn nearly 20 percent of all the income.
Paraphrase: The message of the Occupy Movement in 2011 was that almost 20 percent of
all America’s income is earned by the richest 1 percent.
Characteristics of Paraphrases
• Unlike a summary, a paraphrase can be about the same length as CULTURE NOTE
the original. For more information about how
• A paraphrase conveys only the essential meaning of the original. US culture treats “plagiarism”
and other aspects of academic
It doesn’t try to include unimportant elements like “you might be honesty, see Academic Success
interested to fi nd out that” in the second example above. Strategies in MyEnglishLab.
• A paraphrase uses equivalent expressions—such as about half for
approximately 50 percent—not just individual vocabulary items. (See
the section Identifying and Using Equivalent and Near-Equivalent Expressions, p. 173.)
• A paraphrase does not change technical terms or parts of the original that can’t easily be expressed
any other way, elements like net wealth, 400 people, the Occupy Movement , and research.
• Paraphrasing is an important skill for avoiding plagiarism (copying another person’s written
words) when writing research papers.
WRITING PARAPHRASES
Even in a reading class—where your main task is comprehending what you read—you may be asked
to write paraphrases. That’s because a good paraphrase can show that you understand the passage. The
following are some techniques for writing paraphrases:
Technique 1. Change an active clause into the passive. This usually involves switching the
order of noun phrases, which helps rearrange the important parts of a sentence.
Technique 2. Break a longer sentence into two sentences.
Technique 3. Change prepositional phrases into adjectives / adverbs, or change adjectives /
adverbs into prepositional phrases.
Technique 4. Change the order of ideas in your paraphrase.
PART 2
A. Read the passage. Notice the underlined sentences.
1 In the rush to discuss and describe income constant prices) or "nominal" (based on market
inequality in the United States, it is crucial prices) income of a person or household. This
to make sure that everyone involved in the is one of the reasons why there are so many
discussion agrees on how to de ne income. approaches to what, precisely, income is.
Each possible de nition of income can reveal (1) For instance, counting capital gains is
new information about the level of inequality in deceptive because, technically, capital gains is
the United States and which segments of the not a source of income but rather arises from
country’s population are most affected by it. revaluation of wealth. Nonetheless, some include
Where the information on income is taken from is it, and including it makes wealth appear to be
no less important. Different of cial government particularly concentrated in the upper percentiles
sources tabulate income within different (and of income earners. Meanwhile, counting
mathematically crucial) parameters. Let’s look government bene ts—which is typically only
at a few ways to describe income so that we can taken into account when calculating disposable
better understand what we’re talking about when income along with taxes—tends to downplay the
we examine the data in greater depth. inequality.
2 While studying the different ways to describe 3 Individual income looks only at what one
income, it's important to note that some have person earns, and this is generally lower than
had dif culty accounting for the effects that family income or household income, which looks at
nonsalaried forms of income and speci c the earnings of all members of family or unrelated
government bene ts (also known as transfers) people sharing household resources. With a rise
can
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Implication and Inference 169
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gures for individual and household income. This Market income is the narrowest de nition
would not necessarily be disturbing—it is possible used by the Census Bureau; while similar to
for a single wage earner to provide quite well for money income, market income does not count
an entire household. However, the wage earnings pensions and similar sources of cash. Finally,
of the median US worker have been nearly the Census Bureau’s most far-ranging de nition
stagnant, meaning that real improvements in is the aforementioned disposable income, which
household income almost require the addition of includes money received from all sources. For
more earners. Depending on improvements in the lower-income individuals, disposable income
income of one individual to add signi cantly to the usually means money received from various
household total is, arguably, somewhat tenuous. forms of government assistance such as the
(2) Families in more-secure income brackets— Earned Income Tax Credit, public housing, SNAP
though not necessarily the very top income bene ts, and so on. It’s also noteworthy that
brackets—tend not only to report higher earnings capital gains and losses are included in market
but also to have cash coming in from multiple income and disposable income research, but not
earners. in money income.
4 De nitions of income can be narrow or broad. 6 The Census Bureau’s income gures are
For example, the income being discussed might interesting, but they are also very limited. (5) They
be labor income, a narrow measure that re ects are not useful in looking at the top income earners
money acquired from work, or capital income, a because the bureau caps reporting at $999,999.
broad measure that re ects earnings in the form If you want to study high-earners, you’ll need
of dividends and retained earnings. This can be to use data from the US Treasury Department
an important distinction, especially regarding (which includes the Internal Revenue Service),
earners at the top levels. For example, the value which unfortunately doesn’t do much to describe
of a capital asset can accrue slowly over time, low-earners because many of them do not need
but the asset is usually sold in one transaction to le taxes. Obviously, the de nitional problems
and is reported on a tax return as a large, sudden in this issue are daunting. (6) Each de nition is
in ux of cash. Another important distinction speci cally designed by researchers to examine
is between gross income (pretax income) and data in highly speci c circumstances for a
net income (post-tax income). (3) Government particular reason, but those analytical concerns
tax policies and transfers in uence household are not necessarily salient to—or even recognized
disposable income (see below), and thus two by—ordinary citizens who want to debate public
people with the same gross income may have policy. Even noneconomists might have their
vastly different net incomes, depending on their own special income-related concerns, perhaps
life circumstances. the way student debt affects a young person’s
5 Some de nitions of income are from the US wealth or how capital-gains tax breaks encourage
Census Bureau, which has an interest in keeping so-called rent-seeking behavior (behavior in which
track of income trends in the population. someone gains wealth without returning anything
(4) The Census Bureau’s rst category of to society). The speci c de nition one chooses
income is money income, a term that is fairly can have an enormous in uence on the argument
expansive, counting all forms of income that and conclusion of a given piece of research or a
a person receives regularly but not counting given debate.
PART 2
choose the best paraphrase.
(1) a. It is more accurate to take capital gains into account than government benefits
because the latter is not really income.
b. If capital gains are included, the rich look richer, and if government benefits are
included, the poor don’t look so poor.
c. People who work for businesses are likely to have higher incomes than people who
work for the government.
d. There are great benefits to using the same definition of income that the government
uses.
(2) a. Most fi nancially secure households have both higher incomes and more earners.
b. The larger a household is, the more likely it is to be financially secure.
c. Financially secure people usually have more income and get it from investments,
not jobs.
d. Income for financially secure families is likely to be higher and to include cash.
(3) a. Wealthier people know how to take advantage of government policies to increase
their net income.
b. The di erence between gross income and net income is greater for wealthy people
than for the poor.
c. The amount of disposable income is impacted by factors such as tax policies and
government benefits.
d. The government uses tax laws to unfairly favor some earners while putting other
earners at a disadvantage.
(4) a. The term money income does not include enough sources to be very useful because
it is too broad.
b. The term money income includes most earnings, although not all kinds of payments.
c. The term money income is confusing because the things it measures are sometimes
paid not in cash but by check.
d. The term money income works well for the purposes of the census, but it is not used
for other purposes.
(5) a. The Census Bureau does not count high-earners as members of the US population.
b. The Census Bureau does not record the real income of anyone earning a
million dollars or more.
c. The Census Bureau is interested in one’s income only if the person receives
government support payments.
d. The Census Bureau is the most reliable source for income trends among low-earners.
(6) a. The variety of definitions of income make it virtually impossible to discuss income
inequality.
b. One definition of income may be too narrow, but considering them all together gives an
accurate picture.
c. Di erent definitions of income emphasize di erent priorities, but ordinary people may
not care about such details.
d. Definitions of income from government agencies reflect conflicts between various
branches of government.
1. Where the information on income is taken from is no less important as di erent o cial government
sources tabulate income within di erent (and mathematically crucial) parameters.
Measurements of income can vary because .
2. This would not necessarily be disturbing—it is possible for a single wage earner to provide quite well for
an entire household. However, the wage earnings of the median US worker have been nearly stagnant,
meaning that real improvements in household income almost require the addition of more earners.
Because US wages haven’t grown very much, .
3. Definitions of income can be narrow or broad. For example, the income being discussed might be labor
income, a narrow measure that reflects money acquired from work, or capital income, a broad measure
that reflects earnings in the form of dividends and retained earnings.
One distinction among types of income is whether they are narrow or broad. For example, .
4. For example, the value of a capital asset can accrue slowly over time, but the asset is usually sold in one
transaction and is reported on a tax return as a large, sudden influx of cash.
Although a capital asset is usually .
5. For lower-income individuals, disposable income usually means money received from various forms of
government assistance such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, public housing, SNAP benefits, and so on.
Part of disposable income for people in lower income brackets .
6. If you want to study high-earners, you’ll need to use data from the US Treasury Department (which
includes the Internal Revenue Service), which unfortunately doesn’t do much to describe low-earners
because many of them do not need to file taxes.
Data from the US Treasury .
D. Discuss these questions with one or two other students. Then explain your answers to the class.
1. Explain which paraphrases in Part B you chose and why.
2. Share your paraphrase completions from Part C. Are some more accurate than others? Which parts
of some paraphrases are not accurate? How could those problems be solved? Do any paraphrases
take too much wording from the original? If so, how could the borrowed parts be replaced?
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
PART 2
IDENTIF YING AND USING EQUIVALENT AND NEAR EQUIVALENT EXPRESSIONS
WHY IT’S USEFUL Your ability to paraphrase and to understand paraphrases depends greatly on the
strength of your vocabulary. By recognizing when two expressions—such as money changing and currency
exchange —mean nearly the same thing, you can follow threads of cohesion in a text. By integrating such
equivalents into your own vocabulary, you can express yourself more flexibly and with less repetition.
In developing your English vocabulary, size and strength are not necessarily the same thing. Of course,
a large vocabulary helps a lot, but having a flexible vocabulary is just as important. Knowing equivalent
expressions is a signifi cant factor in developing this fl exibility.
As we mentioned in the previous section, paraphrasing is more than just replacing one word with
another. Instead, the best paraphrases replace one idea group—a group of words that together express an
idea—with an equivalent expression. An equivalent expression is a word or group of words that means
the same as another word or group of words. The equivalent expression may be a synonym—that is, a
single vocabulary item with almost the same meaning. The two words nearly and almost are equivalent
expressions, and they are synonyms of each other. So are the vocabulary items nearly and pretty close
to— even though pretty close to is a multiword vocabulary item, not a single word. Dictionary defi nitions
typically o er multiword equivalent expressions for single-word vocabulary items. For example, the
single word canyon and its multiword defi nition—the phrase deep, narrow opening in a mountain range—
are equivalent expressions.
In paraphrasing, you may not be able to find an exactly equivalent expression. Expressions that are
close in meaning but not exactly the same are called near-equivalent expressions. Even very close
synonyms—such as occur and happen —are slightly di erent in tone, suitability for certain contexts, and
so on. For most purposes, near-equivalent phrases will accomplish what you need in paraphrases.
EXERCISE 4
Read the passage. On the next page, match the equivalent / near-equivalent expressions with
expressions from the passage. Two of the expressions in the right column will not be used.
Th F Sl Mo m
The first issue by the US Treasury of a paper currency, Silver Certifi cates, came in 1878 in
response to a political push from the so-called “Free Silver” movement, which had begun in the
early 1870s. These bills were not exactly what the movement called for. Instead, free-silverites
wanted the government to circulate silver coinage, rather than paper notes, in order to increase the
money supply. Advocates of free silver argued that producing more “greenbacks” (paper bills) would
not infl ate the money supply because they could be redeemed (traded in) for either gold or silver.
Free-silverites said people would choose to redeem the notes for gold, and that was the main thing
free-silverites did not want— a continued reliance on gold to back up the value of money.
PART 2
WHY IT’S USEFUL By applying the skills you have learned in this unit, you can successfully read this
challenging text and learn about public and private goods. You can also apply your analytical and critical
thinking skills to develop opinions of your own about issues raised in the reading.
PART 2
depleted through use. If one person makes use good, but what about a multimillion dollar ghter
of it, it does not get “used up,” nor are others jet? Healthcare in the United States, as previously
prevented from “consuming” it at the same discussed, is another example of a good that is
time. The chicken dance—an entertaining and partially public. While it can be excludable in the
somewhat comical dance popular in parts of the sense that the cost for it may put it beyond the reach
Western world—is a concept that is nonrivalrous: of some people, it technically is available to all (as it
One partygoer dancing it does not keep another is offered by the government). The issue of whether it
partygoer from using the same dance. The of ce is considered rivalrous or nonrivalrous is also sticky.
stapler, on the other hand, is rivalrous, as only It is nonrivalrous in that it cannot be completely
one person can utilize it at a given moment. A consumed, leaving none available for others. However,
prime example of the difference between rivalrous others may argue that it is indeed rivalrous because
and nonrivalrous goods is the classic fable of the not all types of plans are available to everyone
greedy baker who tries to charge a hungry passerby due to the limits often put on it by employers. With
for enjoying the smell of his bread. As one may politicians increasingly focused on the bottom line,
anticipate, the judge in this case rules that while public goods expenditures can be dif cult to justify.
bread is rivalrous and excludable, the smell of bread Sometimes something that is thought to be a public
is nonrivalrous and nonexcludable. good turns out to be quite pro table when viewed
5 While many natural resources are thought to be from another angle and is treated as excludable.
public goods, oftentimes that is not actually the
CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT SITES:
case. They frequently end up in a “Tragedy of the
ALWAYS COMPLETELY PUBLIC GOODS?
