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Spears: Developing Critical Reading Skills
Developing Critical Reading Skills, 6/e
Deanne Spears, City College of San Francisco
Exercises

Online Exercises

  1. To test your skills in evaluating arguments, choose a movie that you have seen recently (in the theater). Then read at least three reviews of it online. Use the sites listed below to help you get started; you also should search a couple of national daily newspapers and see what their critics have to say. For each review, evaluate each writer's argument, using the criteria listed on pages 274 and 275. Specifically, does the writer state his or her opinion clearly (the claim)? Is there sufficient evidence to support the claim? Is there any evidence of bias? Are the criteria for evaluation spelled out so that you know what the ratings mean?
    This site, the Internet Movie Database, offers a wonderful compendium of information on film and film history, along with reviews from professionals and members of the viewing public: www.imdb.com
    This next site also provides a wealth of information about current movies. Using a device called the "tomatometer," the site issues appraisals of movies as either "fresh" or "rotten." But, depending on the movie, it also lists movie reviews from a variety of print and online sources. You can search by type of review. There is also a link to Ebert and Roeper's online column.
    The address is www.rottentomatoes.com.
    Roger Ebert's online movie guide (from his Chicago Sun Times articles) provides reviews of movies produced since 1985. You can visit the site at www.suntimes.com/index/ebert.html
  2. William Bennett, former drug czar and Secretary of Education, is an outspoken social critic and champion of a return to fundamental American values. See his editorial on conquering illiteracy on pp. 293 - 295. Using your favorite search engine, locate more articles by Bennett.
  3. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in June 2002 that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violated the separation of church and state provision of the Constitution. The Sacramento, California man who brought the suit-on behalf of his daughter-argued that the phrase offends atheists. What are people saying about this volatile issue? To find out, follow these directions that will take you to various Internet newsgroups.
    First, in the browser window, type in http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en
    Notice the various types of extensions: "alt", "biz", "news", "soc", "talk", and so forth. Click on "talk." Then scroll down to "talk.atheism." Read a large number of postings (messages) until you get a sense of public opinion about this matter.








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