It is especially important to develop analytical thinking and evaluation skills when confronting issues, events and personalities in the political world. Basic tools for analytical thinking can be learned and practiced by applying them to materials in your text.

1. Can you discern a particular point of view or value that the author of the speech wants to convey?
2. What evidence, data or arguments does the author present to either illustrate the thesis of the speech or support the important points made in the speech?
3. What was the most convincing part of the speech for you? Least convincing?
4. Are the arguments (or points) in the speech presented logically? Do they make inappropriate links between cause and effect? See if they fall prey to typical logical fallacies such as attributing that something is the cause of something that follows it simply because it preceded it in time; finding that a speaker or writer attacks the individual making an assertion rather than confronting the argument itself; begging the question by making a conclusion from an unfounded premise; generalizing improperly from a special case to a general rule. These are just a few common fallacies.
5. Is the author of the speech guilty of stereotyping groups, ethnocentrism, use of emotionalism or propagandistic techniques?
6. How did the essay support material presented in the chapter? Are there any challenges to the material presented in the chapter?
7. What new vocabulary did you learn from the speech?
8. Describe your own position on the topic presented in the speech. Has your position been altered as a result of reading the speech?