Updated for 9-14-16: The True American Lesson 5

McMahon Grammar Lesson: Parallelism

Thesis Statements Need Parallelism

Parallelism’s importance is most apparent when looking at mapping components in a thesis. We want those components to be written in parallel form whether we’re referring to a list of phrases or clauses.

Faulty Parallelism Example

Marijuana should be legalized because it’s safer than alcohol and many pharmaceutical drugs, its medicinal properties; it’s a fool’s errand to wage a war against it, and keeping it illegal increases criminal activity.

Above we have a mix of clauses and phrases. We should correct it by changing all the mapping components to clauses.

Corrected

Marijuana should be legalized because it’s safer than alcohol and many pharmaceutical drugs; it has medicinal properties; it is too common to waste money in a feeble attempt to eradicate it, and in illegal form it results in too much criminal activity.

Faulty

"You're Ugly, Too" and "Greenleaf" feature characters whose pride is born as a coping mechanism to the intense pain of loss and loneliness. However, the coping mechanism of pride becomes maladaptive when we consider pride builds a wall of solipsism, fortifies a prison of learned helplessness, and the lie of self-sufficiency.

Corrected

Faulty

The deluded fantasies of the married man in "The Other Woman" speak to men's unrealistic expectations of marriage evidenced by men's desire to embrace the forbidden Eros of Angelina Jolie, the squeaky clean innocence of Jennifer Aniston, and he wants a trophy wife.

Corrected

Faulty

The Man-Child, embodied by Francis Weed in "The Country Husband," is characterized by his propensity for indulging his lust and anti-social aggression at the expense of societal and family responsibility, his fixation on his youth as his central identity, and he likes to party.

Corrected

Faulty

Anand Giridharadas' The True American convincingly shows the causes behind the giant divide between immigrants and the American-born poor. These causes include diverging family values between immigrants and American-born poor, diverging attitudes toward business ownership, diverging sense of urgency toward education, and immigrants can get credit more easily than the American-born poor.

Corrected

Anand Giridharadas' The True American convincingly shows the causes behind the giant divide between immigrants and the American-born poor. These causes include diverging family values between immigrants and American-born poor, diverging attitudes toward business ownership, diverging sense of urgency toward education, and diverging access to credit between immigrants and American-born citizens.

Faulty

Anand Giridharadas makes the convincing case the America's Mark Stromans are a despised and forgotten class whose sense of collective insult imperils America in several ways, including a class with a sense of nothing to lose that can result in nihilism and criminal chaos, a sense of desperation that will make such a class vulnerable to an unscrupulous demagogue, a class so desperate for explanations for its demise it will scapegoat immigrants and minorities, and we need to give these poor Mark Stromans more job opportunities.

Corrected

Anand Giridharadas makes the convincing case the America's Mark Stromans are a despised and forgotten class whose sense of collective insult imperils America in several ways, including a class with a sense of nothing to lose that can result in nihilism and criminal chaos, a sense of desperation that will make such a class vulnerable to an unscrupulous demagogue, a class so desperate for explanations for its demise it will scapegoat immigrants and minorities, and a class that needs real job opportunities as a healthy replacement for vigilantism.

Faulty

The True American addresses the crisis of two Americas, which have many parallels to the current Presidential campaign evidenced by demagoguery fueling racist hate, exploiting class resentment against the educated elite class, leveraging American fears against Islamic terrorism, and Trump is a mean person.

Correct

We use parallelism in all types of writing.

Faulty

The instructor sometimes indulges in bloviating, pontificating, and likes to self-aggrandize.

We see above two gerunds followed by an infinitive, which is a faulty mix.

Corrected

The instructor sometimes indulges in bloviating, pontificating, and self-aggrandizing.

Using parallelism after a colon

Faulty

Kettlebell exercises work on the major muscle groups: thighs, gluteus, back, and make the shoulder muscles bigger.

Corrected

Kettlebell exercises work on the major muscle groups: thighs, gluteus, back, and shoulders.

El Camino College English 1C Grading Rubric

Essay Guidelines

One. Your essay should be uploaded to turnitin on the day of class, no later than the time class starts.

Two. Your essay should be 1,250 words, about 5 pages, double-spaced using 12 font TimesNewRoman. On a separate page that does not count toward your word total is your MLA Works Cited page.

Three. Usually a research paper is about 80% your own words and 20% quoted, paraphrased, and summarized sources. You introduce sources with signal phrases: Common identifying tags (put link here). Signal phrases help you avoid plagiarism, give you credibility by virtue of the source's value, which briefly explain, and show that you are current on the topic.

Four. To make sure your essay is connected and relevant to the assigned text, be sure to refer to the text (The True American in this case) at least once per page by using a quotation, paraphrase, or summary.

Five. You can start with any appropriate introduction technique. The purpose of an introduction is twofold: Connect reader to your thesis and show reader you are an engaging, compelling writer. Never bore your reader in your introduction with a generic, obvious, or self-evident statement often beginning with "In today's society . . ."

Six. Your essay is graded by thesis, support and evidence for your thesis, appropriate research and signal phrases, appropriate MLA documentation, diction (writing clean, clear sentences and precise word choice), punctuation, and grammar.

