Overview
This lecture provides a comprehensive review and practice for the HESI A2 Reading section, focusing on identifying main ideas, evaluating sources, understanding tone, logical reasoning, and interpreting visuals for exam success.
Author’s Purpose & Main Idea
- The author's purpose could be to inform, persuade, entertain, or help make a decision.
- Informing involves providing facts; persuading includes trying to convince the reader; entertaining uses storytelling or humor.
- Main ideas summarize the argument or overall message of a passage.
- Topic sentences usually state the main idea and are often, but not always, the first sentence in a paragraph.
Supporting Details & Logical Reasoning
- Supporting details provide specific evidence like statistics, dates, or examples to reinforce the main idea.
- Watch for faulty reasoning such as circular reasoning, either-or fallacies, or overgeneralizations.
- Opinions are subjective statements, while facts can be verified through studies or statistics.
- Conclusions should not be based on scare tactics or faulty logic.
Evaluating Sources
- Primary sources are original materials (autobiographies, emails, scientific presentations).
- Secondary sources interpret or analyze primary sources and may introduce bias.
- Credible sources are trustworthy, current, unbiased, and written by experts.
- Advertising is generally not considered a credible source.
Analyzing Graphics & Text Structure
- Understand bar graphs, pie charts, and flowcharts to extract relevant quantitative info.
- Sequence refers to the order of events; summary restates the main idea in new words.
- Transitions like "for instance" (example), "despite"/"on the contrary" (contrast), and "furthermore" (addition) clarify relationships between ideas.
Tone & Author’s Attitude
- Tone reflects the author’s attitude (objective, earnest, harsh, ironic, etc.).
- Irony occurs when the words used mean the opposite of their literal meaning.
- Earnest tone is sincere and honest; objective tone fairly presents multiple sides.
Drawing Conclusions & Inferences
- Infer based on clues and supporting details provided.
- Drawing a logical conclusion means connecting evidence to the main point.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Topic Sentence — a statement expressing the main idea of a paragraph.
- Supporting Detail — specific info that explains or proves the topic sentence.
- Primary Source — original, firsthand account or direct evidence.
- Secondary Source — commentary or analysis about a primary source.
- Credible — trustworthy and reliable.
- Tone — the writer’s attitude toward the subject.
- Logical Fallacy — error in reasoning, such as circular or either/or fallacy.
- Transition — word or phrase connecting ideas (e.g., "however," "for example").
- Summary — brief restatement of a text’s main idea in new words.
- Irony — language expressing the opposite of literal meaning.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Practice a full HESI A2 Reading section using provided resources.
- Review the difference between primary and secondary sources.
- Familiarize yourself with common logical fallacies.
- Study text structure, transitions, and identifying tone in passages.
- Analyze various graphic elements (charts, graphs, flowcharts) for data interpretation.