Interdisciplinary English Studies

Critical Thinking
(Level 1-ENG114)

Professor
Sherine Fouad Mazloum
Professor of English Literature
Department of English Language and Literature
Faculty of Arts – Ain Shams University

Cairo 2024
Critical Thinking Interdisciplinary English Studies 2024

Interdisciplinary English Studies

Program
Critical Thinking
(Level 1-ENG114)

Professor: Sherine Fouad Mazloum

Sherine Fouad Mazloum
Professor of English Literture

Depratment of English Language and Literature

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Table of Contents

No Topics Pages

Why is critical thinking

Unit 1 6-10
important?
Unit 2 Definitions of Critical Thinking 11-13
Unit 3 Reasoning and Types of reasoning 14-18
Unit 4 Fact versus opinion 19-25
Unit 5 Inferences 26-43
Weak and Strong Arguments:
Unit 6 44-51
Detecting Fallacies
Persuasive Strategies
Unit 7 52-65
Synthesis
Unit 8 66-76
Tying it all together
Unit 9 77-87

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Introduction
Welcome to this new program which aims to develop
your skills in various interdisciplinary areas that will equip
you with the basic skills and competencies to pursue a
successful career. This course is part of your level one core
courses which means that you have to study it. This course
will sharpen your critical thinking skills through a number
of readings and activities.
The aim of the course is two-fold. It teaches skills
related to the pursuit of higher education as well as skills
related to life and the workplace. This course teaches the
application of the principles of critical thinking (clear
communication, persuasion, argument, inference, fact and
opinion, etc.) to train students to evaluate and create
arguments. Critical reasoning skills are presented and
practiced in the context of the construction and criticism of
numerous written, extended arguments. Students will learn
how to approach issues and problems in a reasoned way,
considering purpose, language, awareness of argument
structure and other concepts.

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This is a skill based course but you will need to study

basic key terms and their definitions as well as be able to do
the activities and transfer the skills acquired to other unseen
exercises. The course will be delivered via communicative
teaching where you will engage with in class activities and
be trained to participate in group and individual work. There
will be other activities and exercises assigned at home for
further reading and studying.
The course comprises eight basic topics ranging from
what is critical thinking, why is it needed, differentiating
between fact and opinion, detecting fallacies and
assumptions, forming opinions based on facts gathered,
inferences and drawing conclusions, persuasive skills,
analysis and evaluation, recognizing different points of
view.
There will be a number of ongoing assessments to
motivate you to keep up with course material. However, you
will have one mid term exam out of 15 marks, 5 marks for
in-class exercises, 5 marks for attendance and participation.
In case of any emergency, assessment strategy will be
announced on faculty website.

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You will be discussing various types of texts: fictional,

non-fictional texts, visual material with the purpose of
developing critical thinking skills. Studying literature is
crucial in critical thinking since “Critical Thinking comes from
analysis of any work of literature which requires a thorough investigation
of the “who, where, when, what, why, etc.” of the work” (
https://www.cdspatriots.org/uploaded/documents/ElementsofFiction6-
4-10.pdf)

A critical thinker will consider the following

questions when faced with a new piece of information:
What supports this?
Where was this posted?
Why was it written/published?
Who published it/ wrote it?

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Unit 1

Why is Critical Thinking Important?

1.1 Activity 1
1.2 Activity 2
1.3 Activity 3
1.4 Activity 4

1.5 The Importance and Relevance of Critical Thinking

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Why is Critical Thinking important?

“Critical,” is derived from the Greek word krisis, which
means “to separate.” When life presents us with turning
points, when we are faced with situations that require
decisive action, when we need plans that will yield positive
consequences, then we also need critical thinking. Such
thinking allows us to separate ourselves from the crisis that
can suck us into disaster and permits us, instead, to forge
new pathways to success.

Example: The following combination of letters represents a

sentence from which one particular vowel has been
removed. If you can figure out what that vowel is and re-
insert it eleven times, in eleven different places, you will be
able to determine what the sentence is saying.
VRYFINXMP LARXCDSW HATWXPCT
……………………………………………………………………
The sentence is “Every fine exemplar exceeds what we expect.
Activity 1:
Write down three words to show what is critical
thinking from your perspective
………………………………………………………

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Activity 2: Share your three words with your

colleague and compare your words to his/her.
How many different words did you find?
…………………………………………………………….

Activity 3: Answer the following using yes or no:

1- Do you need critical thinking to buy a new shirt
or jeans? …………
2- Do you need critical thinking to choose a movie
to watch? ……………
3- Do you need critical thinking to choose a meal to
eat? ……………
4- Do you need critical thinking to love cats? ………
5- Do you need it to explain why you love cats?....
Activity 4: Based on your yes/no answers in 3, a
discussion will be held in class:
Go back to your answers and think will you change
your answers after this discussion: Choose Yes or NO

1.5 The importance and relevance of critical thinking:

What are the basic skills involved in critical thinking?
An individual who exhibits strong critical thinking skills
would do activities such as the following well:

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• Solve problems and identify patterns

• Perform effective data analysis
• Communicate opinions, ideas, and concerns
• Synthesize and conceptualize data and make
connections
• Regard information inclusively and objectively
• Reason logically

Why it is important for students to learn how to think

critically?
CT requires students to set aside assumptions and beliefs to
learn to think without bias or judgment. suspending your
beliefs allow you to explore and question topics from a
"blank page" point of view. It also involves the ability to
distinguish fact from opinion when exploring a topic

Bailin et al. (1999b) claim that, if one considers what sorts

of thinking an educator would take not to be critical
thinking and what sorts to be critical thinking, one can
conclude that educators typically understand critical
thinking to have at least three features.

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1. It is done for the purpose of making up one’s mind

about what to believe or do.

2. The person engaging in the thinking is trying to

fulfill standards of adequacy and accuracy
appropriate to the thinking.

3. The thinking fulfills the relevant standards to some

threshold level.
One could sum up the core concept that involves these
three features by saying that critical thinking is careful
goal-directed thinking.

For higher education graduates, the four basic types

of skills required according to World Economic
Forum 2020 are: problem solving, self-management,
working with others, using technology. All these
skills require critical thinking and cognitive skills.
That is why this course is a requirement in all
disciplines regardless of whether it is humanities or
sciences.

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Unit 2

Definitions of Critical Thinking

2.1 What is Critical Thinking?

2.1.1 first definition

2.1.2 Second Definition

2.2.3 Third Definition

2.2.4 Fourth Definition

2.2.5 Fifth Definition

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Definitions of Critical Thinking

2.1 What is critical thinking?

2.1.1 First Definition: According to Michael Scriven and

Richard Paul, “Critical thinking of any kind is never
universal in any individual; everyone is subject to episodes
of undisciplined or irrational thought.”

2.1.2 Second Definition: Another definition from Middlesex

University, London defines critical thinking as “purposeful
self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation,
analysis, evaluation, inference, as well as explanation of
evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or
contextual considerations upon which judgment is based.