Seven. Your thesis, which is your main point or argument, should be the engine that drives your essay.

Eight. You should shoot for 8 or 9 paragraphs in your essay.

Nine. Your paragraphs should be "meaty," about 120-150 words long, so that typically you'll have no more than 2 paragraphs per page.

Ten. It's common for the introduction paragraph to be as many as 200 words long.

Eleven. It's okay to have 2 introduction paragraphs before the thesis paragraph.

Suggested Outline for 8- or 9-paragraph essay

Paragraph One: Introduction that hook's reader's interest and connects reader to your thesis. You might for example write about the tension the American poor have for immigrants who are perceived to be having more success at achieving the American Dream.

You might elaborate on how this tension is creating the "two Americas" the author writes about in his book, The True American.

You might write two anecdotes, one about an immigrant and the other about an American-born citizen you know and show their different paths and how these paths coincide with The True American's narrative. If you choose this method, you will probably have two introduction paragraphs.

Paragraph Two or Three. Thesis paragraph that contains 4 or 5 mapping components that you will flesh out in your body paragraphs.

Paragraphs Three through Seven (or 4-8): Body Paragraphs

Paragraph Eight (or 9) is your conclusion that restates your thesis in a more emotional, powerful manner as we see here at the Harvard Writing Center.

Example of a Thesis That Requires Introduction with Extended Definition

Anand Girdharadas' masterpiece The True American makes a persuasive case for us to shun the metastasizing cancer of xenophobia and in its place embrace cosmopolitanism. By examining xenophobia, as an ideology, in the context of Girdharadas' book and cosmopolitanism, we gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a false American and a true one.

Two Paragraphs That Define Important Terms Followed by the Thesis

The ideology of xenophobia, fear of the stranger, is rooted in ignorance, economic catastrophe, and the kind of desperate bigotry that needs to blame a scapegoat for what appears to be a world of overwhelming chaos that is replacing what the xenophobe perceives to be his lost paradise, an age where he felt a sense of power, entitlement, and belonging. For example, Donald Trump is the consummate xenophobe demagogue who has galvanized a swath of America's isolationist xenophobes in his quest to reside as America's Commander in Chief. As we read The True American, we see this xenophobia fuel white supremacist Mark Stroman's murder spree against men of color whom Stroman perceives to be Muslim terrorists. Giridharadas masterfully and compassionately shows that America is rife with legions of Mark Stroman's, unhinged, fatherless souls with no moral guidance or economic prospect, or sense of belonging. These broken spirits are vulnerable to the hate-filled ideologies of white supremacists and other rancid ideologues.

In stark contrast, Girdharadas juxtaposes this toxic xenophobia with Raisuddin Bhuiyan, the victim of Stroman's shooting spree who forgave his assailant and provided economic and emotional support to Stroman and Stroman's family. Bhuiyan is the antithesis of the xenophobe. Bhuyan is the cosmopolitan, the educated, moral citizen of the world whose immigration to America provides America with the type of people and resources that can make America a great country. When America embraces cosmopolitanism, the ideology that we all share a common morality and humanity, we become true to our country's mission.

Examining these opposite ideologies, Anand Girdharadas' masterpiece The True American makes a persuasive case for us to shun the metastasizing cancer of xenophobia and in its place embrace cosmopolitanism. By examining xenophobia, as an ideology, in the context of Girdharadas' book and cosmopolitanism, we gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a false American and a true one.

Suggested Outline for Your Essay (slightly different than previous outline)

Paragraph 1: Explain a major conflict in the book such as the struggle for the American Dream between immigrants and American-born poor.

Paragraph 2: Write your thesis by answering an important question from the essay prompt.

Paragraphs 3-8: Write paragraphs that support your thesis.

Paragraph 9: Your conclusion is a restatement of your thesis with greater emotional power (pathos). Harvard has a good explanation of the conclusion paragraph.

Final page: MLA Works Cited (you can try Easy Bib). Be sure to using hanging indent format for MLA. Here's a Create MLA Works Cited video. Here's the 2016 MLA Format.

The Above Outline Needs to be Modified If You're Using Terms That Need to be Defined

For example, if your thesis contains terms that require extended definition, you may need to define your terms in your introductory paragraph.

Example of a Thesis That Requires Introduction with Extended Definition

Two Paragraphs That Define Important Terms Followed by the Thesis

Essay One, drawn from The True American, is Due September 21:

Option One

Develop a thesis that addresses these questions: What are the challenges of achieving the American Dream as we find ourselves in a place where the terror that threatens America from the outside collides with the barbarian within? In other words, how does this collision of forces make the American Dream more precarious and fragile than ever? What forces of light and wisdom are illuminated in The True American that might help us navigate out of this crisis?

What is the "barbarian within"?

When self-interest and ambition are not tempered by virtue and morality, they curdle into a toxic tribalism, racism, and prejudice that hurl hate at the "Outsider," or "Los Otros," as the scapegoat for all of one's problems, and for explaining why one is not getting "a big enough piece of the pie."

