We live in a world of overload, surrounded by news, opinions, advertisements, and other kinds of information everywhere we look (or listen). Sometimes the information we encounter presents ideas fully and fairly. More often, writers and speakers present only their own views on a topic, without fully exploring the range of positions. And sometimes writers and speakers present their positions in such a way as to make their viewpoint sound like the only logical option. So it is important to assess carefully the ideas and information we encounter. And since writers may not always be aware when unfair bias creeps in, it is also important to assess carefully the way you present your own ideas, making sure that you have presented them clearly and fairly. The sections that follow provide the tools you need to evaluate texts critically — both those you create and those you consume.

To analyze an essay, begin by examining the author’s ideas closely and critically. This involves knowing what the author says, and, more important, it involves making inferences about what the author means. It also involves examining the supporting evidence an author offers, distinguishing between fact and opinion, and identifying bias.

Make reasonable inferences. Some writers (for example, textbook authors) present information in a straightforward manner, spelling everything out clearly and directly so that you don’t have to guess at their conclusions. Other writers directly state some ideas but hint at, or imply, other ideas. Critical readers must be sure to pick up on the clues that will allow them to determine the writer’s unstated messages.

An inference is a reasonable guess based on the available facts and information, including content directly provided in the reading. Inferences are logical connections between what the writer states directly and what he or she implies. Consider the following situation:

You have been cutting your history class all semester because you find the instructor boring. You skip your reading assignments, and your score on the midterm exam was 46 out of 100. You wrote one paper for the class and got a D on it. One morning, you read an email from your history instructor asking you to come to her office. In this situation, you can reasonably infer that you are likely to fail the course and that your instructor wants to discuss the situation with you. It would not be reasonable to infer that the instructor wants to offer you an internship or wants your advice about research she is conducting.

Making inferences requires active reading and critical thinking. Here are some guidelines for making reasonable inferences.

Assess the evidence. In general, the most reliable information is based on solid evidence. Just as police assess the evidence to discover who committed a crime, you must assess it to determine whether:

The following list of pros and cons will help you determine the reliability of some of the most common types of evidence.

For more about analyzing data in graphics, see "Reading Graphics Actively and Thinking Critically about Photos and Graphics."

Distinguish fact from opinion. In order to determine whether an opinion has been adequately supported by facts, first you must be able to distinguish facts from opinions. The chart below will help:

When writers want to limit the extent of a claim, they often use qualifying words and phrases. For example, an expert on government debt may write, “It seems likely that Social Security payments will decline for future generations of Americans.” Using such words and phrases limits the writer’s responsibility for providing solid evidence to support the claim and allows other viewpoints to be acceptable.

Authors often convey their message through the language they use, choosing words to create impressions, express feelings, even shape the readers’ attitudes and feelings toward the topic. When analyzing language, be sure to consider denotative versus connotative meanings, figurative language, and euphemisms and doublespeak, as well as the writer’s overall tone.

Consider denotation versus connotation. A denotation is the literal meaning of a word. For example, the denotation of the word talking is “expressing ideas using speech.” A connotation is the set of additional meanings or associations that a word has taken on. Often a word’s connotation has a much stronger effect on readers or listeners than its denotation does. The manner in which a politician talks to his or her audience might be described as “responding to ideas” (which carries a positive connotation), “discussing ideas” (which is an objective-sounding statement of fact), or “ranting” or “lecturing” (which gives readers a negative impression). As you read, ask yourself, “What effect is the writer’s word choices likely to have on readers?”

Assess figurative language. Figurative language is language used in a nonliteral way to create a striking impression. For example, “The teenage boy tore into his sandwich like a hyena into a fallen zebra” creates a stronger image and conveys a more meaningful description than, “He quickly ate his sandwich.” The four common types of figurative expressions are:

Most writers use figurative language to add color and shades of meaning to their writing. Carefully chosen, figurative language can persuade or convey a certain impression. For example, a political party may use powerful patriotic images, such as the White House or the bald eagle, to convey the idea that their agenda is “what’s right for America.” In the quote from Peter Pan the author uses figurative language to convey a strong impression of Mrs. Darling: Her mind is “romantic” (which may connote “unrealistic” or “out of touch”), and it is similar to tiny boxes from the “puzzling East.” Through this simile, Barrie implies that Mrs. Darling’s thought processes are puzzling to the people who know her.

When you encounter figurative language, ask yourself the following questions.

Identify euphemisms and doublespeak. A euphemism is a word or phrase that is used to avoid a word that is unpleasant, embarrassing, or otherwise objectionable. For example, many people think it is more considerate to say that a loved one “passed away” rather than “died.” Many people prefer the terms disabled and person with disabilities to the word handicapped.

Doublespeak is a type of euphemism that uses deliberately unclear or evasive language to sugar-coat an unpleasant reality. As a critical thinker you should always be alert for it, particularly when reading about business and politics. For example, a government may say that it is engaging in enhanced interrogation when it is torturing prisoners; a corporation may tell employees that the company will be downsizing or smart-sizing instead of saying that some of them will be laid off.