2.1.3 Third definition: What Is Critical Thinking?

“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of
actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing,
synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from,

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or generated by, observation, experience, reflection,

reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and
action.” (The Foundation for Critical Thinking)
2.1.4 Fourth definition:
Robert Ennis, one of the leading researchers on critical
thinking, offered the following definition many years ago:
“Critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking that is
aimed at deciding what to believe or what to do.
Critical thinking aims at knowledge. We don’t just want to
have opinions about what is true or about what to do. We
want to know what’s true and what to do”.

2.1.5 Fifth Definition:

"Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any
subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves
the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge
of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing
intellectual standards upon them." (Elder and Paul (2008) as
quoted in the Foundation for Critical Thinking's expanded
content: Defining Critical Thinking).

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Unit 3

Reasoning
3.1 Types of Reasoning

3.2 Ways to think critically

3.3 Ways to get information

3.4 Process from Critical Thinking to

Critical Action

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Reasoning:
3.1 Types of reasoning:
• Deciding what to believe involves reasoning about
what the facts are. This is theoretical reasoning.
• Deciding what to do involves reasoning about what
to do and how to do it. This is practical reasoning.

Critical thinking is reasonable and reflective:

• Critical thinking is reasonable thinking because it
is governed by general methods and standards and
because it demands that we have good reasons for
our decisions.
• Critical thinking is reflective because it involves
thinking about a problem at several different levels
or from several different angles all at once, and
because it sometimes requires thinking about what
the right method is to answer or solve some problem.

3.2 Ways to critically think about information include:

Conceptualizing, Analyzing, Synthesizing, Evaluating,
Inferring

These concepts involve techniques of thinking critically.

Though some may think that these are innate capabilities
born with all human beings, studies have shown that these

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are skills acquired through practice and training and that

not all humans can cultivate higher faculties.

3.3 Ways to get information include

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3.4. Look at this chart to identify the process that leads

from critical thinking to critical action:

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Practice Questions
These questions are designed to test your understanding

Exercise A. Comprehension questions.

a. In what sense is critical thinking reflective?
………………………………………………………
…………………….

b. What makes critical thinking a reasonable thinking?

………………………………………………………
…………………….

c. Why is simple arithmetical calculation not a kind of

critical thinking?
………………………………………………………
……………………
d. Does critical thinking have to be “critical” in the
sense of being negative or skeptical? Explain, using
an example.
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………

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Unit 4

Fact versus opinion

4.1 Fact vs opinion

4.2 exercises

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4.1: Fact versus opinion

A fact can be proven either true or false while An opinion
is an expression of feeling or point-of-view and cannot be
proven true or false.
A fact is a statement that can be tested by experimentation,
observation, or research and shown to be true or untrue.
An opinion is a person’s belief, feeling, or judgment about
something. It is a subjective or value judgment, and it
cannot be proven.
A writer may use factual statements to support his or her
opinions. Opinion statements may occur even in what
seems to be strictly factual material. A reader should look
for words that are clues to statements of opinion. Words
such as : perhaps sometimes probably often / I feel
I think I believe indicate the possibility of opinions.

Example:

1- Earth’s largest ocean is the Pacific Ocean. F

2- Abraham Lincoln was the greatest president. O
3- Madrid is the capital of Spain. F
6. Leftover spaghetti is delicious. O
7. Honeybees are insects. F

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4.2 Exercises:
Exercise 1:
Decide whether the following is fact (F) or opinion (O):

1-My mom is the best mom on earth. ……..

2- My dad is taller than your dad. ……….
3-My telephone number is difficult to memorize. ……..
4-The deepest part of the ocean is 35,813 feet deep. ………
5- Dogs make better pets than turtles. ……….
6- Smoking is bad for your health. …………..
7- Eighty-five percent of all cases of lung cancer in the
U.S. are caused by smoking. ………
8- Slinky toys are fun. ………..
9- One out of every one hundred American citizens is color
blind. ……
10- Two out of ten American citizens are boring.
………..

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Exercise 2: Read the following about Iceland and

summarize the facts about the four parts in Iceland in the
table that follows:
Iceland: Geography and People
Source: Fox, S. (2001). Iceland. Retrieved from:
www.culi.chula.ac.th/expeng/environment/Iceland.htm.

Of all the countries in the frozen north, Iceland may be the

most surprising. It is divided into distinct regions, each
region with its own particular terrain and life style, and all
the regions are amazing.

The northern part of the island is truly the cold and frozen
part, piled with snow and ice in the winter. People in a few
small villages fish or farm all summer to store up food
against the long, cold winter ahead. As if those conditions
were not harsh enough, the area also has active volcanoes
that have been known to destroy entire villages.

The middle of the island is equally forbidding, but almost no

one lives there. A flat treeless area splits the middle of the
area from north to south. This is where the two continental
plates of the Atlantic meet and here the island is gradually
growing as more land is being created by the rolling back of
the two plates away from each other. This region looks as
barren as a landscape on the moon.

In the south is the capital city of Reykjavik. Life here is

completely different from the rest of the island. The warm

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Gulf Stream touches only this southern part of the island,

keeping the climate of the city surprisingly moderate. In fact,
temperatures in Reyjavik in the winter are actually higher
than they are at the same time in New York City or Boston.
Also, the city, although it has only 100,000 people bustles
with cultural events such as opera and art exhibits and offers
its citizens all the latest fashions from all over the world, as
well as excellent restaurants (some of which still have whale
on the menu despite a world-wide ban on the killing of
whales) movie theaters with the latest films. Reykjavik also
boasts five huge outdoor swimming pools that stay open all
year long, even in the worst winter weather. How can that
happen? Well, Icelanders have learned to make use of all the
volcanic activity that created their island in the first place
and still rumbles underneath their land to this day. They have
put pipes down to all that underground heat and now use it
for all sorts of things. All the homes in Reykjavik are heated
by water run through the hot rocks below the soil - and so
are the swimming pools! Even in the dead of winter, the
pools are warm and pleasant. You can swim and watch the
snow coming down - it melts as soon as it touches the warm
fog about three feet above the pool. It never reaches the
swimmers!

That same underground heat is used to run enormous

greenhouses that grow everything from bananas to coffee in

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the frozen middle section of the island. And when the

geothermal energy isn't enough, that same middle area
provides hydroelectric power from its wild, rampaging
waterfalls.

The people in the isolated north also benefit from the wealth
and technology of the capital city, because they are kept in
contact with the world by television broadcasts. And,
although there are no hospitals in the north, people with
medical emergencies can be brought out by helicopters
flying quickly from Reykjavik.

Of course, there is one other section of Iceland, a brand new,

tiny island created by a volcano right off the coast in the late
1950'. No one can survive on its rocky, lava surface as yet.
Still, some people may pioneer there someday soon. After
all, Icelanders love everything about their unusual land.

Complete the table with the suitable facts from the reading
(Iceland: Geography and People)

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Part in Iceland Geography People

The North

A flat treeless area

The Capital

No one can
survive on it

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Unit 5

Inferences

5.1 Inference – Evidence

5.2 The Necklace: An application

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5.1. Inference -Evidence

INFERENCE IS drawing conclusions from the evidence we
already have.

