Chapter 3 & 14

Chapter 3

Personal Reaction: I found chapter three to be very straightforward with topic and ideas that I have been exposed to time and time again. One thing that was new to me was the breakdown of the critical thinking process. I found the table on the very first page to be very useful and helpful in explaining the process. I also really like the table on the fourth page that applied it to the real world.

Professional Reaction: Chapter three is centered around the critical thinking process. Critical thinking can be split up into three sub-categories: analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Analysis is the breaking elements into different parts based on a principle, synthesis is the combining of these parts to form a new whole and evaluation is the judging of the whole according to standards or criteria. To support you critical thinking, you must have many different types of evidence. There are four main types of evidence: facts, statistics, expert testimony and firsthand observations. When you are gathering your evidence, there are a few things to keep in mind: is the information accurate, reliable, up-to-date, to the point, representative, appropriately complex and sufficiently strong enough to support your claim? If you can answer yes to most of these questions, the evidence is suitable to be put into your writing. In addition to finding suitable evidence, make sure that that evidence appeals to your audience. Find evidence that is logical (logos), emotional (pathos) and ethical (ethos). Gathering your evidence is half the battle of critical thinking, the other half is presenting your critical thinking in an effective manner. The first thing to think about is whether you are going to present your information with a deductive or inductive approach. Next you must build your sequences and scaffolds. Lastly, you must present your information in a logical pattern. The four main logical patterns include: structuring your essay from your least persuasive to most persuasive point (visa versa), using compare and contrast or cause and effect.

Chapter 14

Personal Reaction: Chapter fourteen introduces topics that I have had little exposure to. I think that in my tenth grade English class we spent a week learning about this concept of visualizations and how to get the most out of the image in front of you, but not nearly as in depth as the book goes into. I enjoyed reading the chapter and found the content to be very interesting.

Professional Reaction: Chapter fourteen is all about responding to visual representations. There are three levels to responding to visual representations. The first level is “seeing the big picture”. This level is made up of five components: source, purpose, audience, prominent element and focal point. When you think of source, purpose and audience, think of these three questions: what is the context of the image, what is the purpose of the image and what audience does the image aim to attract? The prominent element in an image is the object, person, background or writing that is the main composition of the image. The focal point of the image brings the readers eye to that area purposely designated by the author. The next level is “observing the characteristics of an image”. This level is made up of objects, figures, action, background, selection of elements, relationship of elements, use of space, composition decisions, function decisions and typeface options. By examining the different components of this level, the reader will be able to gain a sense of the cast of characters, the story of the image, the design and arrangement of the image and the different artistic choices that the author chose to incorporate into their image. The last level is “interpreting the meaning of the image”.  In order to get the purpose of an image, a reader must take into account these five components: general feeling or mood, sociological, political, economic or cultural attitudes, language, signs and symbols and last but not least themes.

-Clayton Peppler

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