In This Chapter
Why Respond?
You may be wondering why college-level reading has different expectations than the reading you may have done in previous courses or in high school. Why do students need to take the time to analyze and respond to the texts they encounter?
In part, college students need to learn to read actively and critically because they are much more likely to be using texts that they find on their own. With the wealth of information available online, it’s important that students make sure that the resources they’re using are authoritative, relevant, and appropriate for the specific writing task.
As the chart below shows, the types of texts students will encounter in college are often different than the texts they were asked to read in high school. In high school, most of your reading was likely either literary texts, textbooks, or reference resources. In college, you’ll be required to read and understand argumentative analysis, various types of research, and even self-selected materials.
Because college students use a larger variety of texts, it becomes even more important for them to check the validity of those texts before using them as supporting evidence in their own work.
How to Respond
We have already looked at ways to analyze texts for the strength of their arguments and for their rhetorical appropriateness. But how do you respond to texts appropriately for college courses?
College-level writing requires students to dig deeper. It’s not enough to simply say whether you agree/disagree or like/dislike a text.
Detecting Bias
Academic writing should be unbiased and correct. This means that the sources an academic writer uses must also be free from bias and mistakes.
As you read, think about who the author is and what their background might be. You often will not be familiar with an author, so it’s important to do some basic online searches to determine if they have a well known political leaning or if any of their previous works can give you clues about possible bias.
Consider where the text has been published. Various publications have different biases, some more than others. Scholarly journals pride themselves on being neutral, objective resources, but some internet resources and other popular media are created for audiences with specific biases. People with more conservative viewpoints are served by Fox News, while those with more left-leaning or liberal viewpoints might gravitate toward MSNBC.
If you are unfamiliar with the source or the author, you should do a few quick searches to make sure they are not known for having a particular bias. You may be unaware of their bias, but your professor likely will be aware of this information.
The Medias Bias Chart is one resource you can use to determine the bias of a publication or media outlet. Remember that few sources are ever completely neutral. A publication’s bias does not immediately disqualify it from use in academic writing. Instead, a writer can demonstrate their awareness