Commons” situation, where a shared resource is
7 The preservation of culturally signi cant sites is
diminished because individuals pursue their own
viewed by most as a public good, as everyone
sel sh interests rather than those of a larger group.
bene ts from their existence and is able to
These natural resources may be nonexcludable, but
experience them, even if the bene ts may be
they are rivalrous. The inland village of two centuries
dif cult to quantify. The oil rights for those culturally
ago may have believed that everyone could use the
signi cant places, however, are very easy to
town lake for water without depleting it, but if one of
quantify and can certainly be treated as a saleable
their descendants built a pump system two hundred
commodity. This clash of classi cations has led to
years later and drained the lake to sell bottled water
numerous controversial situations, most recently one
at a markup, the townspeople would quickly learn
involving an Apache sacred site in Arizona known as
just how rivalrous a lake could be.
Oak Flat. A historically signi cant site, Oak Flat had
6 It is important to note that modern economists
been preserved through numerous exceptions made
view public goods as less of an either–or
by many politicians before it was nally traded to an
classi cation and more like a quality that exists
Australian-British mining company for land. On paper,
on a continuum: Goods are nonrivalrous and
it’s quite the deal, with the US government and
nonexcludable to various degrees, and some can
forestry service getting almost twice as much land in
be categorized in multiple ways depending on who
the trade. Still, the question remains as to whether
is making a particular argument. The distinction can
the government has a duty to uphold one speci c
get especially tricky when it comes down to speci c
public good. It is important to consider whether being
issues and commodities, which is where arguments
Nonexcludable Excludable
B. Reread the questions in Before You Read, Part B. Is there anything you cannot answer? What
reading skills can you use to help you find the answers?
THINKING CRITICALLY
Thinking about the information in Paragraph 7 of “Public Goods vs. Private Gain,” name a few other
culturally significant sites that could be considered a public good by some and a private good by
others. How is this situation possible? Explain your answer using what you now know about public and
private goods.
THINKING VISUALLY
Based on what you have learned about excludable, nonexcludable, rivalrous, and nonrivalrous goods,
brainstorm and complete the chart with examples of goods that fit into each of the categories.
Nonexcludable Excludable
Air Healthcare
Nonrivalrous Public parks National defense
PART 2
was a legal hunt.
a. become known
b. be illuminated
c. be in the media
d. be enlightened
3. Local governments insist that this money is used to help improve environmental projects aimed at
protecting animals, while critics counter that it largely lines the pockets of connected individuals and
does little to truly help.
a. ends up in the hands of individuals in power
b. is transferred to groups of people linked by common interests
c. is taken from organizations made up of important citizens
d. becomes linked to environmental protection proponents
4. Most spending allocations dedicated to public goods relate to hot-button political flashpoints.
a. areas of unanimous diplomatic agreement
b. topics of controversy among lawmakers
c. matters considered tenacious by legislators
d. subjects of extreme neutrality among politicians
5. Viewed through a purely capitalistic lens, public goods are a tough sell: Everyone pays for them, and
nobody seems to profit, at least not in any tangible way that one can easily attach a dollar sign to.
a. connect to a similar currency
b. link to certain denominations
c. assign a monetary value to
d. attribute to fi nances
6. The inland village of two centuries ago may have believed that everyone could use the town lake for water
without depleting it, but if one of their descendants built a pump system two hundred years later and
drained the lake to sell bottled water at a markup, the townspeople would quickly learn just how rivalrous
a lake could be.
a. more inexpensively than its initial value
b. at a price nearly equal to that of its fundamental worth
c. at the exact same price that it is worth
d. at a higher price than it originally would cost
7. Finally, a disheartening speculation is that ignoring public goods that are di cult to appraise is merely
the easy choice for politicians.
a. challenging to rate
b. problematic to assess
c. demanding to audit
d. puzzling to review
BIOLOGY
GETTING STARTED
Go to to listen to Professor Siegel and to complete a self-assessment.
Discuss these questions with a partner or group.
1. Consider how cancer has a ected people you know. Do you think cancer rates are rising or falling?
Think about the impact that the environment, changes in individuals’ lifestyles, and advances in
medicine may have on these rates.
2. What do you know about how cancer develops? Are some people more susceptible to getting cancer
than others?
3. What advancements can you think of in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer? What types of
advances do you think will be made in the future—both in the prevention of cancer and in the
treatment of it after it has developed?
PART 2
EVALUATING EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENTATION
WHY IT’S USEFUL By learning to identify and evaluate evidence and to assess and move past
misleading or faulty statements, you will strengthen your ability to think and read critically.
In the majority—if not all—of the academic courses that you take, you will read pieces of writing
containing evidence and arguments. Evidence refers to information such as statistics, research fi ndings,
and facts. Arguments—also known as claims or rhetorical statements—are statements an author makes
for or against something, based on the evidence.
Your professors will expect you to be able to recognize when evidence is being presented and when
arguments are being made based on that evidence. This means that, as has been discussed in other units,
critical thinking skills are of utmost importance. You must be able to not only read closely and recognize
evidence but also evaluate it and assess its validity.
You must consider whether the evidence an author presents fully supports his or her conclusion, or
if vital information is insu cient, unconvincing, or missing altogether. Misrepresentative or flawed
information is innocently provided by an author more often than you may think. The author may truly
believe that certain evidence is correct and valid, whereas an attentive critical reader will recognize it as
misleading or faulty. Any conclusions the author may base on such evidence are unreliable..
In this unit, you will learn how to identify and evaluate evidence as well as how to recognize and deal
with faulty claims. Evaluating evidence and argumentation will enable you to become an even more
e ective critical reader and will aid you in contributions you must make during class discussions as well
as in written assignments. This unit breaks the skill down into two supporting skills:
• identifying and evaluating evidence
• recognizing and dealing with faulty rhetoric
NOTICING ACTIVIT Y
A. As you read the following passage, look for and highlight instances in which evidence is being
presented. Also note the several instances of misleading or faulty rhetoric and be prepared to say
why you think they are faulty.
Th T h Abo Ca Ra
1 1 Statistics show that one in two individuals in America will be diagnosed with cancer—
leading many to believe that the incidence of the illness is increasing. 2 Past studies have
established that cancer is a disease caused by a glitch in one’s own cellular replication system,
and for this reason, scientists encounter insurmountable di culty in finding a cure. 3 An
analysis of the rising number of reported cases of cancer has brought to light a secondary reason
for why cancer has taken the stage as a disease of epidemic proportions. 4 Research shows that
this is due to our own advancements; because humans live longer, they die less from infectious
illnesses that used to account for the vast majority of human mortality cases. 5 The panic about
cancer is often induced by skewed studies and erroneous warnings put forth by companies that
probably have a vested fi nancial interest in alarming the public. Such panic is disproportionate
Continued
11 While there are more cases of cancer, this is simply because cancer is predominantly a disease
of the elderly, and thanks to vaccines and medical treatments that have extended life expectancy
from about 50 years of age in 1900 to nearly 80 today, society in the United States is increasingly
populated by the elderly. 12 Evidence suggests that as infectious diseases and other ailments are
significantly more treatable today, cancer is what befalls many individuals.
2. Sentence 2 contains an instance of faulty rhetoric. Identify this language and then write why it is
considered faulty.
3. What evidence is presented in Sentence 4? Paraphrase it. You may need to refer to ideas mentioned
in previous sentences to do so e ectively.
4. Sentence 5 contains an instance of faulty rhetoric. Identify this language and then write why it
is faulty.
5. Look at the source for the evidence in Sentence 7. Do you think the evidence is trustworthy?
Why or why not?
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
PART 2
IDENTIFYING AND EVALUATING EVIDENCE
WHY IT’S USEFUL By recognizing evidence presented in the texts you read, you will be able to
determine what a writer is basing his or her conclusion(s) on. You will learn to consider the strength of the
evidence provided and decide whether it is sufficient or invalid.
In your academic courses, you will be expected to read a variety of types of texts, including journal
articles, textbooks, and laboratory reports. You will also be expected to conduct your own research—
typically online—and will be tasked with identifying information and evidence that is not only relevant
to a given topic but also reliable and valid.
Texts provided to you by your professors, articles, and textbooks typically contain information that has
been fact-checked and verifi ed by a number of professionals before being published, so the evidence
presented in such texts can generally be trusted. However, when conducting your own research, you
will come across a wide variety of texts, and you are responsible for determining whether the evidence
o ered in these readings is su cient, pertinent, and thoroughly explained. It is up to you to evaluate this
evidence—making sure there are no holes in it—and to decide whether it e ectively contributes to the
conclusion an author or researcher draws.
Before you can evaluate evidence, however, you fi rst have to identify it. The following chart contains
phrases frequently used to introduce evidence or to refer to it after it has been introduced.
Continued
After identifying evidence presented by an author, the next step is evaluating it. Ask yourself the
following questions to decide if the evidence is valid and supports an author’s conclusion(s):
Evaluative Questions
1. Is the evidence directly related to the topic the author is discussing? For example, if an author
draws a conclusion about the e ectiveness of hormone therapy in treating cancer, yet provides only
evidence about chemotherapy, this evidence would not support the claims being made. Appropriate
evidence would be evidence that discusses research done on hormone therapy.
2. Is strong, su cient evidence provided? If a writer makes a sweeping claim about, for example,
the extent to which certain toxins can cause cancer, is this claim supported by a substantial amount
of meaningful evidence? The strongest evidence in this case would be studies conducted by other
researchers about the same topic who drew the same or very similar conclusions. Other factors to
consider are the recency of the evidence (was it published within the last couple years or 40 years
ago?), as well as any criticism the evidence or the source presenting the evidence has received
or withstood.
3. Does the evidence portray some authorial bias? Consider the source of the evidence to determine
whether it is reliable or may be biased. Governmental and educational institutions are often thought
to provide more credible information than organizations that have a financial stake in distributing
the information. Information from nonprofit organizations is sometimes reliable and objective, but at
other times, may be biased toward a particular cause.
4. Does the author attempt to view the evidence from several angles before drawing a conclusion?
Could the significance of the evidence be interpreted in any way other than the way in which it was
interpreted by the researcher?
5. Do the author’s conclusions make sense based on the evidence provided? Are there any gaps of
logic between the evidence presented and the conclusion drawn?
6. Do you sense that anything is missing? Should any other factor have been considered? Should any
other evidence have been introduced or examined more closely?
For more information about evaluating sources, see the section Synthesizing Information from Several
Sources (p. 209).
PART 2
A. Read the passage. Highlight phrases that introduce or refer to evidence.
1 Cancer is not a single disease but rather foundation was laid for researchers to understand
a collection of more than one hundred related cancer as a disease of genetic mutation. Clinical
diseases that all begin with abnormal cell studies of people exposed to certain toxins, such
growth that results from damage to the DNA of as cigarette smoke, revealed that carcinogens
cells. Within types of cancer there are further cause damage to DNA, which in turn causes
distinctions, including different diagnoses of cancer. Similar studies have established that
particular kinds of cancerous cells. Recent radiation, viruses, and certain inherited genes can
research shows that even individual tumors all cause cancer. More recent genetic research
themselves can possess heterogeneity of on cancer has uncovered the “drivers” behind
features. Some scientists compare cancer to a cancer, which are three main types of genes that
tree, with the trunk being the basic pathology affect the genetic changes that occur with cancer.
of the disease, the branches the many differing These drivers, known as proto-oncogenes, tumor
types of cancer, and the leaves the millions of suppressor genes, and DNA repair genes, cause
individual cases. A diagnosis of cancer today cancer when they become altered in some way.
acts as a tripwire for a vast medical mechanism, When these driver genes mutate, they cause other
including the delivery of potentially differing cells to survive when they should not and to divide
prognoses and an oncological assortment of in abnormal ways.
treatments tailored to the individual patient, all 3 Diagnoses of cancer are complex, and
evidence of the strides science has made in determining the best course of action for a patient
combatting the disease over the centuries. is contingent upon the speci c type of cancer the
2 From the time it was rst recorded in ancient individual has. Typically, the cancer is named after
Egypt until the 20 th century, physicians had many the organ in which it originates, as in the case
different—and often inaccurate—hypotheses of breast cancer, or the types of cells in which it
about what caused cancer. After scientists forms, as in the case of squamous cell cancer
discovered the DNA helical structure in 1962, the or epithelial cancer. After this initial diagnosis,
Continued
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
PART 2
RECOGNIZING AND DEALING WITH FAULTY RHETORIC
WHY IT’S USEFUL By recognizing faulty attempts to argue a point, you can distinguish effective
discourse from weaker attempts. This helps you avoid being misled by inadequate arguments.
Most of the readings you fi nd in textbooks and journals are well reasoned and have been checked for
validity of argument. Critical readers at prepublication stages help ensure that most of such text is free
of egregious errors by the time you see it. However, you are likely to encounter quite a bit of writing that
requires you to keep an eye out for faulty rhetoric.
Di erent types of writing present di erent challenges in interpreting rhetoric.
• Some logical faults are very hard to see, so even closely checked academic writing might have a
few faulty passages that managed to make it through.
• Journalistic writing may contain inadequate or faulty evidence. One reason is that journalistic
works are produced on short timelines and not every fault will be caught by editors. Another is
that sometimes journalism presents statements by a wide range of persons, even if some of these
sources have poorly reasoned or inadequately supported opinions.
• Any account of a debate or controversy, regardless of the source, is likely to contain some
well-thought-out evidence but also a lot of poorly reasoned positions. Even if a participant in a
controversy presents material that looks like solid evidence, it should be examined carefully for
hard-to-spot problems.
• A great deal of material produced expressly for online publication—articles, blogs, chats, and so
on—follows discourse rules di erent from those of most academic writing. In academic writing,
for instance, exaggeration is considered a bad approach. Moderation is valued. However, many
online outlets thrive on exaggeration, rumor, sarcasm, and so on.
This chart presents some of the most often seen logical faults.
Continued
PART 2
A. Read the article, which contains several examples of faulty rhetoric. (Sentences in bold are featured
in a post-reading exercise.)