Definition of inference:
Inference is To identify elements needed to draw reasonable
conclusions; to form hypotheses; to consider relevant
information; To formulate a strategy for seeking and
gathering information to support the plausibility of a given
alternative; To formulate different plans to achieve some
goal; and project the range of possible consequences of
decisions, positions, or beliefs.

Example 1:
Facts
There are several ads in the Village Voice newspaper for
plastic surgery, transparent braces, electrolysis, clinics for
baldness, dermatology, and weight reduction.
What can be inferred about the readers of the Village
Voice?
Answer: They care about appearances and they can afford
to pay for taking care of it. They must be rich.

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5.2 The Necklace: An Application

Exercise on Inference: Read the following short story “The
Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant and Answer the
following:
1- Mathilde’s reasons for being unhappy are …………..
and ……………….

2- What other choices could the couple do after they

realized that the necklace was lost?
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………

3- Infer Mathilda’s real reason for sadness?

……………………………………………………….
4- We can infer from the story that envy is
……………………………………………………….

5- We can infer from the story that appearances are

………………………………………………………
6- How long did the couple work to pay back the debt?
………………………………………………………

7- Read the story again and mention one opinion, one

fact and one inference.
Fact:
………………………………………………………

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Opinion:
………………………………………………………
Inference
………………………………………………………

8- Why is the ending ironic? Irony is defined as “

literary device is a situation in which there is a contrast
between expectation and reality. For example, the
difference between what something appears to
mean versus its literal meaning. Irony is associated
with both tragedy and humor”. Can understanding irony
help you be a critical thinker?
………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………

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The Necklace
By Guy de Maupassant
© 2006 by http: //www.Hor rorM as ters .com

She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are
sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of
clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of
being known, understood, loved, wedded, by any rich and
distinguished man; and she let herself be married to a little
clerk at the Ministry of Public Instruction.

She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she
was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her
proper station; since with women there is neither caste nor
rank; and beauty, grace, and charm act instead of family and
birth. Natural fineness, instinct for what is elegant,
suppleness of wit, are the sole hierarchy, and make from
women of the people the equals of the very greatest ladies.

She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the

delicacies and all the luxuries. She suffered from the poverty
of her dwelling, from the wretched look of the walls, from
the worn- out chairs, from the ugliness of the curtains. All
those things, of which another woman of her rank would
never even have been conscious, tortured her and made her
angry. The sight of the little Breton peasant who did her

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humble house-work aroused in her regrets which were

despair- ing, and distracted dreams. She thought of the silent
antechambers hung with Oriental tapestry, lit by tall bronze
candelabra, land of the two great footmen in knee-breeches
who sleep in the big arm-chairs, made drowsy by the heavy
warmth of the hot-air stove. She thought of the long salons
fitted up with ancient silk, of the delicate furniture carrying
priceless curiosities, and of the coquettish perfumed
boudoirs made for talks at five o’clock with intimate friends,
with men - famous and sought after, whom all women envy
and whose attention they all desire.

When she sat down to dinner, before the round table covered
with a table-cloth three days old, opposite her husband, who
uncovered the soup-tureen and declared with an enchanted
air, “Ah, the good pot-au-feu! I don’t know anything better
than that,” she thought of dainty dinners, of shining
silverware, of tapestry which peopled the walls with ancient
personages and with strange birds flying in the midst of a
fairy forest; and she thought of delicious dishes served on
marvellous plates, and of the whispered gallantries which
you listen to with a sphinx-like smile, while you are eating
the pink flesh of a trout or the wings of a quail.

She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved

nothing but that; she felt made for that. She would so have

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liked to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought

after.

She had a friend, a former school-mate at the convent, who

was rich, and whom she did not like to go and see any more
she suffered so much when she came back.

But, one evening, her husband returned home with a

triumphant air, and holding a large envelope in his hand.

“There,” said he, “here is something for you.”

She tore the paper sharply, and drew out a printed card which
bore these words:

“The Minister of Public Instruction and Mine. Georges

Ramponneau request the honor of M. and Mine. Loisel’s
company at the palace of the Ministry on Monday evening,
January 18th.”

Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she threw

the invitation on the table with disdain, murmuring:

“What do you want me to do with that?”

“But, my dear, I thought you would be glad. You never go

out, and this is such a fine opportunity. I had awful trouble
to get it. Everyone wants to go; it is very select, and they are
not giving many invitations to clerks. The whole official
world will be there.”

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She looked at him with an irritated eye, and she said,

impatiently:
“And what do you want me to put on my back?”
He had not thought of that; he stammered:
“Why, the dress you go to the theatre in. It looks very well,
to me.”
He stopped, distracted, seeing that his wife was crying.
Two great tears descended slowly from the corners of her
eyes towards the corners of her mouth. He stuttered:
“What’s the matter? What’s the matter?”
But, by a violent effort, she had conquered her grief, and
she replied, with a calm voice, while she wiped her wet
cheeks:
“Nothing. Only I have no dress, and therefore I can’t go to
this ball. Give your card to some colleague whose wife is
better equipped than I.”

He was in despair. He resumed:

“Come, let us see, Mathilde. How much would it cost, a
suitable dress, which you could use on other occasions,
something very simple?”

She reflected several seconds, making her calculations and

wondering also what sum she could ask without drawing on
herself an immediate refusal and a frightened exclamation
from the economical clerk.

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Finally, she replied, hesitatingly:

“I don’t know exactly, but I think I could manage it with
four hundred francs.”
He had grown a little pale, because he was laying aside just
that amount to buy a gun and treat himself to a little
shooting next summer on the plain of Nanterre, with
several friends who went to shoot larks down there, of a
Sunday.

But he said:
“All right. I will give you four hundred francs. And try to
have a pretty dress.”

The day of the ball drew near, and Mine. Loisel seemed
sad, uneasy, anxious. Her dress was ready, however. Her
husband said to her one evening:

“What is the matter? Come, you’ve been so queer these last

three days.”
And she answered:
“It annoys me not to have a single jewel, not a single stone,
nothing to put on. I shall look like distress. I should almost
rather not go at all.”

He resumed:
“You might wear natural flowers. It’s very stylish at this

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time of the year. For ten francs you can get two or three
magnificent roses.”

She was not convinced.

“No; there’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor
among other women who are rich.” But her husband cried:
“How stupid you are! Go look up your friend Mme.
Forestier, and ask her to lend you some jewels. You’re
quite thick enough with her to do that.” She uttered a cry of
joy:

“It’s true. I never thought of it.” The next day she went to
her friend and told of her distress.

Mine. Forestier went to a wardrobe with a glass door, took

out a large jewel-box, brought it back, opened it, and said
to Mine. Loisel:

“Choose, my dear.”

She saw first of all some bracelets, then a pearl necklace,

then a Venetian cross, gold and precious stones of
admirable workmanship. She tried on the ornaments before
the glass, hesitated, could not make up her mind to part
with them, to give them back. She kept asking:

“Haven’t you any more?”