Sample Thesis

Anand Giridharadas' The True American convincingly shows the causes behind the giant divide between immigrants and the American-born poor. These causes include _______________, _______________, _______________, ________________, and __________________.

Sample Thesis

Anand Giridharadas makes the convincing case that as the American Dream, upward economic mobility, becomes more and more difficult, America is dividing into an tiny educated elite class and a forgotten class that we ignore at our peril.

Another Thesis

Giridharadas argues convincingly that Mark Stroman is our own creation, the product of America's neglect of the working class, elite America's condescension toward the lower classes, and America's failure to nourish society with moral absolutes. We can conclude therefore that we are all guilty of Mark Stroman's crime.

Another Thesis

Anand Giridharadas' The True American is a piece of shameful liberal demagoguery that would have us believe that Mark Stroman's evil is not the result of his individual responsibility but rather some sort of "collective guilt" that we all share in order that the author can disseminate his elitist left-wing socialist "kumbaya" propaganda.

Another Thesis

While Giridharadas does a good job of showing the tension and animosity between the "two Americas," the elitist and working class, his book ultimately is a manipulative propaganda piece that emphasizes so much forgiveness, socialist redistribution of wealth, and collective guilt that the book is a colossal moral failure in its inability to address the urgent need for justice, economic meritocracy, and individual responsibility.

Another Thesis

Those who attempt to dismiss Giridharadas as a manipulative left-wing hack prove to be intellectually and morally bankrupt evidenced by their failure to address systemic shifts in the economy that are destroying the middle class, failure to acknowledge the unraveling of the American family and the moral foundation such a family provides, and failure to give credit to the contribution that immigrants make by passing on their family's moral richness to American society.

Essay Option Two

Develop a argumentative thesis that answers the following question: How does the current Presidential campaign that many say features a racist, xenophobic demagogue (a leader who preys on prejudice, racism, and xenophobia rather than use rational argument) parallel the crisis of two Americas described in The True American?

Sample Thesis

The True American addresses the crisis of two Americas, which have many parallels to the current Presidential campaign evidenced by ________________, ___________________, _________________, and ___________________.

Another Sample Thesis

The True American dug out of the crypt an ugly America at war with the rest of America. This divided America is both illustrated in The True American and the current Presidential campaign evidenced by ____________, ___________, _____________, and __________________.

Essay Option Three (more specific)

How does David Brooks' essay "The Moral Bucket List" speak to the moral crisis described in The True American?

Sample Thesis

David Brooks' essay "The Moral Bucket List" complements The True American evidenced by __________, _________, ____________, and __________________.

Another Thesis

Raisuddin Bhuiyan embodies the virtues discussed in David Brooks' "The Moral Bucket List" evidenced by _____________, ____________, _______________, and _____________________.

Study Questions

One. How does Rais’ medical bill of over 60,000 dollars speak to his search for the American Dream?

He arrives in America to find vertical upward mobility, gets shot by a racist, is nearly blind, suffers from nightmares and general PTSD, is asked to identify the criminal, and by the way, your bill for getting shot in the head is over 60K and growing with multiple eye operations (63).

Even Rais’ boss Salim, who is initially friendly and pays for the first medical bill, becomes cold and makes Rais say, “I was a dead horse to him” (65).

Two. What was Stroman’s “True American” manifesto?

We read the implications of this manifesto in Laura Miller’s book review:

Stroman would eventually renounce his former racist beliefs and actions, although some skeptics (including his own sisters) question the authenticity of his remorse. It was not lost on the condemned man that, during his final years on death row, it was a passel of mostly foreign strangers — above all the Israeli documentarian Ilan Ziv, but also assorted international opponents of capital punishment — who tried to help and reform him; his family, by contrast, made themselves scarce. During his first days in prison, however, Stroman was unrepentant, claiming, “We’re at war. I did what I had to do,” and mouthing other grandiose, macho and ultimately empty mottos lifted from movies and popular songs. He circulated a manifesto — taken from the Internet and containing the usual denouncements of government, gun control, liberals, racial minorities and immigrants — to which he gave the title “True American.”

The irony, of course, is that Bhuiyan, with his indomitable optimism, energy and determination, is much truer to the American ideal than the man who tried to kill him. In “The True American,” Giridharadas portrays two cultures contemplating each other, not so much Muslim/Bangladeshi and Texan as two versions of America itself. One, Stroman’s, looks back from a faltering present to an idealized past. “He felt himself and people like him to be standing on a shrinking platform at which minorities and immigrants and public dependents were nibbling away,” Giridharadas writes. The other side, Bhuiyan’s, looks toward the future and puzzles over the established Americans’ inability to seize their opportunities and shape their fates. “You guys are born here, you guys speak better than me, you understand the culture better than me, you have more networks, more resource [sic],” Bhuiyan imagined asking Stroman’s people. “Why you have to struggle on a regular basis, just to survive?”

Bhuiyan has a few theories about that, not all of which Giridharadas endorses. But what both men seem to concur on is the broken nature of poor white American communities, particularly the weakened ties between parents and children. “So much lonely, so much alone, even detached from their own family,” Bhuiyan tsked when he looked around him after first arriving on these shores. (That — however much he respected, loved and felt indebted to them — he’d still left his own parents behind in Bangladesh suggests that Bhuiyan may not find American isolationism a totally alien impulse.)

