SEKOLAH TINGGI KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDI
READING IV
Evaluating an Author’s Opinions
Mata kuliah : reading
Dosen pembimbing : Arif Hidayatullah M.pd
Oleh :
Apriyadi Sudirman
(12355 11111)
Azizul
(12355 11105)
Rendra Dwi NC
(12355 11094)
Kurrotul ayun L
(12355 11104)
SEKOLAH TINGGI KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN
PGRI BANGALAN
PROGRAM PENDIDIKAN BAHASA INGGRIS
TAHUN PELAJARAN 2014
Evaluating an Author’s Opinions
The ability to distinguish between the statements of fact and statements of opinion is
an important skill to develop because it can help you decide wether or not an author’s
opinions are justified. When we say that opinion is justified we mean that the author has
provided a number of covincing facts to support his or her personal belief. Justified opinions
are worthy of your serious consideration. You may event want to make them your own.
Beware, however, of statements of opinion that lack all factual support. We call these
unjustified opinions, and they should be treated with skepticism. You certainly do not want to
take them seriously without doing further reading on the subject.
To help you see the differences between justified and unjustified opinions, we offer
the following pair of paragraph. The first one expresses a justified opinion while the second
of does not.
“The National Bureau of Standart investigated the Hyatt Begeney accident in
Kansas City, where many people died when skywalk collapsed. Through that investigation, it
was discovered that the original design of the skywalks had been changed during the
construction of the building. As a result, the loads those structures could carry were greatly
reduced. In addition a second study by the international Conference of Building Officials
concluded that the building inspection prosedures at the time of construction were not
adequate. Given the results of these two studies, I would make the following suggetion: the
design of buldings, especially if they incoporate novel features and are used by large crowds,
should be carefully examined and evaluated at all stages of construction.”
The last sentence of this paragraph is a topic sentence expressing an opinion: from
now on, building with the new features that are not to be used by large crowds should be
carefully evaluated throughout the entire procces of construction.
But the author knows that his readers may not share that opinion. From their point of
view, the exitsting system of inspection may be just fine. In order to convince them, he offers
some specific facts about the construction of the Hyatt Regeney. This is his way of showing
you that his opinion is justified and therefore worth sharing.
Now read the second paragraph.
“We Americans like to brag about progress, but, in fact, life was better in the
nineteenth century that it is in the ttwentieth, people were happier and more, at peace with
themselves. There just wasn’t the same kind of axiety and tension that there is today. If we
had a chance, we would probably all get into a time machine and go backwward in time,
rather than forward. All of our highly touted technological progress has not brought us
contenment.”
The author of this paragraph clearly believes that life was much better one hundred
years ago that it is today. However, she does not offer one specific fact in support of that
belief. She might said, in support of her opinion, that the divorce rate was lower and that is
the reason why she believes peoplewere happier. or she might have pointed out that larger
families were more common and parents could live wit either children. Thus, old age did not
meanentry into a nursing home and isolation. But she does not say anything like this. Instead
she simply presents her opinion and expects us to accept it.
But we would have to say, in response to this paragraph, that the opinion is not
justified, and we wonder if people actually did feel that much better a century ago. Maybe
they did, but to find out, we would have to do more in reading. Above all, we would have to
see the specific facts on which the opinions is based. Otherwise, there is no reason to believe
that the author’s pinion has any basis in reality, pat or present, and we have to reserve
judgement untill we know more.
In the following exercise, you are to judge a series of paragraphs, deciding if the
opinions expressed are justified or not. To make that desicion, consider two important
questions.
1. What opinion is the author offering?
2. Does he or she offer relevant facts in support of that opinion?
Directions : each of the following paragraphs contains a topic sentence that expresses a
definite opinion. Underline that sentence. Then on the blank line that follows,
put a j for justified, if you think the author provides relevant facts. Put u for
unjustified, if you think the author has not provided any facts or has provided
only irrelevant ones.
Example : it is just not fair for smokers to be allowed to smoke when nonsmokers are
present; there should be more regulations forbidding people to indulge in
smoking if nonsmokers are present. In recent stud, the American Cancer
Association has reaffirmed and strengthened its original position on smoking
sigarettes and the incidence of lung cancer. In addition, smokers are three times
more likely to get heart disease and emphysema. U.