“Why, yes. Look. I don’t know what you like.”

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All of a sudden she discovered, in a black satin box, a

superb necklace of diamonds; and her heart began to beat
with an immoderate desire. Her hands trembled as she took
it. She fastened it around her throat, outside her high-
necked dress, and remained lost in ecstasy at the sight of
herself.

Then she asked, hesitating, filled with anguish:

“Can you lend me that, only that?”
“Why, yes, certainly.”
She sprang upon the neck of her friend, kissed her
passionately, then fled with her treasure.

The day of the ball arrived. Mine. Loisel made a great

success. She was prettier than them all, elegant, gracious,
smiling, and crazy with joy. All the men looked at her,
asked her name, endeavored to be introduced. All the
attaches of the Cabinet wanted to waltz with her. She was
remarked by the minister himself.

She danced with intoxication, with passion, made drunk by

pleasure, forgetting all, in the triumph of her beauty in the
glory of her success in a sort of cloud of happiness
composed of all this homage, of all this admiration, of all
these awakened desires, and of that sense of complete
victory which is so sweet to woman’s heart.

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She went away about four o’clock in the morning. Her

husband had been sleeping since midnight, in a little
deserted anteroom, with three other gentlemen whose wives
were having a very good time.

He threw over her shoulders the wraps which he had

brought, modest wraps of common life, whose poverty
contrasted with the elegance of the ball dress. She felt this
and wanted to escape so as not to be remarked by the other
women, who were enveloping themselves in costly furs.

Loisel held her back.

“Wait a bit. You will catch cold outside. I will go and call a
cab.”
But she did not listen to him, and rapidly descended the
stairs. When they were in the street they did not find a
carriage; and they began to look for one, shouting after the
cabmen whom they saw passing by at a distance.

They went down towards the Seine, in despair, shivering

with cold. At last they found on the quay one of those
ancient noctambulant coupés which, exactly as if they were
ashamed to show their misery during the day, are never
seen round Paris until after nightfall.

It took them to their door in the Rue des Martyrs and once
more, sadly, they climbed up homeward. All was ended, for

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her. And as to him, he reflected that he must be at the

Ministry at ten o’clock.

She removed the wraps, which covered her shoulders,

before the glass, so as once more to see herself in all her
glory. But suddenly she uttered a cry. She had no longer the
necklace around her neck!

Her husband, already half-undressed, demanded: “What is

the matter with you?”
She turned madly towards him:
“I have—I have—I’ve lost Mme. Forestier’s necklace.” He
stood up, distracted.

“What!—how?—Impossible!”

And they looked in the folds of her dress, in the folds of her
cloak, in her pockets, everywhere. They did not find it. He
asked:

“You’re sure you had it on when you left the ball?”

“Yes, I felt it in the vestibule of the palace.”
“But if you had lost it in the street we should have heard it
fall. It must be in the cab.”
“Yes. Probably. Did you take his number?”
“No. And you, didn’t you notice it?”
“No.”
They looked, thunderstruck, at one another. At last Loisel

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put on his clothes.

“I shall go back on foot,” said he, “over the whole route
which we have taken, to see if I can’t find it.”
And he went out. She sat waiting on a chair in her ball
dress, without strength to go to bed, overwhelmed, without
fire, without a thought.

Her husband came back about seven o’clock. He had found

nothing.
He went to Police Headquarters, to the newspaper offices,
to offer a reward; he went to the cab companies—
everywhere, in fact, whither he was urged by the least
suspicion of hope.

She waited all day, in the same condition of mad fear

before this terrible calamity.
Loisel returned at night with a hollow, pale face; he had
discovered nothing.
“You must write to your friend,” said he, “that you have
broken the clasp of her necklace and that you are having it
mended. That will give us time to turn round.” She wrote at
his dictation.
At the end of a week they had lost all hope.
And Loisel, who had aged five years, declared:

“We must consider how to replace that ornament.”

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The next day they took the box which had contained it, and
they went to the jeweller whose name was found within. He
consulted his books.

“It was not I, madame, who sold that necklace; I must

simply have furnished the case.”

Then they went from jeweller to jeweller, searching for a

necklace like the other, consulting their memories, sick
both of them with chagrin and with anguish.

They found in a shop at the Palais Royal, a string of

diamonds which seemed to them exactly like the one they
looked for. It was worth forty thousand francs. They could
have it for thirty-six.

So they begged the jeweller not to sell it for three days yet.
And they made a bargain that he should buy it back for
thirty-four thousand francs, in case they found the other one
before the end of February.

Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father

had left him. He would borrow the rest.

He did borrow, asking a thousand francs of one, five

hundred of another, five louis here, three louis there. He
gave notes, took up ruinous obligations, dealt with usurers,
and all the race of. lenders. He compromised all the rest of

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his life, risked his signature without even knowing if he

could meet it; and, frightened by the pains yet to come, by
the black misery which was about to fall upon him, by the
prospect of all the physical privations and of all the moral
tortures which he was to suffer, he went to get the new
necklace, putting down upon. the merchant’s counter thirty-
six thousand francs.

When Mine. Loisel took back the necklace, Mme. Forestier

said to her, with a chilly manner: “You should have
returned it sooner, I might have needed it.”
She did not open the case, as her friend had so much feared.
If she had detected the substitution, what would she have
thought, what would she have said? Would she not have
taken Mine. Loisel for a thief?

Mine. Loisel now knew the horrible existence of the needy.

She took her part, moreover, all on a sudden, with heroism.
That dreadful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They
dismissed their servant; they changed their lodgings; they
rented a garret under the roof.

She came to know what heavy housework meant and the

odious cares of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, using
her rosy nails on the greasy pots and pans. She washed the
dirty linen, the shirts, and the dish-cloths, which she dried
upon a line; she carried the slops down to the street every

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morning, and carried up the water, stopping for breath at

every landing. And, dressed like a woman of the people,
she went to the fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher, her basket
on her arm, bargaining, insulted, defending her miserable
money sou by sou.

Each month they had to meet some notes, renew others,

obtain more time.

Her husband worked in the evening making a fair copy of

some tradesman’s accounts, and late at night he often
copied manuscript for five sous a page.

And this life lasted ten years.

At the end of ten years they had paid everything,

everything, with the rates of usury, and the accumulations
of the compound interest.

Mine. Loisel looked old now. She had become the woman
of impoverished households— strong and hard and rough.
With frowsy hair, skirts askew, and red hands, she talked
loud while washing the floor with great swishes of water.
But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat
down near the window, and she thought of that gay evening
of long ago, of that ball where she had been so beautiful
and so feted.

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What would have happened if she had not lost that

necklace? Who knows? who knows? How life is strange
and changeful! How little a thing is needed for us to be lost
or to be saved!

But, one Sunday, having gone to take a walk in the Champs

Elysées to refresh herself from the labors of the week, she
suddenly perceived a woman who was leading a child. It
was Mme. Forestier, still young, still beautiful, still
charming.