Mad Cow D a
1 Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad
CULTURE NOTE
cow disease, is a fatal degenerative disease that attacks the central nervous Communication on
systems of cows. In nearly all feedlots in modern factory farming, farmers, the Internet has its
own standards of
whether they acknowledge it or not, have supplemented food for their acceptability. Many
cattle with ground-up particles of cattle corpses. Consuming infectious writers who post
material to various sites
deceased-cattle material can cause the living cows to contract mad cow or who participate in
disease. When, higher up the food chain, humans go on to consume the commentary on social
media have a tendency
cows infected with the illness, they contract the human variant of the to exaggerate or even
disease, known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), which causes death. be rude and insulting. It
is important to separate
Consumers cannot know what farmers feed to cattle before the cattle are the language of social
processed and packaged by rich multinational companies for the grocery media from academic
English. Academic
store aisle. So meat lovers are faced with a choice they shouldn’t have to English, even if it
make—either contract a gruesome disease or give up beef. appears on the Internet,
has higher standards of
2 Mad cow disease originated when British farmers fed their cattle parts civility and politeness.
of sheep that were infected with a brain-wasting illness similar to mad It never insults, it never
“rants” (complains at
cow. This was totally understandable. The cost of grain was high, so what length), and it tries to be
else could farmers do? Humans then contracted the disease from infected moderate in tone while
still making substantive
beef. At its peak in the late 1980s and into the 1990s, the disease killed points.
hundreds of innocent people. The disease is caused by an infectious agent
known as a prion, which, after entering the human body, remains in an
extended incubation period, sometimes for as long as five to ten years,
before symptoms present. This ticking time bomb lies dormant until it
manifests with symptoms that start with depression and hallucination,
and quickly progress to loss of motor control and ultimately, death.
Generally, victims only have a few months to live after receiving a
diagnosis. The unpredictability of mad cow illness makes it the most
appalling disease of all diseases a icting humankind.
3 When scientists studied the e ects of feeding practices in factory
farms and made the correlation between mad cow disease and dead cattle
particles in cattle food, the UK government intervened with regulations
to stop the criticized feeding practices. To many, this was government
overreach with deleterious social consequences. As Bilal Khan, president
of the British South Asiatic Society, noted, “Instead of examining the
contents of cow stomachs, the government should fi x our crumbling
roads.” Other governments fell in line behind the administration of the
clueless, uninformed minister of agriculture.
4 Since that time, there have been fewer cases of mad cow disease.
However, a new case reported last year clearly reveals that the regulations
are ine ective. A 20-year-old Exeter man became mysteriously ill and
su ered rapid declines in physical and mental acuity. Reports from farms
in Britain and the United States sayy that,, while cattle farmers mayy have
Continued
PART 2
rhetorical problem in each excerpt. Some descriptions will be used more than once.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
WHY IT’S USEFUL Scientific passages often deal with concepts that are complex and abstract. To
help the average reader develop a mental picture of these concepts, an author might build extended
metaphors. By recognizing and understanding these metaphors, you can more easily grasp explanations
of scientific phenomena.
An extended metaphor may express similarities between a di cult scientific concept and some more
familiar aspect of life. It is not just a brief statement of similarity, but rather a scenario that stretches over
several sentences—or even paragraphs. Study this example:
The process of glycolysis is like the act of putting money into a business venture in hopes
of getting money back. Think of the high-energy molecule ATP (adenosine triphosphate)
as the energy currency of a cell. The first part of glycolysis is called the Investment Phase
because glucose (sugar derived from food) is broken down in a process that requires a lot of
ATP to be used up. However, as the name indicates, the ATP is not lost but invested. It helps
stabilize the rate of reactions and drives the process toward the next stage, the Pay-o Phase.
A number of chemical reactions that were set up by spending some ATP are now possible,
including reactions that create more ATP. Overall, the investment of some ATP in the fi rst
phase yields a net increase in ATP by the end of the second phase.
The author chose a metaphor of money and investment to VOCABULARY TIP
describe a biological process that might otherwise be very Should You Use You? Most academic
di cult to imagine. The metaphor cannot deal with every writing is in the third person, with occasional
uses of first person we (or, less commonly,
technical aspect of the process because doing so would make I) in describing laboratory procedures. The
it too complex. However, it does include the most important second person—you—is far more rare. In
fact, many writing books tell their readers
factors and stages, so it provides a general working knowledge of not to use second-person discourse at all in
the technical concept. academic writing.
A blanket restriction like that is too harsh for
Characteristics of Extended Metaphors modern academic practice. Second-person
discourse has a place, although a very
The metaphor must limited one, and much of that is in the
realm of extended metaphor. In an e ort
• be easily accessible to most readers. It must refer to some to make the metaphor connect with the
common, nonspecialized situation or event. everyday experience or common knowledge
of readers, an author might speak directly
• be inclusive—that is, all the crucial aspects of the to readers. Sentences to set up hypothetical
scientific phenomenon being explained must have a contexts might directly address readers—
with structures like these: Imagine that
representative in the metaphor. you are standing on a high mountain …
• simplify. A metaphor that tries too hard to cover every or Think of the protein as a puzzle piece.
Conditional sentences are also common,
small aspect of a complex process will probably be with structures like these: If you rotate the
impossible to understand. twisted staircase 180 degrees … or When
you close the chemical doorway, X will be
• not talk down to the reader. Although the function of the kept out. Direct questions are also possible:
metaphor is to simplify things for average readers, the But what would happen if you broke the
protein chain in half? or How would your
language of the metaphor has to be at the appropriate space-time experience di er from that of a
level. If the metaphor sounds like something written for stationary observer?
children or uneducated people, it will alienate adult,
well-educated readers.
PART 2
In a reading class, you could be asked to read and understand an extended metaphor that someone
else has written. You may also be asked to write your own extended metaphor—to explain to non-
experts some complex concept that you understand because of special experience or training. The list of
characteristics of extended metaphors on the previous page can serve two purposes: 1) to help you look
for metaphors in what you read, and 2) to guide you in writing your own extended metaphors.
EXERCISE 3
The following paragraphs present extended metaphors. Read each paragraph. Then read the questions
and choose the best answers.
Gravitational lensing is a process in which light is bent by high-mass objects along its path.
Think of a beam of light as a bullet traveling at 186,282 miles per second. At least, that would
be the bullet’s speed in a vacuum, and in a vacuum it would also travel in a perfectly straight
line. But if we place our bullet in a crowded space—such as our solar system, which is far from
empty—we complicate things. Even if the bullet stays far away from planets and their moons as it
travels through space, it will be subtly a ected by them. Imagine that the bullet is shot from the
Sun at its full velocity, just as a beam of light would be. As it passes the tiny planet Mercury, it
feels a slight pull—not much, but enough to bend its path a little. Yet it carries on, and as it passes
the somewhat larger planets Venus, Earth, and Mars, it feels slightly stronger tugs, each of which
pulls it ever so slightly o its original trajectory. In fact, if we had a chart that showed its original
projected path as it was shot from the Sun, and we charted where the bullet was as it passed Mars,
we would notice that it was actually no longer on that original straight path. Then, as the bullet
approaches the giant planet Jupiter, gravitational forces really come into play.
PART 2
A. Read the article.
PART 2
a. Destructive aspects of Alzheimer’s
b. Loved ones who watch a patient’s decline
c. Prion diseases that are eventually fatal
d. Treatments for Alzheimer’s that do not help
4. In Paragraph 2, why is an iron gate a better metaphor than a solid door would be?
a. Because the door could be unlocked more easily than a gate
b. Because the door would not allow a view of what’s inside
c. Because the door would protect the patient from the disease
d. Because the “rust” and “vines” of Alzheimer’s would not develop on the door
5. In Paragraph 4, what are spoken of as metaphorically like the links in a chain?
a. Alzheimer’s patients
b. Proteins
c. Chemical groups
d. Prion diseases
6. In Paragraph 4, why does the author use the image of scrunching something up in a
person’s hand?
a. To explain why proteins have a native shape
b. To explain why proteins break
c. To explain that proteins are very strong
d. To explain how some proteins look
7. In what way is an Alzheimer’s plaque similar to a spot of spilled syrup?
a. It is a layer of a sticky substance.
b. It is formed from a liquid that has escaped a container.
c. It contains a large amount of sugar.
d. It is round and dark brown in color.
8. What does the metaphor of the “bad seed” allow us to strongly infer about amyloid-ß peptides?
a. They might cause CJD, Parkinson’s disease, or Huntington’s disease.
b. They might be found in the brains of some Alzheimer’s patients.
c. They might cause proteins to misfold or break.
d. They might be removed in order to cure Alzheimer’s disease.
C. Think of a detailed process you are familiar with. Then think of a metaphor that conveys the crucial
aspects of the process. Review the Characteristics of Extended Metaphors (p. 192). Then write a
short passage describing the process, using your metaphor.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
WHY IT’S USEFUL By learning and familiarizing yourself with expressions that convey functions and
purposes, you will understand how they serve to explain the nature of certain things and processes.
In English, a number of phrases serve the purpose of expressing how an entity operates and what its
objective is. These phrases are grouped into a category called language of function and purpose.
While this type of language is found in writing in many academic disciplines, it is especially common
in scientifi c writing. This is because scientific writing frequently involves the explanation of processes,
experiments, and research objectives.
The phrases in bold in this example show this language in action:
Researchers at the Scientific University of Brookland have been tasked with investigating
the long-term e ects of radiation exposure in individuals who had previously had
radiation therapy as a treatment for breast cancer. The objective of their research is to
determine whether patients who had received more radiation treatments than others were
more susceptible to developing cancer a second time. In a report written at the outset of
the research, scientists involved explained that the purpose of radiation therapy is to
annihilate mutated cells that are still present in and around an individual’s breast after the
person has had surgery. They wrote that radiation therapy functions as a “cancer cell
killer,” using high-energy rays to meet this goal. The end goal is to reduce the chances that
cancer cells will return in the same region in the future.
EXERCISE 5
A. Read these excerpts from “Cancer: Not One Disease but Several” (an online reading from the section
Evaluating Evidence and Argumentation). Without changing the meaning, rewrite each sentence
to include a phrase of function or purpose. It may be necessary to change some language or the
sentence structure.
1. Subsequent studies in the early 1900s showed that external sources such as carcinogens and viruses were
etiologic agents of cancer.
PART 2
why, a er they applied coal tar to the skin of rabbits, the animals developed cancer.
3. Today, physicians understand that a number of risk factors contribute to a person’s likelihood of
developing cancer.
5. Today’s concept of cancer is that it is a large group of related diseases, all of which begin with a basic
disorder of cellular function but proceed along divergent paths.
6. For example, “individualized chemotherapy” treatments are becoming the norm for chemical treatments;
the therapeutic chemical is chosen to fit the genes expressed by an individual tumor.
B. Compare rephrasings with another student. Has the original language been replaced by a phrase
that appropriately and e ectively conveys function or purpose?
C. You have read about several cancer-causing agents, such as viruses, cigarette smoke, and genetic
mutations; you have also read about types of cancer treatments, like hormone therapy, radiation
therapy, and chemotherapy. Choose one of these cancer-causing agents or one of these types of
cancer treatments and do research on how the agent or treatment functions. Write a short paragraph
explaining how it operates, using at least four phrases that help convey function or purpose.
PART 2
A. Read the passage, which contains examples of faulty rhetoric. Annotate and take notes as necessary.
Vaccinating Against
Cancer
1 Oncogenic viruses, or tumor viruses, cause cells
to mutate, which can later lead to tumor growth.
Approximately 10 to 20 percent of all cancers
are caused by oncogenic viruses, though some
scientists suggest this percentage may be higher.
In many cases, the onset of cancer occurs long
after patients initially contract a tumor virus,
sometimes decades later. The vast majority
of oncogenic-virus-based cancers are from a good neighborhood, weakening the formerly
the human papilloma virus (HPV), a sexually stable immune system and paving the way for
transmitted virus with more than one hundred a move-in by a criminal kingpin, cancer. It is
strains. It is found in a majority of adults in the only the fact that HIV disproportionately affects
United States and causes approximately 30,000 socially disadvantaged people, including gay
cancer cases annually. In 2006, a vaccine became people, intravenous drug users, and nonwhites,
available that works to protect individuals that prevents the government from seeking to
against cervical cancer by guarding against conquer this disease.
several types of HPV. The development of this HISTORICAL ROOTS
vaccine is extremely promising because it means 3 The study of tumor viruses began, astonishingly,
that oncologists may be able to create vaccines in the early 20 th century before viruses were
that aim to safeguard individuals against even fully understood. Zoologist Peyton Rous
other oncogenic viruses as well. If scientists discovered the later-named avian Rous Sarcoma
understand how one tumor virus functions—and Virus by injecting healthy hens with tissue
how to make preventive vaccines for it—they from sarcoma-infected hens. The goal of this
should be able to make vaccines for all. experiment was to determine whether the
2 There are a handful of known viruses that healthy hens would then develop sarcoma,
are oncogenic in humans, and they possess which, in fact, is what occurred. Though Rous’s
either RNA or DNA genomes. The DNA viruses fi ndings fi rst proved the theory that a sub-
include the papilloma, herpes, and hepatitis bacterial particle could play a role in causing
viruses. The RNA oncogenic viruses include cancer, virologist Ludwik Gross put the subject
the human T-cell leukemia viruses. A nucleic on the map in the 1950s when he focused on
acid present in all living cells, RNA (ribonucleic how oncogenic viruses applied to human cancer
acid) conveys instructions from DNA for pathology. In the period between Rous’s work
controlling the synthesis of proteins, and and Gross’s, two world wars impaired scientific
sometimes carries genetic information. RNA study in many fields—a clear reminder that we
viruses, or retroviruses, operate by producing have a choice between research and violence,
viral DNA after transcribing their RNA into and we too often make the wrong choice.
host cells. A retrovirus that is not specifically Gross studied the transmission of leukemia in
an oncogenic virus but that plays a role in mice and higher primates and found that in
the development of cancer is the human mammals, leukemia could be passed infectiously
immunodefi ciency virus (HIV). Though not as well as via heredity. Gross’s work moved the
thought to cause cancer directly, it is like the field of viral oncology fi rmly into mainstream
low-level thugs of a gang that has moved into cancer research.