The 1970 book Nim, written by the phsychoogist Herbert Terrace, should be
required reading for all those people who are convinced that chimpanzees can
use sign language to “talk”. It should be required because it places in serious
doubt the notion that animal can “talk” like human being. After four years of
teaching Nim, a baby male chimp named for the linguist Noam Chomsky,
Terrace wrote an account of his experiments, and that account does not support
popular claims for animal language. As Terrace points out in the book, Nim, by
himself, seldom used any sign language at all. Instead, he confined himself to
responding to his trainers. Fifty percent of the time his signs imitated part or all
of his trainers original signs. In addition, whenever he never began to string
together more than two or three words, he would become confused and simply
repcat signs over and over again, never developing the ability to construct
sentences.
Explanation : in the first paragraph, the author firmly states his belief that smokers should
not be allowed to smoke if nonsmokers are present. From his point of view, it is
not affair to those who do not smoke. To support that opinion, he offers several
statements of fact, and you could easily check the American Cancer
Association’s most recent position on the dangers of smoking. However, those
facts are not relevant to the opinion expressed. They do not support the idea that
smoking in the presence of nonsmokers is not fair. Instead, they support the
opinion that smokers are endangering their lives by not quiting. For this reason,
we have put a U on the accompanying blank line. Opinions need to be supported
by facts, but those facts have to be relevant to the opinions expressed. That
means they have to be related to that opinion.
The auothor of the second paragraph believes that the book Nim challenges the
nation that chimps cn use sign language to talk as human being. That is her
opinion, formed from reading the book. However, she does not simply announce
her opinion and expect her readers to share it. Insted, she cites relevant facts
from the book to justify her opinion. Therefore, we have put a j on the
accompanying blank line.
CONCLUSION
In this part we discuss about how to decide an opinion that is justified and unjustified.
An opinion can called jsutified if the the author’s opinion s supported by facts. Not only facts
but with relevants and related to that opinion. When we say that opinion is justified we mean
that the author has provided a number of covincing facts to support his or her personal belief.
Justified opinions are worthy of your serious consideration. You may event want to make
them your own.
Beware, however, of statements of opinion that lack all factual support. We call these
unjustified opinions, and they should be treated with skepticism. You certainly do not want to
take them seriously without doing further reading on the subject.
Evaluating an Author’s Opinions
Mata kuliah : reading
Dosen pembimbing : Arif Hidayatullah M.pd
Oleh :
Apriyadi Sudirman
(12355 11111)
Azizul
(12355 11105)
Rendra Dwi NC
(12355 11094)
Kurrotul ayun L
(12355 11104)
SEKOLAH TINGGI KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN
PGRI BANGALAN
PROGRAM PENDIDIKAN BAHASA INGGRIS
TAHUN PELAJARAN 2014
Evaluating an Author’s Opinions
The ability to distinguish between the statements of fact and statements of opinion is
an important skill to develop because it can help you decide wether or not an author’s
opinions are justified. When we say that opinion is justified we mean that the author has
provided a number of covincing facts to support his or her personal belief. Justified opinions
are worthy of your serious consideration. You may event want to make them your own.
Beware, however, of statements of opinion that lack all factual support. We call these
unjustified opinions, and they should be treated with skepticism. You certainly do not want to
take them seriously without doing further reading on the subject.
To help you see the differences between justified and unjustified opinions, we offer
the following pair of paragraph. The first one expresses a justified opinion while the second
of does not.
“The National Bureau of Standart investigated the Hyatt Begeney accident in
Kansas City, where many people died when skywalk collapsed. Through that investigation, it
was discovered that the original design of the skywalks had been changed during the
construction of the building. As a result, the loads those structures could carry were greatly
reduced. In addition a second study by the international Conference of Building Officials
concluded that the building inspection prosedures at the time of construction were not
adequate. Given the results of these two studies, I would make the following suggetion: the
design of buldings, especially if they incoporate novel features and are used by large crowds,
should be carefully examined and evaluated at all stages of construction.”
The last sentence of this paragraph is a topic sentence expressing an opinion: from
now on, building with the new features that are not to be used by large crowds should be
carefully evaluated throughout the entire procces of construction.
But the author knows that his readers may not share that opinion. From their point of
view, the exitsting system of inspection may be just fine. In order to convince them, he offers
some specific facts about the construction of the Hyatt Regeney. This is his way of showing
you that his opinion is justified and therefore worth sharing.
