Back to Basics: The Use of Newspapers and Other Print Media To Teach Analytic Reading, Writing, and Reasoning.

Students must be informed about what is going on in the United States and the world. They must be able to understand, analyze, and evaluate what they hear and read. Newspaper and magazine editorials are excellent sources of argument and information for class study. Genuine understanding of written material requires thinking during reading. Generally, American students have little understanding of what they read and lack basic information or cultural literacy. Using newspaper editorials, students learn to identify and reconstruct an argument, and to evaluate it. Some techniques of argument analysis must occur at the didactic stage, through lecture. During the tactical stage, students engage actively in group readings and editorial analyses. In the analytic stage, students begin to apply the intellectual skills and abilities which they eventually will be required to use on their own. In the holistic stage, students have the opportunity to exercise and sharpen their new analytic skills in a realistic way. The exemplary stage offers students the instructor as an example of what is expected of the students. The instructor must become adept at thinking aloud and displaying how to reason things through. Such techniques plunge students into the world of current events while at the same time teaching them critical thinking skills. Fifteen notes are included. Three appendixes (two newspaper editorials and a Hirschean reading exercise) are attached. (SG)