Euphemisms and doublespeak use roundabout, indirect, or neutralized language to avoid stating the facts directly. Any time you encounter such language, your critical thinking skills should kick into gear. Ask yourself questions like these.

Analyze the author’s tone. Tone refers to how a writer sounds to readers, and it is influenced by how the writer feels about his or her topic and readers and the language the writer uses to convey that attitude.

Tone is constructed primarily by:

Using these strategies effectively, a writer can communicate surprise, disapproval, disgust, admiration, gratitude, or amusement. These are just a few of the words commonly used to describe tone; Table 4.1 lists many others. Recognizing an author’s tone will help you interpret and evaluate the message and its effect on you.

Authors make decisions or take short cuts that can influence readers’ understanding. For example, they make assumptions and generalizations, and they decide which information to include or exclude. As a critical reader, you should analyze the author’s assumptions and assess whether the generalizations the author makes are fair and whether he or she omits any information that is important to a full understanding of the subject.

Recognize the author’s assumptions. An assumption is an idea or principle the writer accepts as true and makes no effort to prove. Often the writer implies assumptions rather than stating them directly.

Some assumptions are fair and reasonable; others are not. For example, it is reasonable to assume that most of the people who read People magazine are interested in celebrities. It is not reasonable to assume that readers of People magazine are Republicans.

Assumptions can be based on any combination of the following:

Writers often make assumptions at the beginning of an essay and then base the rest of the essay on that assumption. If the assumption is false or cannot be proven, then the ideas that flow from it may also be incorrect. For instance, the following excerpt begins with an assumption (highlighted) that the writer makes no attempt to prove or justify.

Childbirth is a painful experience, intolerable even with appropriate medications. In response to this pain, modern women should accept the painkillers offered to them by their doctors. Why be a martyr? You have to suffer sleepless nights because of your child for the rest of your life; bring them into this world on your terms — pain free. Women should not be embarrassed or reluctant to request anesthesia during labor.

The author assumes that all women find childbirth intolerably painful and then argues that women should request anesthesia during labor. But if the writer’s initial assumption is false, much of the argument that follows should be questioned.

As you read, identify the author’s assumptions (especially those at the start of an essay) and then decide whether these assumptions are realistic and reasonable by asking questions like these.

The answers to these questions will help you determine whether arguments or opinions based on these assumptions make sense. If you disagree with some of the assumptions in a source, check other sources to obtain different viewpoints.

Assess the author’s generalizations. A generalization is a claim based on one or more specific examples and applied more widely. Many writers generalize to argue a point, and generalizations may be reasonable or not. They are unreasonable when they are based on too little evidence or when all the variables are not taken into consideration (hasty generalization) and also when the conclusion is applied more widely than the evidence supports (sweeping generalization). Here’s an obvious example of sweeping generalization: A woman who feels unfulfilled in her emotional life divorces her husband, leaves her children, and decides to travel the world. As she travels, she learns more about herself and falls in love with a new man. Based on this one woman’s experience, is it safe to assume that all women in search of a richer emotional life should leave their husbands and travel the world? Of course not. For more about problems of logical reasoning, see Chapter 20.

Most generalizations, however, are not so clearly reasonable or unreasonable. Imagine you are reading an article by a writer who argues that cars should be prohibited in congested cities. To support this claim, the writer cites studies showing the benefits of banning cars in three European cities. Is such a generalization fair? The reader must decide whether these three case studies provide sufficient evidence for such a generalization.

When assessing generalizations, ask yourself the following questions to determine whether such generalizations are justified.

Generalizations can provide many ideas for your own writing. An essay might respond to a generalization, looking at the evidence that supports it and the evidence that contradicts it. A research paper might include details about what others have said about the topic.

Look for purposeful omissions. Writers and speakers sometimes mislead by omission.

Consider an article written by a parent who has home-schooled her children. As an advocate of home schooling, she is likely to emphasize her children’s educational progress and her own sense of personal fulfillment achieved by teaching her children. However, she may omit information — for example, that home-schooled children sometimes feel lonely or isolated from their peers. She also may refer to home schooling as “better” for children without specifying exactly what it is better than (her local public school, public schools in general, or any kind of school) or in what ways it is better.

Regardless of what you are reading, ask yourself the following questions to be sure you are getting full and complete information.

To answer these questions, you may need to do some additional reading or research.

The patterns you will learn to identify and use in Chapters 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 suggest useful questions for critical reading, questions that highlight aspects of the reading selection you might not otherwise have considered.

Refer back to this list as you work through readings in the remainder of the book.

Chapters 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 include a section called “Thinking Critically about [the name of pattern].” These sections explore in more depth the concerns critical readers and thinkers should address as they analyze and evaluate readings using each pattern.

At times you may realize that you do not have sufficient knowledge or experience to analyze and evaluate an author’s ideas. In such cases, you may need to locate additional sources to fill in the gaps, provide additional viewpoints, challenge the author’s assumptions or speculations, or offer more detailed evidence. When you synthesize information from sources to assess or challenge a writer’s assumptions or claims, you must do two things.

See "Working with Sources: Evaluating Your Notes and Synthesizing" for more about synthesis.

Use the following questions as guidelines.