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By Root 1314 0

will often find one or two viewpoints that deserve special attention. Sometimes it will be an article of chapter in a book written by an important advocate for the particular view. Other times it will be the statement that originally prompted our inquiry – a newspaper editorial, for example, or the published comment of an elected official or a public agency on a current issue. In such cases the task confronting us lies beyond inquiry and interpretation of facts. It is to analyze the viewpoint and appraise its reasonableness. (Although the principles and approaches presented in this chapter apply to both spoken and written viewpoints, the focus here is on the latter because the written word is less fleeting than the spoken word and can therefore the analyzed more easily.)

The first step in analyzing is to read the passage carefully, to understand precisely both its explicit and implied message. This task poses little problem in the case of a newspaper editorial or a brief comment. However, in the case of an article or a chapter in a book, with a greater number of ideas and more complex relationships among them, we need a practical, efficient way to achieve that understanding.

UNDERSTANDING COMPLEX MATERIAL

The following approach is designed to help you deal effectively with longer and more complex material:

After reading the article or chapter, go back and identify all the assertions. In later steps you will be focusing on these rather than on the various descriptions, examples, and details that support the assertions. (Note: Though there is no absolute rule that every paragraph must contain an important assertion, most paragraphs do contain one. So a good way to start looking for assertions is to examine each paragraph for such a main or topic sentence.)

Notice all qualifying words. Is the writer speaking of all people, places, or things? Or is she speaking of most, many, some, several, a few, or certain specified ones? Is she saying always, usually, sometimes, occasionally, seldom, never, or at certain specified times?

Notice the connections among the ideas. When a writer is simply adding something to what she has said, she will use words like and, in addition, also, another, similarly, second, third. When she is intensifying – that is, adding something she regards as even more significant – she will use moreover, indeed, more (most) important, more (most) significant. When she is contrasting – that is, taking up the other side of a question or presenting a conflicting idea – she will use but, however, nevertheless, on the other hand, still, or yet. Finally, when she is drawing a conclusion, she will use expressions like for these reasons, thus, consequently, so, and therefore.

Notice the conditions she includes. Saying, for example, "Drug pushers should be given long jail terms if they are not themselves drug users and have been previously convicted of drug pushing" is very different from saying, "Drug pushers should be given long jail terms." The "if" clause adds a special set of conditions. Similarly, "The United States should never fire a nuclear missile at another country unless first the victim of nuclear attack by that country" is quite different from saying, "The United States should never fire a nuclear missile at another country." Expressions like if, unless, as long as, until, and before can significantly alter the meaning of an assertion.

Decide which assertions are the main ones. Subheadings usually point to the more important assertions. Capitalized, underline, or italicized sentences are usually among the most important, as are assertions that are repeated, exactly or in different words. All these attention-getting devices are an author's way of stressing and reinforcing her message.

Any well-written article or chapter will have one dominant or central assertion that ranks above all the others. This may appear anywhere in the article, but it is often placed right after the introduction (assuming a formal introduction is used) – in other words, at the end of the first paragraph