CRCB, ch. 7 Summary- Using Inferences to Identify Main Ideas

Inference is defined as: The process of making assumptions, and drawing conclusions about information, when the author’s opinions or ideas are not directly stated.” When an author writes a piece, they expect a certain amount of knowledge from the reader. Authors rely on a reader to connect the new information they are reading to the information that was already known to them about a certain topic. Reading is a two way conversation between the reader and the author. An author’s choice of words or diction is very important when the reader is trying to figure out what the author means in their writing. When a reader wants to establish a conversation with an author, then the reader has to understand the meaning of what is directly stated and indirectly implied in a piece of writing. There are strategies that offer assistance to effectively infer meaning when the author does not directly state their main points. “An author’s purpose is an author’s reason for writing.” Authors of text books inform the reader about specific subjects such as biology or mathematics. Authors of other types of materials such as essays or journals write to persuade the reader of the importance of issues that are important to them, or to entertain the reader. Successful readers will find the author’s reason and understand the writing. Authors sometimes use comparisons to illustrate their points in college texts. An author will use words such as, like or as to let the reader know they are making a comparison. By making comparisons between two items of information to illustrate a point to the reader, the author is trying to make the reader infer what the similarity is, in order to understand the point they are trying to make. Other times authors will put two completely different pieces of information next to each other without using any words to compare the two, in order to see if the reader can infer the meaning. Authors use tone to discuss their subject matter and to reveal their attitudes toward it. A reader can assess an author’s tone by examining their choice of words, and taking time to picture the images the author creates through figurative language. The author’s tone can also emphasize their purpose for writing. Authors can also be bias. They have emotions, opinions, and feelings like anyone else. For example, if an author has prejudice towards a particular animal, then they might focus on the negative attributes of the animal in their writing. When an author writes with bias, they don’t present a balanced or accurate picture of an issue. They leave out information that contradicts their point or they downplay and invalidate other view points. When reading a text if the reader comes across limited information or there is information missing then it becomes difficult to draw inferences from the material. Limited or missing information is referred to as information gaps. When the author leaves information gaps in an article they expect the reader to recognize the conversation pattern, mentally note the gaps, and fill in the blanks. An accomplished reader should know how much to infer. Recognizing the author’s perspective is very important. The reader should try to visualize things from the author’s perspective. Understand the difference when the author is stating facts or making assumptions. When a reader infers something they should test their conclusion against the other material in the text. If there is information in the text that challenges the reader’s inference, then they are inferring too much. If there are details supporting the reader’s inference, then their inference is most likely accurate. Readers are not only required to read and understand what is directly stated, but also to detect ideas that are implied or indirectly stated. In order to fully understand written material a reader has to combine the stated information with the additional information they generate through using inference.