Mme. Loisel felt moved. Was she going to speak to her?

Yes, certainly. And now that she had paid, she was going to
tell her all about it. Why not?

She went up.

“Good-day, Jeanne.”
The other, astonished to be familiarly addressed by this
plain good-wife, did not recognize her at all, and
stammered:
“But—madame!—I do not know—You must have
mistaken.”
“No. I am Mathilde Loisel.”
Her friend uttered a cry.
“Oh, my poor Mathilde! How you are changed!”
“Yes, I have had days hard enough, since I have seen you,

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days wretched enough—and that because of you!” “Of me!

How so?”

“Do you remember that diamond necklace which you lent

me to wear at the ministerial ball?” “Yes. Well?”
“Well, I lost it.”
“What do you mean? You brought it back.”

“I brought you back another just like it. And for this we
have been ten years paying. You can understand that it was
not easy for us, us who had nothing. At last it is ended, and
I am very glad.”

Mme. Forestier had stopped.

“You say that you bought a necklace of diamonds to
replace mine?”
“Yes. You never noticed it, then!’ They were very like.”
And she smiled with a joy which was proud and naïve at
once.
Mme. Forestier, strongly moved, took her two hands.
“Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth
at most five hundred francs!”
End of the story
In class Discussion:
Discuss with your colleagues the following:
1. How would you describe Mathilde? ……………
2. Do you think they took the right decision when they decided
to replace the necklace? Why or why not?

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Unit 6

Weak and Strong

Arguments

6.1 Avoiding Assumptions

6.2 Detecting Fallacies

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Weak and Strong Arguments

6.1 Avoiding Assumptions
What is an assumption?
An assumption is a thing that is accepted as true or as
certain to happen, without proof.

What is an argument?
All arguments are based on an internal logic whether it is
true or not is not always important but it has to be valid
(sound)

To avoid Faulty Reasoning and to have a solid argument ,

you have to avoid logical fallacies. Logical fallacies are
mistakes in reasoning. The term “logical fallacy” refers to
the point—or points—at which that chain of reason snaps,
rendering the conclusion invalid.
LF are statements that on the surface appear plausible, but
after consideration or further research reveal
inconsistencies or falsehoods.

6.2 Detecting Fallacies:

Types of Fallacies:
Type 1: Hasty Generalization:
Example: After being in New York for a week, I can tell
you: all New Yorkers are rude.

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Type 2: Either /or Fallacy: Either/Or Fallacy (This

fallacy occurs when a speaker or writer presents the
audience with two false choices: "Either this or that."

Example: America: love it or leave it.

Example: If we do not save the whales, the world is
doomed.

Type 3: Ad Hominem
(Arguing against the man instead of against the issue.
Whenever an arguer cannot defend his position with
evidence, facts or reason, he or she may resort to attacking
an opponent ).
Example: Von Daniken's books about ancient astronauts
are worthless because he is a convicted forger and
embezzler.

Type 4: Red Herring: (Distracting the audience by

drawing attention to an irrelevant issue)
§ Example: Why worry about nuclear war when
we're all going to die anyway?
§ Example: What about Christmas? Well, my aunt is
coming next week.

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Type 5: Circular Reasoning (Asserting a point that

has just been made)
§ Example: She is ignorant because she was never
educated.
§ Example: You are not bad, therefore you must be
good.

Type 6: False Analogy: Assuming that if two things are

alike in some ways, they must be alike in all ways
§ Example: Employees are like nails. Just as nails
must be hit on the head in order to make them work,
so must employees.

Type 7: Equivocation (Equates two meanings of the

same word falsely) or have ambiguity

§ Example: The sign said 'fine for parking here', and

since it was fine, I parked there.“
§ Example: All trees have bark. All dogs bark.
Therefore, all dogs are trees.

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Type 8: False cause: Assuming that event A caused B

False Assumptions also come from Bias

Fox News criticized a recent report on climate change,
saying that they did not report their numbers accurately.
But then, you’d expect Fox News to find a way to attack
the research on climate changes.
Remember: Strong arguments are well founded
opinions that you can reach by reasoning and staying
alert to the sources that you are using.
Build a strong Argument by
- Avoiding assumptions,
- Identifying logical fallacies,
- Detecting Bias
- Understanding the writer’s position
- Examining the evidence the writer’s use.

Exercise on Detecting Fallacies

1- "Providing daycare for toddlers is like herding cats."

A) hasty generalization
B) Red herring
C) false analogy
D) ad hominem

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2- "We shouldn't even bother to interview that job

applicant. He has a beard."
A) hasty generalization
B) either or
C) false analogy
D) ad hominem

3- "Pain-Away worked for me, so it's sure to work for

you, too."
A) either-or
B) equivocation
C) hasty generalization
D) false analogy

4- Many people who eats meat are overweight. Eating

meat causes obesity."
A) hasty generalization
B) false cause
C) false analogy
D) ad hominem

5- "We shouldn't approve her loan because her skin is

dark."
A) hasty generalization
B) false cause

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C) false analogy
D) ad hominem

6- "Becoming a member of the Wildlife Foundation is

the best way to show you care about the
environment."
A) hasty generalization
B) false cause
C) false analogy
D) ad hominem

7- "Relaxing in a Ritz hot tub is like a mini-vacation to

a tropical island."
A) false analogy
B) ad hominem
C) either-or
D) equivocation

8- "Either finish school or look forward to an

unsatisfying life and a low-paying job."
A) false analogy
B) ad hominem
C) either-or
D) red herring

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Unit 7

Persuasive Strategies

7.1 Logos

7.2 Pathos

7.3 Ethos

7.4 The Story of an Hour

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Persuasive Strategies:
Icebreaker Activity:

What are the ways you use to persuade someone with your
argument?
……………………………………………………………
………………….

Think of these three strategies and apply them to one

situation:
Pathos: aims to engage people’s feelings not logic.
Logos: aims to rationally address people’s minds through
induction and/or deduction.
Ethos: aims to show your reader that you are friendly,
informative and trustworthy

7.1 Logos: Logical Devices include deduction and

induction
Deduction is the inference of particular instances by
reference to a general law or principle
Example:
Major Premise: All human beings die.
Specific Premise: My father is a human being.
Conclusion: Therefore, my father will someday die.

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*This is what we call a deductive method: Deduction is a

conclusion backed by general principles

Induction is the inference of a general law from particular

instances. (the production of facts to prove a general
statement).
Induction is the drawing of a reliable inference from a set
of examples:
Example:
- Examples of handguns causing accidents
- Examples of handguns used to commit crimes
- Conc.: Handguns should be banned.

To convince using logos, you may want to use Authoritative

Testimony, however, you need to make sure that the
authority is an authority on the topic in question; the
authority is not biased (a chemist employed by the tobacco
industry isn’t likely to admit that smoking may be harmful
Beware of: Nameless authorities: “a thousand doctors”,
“researchers at a major medical school”. Out of date
authorities.