Now read the second paragraph.
“We Americans like to brag about progress, but, in fact, life was better in the
nineteenth century that it is in the ttwentieth, people were happier and more, at peace with
themselves. There just wasn’t the same kind of axiety and tension that there is today. If we
had a chance, we would probably all get into a time machine and go backwward in time,
rather than forward. All of our highly touted technological progress has not brought us
contenment.”
The author of this paragraph clearly believes that life was much better one hundred
years ago that it is today. However, she does not offer one specific fact in support of that
belief. She might said, in support of her opinion, that the divorce rate was lower and that is
the reason why she believes peoplewere happier. or she might have pointed out that larger
families were more common and parents could live wit either children. Thus, old age did not
meanentry into a nursing home and isolation. But she does not say anything like this. Instead
she simply presents her opinion and expects us to accept it.
But we would have to say, in response to this paragraph, that the opinion is not
justified, and we wonder if people actually did feel that much better a century ago. Maybe
they did, but to find out, we would have to do more in reading. Above all, we would have to
see the specific facts on which the opinions is based. Otherwise, there is no reason to believe
that the author’s pinion has any basis in reality, pat or present, and we have to reserve
judgement untill we know more.
In the following exercise, you are to judge a series of paragraphs, deciding if the
opinions expressed are justified or not. To make that desicion, consider two important
questions.
1. What opinion is the author offering?
2. Does he or she offer relevant facts in support of that opinion?
Directions : each of the following paragraphs contains a topic sentence that expresses a
definite opinion. Underline that sentence. Then on the blank line that follows,
put a j for justified, if you think the author provides relevant facts. Put u for
unjustified, if you think the author has not provided any facts or has provided
only irrelevant ones.
Example : it is just not fair for smokers to be allowed to smoke when nonsmokers are
present; there should be more regulations forbidding people to indulge in
smoking if nonsmokers are present. In recent stud, the American Cancer
Association has reaffirmed and strengthened its original position on smoking
sigarettes and the incidence of lung cancer. In addition, smokers are three times
more likely to get heart disease and emphysema. U.
The 1970 book Nim, written by the phsychoogist Herbert Terrace, should be
required reading for all those people who are convinced that chimpanzees can
use sign language to “talk”. It should be required because it places in serious
doubt the notion that animal can “talk” like human being. After four years of
teaching Nim, a baby male chimp named for the linguist Noam Chomsky,
Terrace wrote an account of his experiments, and that account does not support
popular claims for animal language. As Terrace points out in the book, Nim, by
himself, seldom used any sign language at all. Instead, he confined himself to
responding to his trainers. Fifty percent of the time his signs imitated part or all
of his trainers original signs. In addition, whenever he never began to string
together more than two or three words, he would become confused and simply
repcat signs over and over again, never developing the ability to construct
sentences.
Explanation : in the first paragraph, the author firmly states his belief that smokers should
not be allowed to smoke if nonsmokers are present. From his point of view, it is
not affair to those who do not smoke. To support that opinion, he offers several
statements of fact, and you could easily check the American Cancer
Association’s most recent position on the dangers of smoking. However, those
facts are not relevant to the opinion expressed. They do not support the idea that
smoking in the presence of nonsmokers is not fair. Instead, they support the
opinion that smokers are endangering their lives by not quiting. For this reason,
we have put a U on the accompanying blank line. Opinions need to be supported
by facts, but those facts have to be relevant to the opinions expressed. That
means they have to be related to that opinion.
The auothor of the second paragraph believes that the book Nim challenges the
nation that chimps cn use sign language to talk as human being. That is her
opinion, formed from reading the book. However, she does not simply announce
her opinion and expect her readers to share it. Insted, she cites relevant facts
from the book to justify her opinion. Therefore, we have put a j on the
accompanying blank line.
CONCLUSION
In this part we discuss about how to decide an opinion that is justified and unjustified.
An opinion can called jsutified if the the author’s opinion s supported by facts. Not only facts
but with relevants and related to that opinion. When we say that opinion is justified we mean
that the author has provided a number of covincing facts to support his or her personal belief.
Justified opinions are worthy of your serious consideration. You may event want to make
them your own.
Beware, however, of statements of opinion that lack all factual support. We call these
unjustified opinions, and they should be treated with skepticism. You certainly do not want to
take them seriously without doing further reading on the subject.