In the final chapters of “The True American,” Giridharadas recounts hanging out with Stroman’s troubled daughters and ex-wife over the course of a few days, delivering a finely textured portrait of lower-class despair and excruciatingly incremental struggles to regain control of life. This is where the power of his book makes its deepest impression, where it becomes more than Bhuiyan’s tale of immigrant gumption and almost superhuman mercy. Not that Bhuiyan doesn’t remain a shining figure, one of those individuals the rest of us want to cluster around like a campfire on a chilly night, but the truth is that most of us are a lot more like the Stromans: blinkered, self-justifying and swamped by our circumstances. This juxtaposition of the clay-footed reality of most lives with the incandescence of our potential pretty much defines not just the American condition, but the human one, as well. The whole story will always include both.

We read on page 77 that Stroman’s manifesto is a

worldview braided together by a variety of ideologies and outlooks: Fox News talking-head points . . . Aryan Brotherhood racism and Texan exceptionalism; Cato Institute libertarianism and middle-aged white-guy bitterness; old-fashioned nativism and Focus on the Family-style concern about social decay; “True American” national pride and a post-9/11 clamoring for “moral clarity.”

But Stroman is not portrayed as having well thought ideas or informed opinions; rather, he has mindlessly absorbed propaganda to support his “affirmed instincts” (77).

Three. How does our profile of Stroman add to the irony of the book’s title?

We read on page 86 that he is an unloved, abused boy, an isolated American who grows up hating The Other. Xenophobia and hating the stranger, or the other, is too often a fake cause of Americans’ problems.

In contrast, Rais comes from a loving family. He embodies America’s “family values” more than Stroman who claims to be protecting “American values.” With one eye, Rais doesn’t give up. He gets a job at an Olive Garden (116). Rais has some good luck. A friend gets him into computer training (128) and the Texas Crime Victims’ Compensation Program gives Rais $50,000 (129).

In America, the family is a “weakening institution” (87). Children become transients, alienated from their stepfathers, going in and out of the legal system, going to special ed, getting unskilled labor and then blaming the other, the “foreigner” (87).

Four. What insight about human freedom does Rais learn about human freedom on page 121?

Conspiracies aside, what Rais was perhaps discovering was that the liberty and selfhood that America gave, that had called to him from across the oceans, could, if carried to their extremes, fail people as much as the strictures of a society like Bangladesh. The failures looked different, but they both exacted the toll of wasted human potential. To be, on one hand, a woman in Bangladesh locked at home in purdah [female seclusion], unable to work or choose a husband, voiceless against her father; and to be, on the other, a poor, overworked, drug-taking woman in Dallas, walking alone in the heat on the highway’s edge, unable to make her children’s fathers commit, too estranged from her parents to ask for help—maybe these situations were less different than they seemed. What Rais was coming to see, though his Olive Garden immersion, was the limits of freedom for which had had come to America—how chaos and hedonism and social corrosion could complicate its lived experience.

In other words, Rais came from a society where freedom was too limited and now he was in a country where freedom was starving for boundaries.

167-233

One. How might one argue against the sympathetic humanization of Mark Stroman in the book? How might one support this apparent humanizing of Stroman?

As Stroman gains introspection and begins to post on a blog, his pain and “death” from waiting in the Row becomes dramatized. His fatigue, sorrow, and tears are chronicled. Some would say this alone time in prison is bringing out his humanity and speaks to the cruelties of the Row.

Others would say this a “bleeding heart” piece, that Stroman is getting what he deserves, that killers always get soft in prison, getting in touch with their sensitive side and painting themselves as misunderstood misfits who deserve a second chance. Many, like Stroman, claim to have found religion.

Clearly, no matter what the readers believe, Rais is sympathetic and wants Stroman to be spared the death penalty.

My problem with Stroman and murderers like him is that they become part of some grand redemption narrative, with book deals, film makers showing up, and authors showing these amazing character transformations. In other words, these murderers become relevant, they become characters in our imaginations, and I wonder if this relevance they find as they become grand characters in the world’s collective consciousness feeds their vanity and encourages people in a perverse way to become part of this attention-seeking narrative as we try to find meaning in the chaos of violent crime.

Perhaps the biggest, real change in Stroman is that he views his family as the source of his problems, the reason for “being the way he is” (175). He finds a new group of people, such the filmmaker, who represent positive change and support.

Ilan Ziv tells Stroman that Stroman should be in prison for life without parole upon which Stroman says he killed because he believed that what he was doing was right (185). People should be accountable for being that dangerously ignorant.

Two. What does the book say about revenge?

Revenge is a never-ending cycle. Texas kills murderers to get revenge for their crime of murder. The 9/11 hijackers were looking for revenge. Stroman was looking for revenge. The cycle never ends (186). The theme of revenge as a never-ending destructive cycle is masterfully rendered in the 2005 film Munich.