Continued
B. Reread the questions in Before You Read, Part B. Is there anything you cannot answer?
What reading skills can you use to help you find the answers?
Go to to read the passage again and answer critical thinking questions.
THINKING CRITICALLY
In “Vaccinating Against Cancer,” you read about a relatively recent practice: vaccinating against
some types of cancer. Some of the early experiments that established the safety and e cacy of
this practice—in the early 20th century—involved injecting hens with cancer-causing material. Later
experiments have involved mice and rhesus monkeys, among other animals. Indeed, government
regulations in many countries, as well as international standards of medical research, require that
prospective medicines be tested in animals before they can be trialed in humans. However, there are
many opponents of animal testing. Some oppose all medical experiments on animals. Others attempt
to discover and stop testing that they consider cruel and painful to animals. Consider your own attitude
toward animal testing of cancer vaccines and other high-stakes medical experimentation. Is it ethical
to experiment with animals? Why or why not? If your attitude is that it is sometimes ethical but
sometimes not, how can we distinguish between ethical and unethical experimentation? As you cra
your argument, be sure to use sound evidence and avoid faulty rhetoric.
PART 2
The graph and its accompanying notes give essential data about cervical cancer in the United States.
Using the information in the graph, follow these steps:
1. Summarize the overall trends in cervical cancer incidence and mortality over the time period
covered by the graph.
2. What do you expect the future to hold, regarding the incidence and mortality of the disease?
3. Briefly state what you think has been the impact of HPV vaccines.
12
Number per 100,000 Females
10
0
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Year
Estimated Data for 2015 Three HPV vaccines have been approved for use in the United States:
•Number of new cases per 100,000 females: 5.2 •Gardasil (approved in 2005; trialled with more than 15,000 patients
•Estimated number of deaths per 100,000 females: 1.85 before release)
•Percent of women surving at least 5 years after •Cervarix (approved in 2009; trialled with >30,000)
rst diagnosis: 67.8% •Gardasil 9 (approved in 2014)
Example: As the stars move apart, the tidal force drops and each star’s gravity works to restore its
shape to a sphere.
2. The development of this vaccine is extremely promising because it means that oncologists may be able to
create vaccines that aim to safeguard individuals against other oncogenic viruses as well.
Example:
Source information:
3. If scientists understand how one tumor virus functions—and how to make preventive vaccines for
it—they should be able to make vaccines for all.
Example:
Source information:
PART 2
4. RNA viruses, or retroviruses, operate by producing viral DNA a er transcribing their RNA into host cells.
Example:
Source information:
5. A retrovirus that is not specifically an oncogenic virus but that plays a role in the development of cancer is
the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Example:
Source information:
6. It is only the fact that HIV disproportionately a ects socially disadvantaged people, including gay
people, intravenous drug users, and nonwhites, that prevents the government from seeking to conquer
this disease.
Example:
Source information:
Example:
Source information:
8. Though Rous’s findings first proved the theory that a sub-bacterial particle could play a role in causing
cancer, virologist Ludwik Gross put the subject on the map in the 1950s when he focused on how
oncogenic viruses applied to human cancer pathology.
Example:
Source information:
Paragraph 4
9. A er injection of these particles into the body, the immune system works to build antibodies against the
virus.
Example:
Source information:
PART 2
10. However, it is also important to note that the use of HPV vaccines does not protect against all strains of
the virus.
Example:
Source information:
11. In addition, the vaccine is a prophylactic vaccine, meaning the purpose of it is to prevent the virus, not to
provide therapeutic treatment for it.
Example:
Source information:
12. A number of therapeutic vaccines, which involve using a patient’s own immune system to cra vaccines
that target and kill specific tumor cells, are in the final stages of clinical trials or entering the market, and
excitement about that method of treatment is growing rapidly.
Example:
Source information:
HUMANITIES
Synthesis of Information
UNIT PROFILE OUTCOMES
In this unit, you will consider the subject of humanities— • Synthesize information from several sources
specifically the perspectives of ancient cultures on life and death. • Understand multiple perspectives
You will learn about the poetry of Homer, Virgil, and Dante, and
• Evaluate the credibility and motives of
the underworld, including the journey to and from as depicted
sources
above.
• Understand and use direct and indirect
Preview the reading “The Hero’s Journey” on page 231.
quotations
Skim the reading. How many sources are there? How are their
perspectives di erent on a given topic? Does any source seem • Appreciate hedging
to be more credible than another?
GETTING STARTED
Go to to listen to Professor Harrison and to complete a self-assessment.
Discuss these questions with a partner or group.
1. English has the phrase “magical thinking.” It means believing that one thing results from another
thing even though there is no evidence or solid reasoning to support a link between the two.
Superstition is an example of magical thinking. So is the ancient Greek and Roman tradition of
believing that immortals—from Aphrodite to Zeus—were constantly interfering in human a airs.
Do you or anyone you know engage in magical thinking? What do you believe?
2. Countless stories, from ancient to modern times, feature the idea of communication between the
living and the dead—including Odysseus's visit to the underworld and Hamlet's encounters with the
ghost of his father. What examples can you think of? What is the basis for our fascination with these
exchanges?
PART 2
SYNTHESIZING INFORMATION FROM SEVERAL SOURCES
WHY IT’S USEFUL By learning to synthesize information from several sources, you will be able to build
well-rounded conceptions of a topic. You will also be able to place the information from any given source
into an overall schema of the facts and opinions about a topic.
D p o of h U d wo ld
1 The portrayal of the underworld in epic tales of ancient Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe
reveals each culture’s complex and divergent beliefs about the afterlife. The works of King, White,
and Hall correspond with one another in that they each conclude that the Greeks viewed the
underworld as a realm to which all humans descended after death, regardless of their actions
during life. (Romans and many medieval Europeans, on the other hand, largely considered the
afterlife a place divided according to a person’s behavior in life.) The one exception for the Greeks,
King notes, are heroes, who are awarded an intermediary position between mortals and gods, and
get a pass from spending eternity in the depths of the underworld. While King gives a succinct,
cursory description of this midpoint that the Greeks, and later the Romans, believed in, White
writes extensively of the concept in his examination of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. He notes that the
notion of a halfway point—later to be tagged as purgatory—underwent expansion in medieval times
because it was a central node in the Christian latticework of after-death possibilities.
2 Hall’s research, in contrast with King’s and White’s, is more contemporary, and contains
fewer biases in its analysis of pre-Christian concepts of faith and the afterlife. Hall explores the
similarities between the hierarchy of the underworld in the Aeneid and in The Divine Comedy,
stating, along with the other two sources, that Virgil’s and Dante’s images of hell were alike in that
there was logic in the way dead souls were assigned transgression-appropriate punishments—for
example, how greedy people were forced to push great weights (symbolizing the things they wished
to hoard). Unlike King and White, however, Hall o ers a significant amount of evidence indicating
that Virgil and, later, Dante subjected these souls to torture and misery in various levels of the
underworld as much to make a political point as to fall in line with the religious views of their
respective societies.
B. Read the statements about the passage. Then mark each statement as T (True) or F (False).
1. King, White, and Hall each state that Greeks, Romans, and medieval Europeans shared the
belief that all humans reached the underworld after death.
2. King, White, and Hall each point out that heroes are exceptions among Greeks in terms of
destiny and the underworld.
3. Of the three experts, White gives the most thorough description of the position of
purgatory.
4. Of the work done by the three authors, White’s research addresses the most modern notions
of the afterlife.
5. King, White, and Hall agree that in the Aeneid and The Divine Comedy, logical methods are
used to group people in the underworld.
6. White and King do not indicate, as Hall does, that Dante’s and Virgil’s motives for subjecting
souls to torture in various levels of the underworld were political and religious.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
PART 2
UNDERSTANDING MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES
WHY IT’S USEFUL By understanding information from various sources about a given topic, you can
build a comprehensive, wide-ranging command of the concept. Recognizing how various sources agree
with, disagree with, add to, and update one another gives you a well-rounded feel for the range of opinion
among experts.
In academic readings, you will come across texts that are about the same topic, idea, or fact but are
presented or understood by their authors in very di erent ways. You will also be exposed to texts
on a given topic that o er information other texts on the same topic do not. This is even common
in research—while one researcher may interpret evidence to mean one thing, another might draw a
di erent conclusion.
In order to understand multiple perspectives, it is fi rst necessary that you ensure that the sources are
discussing the same general idea. For example, the information in a text by Author A about Aristotle’s
idea of the “golden mean” cannot be synthesized with information in a text by Author B about Aristotle’s
concept of “syllogism.” While they are both ideas propounded by the same philosopher, they do not share
the same main idea.
After determining that the texts you are reading are on the same topic, your next task is to recognize the
perspectives that are presented by each author. In order to do this, it is helpful to become familiar with
language that is used to express a perspective.
It is generally accepted that … It is generally accepted that historical writings provide clues
about a given society.
According to [X person / According to Randall , the textiles were meant to honor the
people] … Greek god.
Many / Some / [other noun] Researchers believe that the artifacts are historically significant.
believe (that) …
[X event / fact / evidence] Research on ancient Greek artifacts indicates that jewelry was
indicate that … worn by individuals of high social status.
[X event / fact / evidence] will The finding will likely shed light on recent archaeological
likely … discoveries in the same area.
[X event / fact / evidence] are The sculpture is unlikely to have been the work of an ancient
likely / unlikely to … artist.
It is likely that … It is likely that the artifacts mentioned in the passage were
figments of the author's imagination.
[X person / people] maintain Drake maintains that historical figures in the poems are entirely
that … fictional.
Continued
[X event / fact / evidence] The works of art reveal that ancient sculptors used quite
reveal … advanced methods.
[X person / people] emphasize / Highland stresses that the Trojan War is an event that must not
stress (that) … be le out of the narrative.
X suggests (that) … The discovery suggests that ancient Greeks highly valued works
of art.
It is thought that … It is thought that Homer spoke, not wrote, his legendary stories.
X must / can be viewed … The art can be viewed as authentic if the research is reliable.
Read the following paragraph. Notice how the language from the chart is woven throughout the
paragraph to express the perspectives of the two (fictional) researchers.
V w o D o of A
G kS lp
Two prominent researchers in the field of ancient Greek art history recently penned articles
about research conducted on artwork uncovered in Greek ruins. While they both believe it is
likely that the pieces of artwork discovered date back to the time of Homer, perspectives on
some technical features of the artifacts di er between the two experts. Schmidt , whose team is
credited with the discovery of a variety of sculptures, maintains that his findings indicate that
the sculptors responsible for creating the pieces used advanced methods far beyond what were
previously believed to have been used. However, a di erent view is held by Thompson, an art
historian and professor who specializes in ancient Greek sculptures. He emphasizes that while the
works of art discovered by Schmidt indeed reveal evidence that advanced sculpting techniques
were utilized, the existence of such innovative methods was previously known by researchers in his
own department. With that said, he does consider the discoveries made by Schmidt’s team to be
of extreme importance, as the sculptures found di er significantly in size, shape, and material from
previously known pieces.
Recognizing varying viewpoints is not always as easy as picking out phrases like those above, however.
These viewpoints often take the form of longer, complex explanations, so it is up to the reader to first
determine whether the information presented by the sources really confl icts—that is, whether the two
sets of information are mutually exclusive and cannot both be true—or if the authors present slightly
di erent viewpoints on the same topic, perspectives that are di erent but may both be true, at least
to some degree. If it is the former (conflicting information), you must ask yourself how these sources
disagree with one other. This could be disagreement about facts, the significance of facts, an idea, or
an interpretation of an idea. If it is the latter (di erent viewpoints), it is important to think about how
di erent the perspectives are from one another. Consider the angle from which that information is viewed
by each source to determine whether Source A may take one concept into consideration while Source B
focuses on another.
PART 2
A. This reading contains three perspectives on the depiction of art in Homer’s epics. As you read each
passage, highlight language the author uses to express a certain perspective. Then circle points
made by the author that are similar to points made in the other passages. Underline points that
stand in contrast to those in the other passages.
How R al W Hom D p o ?
Source 1: Painter
Authentic Descriptions of Art in Homer’s Epics
1 Homer’s epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey give vivid descriptions of textiles, decorative
battle gear, and architectural elements that should be considered in art history as an authentic
depiction of art objects of great importance. Though Homer’s work is filled with mystical beasts
and mythic lands, historical facts are the basis for his narrative. Modern art historians consider
the works Homer describes as cultural art, or “lesser” art, rather than fine art, but these so-called
lesser arts were prized in pre-Hellenic ancient Greece. To determine the importance of the art
described by Homer, it is essential that he fi rst be compared with Thucydides, who authored a
detailed but somewhat lifeless and dry account of the Peloponnesian War in the 5th century .
Though Thucydides is widely regarded as a more historical source than Homer, the touch of an
artist is noticeably absent in his work. Homer’s story, on the other hand, rings with praise of
aesthetic works of his time and provides art criticism in the narrative through careful descriptions
of objects that were clearly valuable. Homer’s artistic eye is what gives the text merit as a resource
in the study of art history.
2 Historic records indicate that that Homer lived around 750 . The Iliad and the Odyssey
interweave Greek mythology with historical accounts of war and travel around Asia Minor.
