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Course: 5th grade reading & vocabulary > Unit 3
Lesson 3: Close reading: argumentative text- The structures of informational texts | Reading
- Analyzing an author's purpose | Reading
- What is an argument? | Reading
- Evaluating a source’s reasoning and evidence
- Reading more than one source on a topic | Reading
- Inventing Progress: reading informational text; Competition and Collaboration 5
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Reading more than one source on a topic | Reading
Reading multiple texts on a topic helps you gain expert knowledge, find the truth, and support your arguments. Different sources offer various perspectives and ideas. By comparing them, you can form your own opinions and become a better thinker.
Want to join the conversation?
- What's the title of the book? I want to read it!(4 votes)
- The title of the book David wrote before he started working at Khan Academy is Animals Attack. I've linked its goodreads page below:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53002083-animal-attack-a-wildlife-survival-guide(8 votes)
- How can books have opinions? they are not alive!?(0 votes)
- Great question! Books themselves aren't alive, but they are written by people who have their own thoughts and feelings. When someone writes a book, they can share their opinions through the words they choose and the ideas they talk about. That's how books can seem like they have opinions!(3 votes)
- are we actually the deadliest? 3:06(7 votes)
- No, mosquitoes have killed about 725,000 humans per year.(2 votes)
- What is an ideal amount of sources I should use?(3 votes)
- There isn't a set number of sources you must use, but reading more than one helps you understand a topic better. It's like getting advice from different friends; each one adds something new!(2 votes)
- Bro these pictures are so good!(3 votes)
- Why did he talk about animals that can kill people and family(1 vote)
- What is the ideal number of sources I should use?(1 vote)
- I personally use about 3-5, but you should use the amount that suits your topic or arguement.(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Narrator] Hello readers,
today I wanna talk to you about why we read more
than one text on one topic. And to show you why I shall use a subject that is very near and dear to my heart, animals that can kill you. This is not a joke. I legitimately wrote a book
about this a few years ago, and to research this book about the world's deadliest animals, I read a lot of other books and sources. So I wanna use this experience
to show you why it's important to read more than
one source on a subject. Okay, so why do it? Why not say all right, I read one text about the
Pacific Blue-ringed octopus. Why do I need to read two or three or 20? There are a couple reasons. Let's start with the
first, expert knowledge. If you wanna know all about octopuses, you can't just look at a
single piece of writing say, "Bam, got it, know all I need to know "I am the knower of octopus facts." No, you can't do it. If you want to become an expert, you need to be able to
say well, this book says the Pacific octopus toxin
can stop your heart. But this one says that
you can tell whether or not an octopus is
frightened by its color. Reason number two to
read multiple sources, helping to determine or know what's true. Sometimes people get things wrong. It helps to read more
than one text to make sure you're getting as many
perspectives or ideas as you can. Sometimes information from an old book might be outdated or
information from a new book hasn't yet been proven to be true. Reading different texts
can help you decide what you think about a topic, or even whether or not something is true. We can answer questions like, what is the deadliest animal? Or how do we even define deadliest? Reason number three, to read multiple texts on the same topic, supporting an argument. The more information you
can get about a topic, the more support you can give to your own opinions or arguments. I think that this animal
is the most dangerous because I've read a
bunch of different works about dangerous animals and I can support it with
evidence, you would say. If I were to say that
bears are more dangerous than I don't really know what I drew, I thought I was trying to draw a sheep but I think it's a hedgehog. If I were to try to argue that bears are more dangerous than hedgehogs, I would use multiple sources to provide evidence for those claims. Bears are taller, bears are heavier, bears have sharper teeth,
bears are stronger. Hedgehogs or sheep are cuter and cuddlier sorry to bears. It's important to recognize
that different books have different arguments in them. Every book has a different angle, right? Sometimes it's obvious
like a book with the title, "Deadly animals and how to hunt them" versus a book called "Deadly animals and how to
protect their habitats." People have opinions
and people make books. So, that means that books
can have opinions too. Are these animals cool or terrifying? Should they be hunted or protected? Reading one text on a subject doesn't give you the full story. It's important to be able
to read more than one text, compare them and then decide
what you think from that. It helps to have a purpose
in mind too as you read. Oh, and to answer your unspoken question, the deadliest animals on earth
are definitely human beings but in a close second place is hippos. Those guys will bite you in half. So you know, watch out for hippos. You can learn anything. David out.