The death penalty shouldn’t focus on revenge; it should focus on the murderer not being able to repeat his crime, either in or out of prison.

Anti-death penalty activist Rick Halperin argues that Stroman is a symbol for American violence in a post-9/11 world. America needed revenge and had “gone off the rails” by forgetting its essential nature of justice, fairness, and human rights as America wanted to lash out blindly and kill in the name of revenge (204). As Stroman turned to violence, so did America. Both Stroman and America “ignored the truth” we invaded Iraq, set up illegal prisons in Guantanamo and committed war crimes.

Three. What is the irony of Stroman’s psychological rehabilitation?

All of his helpers were from outside America. Here’s a man who lived by the “Born in the USA” adage, but ended up wanting his ashes discarded outside the USA.

Another outside influence, ironically enough, is a European Jew, Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning.

Perhaps the book’s most cogent theme is that we should not be provincial tribalists, but embrace universal moral values that transcend nationality.

This book is about seeing people, not groups (190).

Seeing groups, not people, is at the root of a lot of violence. Think of all the mass killings since time and they are about killing groups without seeing the individual people.

Rais sees people and is a pious, peaceful Muslim who wants to help the poor. He is so good natured, he misinterprets the Koran to say that the Koran would save someone like Stroman from the death penalty, but the author points out that this isn’t true (228, 229).

In contrast, Stroman is a fanatical patriot who blindly wants to avenge the 9/11 attacks and ironically becomes the very terrorist he claims to despise.

Critical Writing

Applying your critical thinking to academic writing

You will find that your task as a writer at the higher levels of critical thinking is to argue.

You will express your argument in 6 ways:

One. You will define a situation that calls for some response in writing by asking critical questions. For example, is the Confederate flag a symbol of honor and respect for the heritage of white people in the South? Or is the flag a symbol of racial hatred, slavery, and Jim Crow?

Two. You will demonstrate the timeliness of your argument. In other words, why is your argument relevant?

Why is it relevant for example to address the decision of many parents to NOT vaccinate their children?

Three. Establish your personal investment in the topic. Why do you care about the topic you’re writing about?

You may be alarmed to see exponential increases in college costs and this is personal because you have children who will presumably go to college someday.

Four. Appeal to your readers by anticipating their thoughts, beliefs, and values, especially as they pertain to the topic you are writing about. You may be arguing a vegetarian diet to people who are predisposed to believing that vegetarian eating is a hideous exercise in self-denial and amounts to torture.

You may have to allay their doubts by making them delicious vegetarian foods or by convincing them that they can make such meals.

You may be arguing against the NFL to those who defend it on the basis of the relatively high salaries NFL players make. Do you have an answer to that?

Five. Support your argument with solid reasons and compelling evidence. If you're going to make the claim that the NFL is morally repugnant, can you support that? How?

Six. Anticipate your readers’ reasons for disagreeing with your position and try to change their mind so they “see things your way.” We call this “making the readers drink your Kool-Aid.”

Being a Critical Reader Means Being an Active Reader

To be an active reader we must ask the following when we read a text:

One. What is the author’s thesis or purpose?

Two. What arguments is the author responding to?

Three. Is the issue relevant or significant? If not, why?

Four. How do I know that what the author says is true or credible? If not, why?

Five. Is the author’s evidence legitimate? Sufficient? Why or why not?

Six. Do I have legitimate opposition to the author’s argument?

Seven. What are some counterarguments to the author’s position?

Eight. Has the author addressed the most compelling counterarguments?

Nine. Is the author searching for truth or is the author beholden to an agenda, political, business, lobby, or something else?

Ten. Is the author’s position compromised by the use of logical fallacies such as either/or, Straw Man, ad hominem, non sequitur, confusing causality with correlation, etc.?

Eleven. Has the author used effective rhetorical strategies to be persuasive? Rhetorical strategies in the most general sense include ethos (credibility), logos (clear logic), and pathos (appealing to emotion). Another rhetorical strategy is the use of biting satire when one wants to mercilessly attack a target.

Twelve. You should write in the margins of your text (annotate) to address the above questions. Using annotations increases your memory and reading comprehension far beyond passive reading. And research shows annotating while reading is far superior to using a highlighter, which is mostly a useless exercise.

An annotation can be very brief. Here are some I use:

Wrong

Confusing

Thesis

Proof 1

Counterargument

Good point

Genius

Lame

Cliché

Condescending

Full of himself

Contradiction!

Ways to Improve Your Critical Reading

Do a background check of the author to see if he or she has a hidden agenda or any other kind of background information that speaks to the author’s credibility.
Check the place of publication to see what kind of agenda, if any, the publishing house has. Know how esteemed the publishing house is among peers of the subject you’re reading about.
Learn how to find the thesis. In other words, know what the author’s purpose, explicit or implicit, is.
Annotate more than underline. Your memory will be better served, according to research, by annotating than underlining. You can scribble your own code in the margins as long as you can understand your writing when you come back to it later. Annotating is a way of starting a dialogue about the reading and writing process. It is a form of pre-writing. Forms of annotation that I use are “yes,” (great point) “no,” (wrong, illogical, BS) and “?” (confusing). When I find the thesis, I’ll also write that in the margins. Or I’ll write down an essay or book title that the passage reminds me of. Or maybe even an idea for a story or a novel.
When faced with a difficult text, you will have to slow down and use the principles of summarizing and paraphrasing. With summary, you concisely identify the main points in one or two sentences. With paraphrase, you re-word the text in your own words.
When reading an argument, see if the writer addresses possible objections to his or her argument. Ask yourself, of all the objections, did the writer choose the most compelling ones? The more compelling the objections addressed, the more rigorous and credible the author’s writing.

