Module 3: Critical Reading Recommended Readings

About this page

These recommended readings offer an opportunity to deepen students’ engagement with the module through coherent, topical essays. The essays are all Creative Commons licensed, which means they can be downloaded and presented directly in the LMS. (Note: The assumption is that not all of these readings would be assigned. The instructor could pick one to assign to the class, or students could be given a choice if the class format allows.)

The readings listed here pair well with the material in the module “Critical Reading.”

Analyzing an Argument

  • Reading: How To Save the Middle Class When Jobs Don’t Pay
  • Author: Peter Barnes
  • Source: 88 Essays
  • License: CC BY
  • Short Summary: Uses several research questions to substantiate an argument how to help middle class Americans.
  • Discussions and Approaches: Ask students to locate the words “before, while, and after” in this reading. Have students practice “breaking down an argument” using examples from the reading.

Navigating Genre

  • Reading: Navigating Genres
  • Author: Kerry Dirk
  • Source: Writing Spaces
  • License: CC BY-NC-SA
  • Short Summary: Dirk summarizes genre theory for first-year college writers using examples from popular culture.
  • Discussions and Approaches: There are discussion questions at the end of the chapter. You may also want to have students define the term “genre” in their own using examples from their own lives.

Discussing Genre

  • Reading: Public Writing for Social Change
  • Author: Ashley J. Holmes
  • Source: Writing Spaces
  • License: CC BY-NC-ND
  • Short Summary: Discusses public writing as a genre and its potential role in creating social change.
  • Discussions and Approaches: There are discussion questions at the end of the chapter. Have students brainstorm the roles of “academics” and “citizens” as discussed in the reading as listed in Table 1. Are there other digital public spaces that this author misses?

Reading Like a Writer

  • Reading: How to Read Like a Writer
  • Author: Mike Bunn
  • Source: Writing Spaces
  • License: CC BY-NC-SA
  • Short Summary: Offers solid advice about how to use the experience of reading to become a better writer.  Includes the perspective of a number of students.
  • Discussions and Approaches: There are discussion questions at the end of the chapter.

Reading a Scholarly Article