Thinking Critically: Previewing
Sylvan Barnet, Hugo Bedau, John O’Hara
Activity Objective: Provide the missing information for Sanjay Gupta and his essay “Why I Changed My Mind on Weed.”
Answer the following questions for Sanjay Gupta and his essay “Why I Changed My Mind on Weed.”
Questions to ask: Who is he? What expertise does he have? What credibility does he have? How difficult is the writing likely to be?
Answer the following questions for Sanjay Gupta and his essay “Why I Changed My Mind on Weed.”
Questions to ask: What does the title reveal about the essay’s content? Does it give any clues about how the argument will take shape?
Answer the following questions for Sanjay Gupta and his essay “Why I Changed My Mind on Weed.”
Questions to ask: How does the place of publication help you understand the argument? What type of audiences will it be likely to target?
Answer the following questions for Sanjay Gupta and his essay “Why I Changed My Mind on Weed.”
Questions to ask: By placing the article in the context of its time—given trends in the conversations about or popular understandings of the subject—what can you expect about the author’s position?
Answer the following questions for Sanjay Gupta and his essay “Why I Changed My Mind on Weed.”
Questions to ask: As you skim over the first several paragraphs, where do you first realize the purpose of the essay? What is Gupta’s argument? What major forms of evidence does he offer?