Though much of Homer’s work is devoted to the influence of the gods on the life of Odysseus and
his contemporaries, the myths transmit facts about art. For example, Homer devotes many lines
of praise to the artifice of Hephaistos, the god of fire, crafts, and metalworking, but he is merely
alluding to the skilled smiths who lived during his time. The clothing that Homer describes his
hero or the gods wearing is an accurate description of the woven textiles and battle garb of his
time, and further, an indication that textiles were prized as a fine art. Finally, in the examination
of Homer’s account of Greek architecture, the texts linger poetically on the palaces of Menelaus
and Alcinous and their bronze-paneled walls, azure molding, golden doors, silver lintel, and silver
sculptures. Though Menelaus and Alcinous are part of Greek mythology and the location of the
actual palaces Homer based his narrative on remains uncertain, Homer’s accounts likely provide
an exceptional window of truth on what existed in the world of ancient architecture.
Source 2: Martínez
The Imaginative Art in Homer’s Epics
3 While it may tempting to regard the work of the legendary bard Homer as text that provides a
fascinating glimpse into an ancient epoch, the truth is that Homer’s accounts of art must be viewed
as imaginative poetry, not history. The epic’s main focus is on battle, not on documentation of
works of art that existed during his time. Homer records the lesser arts, or cultural artifacts like
weapons and clothing, and while these are of use for archaeological and historical purposes, they
are not fine art. Further, many fi ne art examples described in the text, such as the famous shield
of Achilles, likely did not exist. Art historians and archaeological should use caution when citing
artworks as described by Homer, especially fine arts like sculpture, as their historicity is uncertain,
and it is di cult to separate fact from fiction in the narrative.
Continued
PART 2
1. Painter, Martínez, and Evans agree that .
a. Homer depicts art accurately in his epic poems.
b. Homer does not describe art correctly in his epic poems.
c. it is irrelevant whether Homer depicts art accurately in his epic poems.
d. Homer’s poetry does not always refl ect true events or creatures.
2. What do Martínez and Evans agree about in terms of Homer’s poetry?
a. It likely that Homer’s tales were originally conveyed orally.
b. Much is known about Homer’s identity.
c. The characters in the poetry were real people.
d. It is safe to draw some historical conclusions from Homer’s works.
3. Which authors think Homer has merit as a storyteller?
a. Painter and Evans
b. Painter, Martínez, and Evans
c. Martínez and Evans
d. Painter and Martínez
4. Painter and Martínez agree that Homer describes .
a. art that is based on pure fantasy
b. artifacts that are considered lesser art
c. art, but is more focused on describing historic wars
d. fully accurate historical events
5. Unlike the other two sources, Painter believes Homer’s work is valuable because it .
a. tells stories of fictional lands from which scholars can gain knowledge
b. describes art that is often overlooked in historical studies today
c. contains artistically critical descriptions of historic art
d. is considered more of a historically accurate source than works of Thucydides
6. How does Martínez’s perspective of Homer’s work di er from the other two sources?
a. The author believes Homer’s stories are boring.
b. The author believes Homer’s stories are unreliable.
c. The author believes Homer’s stories are accurate.
d. The author believes Homer’s stories are delusional.
7. Painter and Evans each imply that Homer’s depictions of art .
a. are fully accurate representations of art that existed during his time
b. are indisputably works of pure literature
c. reflect the fact that art was valued during his time
d. should not be judged based on their authenticity
8. Which statement about Homer’s epic poetry would all three sources likely disagree with?
a. It has merit for the study of art history.
b. It was written for the purpose of depicting actual artwork of the time.
c. It was more artistic than that of other writers of Homer’s time.
d. It includes factual events that occurred during his time.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
WHY IT’S USEFUL In a reading that presents multiple perspectives, some sources are more believable
or persuasive than others. By recognizing and evaluating sources’ qualifications, present standing in
their fields, and possible motivations for their stances, you can better judge whose perspectives are more
convincing.
Most of the academic texts you read have been reviewed by experts and editors—at book publishing
companies or journals—before you see them. Even online material, if you fi nd it on a reputable site,
may have gone through strenuous checks for factuality and credibility. You are unlikely to read very
many academic pieces that present totally ridiculous ideas from sources who have no credibility at
all. However, that does not mean that every claim in every article or chapter is equally believable and
convincing. Editors may be screening material before you read it, but they do not necessarily remove
every doubtful claim, every self-serving remark, or every controversial point of view. In fact, some
authors and their editors think they have an obligation to present views that are not in the mainstream,
simply to get their readers to consider issues from a number of viewpoints.
Applying your critical thinking skills is vital when you read material that argues an issue several ways.
A source’s expertise is the first thing most readers consider. Which of the following sources do you find
most credible regarding the portrayal of gold objects in Homer’s Odyssey?
A. Joseph Novak, professor of mathematics at Harvard University, argues that Homer could
not have described golden treasure troves so well unless he had been an occasional guest
of Greece’s wealthiest families.
B. “Homer’s detailed eye for the intricacies of golden plate work,” says Dionis Katzanopoulos,
“reflects the sensibilities of a visual artist, not just a writer.”
C. According to Lara Worth, professor of Greek and Roman history at Baldwin State
University, most of the details regarding golden objects were added by “later transcribers
of Homer’s works,” not originated by the bard himself.
Most readers would say that the source cited in Example C probably has the greatest expertise.
Greek history is her field. Even though the university she represents is not as illustrious as Harvard
(Example A), the Harvard source is a mathematician. He is probably very smart, but from the little bit
we know, his profession may not grant him expertise on this subject. The source quoted in Example B
is hard to evaluate. He has a Greek-sounding name, but that does not mean he knows very much about
ancient Greek golden objects. We simply cannot tell whether he has expertise.
Expertise may derive from several factors:
• a source’s present job
• the quality of the organization (university, company, government o ce, etc.) that employs the
source
• a source’s past or present research
• the books, articles, movies, and other materials produced by the source
• a source’s relationship—via family, friendship, acquaintance—with the person or subject matter
under discussion
• a source’s fi rsthand observation of an incident or situation
PART 2
CULTURE NOTE
credibility and e ectiveness. Might the source make Sometimes, a person of great achievement who is
unreliable claims because of any of the following? considered a highly credible source in one arena
becomes a promoter of strange ideas in another. His
• a desire to make money or her credibility, therefore, becomes, or at least risks
becoming, diminished. For example, the American
• a desire for attention or fame chemist Linus Pauling (1901–1994) won two Nobel
• political or religious beliefs Prizes, one in chemistry and the other the Nobel
Peace Prize. His early work on molecular structures
• a personal relationship (good or bad) with was groundbreaking, but late in life he developed a
someone involved in the subject at hand belief in the healing power of certain vitamins that
was not backed up by generally accepted medical
• a deterioration in the source’s dependability research. This seemingly irrational attachment
(owing to recent mental or emotional to unsupported medical / dietary ideas tainted
Pauling’s reputation. For another example, Henry
di culty, etc.) Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company and
a revolutionary genius in manufacturing, would
It may not be easy to know whether one of these factors, certainly have been considered a highly credible
such as the desire to promote a religious or political source regarding production e ciencies. However,
he used his wealth and prominence to promote a
belief, is operating in the source’s case, but you may be range of weird, idiosyncratic ideas about everything
able to guess by doing an informal online search of the from personal diet, to religion, to the supposed
danger of putting up tall buildings. (He thought they
source. If the source writes for general audiences (not would make the Earth’s surface collapse.) Ultimately,
just technical specialists), you might also be able to fi nd an author must be very discerning when choosing
sources and quotes as evidence for an idea, weighing
relevant reviews in newspapers, magazines, blog posts, the benefits of expertise against the potential costs
and so on. of damaged integrity.
EXERCISE 2
A. Read the passage.
Continued
B. Read each question and write a short answer about sources and their credibility.
1. The author mentions two aspects of Elaine Moore’s background that indicate expertise. What
are they?
2. Why would Hector LeBaise probably not be considered a respected source of archaeology?
PART 2
CULTURE NOTE
Greek life? Many English words derive
from the religious beliefs of
ancient cultures, including
those of the Greeks, Romans,
4. In what way is Garcia less competent than Elaine Moore in speaking and Norse (the inhabitants
about ancient Greek life? of present-day Scandinavia).
For example, the names of
Roman gods give us January,
March, May, and June. Norse
mythology gives us the
words Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday. Other
5. What is the author’s attitude toward the expertise of Sir Beowulf Tate? English words derived from
Greek, Latin, and Norse
include bible, chaos, die,
hell, mortality, mercurial,
postmortem, and theology.
7. When the author mentions Tate in the last paragraph, he uses two adjectives to indicate that Tate
is not a great expert. What is one of them?
8. What does the author say in the last paragraph, however, that indicates Tate was not always
wrong?
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
WHY IT’S USEFUL By recognizing and evaluating how an author quotes other sources, both directly and
indirectly, you can add depth to your understanding of a reading. You not only appreciate the author’s
efforts to support his or her claims, but you also see how the author is trying to position his or her text
within a larger sphere of discourse. By understanding the way an author frames a quote, you can also
appreciate nuances of the author’s own stance and point of view.
The English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton once wrote, “If I have seen further, it is
because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” This is a remarkable thing for him to say because very
few humans have shaped our knowledge of the physical universe as fundamentally as Newton. Yet, the
statement expresses his debt to the countless generations of explorers and thinkers who went before
him and whose accumulated wisdom made his own discoveries possible. This attitude also explains
something basic about academic writing and the authors who engage in it: Great value is placed on
knowing what other thinkers have said or written, and your own work gains credibility if you can
support it with quotations from other writers or researchers.
Notice that, even in describing the importance of quotations, we used a quotation. It is a direct
quotation because it reproduces Newton’s exact words, as indicated by the set of quotation marks
around part of the statement.
We also could have expressed it as an indirect quotation, a statement based on his words but not
reproducing them exactly (a kind of paraphrase):
Sir Isaac Newton once commented that, if he could see things that most people couldn’t, it was
because he was able to make use of the contributions of other great thinkers before him.
Another possibility is a hybrid statement, which is partly a direct quote and partly indirect:
Sir Isaac Newton once commented that if he “saw further” than most people, it was because
he “stood on the shoulders of giants.”
Direct, indirect, and hybrid quotes are all e ective, and all have their place in academic pieces. Here are
some factors to note:
• Direct quotations are often preferred if the wording from a CULTURE NOTE
source is particularly clever or picturesque. This could be said of As prime minister of the UK,
Newton’s quote. The value of the statement is not just in what he Winston Churchill (1874–1965)
delivered what is perhaps one
said but in the way he said it. of the greatest expressions of
• This “clever or picturesque” point includes wording that creates defiance under pressure. Speaking
to the House of Commons in June
an allusion or a metaphor. Consider the passage by Winston 1940, a time when World War II
Churchill in the CULTURE NOTE. Not only does Churchill’s seemed to be going entirely the
Nazis’ way, he said, “We shall fight
clever phrasing, with its persistent rhythm, justify a direct on the beaches, we shall fight on
quote, but his mention of the “beaches” and “landing grounds” the landing grounds, we shall fight
in the fields and in the streets,
(an allusion to recent Nazi victories in France) and his choice of we shall fight in the hills; we shall
words—all of Old English descent except for “surrender”— also never surrender.”
strike a defiantly British tone that no paraphrase could equal.
• An indirect quotation may be preferred if the original is too long or not e ciently stated.
• A hybrid quotation may be preferred if part of the original is notably well stated, but the whole
quotation is either too long or not consistently well worded.
• Often quotations are extended —that is, referred to o and on throughout an entire paragraph or
even a set of paragraphs.
• Sometimes, a direct quotation is inset —printed with narrower margins than the text around
it—not printed within an ordinary text paragraph. If the quotation is inset, there are no quotation
marks around it. Typically authors inset a quotation if it is four lines long or longer.
PART 2
A. Read the passage. Then read the questions on the following page and choose the best answers.
Th No U d wo ld
1 Like the Greeks and Romans, the Norse of medieval northern Europe believed in an
1
underworld that awaited people after their death. 2However, as Professor Bjarni Gorlund puts it,
“Our knowledge of the Norse afterlife is a mere inch of thread compared to the elaborate Greek
and Roman shrouds we know.” 3These elaborate, well-documented, hero-populated underworlds
of the Mediterranean peoples—Gerda Rollins went so far as to call their highly organized strata
“rational”—are so fully realized that subsequent writers, viz. Dante Alighieri, could have characters
give tours of them. 4Karl Ramstad characterized the Norse underworld as a “dark basement,” which
we navigate “without much light from early commentators and certainly no floor plan.”
2 5Alva Ros Gunnarsdottir, of Iceland’s Poetic Trust, notes that the few sources we do have that
describe the underworld in Norse mythology—primarily the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, and
the Eglis Saga of Iceland—are of relatively late provenance. 6Gunnarsdottir doesn’t take at face
value the claims these sources make—including the unknown author of the Eglis Saga —about
being based on earlier works, and indeed she notes that they date from the post-mythological age.
7Snorri Sturluson is the primary authorial suspect in the literary “whodunnit” surrounding those
specifically named works, at least Gunnarsdottir believes so—and Sturluson was writing in the
13th century, after the Norse had been Christianized.
3 8Perhaps because a long-prevailing metaphor in English situates the punitive afterlife in hell,
which is refl exively understood as being “down,” we have given too little attention to directionality
in both the Mediterranean and Norse mythic cosmologies. 9As Gorlund puts it:
10The dead are buried. 11Downward, below the surface that the living inhabit, is
perhaps the most intuitive location for a land of the dead. 12Since we can only access
the depths of the Earth through fearsome places like caves or craters, the entrance to a
subterranean underworld—if one ever saw it—would probably be a frightening place,
and construing it as guarded by a wizened gatekeeper or a vicious beast seems almost
rational, at least according to the spirit-besotted worlds in which ancients lived.
4 13 Gunnarsdottir has attempted to draw a trail map of the three possible destinations for the soul.