To read critically, we have to do the following:

One. Comprehend the author's purpose and meaning, which is expressed in the claim or thesis

Two. Examine the evidence, if any, that is used

Three. Find emotional appeals, if any, that are used

Four. Identify analogies and comparisons and analyze their legitimacy

Five. Look at the topic sentences to see how the author is building his or her claim

Six. Look for the appeals the author uses be they logic (logos), emotions (pathos), or authority (ethos).

Seven. Is the author's argument diminished by logical fallacies?

Eight. Do you recognize any bias in the essay that diminishes the author's argument?

Nine. Do we bring any prejudice that may compromise our ability to evaluate the argument fairly?

Primer on Clauses

Primer on Prepositional Phrases

Grammar Exercise: Parallelism

Correct the faulty parallelism by rewriting the sentences below.

One. Parenting toddlers is difficult for many reasons, not the least of which is that toddlers contradict everything you ask them to do; they have giant mood swings, and all-night tantrums.

Two. You should avoid all-you-can-eat buffets: They encourage gluttony; they feature fatty, over-salted foods and high sugar content. (they lard their food with high sugar content)

Three. I prefer kettlebell training at home than the gym because of the increased privacy, the absence of loud “gym” music, and I’m able to concentrate more.

Four. To write a successful research paper you must adhere to the exact MLA format, employ a variety of paragraph transitions, and writing an intellectually rigorous thesis. (write, not writing)

Five. The difficulty of adhering to the MLA format is that the rules are frequently being updated, the sheer abundance of rules you have to follow, and to integrate your research into your essay.

The difficulty of adhering to the MLA format is that you have to constantly stay updated on the changing rules, you have to memorize the sheer abundance of citation rules, and you have to learn to integrate research sources into your writing.

Six. You should avoid watching “reality shows” on TV because they encourage a depraved form of voyeurism; they distract you from your own problems, and their brain-dumbing effects.

Seven. I’m still fat even though I’ve tried the low-carb diet, the Paleo diet, the Rock-in-the-Mouth diet, and fasting every other day.

Eight. To write a successful thesis, you must have a compelling topic, a sophisticated take on that topic, and developing a thesis that elevates the reader’s consciousness to a higher level.

Nine. Getting enough sleep, exercising daily, and the importance of a positive attitude are essential for academic success.

Ten. My children never react to my calm commands or when I beg them to do things.

Two. How do we generate ideas for an essay? (brainstorm)

We begin by not worrying about being critical. We brainstorm a huge list of ideas and then when the list is complete, we undergo the process of evaluation.

Sample Topic for an Essay: Parents Who Don’t Immunize Their Children

Most parents who don’t immunize their children are educated and upper class.
They read on the Internet that immunizations lead to autism or other health problems.
They follow some “natural guru” who warns that vaccines aren’t organic and pose health risks.
They panic over anecdotal evidence that shows vaccines are dangerous.
They confuse correlation with causality.
Why are these parents always rich?
Are they narcissists?
Are they looking for simple answers for complex problems?
Would they not stand in line for the Ebola vaccine, if it existed?
These parents are endangering others by not getting the vaccine.

Thesis that is a claim of cause and effect:

Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children tend to be narcissistic people of privilege who believe their sources of information are superior to “the mainstream media”; who are looking for simple explanations that might protect their children from autism; who are confusing correlation with causality; and who are benefiting from the very vaccinations they refuse to give their children.

Thesis that is a claim of argumentation:

Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children should be prosecuted by the law because they are endangering the public and they are relying on pseudo-intellectual science to base their decisions.

To test a thesis, we must always ask: “What might be objections to my claim?”

Prosecuting parents will only give those parents more reason to be paranoid that the government is conspiring against them.

There are less severe ways to get parents to comply with the need to vaccinate their children.

Generating Ideas for Our Essays

How do we prepare our minds so we have “Eureka” (I found it) moments and apply these moments to our writing?

The word eureka comes from the Greek heuristic, a method or process for discovering ideas. The principle posits that one thought triggers another.

Diverse and conflicting opinions in a classroom are a heuristic tool for generating thoughts.

Here’s an example:

One student says, “Fat people should pay a fat tax because they incur more medical costs than non-fat people.”

Another student says, “Wrong. Fat people die at a far younger age. It’s people who live past seventy, non-fat people, who put a bigger drain on medical costs. In fact, smokers and fat people, by dying young, save us money.”

Another heuristic method is breaking down the subject into classical topics:

Definition: What is it? Jealousy is a form of insanity in which a morally bankrupt person assumes his partner is as morally bankrupt as he is.

