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            If your instructor assigns a text to read--for example, a short essay or perhaps the chapter of a book--see below.  If you find your own text (e.g., an online or library essay) to read, then you should look for one that has two qualities in particular: 


SOURCES OF SHORT, ARGUMENTATIVE TEXTS

  1. the "Opposing Viewpoints" series or "The Reference Shelf" series, both of which can be found in larger libraries, as assigned by your instructor
  2. one- to two-page editorials in newsmagazines that are specifically marked as opinion pieces (usually found at the very end), as assigned by your instructor (but not regular news articles in the magazines)
  3. long editorials in the editorial or opinion sections of large, daily, city newspapers, as assigned by your instructor (but--at the college level--not short editorials or letters to the editor, for they are too short; and not standard news articles, for these are factual, not argumentative)
  4. Web sites with arguments, as assigned by your instructor.  For a list of links to such sites, see "Argumentative Readings Online."    

You should buy or copy the text so that you can mark the pages as you read.  Then read it thoroughly using the methods described in the chapter called "How to Read College Texts."

            An alternative focus at the beginning is to have a strong, intelligent, and complex opinion on a subject--even to freewrite about it, if you wish--and then to find a text on the same subject, but one with which you disagree.  If the text is a good match for what you know--in terms of an opposing topic and opposing subtopics--then you will have an appropriate text with which to disagree.

            However, quite often, the text will be assigned to you.  In such a case, you must do everything you can to understand the text thoroughly.  You certainly can write rough drafts of your thoughts during the time you read the essay, or even after a first reading.  However, generally speaking, you need to read your text at least twice, if at all possible, using critical reading for at least one of those texts.  To find out how to read critically, go to  "How to Read Critically" in the chapter called "How to Read College Texts."

            To continue the chapter of this Web book that you are reading, please go back or use one of the following links:

Analysis of a Text                Critical Review of a Text

Disagreement with a Text               Evaluation of a Text

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Most recent update: 1-29-04 
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NEW COLOR SCHEMES
1. new gold (for highest levels)
Hex={FF,B9,35} 		2. new gold moved to nearby hexagon (secondary levels) Hex={FF,CC,00} 3. light match to new gold and new brown (tertiary levels)
Hex={FF,C2,53} 		4. lighter match to new gold and new brown (quaternary)
Hex={FF,CF,75}
new brown (for top brown bars)           
Hex={E8,97,00}   		New Background:
Hex={FF,EB,8C}
new gold moved directly left to red-gold, and lightened (OK)
(5th level?)    Hex={FF,88,66} 		lighter version of "...red-gold"
(Ann hasn't seen it, yet.) 
(5th level?)     Hex={FF,A3,88}		 old brown (OK)
Hex={FF,8F,20}

 light version of old brown (OK)
Hex={FF,B8,71}

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The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.