The English word hell derives from the name of one Norse destination of the dead—Helheim, ruled
by the goddess Hel. 14Gunnarsdottir cautions that Norse sources are unclear and contradictory, but
Helheim was not a place of su ering. 15“It wasn’t an especially distinguished place,” she says. “It
was really a bland default position.” 16Valhalla, perhaps the best known postmortem destination
in Norse mythology, was supposedly a gathering place of heroes, chosen by supernatural beings
called the Valkyries—although many heroes apparently were not chosen and wound up elsewhere.
17 Finally, Gunnarsdottir mentions Folkvangr (“Field of the People”), ruled by the goddess Freyja.
18 This was another pleasant but unexciting destination—at least as far as one can gather from what
PART 2
Virgil as the Guide of Dante
1 The focus on theological matters in Dante provide marginal ecclesiastical immunity at best.
Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy may seem, at “No serious Church censor would be deterred by
rst glance, to be representative of the archaic such weak tea,” as Cardinal Avery Billinks puts it.
belief system of the late Middle Ages, complete Most scholars agree that the connection Dante
with blazing inferno and eternal damnation. has with Virgil goes far beyond geographic ties to
However, Dante’s in uential text also focuses the homeland of the Latin poet.
on individuality, earthly happiness, and classical 3 Dante wrote The Divine Comedy in the
scholarship, which cemented the epic poem's 13th century after he had been exiled from his
place in the foundation of neoclassical humanism. native Florence for political reasons. He completed
Dante wrote in Italian, the common language of the poem shortly before his death at age 56,
the people, rather than in Latin, so that anyone never having returned to his home. His work
could read his work. He also revealed a deep is both ctional and autobiographical; Dante
admiration for Roman and Greek classics, which simultaneously authors the book and becomes
was a key component of Renaissance thought. the main character in his epic journey through the
“Within his writing about the depths of hell,” underworld, purgatory, and paradise. He begins
says Benjamin Cook, professor of medieval his poem with a famous line that reveals a depth
literature and culture at Mid-Coast College, “Dante of despair, possibly referring to the author’s inner
plants a seed that blossoms into the medieval psychological struggle as well as to his character’s
Renaissance” (Ultra Praescriptum 2015). What journey through the underworld:
immediately lifts Dante’s work out of the realm of Midway upon the journey of our life
simple espousal of medieval beliefs, Cook claims, I found myself within a forest dark,
is the man who Dante chose for his guide at the For the straightforward pathway had
beginning of his narrative: Virgil, the celebrated been lost.
Augustan poet of the pre-Christendom Roman
It is just after this passage that Dante meets
Empire, and a pagan in the eyes of the medieval
Virgil, who becomes his guide, his protector,
church. In this essay, we will examine why Dante
and his father gure as he passes through hell
chose Virgil as his guide and what rami cations
and purgatory. Dante makes the reader aware of
this choice had for the development of thought in
Virgil’s presence in the story when he rhetorically
medieval Europe.
asks if the character he sees is indeed Virgil, and
2 The Divine Comedy has long posed this
clues the reader in to the greatness of the Roman
question for scholars: Why did Dante choose
poet. Dante refers to Virgil as a fountain, and
Virgil? Dante did not choose a religious
poetically states that a river of speech ows from
character from the Bible, nor did he choose an
the ancient poet. Dante makes his partnership
anthropomorphized virtue, such as “Faith,” to
with Virgil in the following stanzas, and names him
lead his character, as English author John Bunyan
as his muse:
later did in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Rather, Dante
chose Virgil, “the pagan,” to lead him through Thou art my master, and my author thou,
hell and purgatory. Some scholars, such as Thou art alone the one from whom I took
Marguerite Spellman, professor of literature at The beautiful style that has done honor
the University of Reinsdorf (South Africa), have to me.
argued that Dante chose Virgil because Virgil’s The praise Dante bestows on Virgil shows
epic poem the Aeneid is about the founding of the Dante’s great respect for the Roman poet’s
city of Rome, “a worthy topic” because it is the writing.
precursor to the Holy Roman Empire of Dante’s 4 Dante’s epic poem then follows in the
time. However, that seems a stretch, and it would footsteps of Virgil in more ways than one,
Continued
Synthesis of Information 223
according
di to C Cook.
k ThThere iis the
h metaphorical
h i l a cruell operation,
i the
h ripping
i i up off old ld
following, in which Virgil guides Dante through griefs, and the venturing again upon the
the darkness of the underworld, and there is the ‘infandum dolorem’ of years, in which the
literal pattern in literature, in which Dante follows stars of this lower heaven were one by
Virgil by emulating his epic poem about a journey one going out?
to an underworld. Cook, speculating on how Dante “Infandum dolorem” (unspeakable pain) is a
viewed his work, writes that the poet saw The direct quote from the Aeneid, used by Newman
Divine Comedy “ rst and foremost as his literary in depicting the dif culties of his own spiritual
masterpiece” and believed it would become a journey. Spellman noticed Newman’s af nity for
classic in the annals of literature. “By choosing his Virgil despite the extreme orthodoxy of his time,
most-admired author,” Cook notes, “Dante draws and she nds it striking that even in Newman’s
attention to the literary nature of his work.” Just as Victorian milieu, perhaps less experimental than
he described Aeneas’s geographical meanderings other periods of Christian history, Virgil is an
in the Aeneid, Virgil explains the various acceptable intellectual trailblazer.
topographical features of hell, even offering details 6 This glimpse into Dante’s admiration for the
of where various rivers originate. Dante offers classics foretells the neoclassical revival of the
lavish praise to Virgil and goes on later in the book Renaissance and, as we see from Newman,
to offer similar praise to all his favorite classical sets a sturdy precedent. The medieval church
authors, whom he meets in the underworld. He ruled over civic matters as well as “matters of
imagines himself as a similar, celebrated author in faith and morals”—as the Church’s First Vatican
the following stanzas: Council would put it in 1870, during the height of
And more of honour still, much more, they Newman’s career—and it did not stress liberal
did to me, education. Dante, who believed the Church
In that they made me one of their own band; should focus solely on spiritual matters and
So that the sixth was I, ‘mid so much wit. leave civic rule to the government, longed for a
The other great minds, according to Dante, were different, reawakened society, as Cook notes in
Horace, Ovid, Lucan, and Homer. He travels for a Ultra Praescriptum. “It is not dif cult to imagine
short while with the other classical poets and sees Dante, the exile, longing for a society like that of
many other important gures from ancient Greece ancient Rome or Greece, which placed a priority on
and Rome, including Hector and Aeneas, Socrates scholarship,” Cook writes. Dante’s work sparked
and Plato, and Euclid and Ptolemy. Cook suggests an interest in the Roman and Greek classics,
that it is in these stanzas that Dante helps the which went on to inspire a revival in classical
reader understand the importance that studying education, especially after the classics were
the classics had to him. reprinted and made widely available through the
5 Dante’s bold choice of the secular Virgil as a invention of the printing press in the 15th century.
guide has more modern reverberations as well. From the study of these classics, Cook maintains,
The revered (and of cially “Blessed,” according to the humanist philosophy of the Renaissance
the Roman Catholic Church) John Henry Newman emerged from the shadows of Church strictures
echoed Virgil when he wrote, in his Apologia because Dante, and a few others of his ilk,
promoted the belief that moral and ethical issues
who can afford to be leisurely and
are a matter for civil society.
deliberate, while he practises on himself
Aside from excerpts from Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Newman’s Apologia, the sources and source quotations in this pas-
sage are fi ctional.
PART 2
1. Which idea is expressed in a direct quotation in Paragraph 1?
a. Dante meant his work to be understandable by the average person.
b. Dante’s tale of the underworld led to the development of the Renaissance.
c. Choosing Virgil as his guide is what truly distinguishes Dante’s work.
d. Virgil was a pagan, and as such was not able to enter the realm Christians knew as “hell.”
2. In Paragraph 2, the author preserves the source’s own words by using a direct quote, which
contains a metaphor. What is that metaphor?
a. That a concept like faith can be spoken of as a person.
b. That when Dante had Virgil speak of “hell,” he meant it to be a reference to the city of Rome.
c. That a certain idea is so unimpressive that it is like drinking something tasteless.
d. That Virgil’s lack of Christian belief made him like one of the people su ering in hell.
3. In Paragraph 3, the author directly quotes Dante twice. What do the two quotes have in common?
Choose TWO.
a. Both are inset.
b. Both are hybrids.
c. Both are explained by the author in the sentence before the quote.
d. Both are introduced by verbs showing that something is in dispute.
e. Both involve the voice of Dante speaking to Virgil.
4. Which paragraph involves an extended quote from a single scholarly source?
a. Paragraph 3
b. Paragraph 4
c. Paragraph 5
d. Paragraph 6
5. According to Paragraph 5, what evidence is given that John Henry Newman appreciated Virgil as
an intellectual forebear?
a. Newman quotes a Latin phrase from Virgil.
b. Newman is considered “Blessed” by the Catholic Church.
c. Newman caught the attention of Marguerite Spellman.
d. Newman was writing during the strict Victorian Era.
6. Which of these ideas are ascribed to Cook in Paragraph 6? Choose TWO.
a. The Church before the Renaissance got too involved in the a airs of civic life.
b. Dante probably wished he had lived in earlier times when learning was more widely
respected.
c. Dante’s use of Virgil, a figure from classical times, helped usher in the Renaissance.
d. Newman showed that references to classical figures was a strong technique, usable in nearly
any era.
D. Based on sources and information in “Virgil as the Guide of Dante,” create direct, indirect, and
hybrid quotes. Follow the prompts. (For ideas, see the TIP: Usage Notes, above.)
1. Neutral, hybrid quote: Marguerite Spellman calls Rome “the central actor of an entire millennium”
and says that the city defined life even for peoples who had never heard of it.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
PART 2
APPRECIATING HEDGING
WHY IT’S USEFUL Recognizing hedging language will enable you to understand when a writer is
attempting to sound reasonable, strike a moderate tone, or avoid unsupportable extremes, all through
the use of cautious language.
Continued
Language that writers typically avoid when they are attempting to be cautious in their communication
of information includes the following: undoubtedly, without a doubt, there is no doubt that, clearly, obviously,
definitely, certainly, absolutely, always, never, all, every. This is due to the fact that this language expresses
complete certainly, thus leaving no room for error or alternative viewpoints.
EXERCISE 4
A. The following are excerpts from readings in this unit. What hedging language do you see? Identify
the words and phrases that hedge and underline them.
1. Virgil’s hero Aeneas, like Homer’s Odysseus, descends into the underworld to interact with the deceased,
but Virgil’s portrayal is that the honor due to Aeneas vastly outweighs whatever the reader may owe
Odysseus.
2. Di erent scholars have speculated on various intentions Homer may have had for writing the passage,
from simply recording what life looked like during his time to using the beauty of the passage to deepen
the scope of the great tragedy about to occur in the poem.
3. Further, many fine art examples described in the text, such as the famous shield of Achilles, likely
did not exist.
4. Tate stumbled across various animal bones interred alongside human remains in graves in both Cyprus
and Attica—graves that predate the Trojan War across the seas—which has led scholars such as George
Kristidis of the Athenian Academy to reluctantly acknowledge a possible connection between the
cremation passages in the Iliad and burial customs in ancient Greece.
5. The Greeks, especially by the mid-8th century , believed that the soul of one unburied would continue
to trouble the living, according to Moore.
PART 2
according to a person’s behavior in life.
7. Homer’s epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey give vivid descriptions of textiles, decorative battle gear,
and architectural elements that should be considered in art history as an authentic depiction of art
objects of great importance.
8. Odysseus heroically longs for his land and his love, and the reader can more easily empathize with him
than with the somewhat pompous Roman poetic hero.
B. The information in the following sentences is stated in an overly confident manner. Identify the
excessively confident language and then replace it with hedging language. It may be necessary to
change word order or grammar. The sentences you write should express the same information as
the original sentences but with lesser degrees of certainty.
1. Ancient Greek artifacts depicted in the Odyssey and the Aeneid were certainly real artistic pieces
that existed at the time the epics were written.
3. It is obvious that Dante wrote in Italian—the common language of the people—rather than in
Latin so that his work could be understood by everyone.
4. Dante clearly chose Virgil to be his guide because of Virgil's reputation as a pagan in the eyes of the
medieval church.
5. Every scholar disagrees about the authenticity of the art pieces described by Homer and Virgil.
PART 2
A. Read the passage. Annotate and take notes as necessary.
B. Reread the questions in Before You Read, Part B. Is there anything you cannot answer? What reading
skills can you use to help you find the answers?
PART 2
Follow these steps:
1. Consider the seven stages of a hero’s journey:
1 A call to a journey or quest 5 An internal or external struggle
2 Reluctance to answer the call 6 A sacrifice in order to complete the journey
3 Persuasion of hero and meeting with mentor 7 Victory
4 The encountering of tests, trials, or enemies
2. Then choose the main character (Frodo, Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, or Neo) from one of the works
you just read about OR the main character of a book or movie of your choice.
3. Try to identify each of the seven steps in your chosen character’s journey. What occurs in each of
these stages? You may have to do some research if you do not know or cannot recall the events of each
stage. If any of the stages do not exist, what do you think is the reason for this?
THINKING VISUALLY
You have learned that the collective unconscious is a shared structure of archetypes found in the
human unconscious mind and is part of the foundation of the hero’s journey.
1. Study the chart, which features archetypes suggested by June Singer, a psychologist and analyst of
Carl Jung’s work. Do some quick Internet searches to find out the meanings of unfamiliar words or
concepts in the chart. You will note that each row presents a pair of opposites (e.g., the Great Mother
is the opposite of the Terrible Mother.)
2. Now think of literary and fi lm characters you know well. Which archetypes from the chart do you
think these characters represent? Think of specific examples of scenes in which these archetypes
manifest themselves. Add their names to the chart. How do these archetypes contribute to the “hero’s
journey” of this character? Share your chart with another student.