To convince using logic, you will also need to use statistics,

tables, numbers, graphs. Make sure that they are recent and
reliable, You may also use definitions and analogies

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7.2 Pathos:
-Use emotive appeals to make the reader agree with your
overall contention.
Example : Soon civilians will be seen lying dead on
the streets if no action against terrorism is taken.

-Exaggerate the scale of an issue to draw an emotional

response from the reader.
Example: In today’s world, there are people living
without food or shelter.

7.3 Ethos:
-Use inclusive language which directly involves the reader.

-Use expression like unless action is….., it is time…..

Example:
It is time to show a fixed belief in the value of
organistion and planning.

-Use rhetorical questions in which no answer is required to

reinforce a point.
Example: Should footballers be treated as above the
law?

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In Writing, use the following three stages to persuade your

reader:Clarity, benefits, urgency

ž Clarity: Explain the problem clearly and deeply

Use appropriate Transitions & Connectors to
clarify your rationale such as:
In other words
This means
For example
That is to say
To illustrate
To demonstrate
To clarify

Benefits: explain the benefits to different stakeholders if

possible

Urgency: Linking the proposed solution to the urgent

needs of the reader/society

Exercise:
Underline the sentences in the following paragraph which
show clear statement of the problem, benefits and urgency

In order to reduce frequency of car accidents in Egypt, car

service centres should be constructed on main highways. In

other words, the government and businessmen who work in

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the lucrative business of car trade should co-operate in order

to construct a number of car service centres on highway

roads like Cairo-Alex and Cairo-Ismailia. These car service

centres should help in reducing car accidents especially

when cars need sudden and urgent maintenance on the way.

Less car accidents means saving the lives of many people.

Furthermore, Car centres with names of car brands will

promote business for businessmen. It is definitely better

to be able to drive or travel safely and know that one can at

least fix his/her own car whenever needed and minimize

both financial and physical damage.

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Exercise 2:
Decide what is the type of persuasive technique used in the
following:
1- “Every year hundreds of bloodthirsty killers go out
and ruthlessly slaughter thousands of innocent,
helpless animals”.
……………………………………………………………
2- A recent survey found that 90% of students
favoured no school uniforms at all (VCAA 2009)
………………………………………………………
3- A recent stand on the issue of low waist jeans is
supported by fashion designer Ruby Reed, who
recently stated: “Low waist jeans is an offensive look
that turns off people”.
………………………………………………………

Exercise 3:
Use the different strategies to persuade your friend of the
following:
1- Not to use surveillance cameras because privacy is
important.
--------------------------------------------------------
2- To eat a lot of fruits and vegetables.
----------------------------------------------------------

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3- Not to smoke.
----------------------------------------------------------------
4- Not to have an expensive wedding party.
----------------------------------------------------------------
5- To get a part time job during the summer vacation.
----------------------------------------------------------------

7.4 The Story of an Hour

(Reading Activity on persuasion)
Read the following Story entitled “The Story of
an Hour” by Kate Chopin and answer the
questions that follows
The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin
(Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” originally published 1894)

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart

trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as
possible the news of her husband's death.

It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences;

veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband's
friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had
been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the
railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name

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leading the list of "killed." He had only taken the time to

assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had
hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in
bearing the sad message.

She did not hear the story as many women have heard the
same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.
She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her
sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she
went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow
her.

There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy

armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical
exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into
her soul.

She could see in the open square before her house the tops
of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The
delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a
peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song
which some one was singing reached her faintly, and
countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

There were patches of blue sky showing here and there

through the clouds that had met and piled one above the
other in the west facing her window.

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She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the
chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her
throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep
continues to sob in its dreams.

She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke
repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a
dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder
on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of
reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent
thought.

There was something coming to her and she was waiting

for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too
subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of
the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents,
the color that filled the air.

Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was

beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to
possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her
will—as powerless as her two white slender hands would
have been.

When she abandoned herself a little whispered word

escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over
under her breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the

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look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They
stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the
coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.

She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous

joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled
her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.

She knew that she would weep again when she saw the
kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never
looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead.
But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession
of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And
she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.

There would be no one to live for her during those coming

years; she would live for herself. There would be no
powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with
which men and women believe they have a right to impose
a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a
cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she
looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.

And yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not.
What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery,
count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion

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which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of

her being!

"Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.

Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips
to the keyhole, imploring for admission. "Louise, open the
door! I beg; open the door—you will make yourself ill.
What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the
door."

"Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was

drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.

Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her.
Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that
would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life
might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a
shudder that life might be long.

She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's

importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes,
and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of
Victory. She clasped her sister's waist, and together they
descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the
bottom.

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Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It

was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained,
composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had
been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even
know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's
piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from
the view of his wife.

But Richards was too late.

When the doctors came they said she had died of heart
disease—of joy that kills.

Answer the following after reading The Story of an

hour:
1- It was feared that Mrs. Mallard will not endure
the news of her husbands death. True or False
………………………………………………….
2- How did Josephine break the news of Brentley’s
accident? Which type of persuasion did she use?
……………………………………………………
……………………………………………………
……………………………………………………

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3- The narrator tells us that “She was free: body and

soul”. Underline the sentences he uses to describe
this freedom. Write the key words in these
sentences:
...……………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………
4- The doctors said she died of joy. Is this a logical
or an emotional explanation of her cause of
death?
……………………………………………………
………………………………………………….
5- The ending is ironic. Explain
……………………………………………………..

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Unit 8

Synthesis

8.1 What is synthesis?

8.2 Reading Article

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8.1: What is Synthesis?

“Synthesis” is the ability to combine parts of a whole in

new and different ways. It requires students to think
flexibly, determine alternatives, and find new ways to
accomplish a given task. ... Synthesizing requires critical
reading and thinking in order to compare different material,
highlighting similarities, differences, and connections.
When writers synthesize successfully, they present new
ideas based on interpretations of other evidence or
arguments. You can also think of synthesis as an extension
of—or a more complicated form of—analysis. One main
difference is that synthesis involves multiple sources, while
analysis often focuses on one source.

Exercise 1: Compare the two paragraphs below

and decide which one is a synthesis:
Paragraph A:
Franz (2008) studied undergraduate online students. He
looked at 17 females and 18 males and found that none of
them liked APA. According to Franz, the evidence
suggested that all students are reluctant to learn citations
style. Perez (2010) also studies undergraduate students. She
looked at 42 females and 50 males and found that males were

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significantly more inclined to use citation software (p < .05).

Findings suggest that females might graduate sooner.
Goldstein (2012) looked at British undergraduates. Among
a sample of 50, all females, all confident in their abilities to
cite and were eager to write their dissertations.

Paragraph B:
Studies of undergraduate students reveal conflicting
conclusions regarding relationships between advanced
scholarly study and citation efficacy. Although Franz (2008)
found that no participants enjoyed learning citation style,
Goldstein (2012) determined in a larger study that all
participants watched felt comfortable citing sources,
suggesting that variables among participant and control
group populations must be examined more closely.
Although Perez (2010) expanded on Franz's original study
with a larger, more diverse sample...