Comparison: What is it like or unlike? Compared to the risk of us dying from global warming, death from a terrorist attack is relatively miniscule.

Relationship: What caused it, and what will it cause? The chief cause of our shrinking brain and its concomitant reduced attention span is gadget screen time.

Testimony: What is said about it by experts? Social scientists explain that the United States’ mass incarceration of poor people actually increases the crime rate.

Another heuristic method is finding a controversial topic and writing a list of pros and cons.

Consider the topic, “Should I become a vegan?”

Here are some pros:

I’ll focus on eating healthier foods.
I won’t be eating as many foods potentially contaminated by E.coli and Salmonella.
I won’t be contributing as much to the suffering of sentient creatures.
I won’t be contributing as much to greenhouse gasses.
I’ll be eating less cholesterol and saturated fats.

Cons

It’s debatable that a vegan diet is healthier than a Paleo (heavy meat eating) diet.
Relying on soy is bad for the body.
My body craves animal protein.
Being a vegan will ostracize me from my family and friends.

One. Checklist for Critical Thinking

My attitude toward critical thinking:

Does my thinking show imaginative open-mindedness and intellectual curiosity? Or do I exist in a circular, self-feeding, insular brain loop resulting in solipsism? The latter is also called living in the echo chamber.

Am I willing to honestly examine my assumptions?

Am I willing to entertain new ideas—both those that I encounter while reading and those that come to mind while writing?

Am I willing to approach a debatable topic by using dialectical argument, going back and forth between opposing views?

Am I willing to exert myself—for instance, to do research—to acquire information and to evaluate evidence?

My skills to develop critical thinking

Can I summarize an argument accurately?

Can I evaluate assumptions, evidence, and inferences?

Can I present my ideas effectively—for instance, by organizing and by writing in a manner appropriate to my imagined audience?

Recognizing Logical Fallacies

Begging the Question

Begging the question assumes that a statement is self-evident when it actually requires proof.

Major Premise: Fulfilling all my major desires is the only way I can be happy.

Minor Premise: I can’t afford when of my greatest desires in life, a Lexus GS350.

Conclusion: Therefore, I can never be happy.

Circular Reasoning

Circular reasoning occurs when we support a statement by restating it in different terms.

Stealing is wrong because it is illegal.

Admitting women into the men’s club is wrong because it’s an invalid policy.

Your essay is woeful because of its egregious construction.

Your boyfriend is hideous because of his heinous characteristics.

I have to sell my car because I’m ready to sell it.

I can’t spend time with my kids because it’s too time consuming.

I need to spend more money on my presents than my family’s presents because I need bigger and better presents.

I’m a great father because I’m the best father my children have ever had.

Weak Analogy or Faulty Comparison

Analogies are never perfect but they can be powerful. The question is do they have a degree of validity to make them worth the effort.

A toxic relationship is like a cancer that gets worse and worse (fine).

Sugar is high-octane fuel to use before your workout (weak because there is nothing high-octane about a substance that causes you to crash and converts into fat and creates other problems)

Free education is a great flame and the masses are moths flying into the flames of destruction. (horribly false analogy)

Ad Hominem Fallacy (Personal Attack)

“Who are you to be a marriage counselor? You’ve been divorced six times?”

A lot of people give great advice and present sound arguments even if they don’t apply their principles to their lives, so we should focus on the argument, not personal attack.

“So you believe in universal health care, do you? I suppose you’re a communist and you hate America as well.”

Making someone you disagree with an American-hating communist is invalid and doesn’t address the actual argument.

“What do you mean you don’t believe in marriage? What are you, a crazed nihilist, an unrepentant anarchist, an immoral misanthrope, a craven miscreant?”

Straw Man Fallacy

You twist and misconstrue your opponent’s argument to make it look weaker than it is when you refute it. Instead of attacking the real issue, you aim for a weaker issue based on your deliberate misinterpretation of your opponent’s argument.

“Those who are against universal health care are heartless. They obviously don’t care if innocent children die.”

Hasty Generalization (Jumping to a Conclusion)

“I’ve had three English instructors who are middle-aged bald men. Therefore, all English instructors are middle-aged bald men.”

“I’ve met three Americans with false British accents and they were all annoying. Therefore, all Americans, such as Madonna, who contrive British accents are annoying.” Perhaps some Americans do so ironically and as a result are more funny than annoying.

Either/Or Fallacy

There are only two choices to an issue is an over simplification and an either/or fallacy.

“Either you be my girlfriend or you don’t like real men.”

“Either you be my boyfriend or you’re not a real American.”

“Either you play football for me or you’re not a real man.”

“Either you’re for us or against us.” (The enemy of our enemy is our friend is every day foreign policy.)

“Either you agree with me about increasing the minimum wage, or you’re okay with letting children starve to death.”

“Either you get a 4.0 and get admitted into USC, or you’re only half a man.”

Equivocation

Equivocation occurs when you deliberately twist the meaning of something in order to justify your position.

“You told me the used car you just sold me was in ‘good working condition.’”

“I said ‘good,’ not perfect.”

The seller is equivocating.

“I told you to be in bed by ten.”