Ego Shadow
Time Eternity
Light Darkness
Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):
2. Researchers refer to the concept as a “monomyth” and argue that this archetypal story arises from the
inherent human need for understanding and growth through quests for knowledge.
Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):
3. At this point in the narrative, the hero generally meets trials, tests of endurance, and enemies.
Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):
4. Gareth Fields, professor of cognitive psychology and author of The Hero’s Journey in the Modern Mind,
postulates that the hero’s journey emerges from the human desire to use an external struggle—a story—to
mirror psychological di culties that people must overcome.
Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):
5. The collective unconscious is, according to Burns, a shared structure of archetypes found in the human
unconscious mind.
Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):
PART 2
tropes to provoke feelings of triumph, despair, and glory that bring about an individual’s awareness of the
self, which Burns refers to as knowledge acquisition.
Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):
7. While the Odyssey may not fall into the category of “pleasure reading” for the average student of the mid-
2010s, as Boudicca Inez so poignantly expresses in her recent article in Bolster Magazine, other tales of heroes
who follow the same hero’s journey archetype do not necessarily su er the same fate.
Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):
8. Even nonreaders cannot avoid the hero’s journey, Inez claims, and that is in no small part due to
Star Wars.
Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
GETTING STARTED
Go to to listen to Professor Hildemann and to complete a self-assessment.
Discuss these questions with a partner or group.
1. What do you think is done during the construction of a building to guarantee a fresh air environment?
2. In order to ensure clean indoor air, it is sometimes necessary to use devices that consume a significant
amount of energy. In which situations do you think it makes sense to employ devices that use a lot of
energy?
3. You just learned that most people in America spend up to 90 percent of their time indoors. What
percentage of your time do you spend indoors? What impact might this have on your health?
PART 2
UNDERSTANDING DEFINITIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS
WHY IT’S USEFUL By working with definitions and classifications, you will broaden your knowledge of
specialized terms, improve your general vocabulary in English, and understand relationships among things
that are like—or unlike—one another in specific ways.
Defi nitions and classifications are basic features of most academic writing. Nearly every university course
introduces students to the specialized vocabulary of a field. Once concepts are named and learned,
academic texts often group them to help articulate similarities and di erences.
A key to understanding academic writing within a particular discipline is understanding definitions
and classifications. This unit breaks the skill down into two supporting skills:
• recognizing and understanding defi nitions within a text
• working with classifications
NOTICING ACTIVIT Y
A. As you read the passage, notice the use of vocabulary that is not common in everyday writing but
is appropriate for a reading in the field of environmental engineering. Write three such vocabulary
items on the lines. (Do not include organic or volatile as these are addressed in Part C.)
B. Are there definitions in the passage for the three items you found? If so, underline them.
C. The passage names the criteria for belonging to the category of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
To belong, a substance must be both organic and volatile. Write a definition for each.
organic
volatile
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
Definitions and Classifications 237
SUPPORTING SKILL 1
RECOGNIZING AND UNDERSTANDING DEFINITIONS WITHIN A TEXT
WHY IT’S USEFUL Much of your success as an academic reader depends on understanding new
terminology in what you read. By familiarizing yourself with various ways in which writers signal that
definitions are being provided, you will be better able to anticipate, identify, and understand new terms.
In academic courses, you will be exposed to numerous new terms and defi nitions through class readings,
lecture slide presentations, and your own research. In order to be able to comprehend the meanings of new
words, it is essential to be equipped with the skills necessary to recognize that they are being introduced.
Writers employ a variety of signal words, phrases, and punctuation to indicate the introduction of a new
term or phrase.
Signal Word, Phrase, or Punctuation
Example
Indicating a Definition or Explanation
are those that HVAC systems are those that combine heating, ventilation,
and air conditioning.
by definition By definition, a dehumidifier is a machine that removes water
from the air in a building.
can be defined as A heat exchanger can be defined as an apparatus used to
transfer heat from one medium to another.
consists of The respiratory system , which consists of anatomical features
such as the nose, nasal passages, pharynx, larynx, trachea,
bronchi, and lungs, is what makes respiration possible.
entails Installing an air-conditioning system in your home entails
selecting the right equipment and then putting it in.
essentially Precipitation is essentially moisture, o en in the form of rain
is essentially and snow, that falls to the ground.
involves Air-conditioning is a process that involves making the air in a
building or vehicle cooler and drier.
is A heat pump is a tool that applies heat energy to an endpoint
called a “heat sink.”
is characterized by Sick building syndrome is characterized by headaches and
respiratory problems.
noun (definition in parentheses) Emissions (gases or other substances that are sent out into the
air) are increasing worldwide.
noun—definition between dashes— Velocity—the rate at which something moves in a particular
direction over a period of time —is an important consideration.
noun , or + noun, A damper, or a valve, can regulate dra s.
noun , which + verb Ducts , which are pipes or tubes for carrying liquids, air, cables,
etc., are used in HVAC systems.
refer to Pollutants refer to substances in air, water, or soil that are
noun , which refers to harmful to humans and other organisms.
The respiratory system , which refers to the organs and parts of
the body that help you to breathe, is one of the nine major organ
systems.
which means He is an environmental engineer, which means that he
a term used to mean identifies and solves problems related to the environment.
Residence time, a term used to mean the amount of time
water is held in a batch reactor, plug flow reactor, etc., relates
to wastewater treatment and water treatment.
238 ENV IRONM EN TAL ENG INEERING PA RT 2
EXERCISE 1
PART 2
A. Scan the reading for six signal words, phrases, and punctuation from the chart on the previous page
that indicate that a term is being defined. Circle them.
Is Air-Conditioning Necessary?
1 The widespread use of air-conditioning use increases. In Singapore in the early 2000s,
symbolizes, for some, an upwardly mobile of cials made air-conditioning mandatory in parts
population in a growing, productive economy. of new housing and commercial developments,
The concept that the privileged and powerful citing it as a pivotal invention that modernized
have greater access to the comfort of cool air is the nation and increased workplace productivity.
rooted in both history and truth. Powerful ancient Air-conditioning usage is also on the rise in the
civilizations employed air cooling systems prior to populous nations of India and China.
the technological advances of the 20 th century, 3 Research corroborates the notion that hot
and the wealthiest people in such civilizations weather reduces overall economic growth.
reaped the bene ts. The Romans built aqueducts, According to a study that measured the effects of
which were channels that carried water. The temperature and precipitation on economic growth
aqueducts piped cool water through brick and over a 50-year period, poor nations that lack
stonework to not only provide fresh water to air-conditioning experienced reduced economic
Roman citizens but also to cool down buildings. growth during heat waves. Wealthier nations,
Ancient Persians invented windcatchers, which where workers are protected from temperature
refers to tunnel-like devices that funneled wind changes, on the other hand, did not see a lag
into buildings and ventilated out hot indoor air. in economic growth. If two scenarios might be
Chinese inventor Ding Huan, who lived during the imagined, a man on his way to work in a poorer
Han Dynasty 2,000 years ago, built a manually nation on a sweltering day might take a crowded,
operated rotary fan—a precursor of modern oven-like public bus and arrive at a workplace with
fans—that kept courtiers cool. His invention equally oppressive heat. Fatigue would set in by
was used later by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang midday, possibly leading to heat exhaustion, which
Dynasty, who constructed a water-powered fan to is characterized by dizziness, heavy sweating, and
keep the imperial palace cool. a rapid pulse rate. Productivity would naturally
2 Modern-day air conditioners achieve the same drop. In contrast, on a hot day in a richer nation,
goal but operate quite differently. Consisting of a man would travel in an air-conditioned car to a
three main parts (a compressor, a condenser, and cool workplace and experience little to no drop
an evaporator), air conditioners use chemicals in productivity, thanks to the comparably more
called refrigerants that easily convert a liquid to a comfortable environment.
gas and back to liquid again in a process known 4 The American proclivity to crank up the air
as phase transition. Essentially, the refrigerant conditioner the second the temperature rises,
helps absorb and expel heat outdoors while however, is not necessarily a desirable behavior to
evaporating and cooling air to release indoors. emulate. This pro igate use of energy-hungry air
The United States, one of the wealthiest nations conditioners increases the release of greenhouse
in the world according to the International gases (which cause the atmosphere to retain
Monetary Fund’s measure of gross domestic heat). Notably, not all developed nations ock
product per capita, uses more air-conditioning to air-conditioning. In Germany, for example,
than all other nations combined, with nearly air-conditioning is rare in homes, and of cials
90 percent of households using some form of urge individuals to use simpler measures, such
air-conditioning. Other nations are following as turning on a fan or wearing more weather-
suit, and studies show that as incomes rise and appropriate clothing to alleviate the discomforts
average temperatures climb, air-conditioning brought on by heat.
3. Explain what air conditioners are made up of and what they use to function.
C. How does understanding the meaning of each of the terms in Part B contribute to your
comprehension of the reading overall? Which sections of the reading would not have made sense
if you did not know these definitions? Refer back to the reading, and then discuss with a partner.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
PART 2
WORKING WITH CLASSIFICATIONS
WHY IT’S USEFUL By understanding classifications in a text, you can comprehend some of the most
basic relationships among specialized information in a field of study: which elements are similar or equal
to one another, or in entirely different categories, and why.
Classifications help reveal patterns. By grouping similar things together—and articulating the way(s) in
which they are similar—academic authors make complicated systems or processes easier to understand.
For example, one of the best ways to understand chemical elements is to group them according to their
structure, their properties, their uses, or some other feature. (See the CULTURE NOTE on p. 243 about
the periodic table of elements.)
POLLUTING SUBSTANCES
cold viruses insect droppings
dust mold
engine oil radon gas
fumes from gasoline small bits of metal
fungus waterborne bacteria
human skin
If your basis of classification were “How a substance is mostly taken into the body,” you might classify
them into two groups—by breathing and by drinking. In that case, your classification might look like this:
POLLUTING SUBSTANCES
Taken in Mostly by Breathing Taken in Mostly by Drinking
cold viruses engine oil
dust human skin
fumes from gasoline small bits of metal
fungus waterborne bacteria
insect droppings
mold
radon gas
POLLUTING SUBSTANCES
Living Nonliving
cold viruses dust
fungus engine oil
mold fumes from gasoline
waterborne bacteria human skin
insect droppings
radon gas
small bits of metal
When you read a passage that includes classifications, understanding the basis of classification is
extremely important. The author may clarify the basis by using defi nitions, such as “By living, we
mean ‘currently alive.’ We do not include items that were formerly alive but no longer are, such as
human skin.”
Even when an author draws up categories that have a strong, well-defi ned basis, some readers may
disagree with the classification. For example, someone might argue that insect droppings should be
considered alive because they contain living bacteria. Or someone may argue that viruses are not really
alive (which actually is a matter of debate among biologists). Such disagreements are fi ne. Academic
life is full of them, and they motivate a lot of research and progress in various fields.
The important thing is for any classification to have a clear basis and to have just one at a time. A
classification gets confused if a writer tries to organize data according to two criteria at the same time.
If both criteria are important, they can both be applied, but they should be applied separately, in two
di erent schemes of classification. After both schemes have been independently, cleanly created, you can
look for how items may fall into more than one category across the schemes.
PART 2
Data
Set
Sub-subclass 1 Sub-subclass 2
CULTURE NOTE
The Periodic Table of Elements First published in 1869 by Dmitry Mendeleev, the periodic table has been refined and updated to
reflect new knowledge in physics and chemistry, but its classifi cation system was so strong that the basic table is still of use. This
amazing longevity is due to the rock-solid bases for classification that Mendeleev chose. The fundamental principle for arranging
elements is their atomic number, which is determined by the number of protons in an atom. Mendeleev, however, was operating in
a time before protons were even known. His strategy of ordering most elements by the weight of one atom proved to be farsighted,
and his order was, for the most part, maintained even a er subatomic particles were discovered. Mendeleev’s first strategy for
organizing the table was to arrange elements into rows called periods . Then, by adjusting the number of elements in each period,
Mendeleev could create columns (called groups) of elements that had similar properties. For example, the table is arranged so the
noble gases—elements 2, 10, 18, 36, 54, 86, and 118—all appear in a single column. This reflects several real-world similarities
among these elements, such as their gaseous form at room temperature and the unlikelihood that any of them will chemically react
with other elements.
Basis of Classification
Hazard Class C
Names of Classes
PART 2
Indoor Air Pollutants and Health
1 Health problems ranging from a mild headache 3 Each group of pollutants is associated with
to severe cognitive impairment can result from particular adverse health symptoms, which can
exposure to indoor air pollution. US health and be further sorted into categories of respiratory or
environmental agencies have established category nonrespiratory conditions. Lung health is most
distinctions for health professionals to use in affected by indoor air pollution, and the category
identifying a patient’s symptoms and the causal of “respiratory symptoms” deals speci cally
relationship of the symptoms to a particular with issues related to lung pathology. Though air
polluting agent. A pollutant’s capacity to affect pollutants enter the body through the respiratory
health depends on many factors, such as proximity system, some of the health effects they cause
of the person to the pollutant, level of toxicity of are not classi ed as respiratory issues. For
the pollutant, age of the person exposed, and example, breathing in cigarette smoke may cause
duration of his or her exposure. Reactions to headaches, but that ailment is not considered
pollutants vary among individuals, but patterns a respiratory symptom because it does not deal
of ill health—particularly when experienced by an directly with lung health and function. Wheezing
entire family in a home or by multiple workers in an and asthma aggravation, however, which are also
of ce building—may be an aid in diagnosing the precipitated by exposure to cigarette smoke,
condition and resolving the problem. However, the fall under the category of respiratory symptoms.
phenomenon of “sick building syndrome” (in which Respiratory symptoms include the subcategories
a large number of workers or residents report of nose conditions (rhinitis and epistaxis), throat
symptoms like headaches or sore throats but no conditions (pharyngitis and aggravated asthma),
physical cause can be found) shows that diagnosis and overall lung function (dyspnea and severe lung
is not always easy or even possible. disease).
