Below, there are links to a few short items to read and analyze. These are mostly news reports. In each case, you should try to figure out in a reasonable amount of detail the structure of the main arguments found in the reading. In other words, you are to try to see in each case how someone is trying to give you reasons to believe something. Look for the line of reasoning being presented in each case.
The first two items are not about anything we've been discussing. They are here just for practice and fun. The second two are somewhat related to things we've been discussing. The last one in particular is directly connected to what we've been talking about.
You are not being asked to read these items because they are necessarily right or especially convincing. You are being asked to read them and analyze them because it is important for this course that you develop the habits of independent thinking involved in analyzing things like these, even when you may not have a lot of background knowledge about the subject matter. You want to be able to discuss things like this intelligently.
1. The weight of a human soul. (Figure out the main conclusion being reported, and the arguments given by the researchers in the story in support of that main conclusion. You may find these arguments to be bizarre. That doesn't matter.) This file is an RTF file -- that means "Rich Text Format." That's a generic word processing format that Microsoft Word and other word processors should be able to open.
2. Marcy and the hunt for planets outside our solar system. (Most of this is just a story about a certain individual's absolute passion for finding planets outside our solar system, but there is an important short argument buried in the second half of the story that shows how this fellow thinks in order to establish his results. Look for that argument, while you enjoy the story.) This is another RTF file.
3. Older men make better lovers. (Figure out the argument presented by the researcher in this news story. I liked this one!) This is an Adobe Acrobat file -- a so-called PDF file. ("PDF" stands for "Portable Document Format".) You need to be able to access such files. In order to do so, you need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on the computer you are using. The Reader is installed on all the lab computers and is typical on all computers these days. If you need it, you can get the free installer from any number of places on the Web.
4. The inevitability of patriarchy. (If you don't know what "patriarchy" means, look it up in that dictionary you are supposed to have for this course, and for college. This reading is a summary of a complex argument presented in a whole book. Spend some time trying to sort out the various arguments contained here, and how they all hook together. This takes some work. Pay attention to the details. If you don't like the conclusion this author wants us to draw, don't let that stop you from listening to his line of reasoning.) This is another RTF file.
What is the point of doing this?
If you get in the habit of looking for arguments and how they are put together, you are well on the way to engaging in independent thinking. This puts you in a good position to ask, "Is that really true?" For example, is it really true that older men make better lovers? Is it really true that patriarchy is inevitable?
Our next step will be to develop some specific techniques for identifying and evaluating arguments. Right now, we are just identifying them informally, without worrying too much about how strong they are. This can be slightly tedious. It gets to be more fun when we begin to ask whether the arguments are any good.
This is also an exercise that ensures your computer is set up properly for Web access to RTF and PDF documents. If you have trouble opening these files, you need to get that problem fixed. In the meantime, use a lab computer or a friend's computer that can open them.