“I thought you meant be home by ten.”

“You told me you were going to pay me the money you owe me on Friday.”

“I didn’t know you meant the whole sum.”

“You told me you were going to take me out on my birthday.”

“Technically speaking, the picnic I made for us in the backyard was a form of ‘going out.’”

Red Herring Fallacy

This fallacy is to throw a distraction in your opponent’s face because you know a distraction may help you win the argument.

“Barack Obama wants us to support him but his father was a Muslim. How can we trust the President on the war against terrorism when he has terrorist ties?”

“You said you were going to pay me my thousand dollars today. Where is it?”

“Dear friend, I’ve been diagnosed with a very serious medical condition. Can we talk about our money issue some other time?”

Slippery Slope Fallacy

We go down a rabbit hole of exaggerated consequences to make our point sound convincing.

“If we allow gay marriage, we’ll have to allow people to marry gorillas.”

“If we allow gay marriage, my marriage to my wife will be disrespected and dishonored.”

Appeal to Authority

Using a celebrity to promote an energy drink doesn’t make this drink effective in increasing performance.

Listening to an actor play a doctor on TV doesn’t make the pharmaceutical he’s promoting safe or effective.

Tradition Fallacy

“We’ve never allowed women into our country club. Why should we start now?”

“Women have always served men. That’s the way it’s been and that’s the way it always should be.”

Misuse of Statistics

Using stats to show causality when it’s a condition of correlation or omitting other facts.

“Ninety-nine percent of people who take this remedy see their cold go away in ten days.” (Colds go away on their own).

“Violent crime from home intruders goes down twenty percent in home equipped with guns.” (more people in those homes die of accidental shootings or suicides)

Post Hoc, Confusing Causality with Correlation

Taking cold medicine makes your cold go away. Really?

The rooster crows and makes the sun go up. Really?

You drink on a Thursday night and on Friday morning you get an A on your calculus exam. Really?

You stop drinking milk and you feel stronger. Really? (or is it placebo effect?)

Non Sequitur (It Does Not Follow)

The conclusion in an argument is not relevant to the premises.

Megan drives a BMW, so she must be rich.

McMahon understands the difference between a phrase and a dependent clause; therefore, he must be a genius.

Whenever I eat chocolate cake, I feel good. Therefore, chocolate cake must be good for me.

Bandwagon Fallacy

Because everyone believes something, it must be right.

“You can steal a little at work. Everyone else does.”

“In Paris, ninety-nine percent of all husbands have a secret mistress. Therefore adultery is not immoral.”

Using Signal Phrases or Identifying Tag to Introduce Summary, Paraphrase, and Quoted Material

According to Jeff McMahon, the grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor. They’ll all be the same.

Jeff McMahon notes that the grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor. They’ll all be the same.

The grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors, Jeff McMahon observes, that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor.

The grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor, Jeff McMahon points out.

Study the Templates of Argumentation

While the author’s arguments for meaning are convincing, she fails to consider . . .

While the authors' supports make convincing arguments, they must also consider . . .

These arguments, rather than being convincing, instead prove . . .

While these authors agree with Writer A on point X, in my opinion . . .

Although it is often true that . . .

While I concede that my opponents make a compelling case for point X, their main argument collapses underneath a barrage of . . .

While I see many good points in my opponent’s essay, I am underwhelmed by his . . .

While my opponent makes some cogent points regarding A, B, and C, his overall argument fails to convince when we consider X, Y, and Z.

My opponent makes many provocative and intriguing points. However, his arguments must be dismissed as fallacious when we take into account W, X, Y, and Z.

While the author’s points first appear glib and fatuous, a closer look at his polemic reveals a convincing argument that . . .

McMahon Grammar Exercise: Parallelism

Correct the faulty parallelism by rewriting the sentences below.

One. Parenting toddlers is difficult for many reasons, not the least of which is that toddlers contradict everything you ask them to do; they have giant mood swings, and all-night tantrums.

Two. You should avoid all-you-can-eat buffets: They encourage gluttony; they feature fatty, over-salted foods and high sugar content.

Three. I prefer kettlebell training at home than the gym because of the increased privacy, the absence of loud “gym” music, and I’m able to concentrate more.

Four. To write a successful research paper you must adhere to the exact MLA format, employ a variety of paragraph transitions, and writing an intellectually rigorous thesis.

Five. The difficulty of adhering to the MLA format is that the rules are frequently being updated, the sheer abundance of rules you have to follow, and to integrate your research into your essay.

Six. You should avoid watching “reality shows” on TV because they encourage a depraved form of voyeurism; they distract you from your own problems, and their brain-dumbing effects.

Seven. I’m still fat even though I’ve tried the low-carb diet, the Paleo diet, the Rock-in-the-Mouth diet, and fasting every other day.

Eight. To write a successful thesis, you must have a compelling topic, a sophisticated take on that topic, and developing a thesis that elevates the reader’s consciousness to a higher level.

Nine. Getting enough sleep, exercising daily, and the importance of a positive attitude are essential for academic success.

Ten. My children never react to my calm commands or when I beg them to do things.