2 According to the categories established for 4 Nonrespiratory symptoms resulting from
diagnostic evaluation by the American Lung exposure to air pollutants include conjunctival
Association, the American Medical Association, irritation, nausea, headache, malaise, rashes,
the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, and fever, hearing loss, tachycardia, retinal
the US Environmental Protection Agency, indoor hemorrhage, myalgia, and cognitive impairment.
air pollutants can be classi ed into the following Some of the most severe health effects, such
groups: combustion products (including tobacco as cognitive impairment, rapid heartbeat
smoke), biological pollutants (including molds and (tachycardia), and retinal hemorrhage are
bacteria), volatile organic compounds (including associated with exposure to carbon monoxide.
benzene), and heavy metals (such as lead and Relatively less acute symptoms, such as
mercury). Any of these categories could be further headache, nasal congestion, cough, eye irritation,
broken down according to several bases. For and malaise, can be associated with exposure
example, biological pollutants could be classi ed to all or nearly all of the categories of pollutants,
according to their pathogenicity—their likelihood and in fact may result from exposure to multiple
of causing disease, regardless of whether or not contaminants at once.
the disease is signi cantly uncomfortable. What
SKILL TIP
matters most to both the classifying agencies and
In some complicated classification readings, you may
the public, however, is the overall effect of the have trouble keeping track of the names of classes,
entire suite of pollutants on the health of people subclasses, and examples. One easy way to keep things
straight is to make an outline or a graphic organizer
exposed to them. that shows these various levels of organization. For
more about outlines and graphic organizers, see the
section Using Outlines and Graphic Organizers (p. 60).
PART 2
UNDERSTANDING AND PRODUCING REFERENCES TO OTHER SOURCES
WHY IT’S USEFUL By understanding references to other sources, you can get an overall understanding
of how the piece you are reading fits in with other work in the field. You can see which topics have been
important to writers in the field over several years, and you can appreciate the questions that still remain
to be answered.
1 In certain buildings, a large number of into common use in the medical eld after a
individuals report symptoms ranging from dry 1984 World Health Organization report (Geister
eyes and itchy skin to headaches and fatigue. The et al.) stated that up to 30 percent of new and
symptoms appear associated with the building remodeled buildings worldwide might be subject
itself, but investigators cannot determine the to “excessive” complaints about indoor air
source of the problem, and doctors treating the quality. This was the rst in a urry of reports
af icted persons cannot nd a clear diagnosis. that debated the nature and even the very
This vague condition is known by the equally existence of the syndrome. DeLuria and Fulton
fuzzy term sick building syndrome. Sick building (1989) speculate that the illness arose because
syndrome can be temporary or long-lasting and of poor air circulation in of ces and other
is often associated with poor air quality that workplaces in buildings that were constructed in
results from inadequate ventilation, biological the 1970s. A comprehensive review of American
contaminants, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), building standards (Leow, Burns, and VerHage
and other pollutants. If a speci c pollutant 1991) notes that they were altered in the early
is identi ed and a clear diagnosis becomes 1970s to save energy as a reaction to the 1973
apparent, the condition is known instead as oil embargo, and the minimum required amount
a building-related illness. Studies show that a of outdoor air ventilation, which had been
psychosomatic factor is sometimes present 15 cubic feet of outdoor air per minute for each
in cases of sick building syndrome, meaning building occupant, was reduced to 5 cubic feet
that an individual’s physical symptoms are per minute. The rate has since been increased
sometimes caused by or notably in uenced by to its previous standards, but many buildings
his or her psychological state, and some studies constructed in the 1970s and 1980s are stuffy
(e.g., Trask and Haverman 2011) show that a and unevenly heated and cooled. Sick building
higher proportion of individuals with neurosis syndrome complaints are made primarily by
report symptoms than those without neurosis. A women, and the reason for this is not fully
stressful working environment contributes to the understood. A number of possible factors have
psycho-generative factor because it creates poor been outlined (e.g., Castleman 1992; Devlin and
psychosocial conditions among workers. O’Meara 1996; DeVilliers 2001). Some point out
2 Sick building syndrome as an illness is a a selection factor, in that jobs predominantly
relatively new phenomenon. The term came done by women are inordinately concentrated
PART 2
1. What attitude does the author express in Paragraph 1 ACADEMIC CULTURE NOTE
about people who claim to have sick building syndrome? Academic researchers treat each other with
respect. Even if you strongly disagree with
a. If they saw doctors, they would find out they have someone, you should refer to that person’s
some other condition. work in polite terms without implying that
the other person’s work is unimportant or not
b. They are being dishonest because the symptoms they valuable. In the literature reviews you read,
report don’t actually exist. you may see statements like the following:
c. In reality, they have building-related illness, not sick Smith and Jones investigated X, but
• the sample size was restricted.
building syndrome. • the research method did not take
d. They are truly sick, even if the building itself is not the into account …
• there was a possibility of rater bias.
verifi able cause. • their conclusions assume that X, and
2. According to Paragraph 2, what relationship exists this is questionable.
• it leaves several questions unanswered.
between indoor air quality and energy policies of the There are hundreds of such statements that
1970s and 1980s? can be used to express polite disagreement.
Notice that the statements almost always
a. The policies encouraged the burning of dirty fuels, refer to technical aspects of the study or
which pollute indoor air. the report. They should never refer to the
researchers personally.
b. Policies meant to save energy reduced buildings’
airflow too much.
c. Air-conditioning saved energy but introduced poisonous chemicals into buildings.
d. Saving energy meant keeping buildings either too hot or too cold.
3. Near the end of Paragraph 3, the word toxic is used to refer to .
a. chemicals in the original construction of the building
b. materials used in trying to fi x the building
c. the relationships among people in the building
d. the e ect of the company’s problems on a whole city
4. In Paragraph 4, the author mentions where mold and bacteria grow. Why is this location
significant?
a. It explains how the contaminants could a ect the whole building.
b. It shows how outside contaminants can move indoors.
c. It indicates why those contaminants are not really a problem.
d. It demonstrates why those contaminants can’t be removed.
5. The author doesn’t classify radon and asbestos among the possible causes of sick building
syndrome. Why not?
a. They are naturally occurring substances.
b. They don’t have an immediate impact.
c. They don’t actually make anyone sick.
d. They are no longer present in modern buildings.
6. According to Paragraph 6, which relationship exists?
a. Stress can take away symptoms of sick building syndrome.
b. A heightened environmental awareness can lead to psychosomatic reactions.
c. A workplace full of sick people can become tension-fi lled.
d. Psychosomatic symptoms can cause an individual to get sick.
“Of all the molds common in residential buildings, so-called ‘black mold’—usually a
shorthand term for Stachybotrys atra (also known as Stachybotrys chartarum)—is the most
dreaded. Successful lawsuits by tenants exposed to black mold have cost landlords and
their insurers millions of dollars in the United States, so the very term is anathema in
such circles.”
From: William Soltys and Vineet Ratham, “The Particular Tragedy of Black Mold.” Published
in the July 2014 issue of Property Management magazine.
1. Soltys and Ratham (2014) note that landlords and insurance companies hate to hear any
reference to black mold.
“Strictly speaking, S. atra itself is not toxic. The toxicity of molds comes from chemicals they
produce, called mycotoxins. This may seem like an unimportant distinction, but it has vital
implications for the methods one might employ in dealing with the discovery of black mold
inside a building.”
From: The American Air Quality Association, “Black Mold.” Published in 2007 online at www.
amaqa.org.
2. Knowing that the real danger in black mold is from mycotoxins—chemicals produced by the
organism—can guide people in dealing with a mold infestation .
“Bioaerosols are biological substances (or substances produced by biological agents) that
remain suspended in air and are easily spread via wind, ventilation system currents, and
other air movements.”
From: Howard Bailey and several other authors, Air and Health, a textbook published in 2015
by Borchert Press, Brooklyn, NY.
4. Basements are perfect places for mold growth, especially if they are wet and have wood in them.
5. Pets, especially dogs, are frequent victims of exposure to black mold and the mycotoxins
it produces .
(NOTE: Your completion should indicate that the information comes from three sources.)
“Mold fighters worldwide can take a lesson from the traditional Japanese practice of airing out
one’s futons—if possible, in direct sunlight—nearly every day. Molds of all sorts are killed
o by fresh dry air and the sun’s rays.”
From: Taro Harada, “Lessons in Fighting Mold,” an article in Honshu Homes magazine,
published in December 1998.
7. Referencing the Japanese custom of putting futons outside for some air,
reminds us that molds can’t take sunlight or dryness.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.
WHY IT’S USEFUL By recognizing and understanding expressions that clarify and provide more
information about a topic, you can more efficiently grasp the scope of an author’s statements.
In scholarly material and academic settings, you will often encounter sequences of words that indicate an
author’s intent to clarify a passage. These clarifiers are signposts for further explanations or additional
information or details about a certain topic. Recognizing and understanding the meanings and uses of
clarifiers is essential in order to function at a high level in university courses.
Clarifier Example
to clarify The data demonstrated that there was a correlation between the employees’ perception
of the appropriateness of o ce temperature and their levels of productivity. To clarify,
the more an employee believed that the o ce space was appropriately heated and
cooled, the more work he or she got done in a given period of time.
should be It is important that large buildings with many residents are equipped with ventilation
clear that devices. With that said, we should be clear that this is not a “one-size-fits-all”
situation.” Each building should be assessed and ventilation devices compared to
determine the best one for a given building.
to be perfectly The way in which the sickness spread was through contamination of the city’s water
clear system. To be perfectly clear, bacteria from water drawn from a polluted source grew
and was delivered to every unfortunate soul who drank tap water.
this means that The business is one of the strongest performing companies in the region. This means
that it reports higher profits than the majority of companies in the area.
in other words It was concluded last year that the rate of occurrence of asthma among children
increased substantially over the last 25 years. In other words, the number of children
a ected by this condition went up a lot during that time period.
i.e. System failures, i.e., unexplained complete shutdowns of a system, can be caused by
human error or technical problems.
that is Employees who had reported symptoms of sick building syndrome—that is, a situation
in which building occupants report a variety of health problems that seem to be linked
to the indoor environment—were awarded settlements.
that is to say In terms of funding, the charity receives most of its money from private donations; that
is to say, almost all of the funds that flow in come from individual citizens or companies.
to put it Given the size of its engine, the truck is extremely powerful. To put it another way, it
another way could outrun pretty much every other vehicle on the road.
this becomes Customer-generated electricity (through solar panels, small wind-turbines, etc.) is a
readily apparent burgeoning factor in the energy market. This becomes readily apparent when we
consider that roo op solar generation carries more than 30 percent of the grid load in
some locations.
this becomes Faulty ventilation systems can cause the air quality in buildings to be inadequately
all the more regulated. This becomes all the more evident upon reviewing studies that blame such
evident systems for more than 20 percent of air-quality complaints in workplace settings.
this bears some As demonstrated in Figure 4, the building envelope is characterized by several breaches.
explanation This bears some explanation. Because the building is not well sealed—due to cracks
in the structure and small gaps around doors and windows—a significant amount of
outside air enters it every hour.
in simpler / The findings were deemed to be profoundly impactful on a local scale and deeply
clearer terms resonant globally. In simpler terms, the results were significant.
EXERCISE 4
Complete the sentences. Use the clarifiers from the chart. There may be more than one correct answer
possible in some cases, although punctuation may need to be modified.
1. Steps are being taken to ensure that no violence comes about as a result of the conflict with the
neighboring country. government o cials from both countries are
working together to devise elaborate plans to keep peace between the dissident groups.
2. Study abroad is often the main reason a student’s language skills develop.
when a student is later able to discuss complex topics.
3. The engineers who examined the new model for the mechanical system were amazed by it.
, it contained sophisticated components and mechanisms that
they had never seen—or worked with—before. This would be a challenge.
4. While it is clear that we understand the symptoms of sick building syndrome, we must work to
analyze the entire problem; , we must conduct extensive research
on its possible causes and find out how to best treat its wide variety of symptoms.
5. The installation of the HVAC system led to remarkable savings. , it
cut energy expenses in half.
6. While some schools have protocols for when ventilation systems fail, the majority lack such
procedures. , it is likely no one will know what to do.
EXERCISE 5
Complete the chart. Use an online corpus, dictionary, or Internet browser to investigate how the
clarifiers are used in academic writing. Compare answers with a partner.
2 to be perfectly clear
6 in simpler / clearer
terms
PART 2
A. Read the passage. Annotate and take notes as necessary.
The Impact of Energy- of incense. The more airtight the building, the
greater the need for mechanical ventilation.
B. Reread the discussion questions in Before You Read, Part B. Is there anything you cannot answer?
Which of the reading skills you have learned in this unit can you use to find the answers?
PART 2
You just read about the many benefits of installing energy-saving devices in buildings, including
improved air quality and energy savings over the long term. If a country’s government were to attempt
to pass a law requiring all educational buildings to be equipped with devices like energy recovery
ventilation systems and demand-controlled ventilation systems, would you support it? Why or why
not? In your deliberation, consider whether any points were le out of the reading and if there would
be any disadvantages to passing a law like this. Explain your ideas to another student.
THINKING VISUALLY
The graph depicts US energy consumption by type, from 2004 through 2014. Carefully analyze the
changes in consumption over this period. Consider what was taking place during these years as well as
what you have read about in this unit. What factors do you think could explain the trends seen?
Explain your thoughts to another student.
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Coal Natural Gas Petroleum Nuclear Renewables
Energy Source
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014