Alyssa Mathews
HUM/111
April 8, 2012
Helen Leonard MC LPC
Critical evaluations of news stories can be very important to getting the whole story. Using critical thinking and reading skills is the key to understanding everything that is being discussed in the news report. In the report of Strictly Business: Spring, and recovery, in the air, critical evaluation is needed understand every aspect of the story. Skimming, reflecting, reading, evaluating, and then making judgment is important when reading this article. The story about the recovering real estate market in Vancouver, Washington provided a clear report on the message that the author was trying to get across. The depth is on point in that it includes statistics straight from a broker from Windermere Real Estate Stellar Group in Vancouver (Joner, 2012), and statistics from year-over-year pending sales, closed sales, and mortgages in foreclosure. Reflecting on opinion of the topic helps to determine if any information from the report is missing. The author included every aspect from closed sales to foreclosures, as well as commercial sales, there isn’t much else that could be covered to prove that spring is bringing a flourishing start to real estate sales over last year. Critical evaluation helped to determine what I know about the subject and rule out that the general aspects were all covered. As far as covering worldviews, there wasn’t any. The author could have done some research and included if this is a trend that is occurring all around or just in Clark County. Another alternate perspective could have been an actual report or interview from someone in the real estate business saying whether or not they feel as though their portion of economic contribution is really getting better. When critically evaluating, it is very important to consider the source. This is necessary in determining how accurate the statistics provided are. In Strictly Business, Joner did not cite any sources as to where her information was provided from, so it is difficult to determine if these numbers are just assumptions, or true facts. Since she is an employee for The Columbian, her credibility is ruled to be acceptable and it is doubtful that these numbers are just questionable assumptions. As downfalls are expected in the real estate business here and there, I assume they still have some numbers that have not improved. None of the downfalls have been mentioned though, which could have been included to show that no business is always going to see improvement and also to include another side of the story. Making distinctions when undertaking a critical evaluation is important because it helps to determine what is necessary, what was left out, what biases may be present, and many other important aspects to getting the most out of the story. If one is not able to make these distinctions, then you may be accepting and believing something that is inaccurate or biased. Ultimately, it helps to provide every aspect, angle, and point to the story without feeling like anything was missing. Making distinctions was important in getting the most out of Strictly Business: Spring, and recovery, in the air because it helped determine what was important, left out, biased, and on point. As was said, it helped to see every aspect of the story. Critical evaluation is important in getting the most out of any news story, especially, Strictly Business: Spring, and recovery, in the air. The strategies for critical reading are a useful tool for critical evaluation. By skimming, reflecting, reading, evaluating, and making final judgment are important steps in critically evaluating any news report. In this particular one, the steps were successful to see ever aspect of the story and understanding how and why the real estate market is now beginning to flourish in Clark County.
References
Joner, C. (2012, April). Strictly business: Spring, and recovery, in the air. Retrieved from http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/apr/08/spring-and-recovery-in-the-air-the-quick-brown-fox/
References: Joner, C. (2012, April). Strictly business: Spring, and recovery, in the air. Retrieved from http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/apr/08/spring-and-recovery-in-the-air-the-quick-brown-fox/
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