Critical Reading and Writing A Bedford Spotlight Rhetoric

With advice on how to read thoughtfully and analytically, Critical Reading and Writing helps you build key writing skills through instruction on active reading and note-taking and help with analyzing visual and multimodal texts.

Jeff Ousborne (PhD, Boston College) teaches literature and writing courses at Suffolk University. He is the editor of Reading Pop Culture: A Portable Anthology (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013) and author of Critical Reading and Writing: A Bedford Spotlight Rhetoric (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014). The former music editor at Details magazine, he has also written for The Boston Phoenix, Life, Maxim, Men's Fitness, Entertainment Weekly, CMJ Music Monthly, Boston Magazine, Esquire, and other publications.

1 Critical Reading

What is Critical Reading?

Paying Attention to Form and Structure

Annotating As You Read

       Checklist: Questions for Critical Reading

From Comprehension to Analytical Reading

Looking for Themes

Paying Attention to Style, Voice, and Tone

       Checklist: Questions for Analytical Reading

Reading Visual Texts

Norman Rockwell, The Problem We All Live With

Checklist: Questions for Visual Analysis

2 Invention and Drafting

Understanding Purpose, Audience, and Topic

Purpose: Why Are You Writing?

       Are You Writing to Inform?

       Are you Writing to Persuade?

       Are you Writing to Express Yourself?

       Checklist: Understanding Your Purpose

Audience: To Whom Are You Writing?

       Checklist: Understanding Your Audience

Discovering Your Topic

Freewriting

Brainstorming

Clustering

Reading to Write

       Checklist: Understanding Your Topic

Developing and Refining Your Thesis

       Checklist: Crafting Your Thesis

Organization

       Introductions

       Body Paragraphs

       Conclusions

       Checklist: Reviewing the Organization of Your Essay

3 Using Sources, Revising, and Editing

Evaluating Sources

       Is the Source Up to Date?

       Is the Source Credible and Authoritative?

       Does the Source Provide Broad and In-Depth Coverage?

       Is the Source Objective?

Using Sources from the Web

       Who Are the Authors?

       Who Sponsors the Site?

       How Accurate is the Site?

Integrating Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism

       Summarizing

       Paraphrasing

       Integrating Quotations

       Signal Words

       Making Sources Work for You

Examples of MLA Style

       Checklist: Using Sources

Revision

Revising Thesis, Evidence, and Organization

Peer Review

       Checklist: Questions for Peer Review

Proofreading

Logan Block, College is Still Worth It: The Enduring Value of a College Degree [sample MLA
student essay]