Medical Ethics and Humanities,Unit 4 Ms. Gong,Ice Breaker,Group representative Name (Chinese or English) Share ONE THING about yourself that we wouldnt be able to know by just looking at you. Anything: hobby, favorite food, worst nightmare, your hero, favorite movie star, weakness, dream job, strange experiences,The Tools of Critical Reading：Analysis and Inference,What are they? Analysis what to look for involves recognizing those aspects of a discussion that control the meaning. Inference how to think about what you find involves the processes of inference, the interpretation of data within the text. Relationship Inferences are based on evidence. To infer, we must collect evidence. And evidence is collected by the process of analysis.,Three modes of analysis,These three steps or modes of analysis are reflected in three types of reading and discussion: 1. What a text says restatement (talks about the same topic as the original text) 2. What a text does description (discusses aspects of the discussion itself) 3. What a text means interpretation (analyzes the text and asserts a meaning for the text as a whole),Goals of critical reading,Critical reading commonly asks students to accomplish certain goals: to recognize an authors purpose to understand tone and persuasive elements to recognize bias Question: What is the difference between non-critical and critical reading?,Non-critical reading is satisfied with recognizing what a text says and restating the key remarks. Critical reading goes two steps further. Having recognized what a text says , it reflects on what the text does by making such remarks. Finally, critical readers infer what the text means as a whole, based on the earlier analysis.,Analysis Asks: What are the patterns of the text?,Analysis means looking at the parts of something to detect patterns. In looking at these patterns, your critical thinking skills will be engaged in analyzing the argument the author is making: What is the thesis or overall theory? What are the supporting points that create the argument? How do they relate to each other? How do they relate to the thesis? What are the examples used as evidence for the supporting points? How do they relate to the points they support? To each other? To the thesis? What techniques of persuasion are used (appeals to emotion, reason, authority, etc.)? What rhetorical strategies are used (e.g. definition, explanation, description, narration, elaboration, argumentation, evaluation)?,Importance of inference in critical reading,Inferences are essential to both written and spoken communication. Writers often only hint at what they mean, and mean much more than they actually seem to say. Be cautious: On the other hand, we can see the danger of assuming facts or interpretations for which evidence is not present, and recognize that a critical reader reads with an open mind, open to many possible interpretations.,Inference:Reading Ideas as Well as Words,A text does not contain a meaning. We, as readers construct meaning by what we take the words to mean and how we process sentences to find meaning. We, readers draw on our knowledge of the language and of conventions of social communication. We also draw on other factors, such as knowledge of the author (“Would Henry say such a thing?), the occasion (“No one knew such things then!”), or the audience (“Hed never admit that publicly.”) We infer unstated meanings based on social conventions, shared knowledge, shared experience, or shared values. We make sense of remarks by recognizing implications and drawing conclusions. We should read ideas more than words, and infer, rather than find, meaning.,Key point in inference,Collect as much evidence as possible to support your opinions The more evidence we have before us, and the more carefully we reason, the more valid our inferences. This principle plays an important role with reading: the more evidence within a text we incorporate into our interpretation, the more likely we have not gone astray/to the wrong way from any intended meaning.,Questions in mind when you are seeking the evidence you need,Is there a clear distinction between fact and opinion? Is evidence used to support arguments? How good is the evidence? Are all the points supported? In an experimental study, was the sample size adequate and are the statistics reliable? Are there any unsupported points? Are they well-known facts or generally accepted opinions? How does the writer use other texts and other peoples ideas? Are the writers conclusions reasonable in the light of the evidence presented? How do the conclusions relate to other similar research?,Reading exercise1,A man and his son are driving in a car. The car crashes into a tree, killing the father and seriously injuring his son. At the hospital, the boy needs to have surgery. Upon looking at the boy, the doctor says (telling the truth), I cannot operate on him. He is my