Exercise 2: Basic connection of sentences: Combine the

following pairs of sentences.
1. It is very hot. I can’t go out now
………………………………………….

2. It may rain. We will get wet.

…………………………………………..

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3. I bought these mangoes yesterday. They are very

sweet.
………………………………………………………
……

4. The weather was fine. We went out for a walk.

………………………………………………………
……

5. They are pretty. They are intelligent.

………………………………………………………
…….

6. Farmers use modern methods of cultivation. They

wish to produce more food grains.
………………………………………………………
…………………….

7. The boy complained to the teacher. His watch had

been stolen.
………………………………………………………
…………………….

8. Mr. James is a doctor. His wife is a doctor.

………………………………………………………
……………………..

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9. This is the hotel. Our meetings used to take place

here.
………………………………………………………
…………………….

10. Iron is found in India. Coal is also found in India.

………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………

Exercise 3: Reread the two short stories: “The

Necklace” and “The Story of an Hour”
A) Write five sentences that synthesize the two
ironic endings
………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………

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B) Compare the two female protagonists

……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………

8.2 Reading Article:

Thesis, antithesis and synthesis: A constructive direction
for politics and policy after Brexit and Trump In nesta.
Org. Uk (17 Feb, 2017)
German philosopher Georg Hegel said that history evolves
in dialectical ways, with successive phases of thesis,
antithesis and synthesis. This framework fits well with
where we stand today.

In the heady days of 1989, with communism collapsing and

the Cold War seemingly over, the political theorist Francis
Fukuyama declared that we were witnessing the "end of
history" which had culminated in the triumph of liberal
democracy and the free market. Fukuyama was drawing on

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the ideas of German philosopher Georg Hegel, but of course,

history didn’t come to an end. Now, following the political
convulsions of 2016, we’re at a very different turning point,
which many are trying to make sense of. I want to suggest
that we can again usefully turn to Hegel, but this time to his
idea that history evolves in dialectical ways, with successive
phases of thesis, antithesis and synthesis.

Hegel implied that we should see history, and progress, not

as a straight line but rather as a zigzag, shaped by the ways
in which people bump into barriers, or face disappointments,
and then readjust their course

This framework fits well with where we stand today. The

‘thesis’ that has dominated mainstream politics for the last
generation – and continues to be articulated shrilly by many
proponents – is the claim that the combination of
globalisation, technological progress and liberalisation
empowers the great majority.

The antithesis, which, in part, fuelled the votes for Brexit and
Trump, as well as the rise of populist parties in Europe and
beyond, is the argument that this technocratic combination
merely empowers a minority and disempowers the majority
of citizens.

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A more progressive synthesis then has to address the flaws

of the thesis and the grievances of the antithesis, in fields
ranging technology and economy to mental health.

Thesis

Let’s start with the thesis, which in essence was simple:

increasing globalisation and liberalisation, combined with
waves of new technology, would empower everyone. The
more we acceded to this, the faster the benefits would spread.
Better jobs, more money, greater freedoms, increased
opportunities… everyone would be a winner in the end, even
if many had to find new skills along the way.

The thesis was symbolised in futuristic visions of

hypermobility, where fleets of flying cars and drones would
overcome barriers of physical distance. As consumers, we’d
find goods and services at the beck and call of our mobile
devices, while Amazon would drop parcels in our front
gardens, taking us to a seamless future where life would
become effortless and frictionless.

The optimists could point to extraordinary achievements.

The last two generations have seen unprecedented advances

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in prosperity: dramatic rises in life expectancy (40 years in a

century, falls in poverty (to less than 10 per cent of the world
population).

This was a positive and optimistic story about where the

world was going.

The antithesis

The counter to these arguments was also simple. In its more

coherent forms it accepted some of the thesis, but argued that
the combination of globalisation, technology and
liberalisation empowered a small, wealthy and mobile ‘elite’
but did little or nothing for the majority, and in fact, often
damaged their interests, threatening their jobs and
communities.

This antithesis found its voice in everyday conversation and

social media. It claimed that large minorities had seen their
income stagnate. Even larger numbers feared that their
children would be worse off than them, and probably jobless,
thanks to the combination of migration and automation. It
could point to trends in technology which continue to be

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‘capital-biased’, meaning a declining share of income for

labour.

The effects of these shifts are more than economic. In many

countries, precariousness leads to both mental and physical
ill-health. In the US, Nobel Prize winning economist Angus
Deaton showed the rising mortality rates among middle aged
white men in particular.

Technology was another battle-ground where apparently

remorseless trends might be turning around. The
technologies that were meant to empower us could easily
now be seen as the enemy of freedom and opportunity. The
internet was meant to be for everyone, but was instead
dominated by a handful of mega-companies that sell our
data without our conscious consent.

At the very least, it’s clear that the central economic and
technological promise of the thesis was not delivered for
large minorities.

The new synthesis will have to include fundamental

infrastructures that make life easier for their citizens.
Cybersecurity is bound to become more visible as an issue.
Coming up with new programmes that will ensure

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tolerance, compassion and enlightenment values require us

to think dialectically, achieving a balance between
conflicting ideas.
Exercise:

1- Summarize the thesis argument:

……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
2- Summarize the antithesis argument:
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
3- Summarize the synthesis:
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
……………………………………………

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Unit 9

Tying It all together

9.1 Remember

9.2 Using critical thinking to address climate change

9.3 Article about Climate Change

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9.1 Remember the following basic skills

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9.2: Using Critical Thinking to address Climate Change:

Step 1: Define your terms:
Climate Change: a change in global or regional climate
patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late
20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased
levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of
fossil fuels. As greenhouse gas emissions blanket the Earth,
they trap the sun’s heat. This leads to global warming and
climate change. The world is now warming faster than at any
point in recorded history.

Step 2: Analyze causes:

Causes of Climate Change
1- Burning fossil fuels
2- Industry emissions
3- Cutting down forests
What is the difference between the first two causes and the
third one?
………………………………………………………
- Infer the difference:
……………………………………………………
Step 3: Analyze effects:
Effects of Climate Change:

1- Hotter temperatures
2- Increased drought
What can be the consequences of these two effects?

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………………………………………………………

Step 3: Evaluate solutions:

Solutions of Climate Change include a number of actions:
Rate the effectiveness of the following on a scale of 1-5
where 1 is least effective and 5 in most effective:

1. Saving energy by limiting electricity use at home

and work ….
2. Walk, cycle and use public transport …..
3. Recycle waste ……

Step 4: Generate new ideas

Generate new ideas to address the issue of climate change

1- Idea
….………………………………………………
Why is it effective?
……………………………………………
Convince us with it using one persuasive
strategy
………………………………………………

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9.3 Article about climate change:

Read the following article about climate change and
identify causes, effects, solutions and impact if
applicable:
(Source:https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/challenges/climate-
change/solutions-climate-change/)
Climate change is happening now, and it’s the most serious
threat to life on our planet. Fortunately, there are plenty of
solutions to climate change, they are well-understood.
In 2015, world leaders signed a major treaty called the Paris
Agreement to put these solutions into practice.
Core to all climate change solutions is reducing greenhouse
emissions, which must get to zero as soon as
possible. Because both forests and oceans play vitally
important roles in regulating our climate, increasing the
natural ability of forests and oceans to absorb carbon dioxide
can also help stop global warming.
The main ways to stop climate change are to pressure
government and business to:

• Keep fossil fuels in the ground. Fossil fuels include coal,

oil and gas – and the more that are extracted and burned, the
worse climate change will get. All countries need to move
their economies away from fossil fuels as soon as possible.

