Armando Valadez

Mr. Lasley
Critical Thinking and Writing 1
12 September 2017

CRL 1
The objective of this passage was to present how writing provides the platform where through
thorough analysis we can have the capability to transcribe our ideas and opinions into one
coherent essay that addresses larger social implications. It also presented an outline for how we
should go about reading and analyzing passages. For example, a major point of emphasis
revolved around reading the passage multiple times in order to find new ideas to incorporate into
our interpretation of the reading. The article says Through this activitywriting and rewriting
we have seen our students become strong, active, and critical leaders (3). This allows us to find
evidence to support or negate our initial impression. The article explains that we shouldnt get
discouraged by this but instead we should acknowledge that this means that we are noticing more
clues that helps expand our interpretation. The passage also emphasized that writing helps
structure our ideas and interpretation of the reading and by editing we enhance our structure and
ideas. In addition, the myth of passages having purposeful hidden meanings has been debunked
because the passage notes that, if such things as hidden meanings can be said to exist, they are
hidden by readers habits and prejudices ,or by readers timidity and passivity (5). Therefore,
it is up to us to take the time to read articles thoroughly to avoid the paranoia of hidden meanings
in our reading experience. Also emphasized was the idea that reading for memory purposes and
understanding purposes are different. When you read for memory all you are doing is
remembering to reiterate what the author wrote in their book. On the other hand you also have
reading for the purpose of understanding and analyzing the work in order to further the social
implications the author is making in order to form an opinion that can be backed with support
from the text. Another point that was heavily touched upon was the paradox inferring that you
can speak with authority while still acknowledging that complex issues are complex (9). By
writing with authority and certainty you have to realize that you accept or acknowledge that the
work still has some complex ideas that can not be directly answered, so we must be humbled to
an extent in this regard.

One major concept discussed was that our writing and interpretation of what we are researching
and reading should be multifaceted, meaning that we must be able to interpret the reading in a
way that is personal to us but still be able to take the intended literal meaning of the text. From
here we must incorporate both of these facets in order to have a strong structured essay. Another
major concept was that our writing is unique to our own personal interpretation. We all read and
analyze things differently and instead of harboring over that fact that we dont understand certain
ideas that same way our peers do does not mean that we are wrong. Rather we should embrace
our own point of view as long as it is substantiated with evidence and examples that can further
our point.