General
Introductory Video
Topic outline
Unit 1 - Statements: Similarities and Differences
Learning Objectives
- Recognize a statement by the way it sounds and looks.
- Identify the two core characteristics of a statement.
- Use the core characteristics of a statement to identify it in texts.
- Note that there a different types of statements.
- Begin the process of separating a core group of statements from others that are partial statements.
- Recognize a statement by the way it sounds and looks.
Dan is the man in the van – statements in the calypso
Learning Objectives
- Recognize a fact as type of statement.
- Identify the criteria that determine that a statement is a fact.
- Apply these criteria to identify facts in a text.
- Differentiate between simple facts based on direct observation, knowledge and experience, and complex factual information that the author creates out of specific details.
- Recognize that when authors present facts, they do so with some intention in mind.
- Start thinking about how facts are different from opinions.
- Recognize a fact as type of statement.
Learning Objectives
- Understand why a basic statement is sometimes referred to as an assertion.
- Move beyond that everyday interpretation and treat an assertion as a special type of statement.
- Use the core characteristics of an assertion to locate it in a segment of text.
- Think of an assertion as a claim made by an author.
- Recognize the importance of providing support for claims.
- Locate details in the text that are intended to support claims.
- Understand why a basic statement is sometimes referred to as an assertion.
Learning Objectives
- Observe similarities between an assertion and a generalization.
- Recall the attributes of an assertion that also apply to a generalization.
- Demonstrate an understanding of a generalization as a broad universal statement.
- Use both bottom-up and top-down approaches to locate generalizations in text.
- Identify the specifics in a segment of text out of which a generalization is formed.
- Acknowledge that, at times, it may be difficult to make a clear-cut distinction between an assertion and a generalization.
- Observe similarities between an assertion and a generalization.
Learning Objectives
- Distinguish between ‘full’ statements and those that are partially so.
- Apply criteria for identifying directives in text.
- Identify the terms and phrases that shape the meaning of directives.
- Use the appropriate criteria for recognizing opinions in the text.
- Differentiate between descriptions that are more closely linked to factual information and opinions.
- Separate opinions from facts when both are used together in a single segment of text.
- Distinguish between ‘full’ statements and those that are partially so.
Unit 2 - Analysis in Academic Text
Learning Objectives
- Appreciate the purpose for conducting analysis in academic text.
- Recognize analysis as an act of breaking down.
- Recognize the importance of identifying the elements that emerge as a result of conducting an analysis of a complex whole.
- Note the different formats the analysis of text may take.
- Differentiate between lists that are derived from an analysis and those that are not.
- Extend the understanding of analysis as breaking down to incorporate the idea of analysis as creating layers of meaning.
- Recognize some specific ways of treating with the content of academic text that are extensions of the basic act of doing analysis.
- Appreciate the purpose for conducting analysis in academic text.
Calypso music – analysis in the calypso
Learning Objectives
- Note the features of a process and understand how the act of analysis applies to it.
- Identify appropriate criteria for evaluating a process.
- Identify content areas of which processes are a major component.
- Note the different language forms that a process may take.
- Extract a process from a body of text that comprises other forms of language.
- Note the features of a process and understand how the act of analysis applies to it.
Learning Objectives
- Note the features of a concept and understand how it is analysed.
- Be aware that the attributes of a concept are conjured up by the person from whom the concept originated.
- Distinguish between the analysis and definition of a concept.
- Distinguish between concrete and abstract concepts.
- Think of the act of concept analysis as one of identifying and unpacking the attributes in the concept.
- Recognise the different types of attributes identified when analysing the concept.
- Note the features of a concept and understand how it is analysed.
Learning Objectives
- Distinguish between support for a statement that relies on individual pieces of evidence and support that blends different types of content.
- Note the content typically used to provide support in this context.
- Observe how authors create layers of meaning as they provide this type of support for a statement.
- Distinguish between support for a statement that relies on individual pieces of evidence and support that blends different types of content.
Learning Objectives
- Note that authors use analysis for purposes beyond providing support.
- Observe how authors use analysis as the vehicle to weigh the pros and cons of a situation.
- Observe how authors place opposing views side by side as they build their argument.
- Note that authors use analysis for purposes beyond providing support.
Conclusion
Some concluding thoughts …
Making linkages
Given the way content is organized and presented in print material, it comes as almost second nature for us to think that we are drawing the information from the surface of the pages that make up the printed text. In one sense that is correct. All the information is conveyed in the words and sentences on the page. As a result, we read from left to right, from top to bottom, until we are ready to move to the next page.
It is more or less the same when we access text information from a computer screen. I say, ‘more or less’ as computer devices do not always rely on a single page to convey content. The text on the main page may contain links that take you to additional information, for example a glossary, video clips, podcasts etc. Nonetheless, even with computer devices, a vast amount of text content is presented via the on-screen page.
I am hoping though that as you move on from the study of this course that you would make some adjustments to that approach, adding a dimension to your reading activity in which your mind’s eye comes into play. Using this inner eye, you will be moving back and forth making both forward and backward linkages. You will be making forward linkages to anticipate what is likely to come up given the content that you are currently engaging with. Backward linkages would come into play as new information that you encounter provides greater clarity or insight about information you had met earlier.
Then there are those complex words and phrases that you need to drill down into to get a full understanding of their meaning, at the same time looking for cues close by to assist in the exercise.
Even though, visually, all the information is contained on the surface of a page, or a computer screen, in reality, that information is not one-dimensional, neither is it completely linear, flowing in one direction from left to right and top to bottom. As a reader you need to develop the skills required to make the connections however they arise.