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• Invest in renewable energy. Changing our main energy

sources to clean and renewable energy is the best way to stop
using fossil fuels. These include technologies like solar,
wind, wave, tidal and geothermal power.

• Switch to sustainable transport. Petrol and diesel vehicles,

planes and ships use fossil fuels. Reducing car use, switching
to electric vehicles and minimising plane travel will not only
help stop climate change, it will reduce air pollution too.

• Help us keep our homes cosy. Homes shouldn’t be

draughty and cold – it’s a waste of money, and miserable in
the winter. The government can help households heat our
homes in a green way – such as by insulating walls and roofs
and switching away from oil or gas boilers to heat pumps.

• Improve farming and encourage vegan diets. One of the

best ways for individuals to help stop climate change is by
reducing their meat and dairy consumption, or by going fully
vegan. Businesses and food retailers can improve farming
practices and provide more plant-based products to help
people make the shift.
• Restore nature to absorb more carbon. The natural world
is very good at cleaning up our emissions, but we need to
look after it. Planting trees in the right places or giving land
back to nature through ‘rewilding’ schemes is a good place

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to start. This is because photosynthesising plants draw down

carbon dioxide as they grow, locking it away in soils.

• Protect forests like the Amazon. Forests are crucial in the

fight against climate change, and protecting them is an
important climate solution. Cutting down forests on an
industrial scale destroys giant trees which could be sucking
up huge amounts of carbon. Yet companies destroy forests
to make way for animal farming, soya or palm oil
plantations. Governments can stop them by making better
laws.

• Protect the oceans. Oceans also absorb large amounts of

carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which helps to keep our
climate stable. But many are overfished, used for oil and gas
drilling or threatened by deep sea mining. Protecting oceans
and the life in them is ultimately a way to protect ourselves
from climate change.

• Reduce how much people consume. Our transport,

fashion, food and other lifestyle choices all have different
impacts on the climate. This is often by design – fashion and
technology companies, for example, will release far more
products than are realistically needed. But while reducing
consumption of these products might be hard, it’s most

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certainly worth it. Reducing overall consumption in more

wealthy countries can help put less strain on the planet.

• Reduce plastic. Plastic is made from oil, and the process of

extracting, refining and turning oil into plastic (or even
polyester, for clothing) is carbon intense . It doesn’t break
down quickly in nature so a lot of plastic is burned, which
contributes to emissions. Demand for plastic is rising so
quickly that creating and disposing of plastics will account
for 17% of the global carbon budget by 2050 (this is the
emissions count we need to stay within according to the Paris
agreement).
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and to feel that climate change
is too big to solve. But we already have the answers, now it’s
a question of making them happen. To work, all of these
solutions need strong international cooperation between
governments and businesses, including the most polluting
sectors.
Individuals can also play a part by making better choices
about where they get their energy, how they travel, and what
food they eat. But the best way for anyone to help stop
climate change is to take collective action. This means
pressuring governments and corporations to change their
policies and business practices.

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Governments want to be re-elected. And businesses can’t

survive without customers. Demanding action from them is
a powerful way to make change happen.

The fossil fuel industry is blocking climate change action

Major oil and gas companies including BP, Exxon and Shell
have spent hundreds of millions of pounds trying to delay or
stop government policies that would have helped tackle the
climate crisis.
Despite the effects of climate change becoming more and
more obvious, big polluting corporations – the ones
responsible for the majority of carbon emissions – continue
to carry on drilling for and burning fossil fuels.
Industries including banks, car and energy companies also
make profits from fossil fuels. These industries are
knowingly putting money over the future of our planet and
the safety of its people.

What are world leaders doing to stop climate change?

With such a huge crisis facing the entire planet, the
international response should be swift and decisive. Yet
progress by world governments has been achingly slow.
Many commitments to reduce carbon emissions have been
set, but few are binding and targets are often missed.

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In Paris in 2015, world leaders from 197 countries pledged

to put people first and reduce their countries’ greenhouse gas
emissions. The Paris Agreement has the aim of limiting
global warming to well below 2ºC and ideally to 1.5°C.

Global climate change activism

Around the world, millions of us are taking steps to defend
our climate.
Tens of thousands of school strikers and people from all
walks of life have taken to the streets demanding a solution
to the climate emergency.
Over the years, Greenpeace has challenged oil companies
chasing new fossil fuels to extract and burn. We’ve also
called out the UK government for their failure to act fast
enough on the climate emergency. Meanwhile, ordinary
people have blocked tankers and fracking rigs, letting
everyone know that renewable energy is the answer to fossil
fuels.
Indigenous peoples are most severely affected by both the
causes and effects of climate change. They are often on the
front lines, facing down deforestation or kicking out fossil
fuel industries that want to put their water supplies at risk
from oil spills.
Communities in the Pacific Islands are facing sea level rises
and more extreme weather. But they are using their strength

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and resilience to demand world leaders take quicker climate

action in global meetings, such as COP21 in Paris 2015.
For many of these communities, climate change is a fight for
life itself. And for many countries around the world,
including the UK, climate change is having more and more
of a negative impact on people. As a country with the wealth
and power to really tackle climate change, it’s never been
more important to demand that our leaders act.

To conclude, the purpose of this section is to link the

skills you studied to a pressing global issue that is climate
change and to train you to extend your skills beyond the
classroom requirements. You need to organize your thoughts
about this pressing issue so that hopefully you can start
addressing the problem and raise awareness among you
family and friends.

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References
Disclaimer: This material is designed for inhouse educational purposes only and is
based on various sources including, but are not limited to, the following:

• A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking: Deciding What to Do and

Believe. Second Edition by DAVID A. HUNTER. Copyright ©
2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766
• http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/11/25/the-feynman-notebook-
method/
• The Thinking Student’s Guide to College by Andrew Roberts (the
source of several of the seven ways to think more critically)
• https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/thesis-antithesis-and-synthesis-a-
constructive-direction-for-politics-and-policy-after-brexit-and-
trump/
• https://www.englishgrammar.org/sentence-synthesis-exercise-10/
• http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Neck.shtml
• Achieving Critical Thinking Skills through reading short stories
(Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279677188
• Tasnimi, Mashad. Critical Reading: An Introduction. January 2017

• Malcolm Larking. Critical Reading Strategies in the Advanced

English Classroom.
• Ben Yudkin. Critical Reading: Making Sense of Research Papers in
Life Sciences and Medicine. Routledge

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