How to Read Nonfiction like a Professor

Prologue

• We live in age of deliberate misinformation, found even in nonfiction books

• Not all non-fiction is used to push an agenda or contains misinformation

• One or two books that have misinformation can lead to distrust on other sources (example: two poisoned pills in a pharmacy)

Introduction

Critical reading is important and can be developed through research, practice, and support from multiple sources. You must know the facts to properly expand your knowledge.

Chapter 1: The Structure of Nonfiction Information

Four P’s:

• Problem: the author’s main motivation for writing the story; used as a hook for the reader

• Promise: what the author promises the reader will learn after

• Program: how the author will commit to the promise and how they’ll achieve it

• Platform: the credibility/expertise of the author; the justification of him giving out information

{Building Blocks of Argument}

• Claim: a statement or assertion someone makes, often without evidence

• Ground: credible evidence in the form of data or facts that supports the claim.

• Warrant: a logical connection of the claim and ground.

Chapter 5: It May Just Be Me, but..

• Everyone has a bias and it is an unremovable part of us

• Writers tend to reveal their bias, even if it’s a minimal amount

• We can see what the writer claims to not be biased against to see if they’re biased

• Biases can be used to provide different perspectives of the same thing

Chapter 6: Source Code

• Always check the sources and facts that a writer provides.

• Sources often come in the form of personal experience, experts, statistics, or data

• Newspapers contain the information of the reporter that checks in, magazine articles outline the recently released basic knowledge, and books compile and organize all of it.

Chapter 10: From the Inside Out

• An essay is a way for a writer to express his emotions, ideas, or feelings in their own unique way of writing

• Contrary to student belief, there isn’t a structured way to write essays

Chapter 15: Reading Internet Sources

• An editor’s job is to prevent a writer, reporter, or anchor from screwing up.

• Foster tells us to think as if we were an editor of the source.

• Wikipedia is unreliable because it allows both pro and amateur writers (or trolls) to freely edit pages.

Chapter 16: Social (Media) Disease

• Clickbait is often defined as misleading or exaggerated content found in headlines or titles.

• We can protect ourselves from clickbait by analyzing the article or opting for a more trustworthy source.

Conclusion

• We, as readers, should always apply critical thinking when reading and be able to discern misinformation.

• Don’t always trust non-fiction sources.