Current Issues and Enduring Questions

11th Edition, (Ebook PDF)

Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/current-issues-and-enduring-questions-11th-edition-e
book-pdf/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Current Issues and Enduring Questions 10th Edition –

PDF eBOOK

https://ebookmass.com/product/current-issues-and-enduring-
questions-10th-edition-pdf-ebook/

Current Psychotherapies 11th Edition, (Ebook PDF)

https://ebookmass.com/product/current-psychotherapies-11th-
edition-ebook-pdf/

(eTextbook PDF) for Sports in Society: Issues and

Controversies 11th Edition

https://ebookmass.com/product/etextbook-pdf-for-sports-in-
society-issues-and-controversies-11th-edition/

Nursing in Today’s World: Trends, Issues, and

Management 11th Edition, (Ebook PDF)

https://ebookmass.com/product/nursing-in-todays-world-trends-
issues-and-management-11th-edition-ebook-pdf/
Current Psychotherapies 11th Edition Danny Wedding

https://ebookmass.com/product/current-psychotherapies-11th-
edition-danny-wedding/

eTextbook 978-0134042435 Human Biology: Concepts and

Current Issues

https://ebookmass.com/product/etextbook-978-0134042435-human-
biology-concepts-and-current-issues/

Current Trends and Issues in Internal Communication:

Theory and Practice 1st ed. 2021 Edition Linjuan Rita
Men

https://ebookmass.com/product/current-trends-and-issues-in-
internal-communication-theory-and-practice-1st-ed-2021-edition-
linjuan-rita-men/

Communication Works, 11th edition 11th Edition, (Ebook

PDF)

https://ebookmass.com/product/communication-works-11th-
edition-11th-edition-ebook-pdf/

Current Diagnosis & Treatment Obstetrics & Gynecology,

12th Edition (Current Obstetric and Gynecologic
Diagnosis and Treatment) 12th Edition, (Ebook PDF)

https://ebookmass.com/product/current-diagnosis-treatment-
obstetrics-gynecology-12th-edition-current-obstetric-and-
gynecologic-diagnosis-and-treatment-12th-edition-ebook-pdf/
“writing” we mean the use of effective, respectable techniques, not gimmicks
(such as the notorious note a politician scribbled in the margin of the text of
his speech: “Argument weak; shout here”). For a delightfully wry account of
the use of gimmicks, we recommend that you consult “The Art of
Controversy” in The Will to Live by the nineteenth-century German
philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer reminds readers that a
Greek or Latin quotation (however irrelevant) can be impressive to the
uninformed and that one can knock down almost any proposition by loftily
saying, “That’s all very well in theory, but it won’t do in practice.”
We offer lots of advice about how to set forth an argument, but we do not
offer instruction in one-upmanship. Rather, we discuss responsible ways of
arguing persuasively. We know, however, that before one can write a
persuasive argument, one must clarify one’s own ideas — a process that
includes arguing with oneself — to find out what one really thinks about a
problem. Therefore, we devote Chapter 1 to critical thinking; Chapters 2, 3,
and 4 to critical reading (Chapter 4 is about reading images); and Chapters 5,
6, and 7 to critical writing.
Parts One and Two together contain thirty readings (seven are student
papers) for analysis and discussion. Some of these essays originated as op-ed
newspaper pieces, and we reprint some of the letters to the editor that they
generated, so students can easily see several sides to a given issue. In this way
students can, in their own responses, join the conversation, so to speak. (We
have found, by the way, that using the format of a letter helps students to
frame their ideas, and therefore in later chapters we occasionally suggest
writing assignments in the form of a letter to the editor.)
All of the essays in the book are accompanied by a list of Topics for
Critical Thinking and Writing.1 This is not surprising, given the emphasis we
place on asking questions in order to come up with ideas for writing. Among
the chief questions that writers should ask, we suggest, are “What is X?” and
“What is the value of X?” (pp. 226–27). By asking such questions — for
instance (to look only at these two types of questions), “Is the fetus a person?”
or “Is Arthur Miller a better playwright than Tennessee Williams?” — a
writer probably will find ideas coming, at least after a few moments of head
scratching. The device of developing an argument by identifying issues is, of
course, nothing new. Indeed, it goes back to an ancient method of argument
used by classical rhetoricians, who identified a stasis (an issue) and then
asked questions about it: Did X do such and such? If so, was the action bad? If
bad, how bad? (Finding an issue or stasis — a position where one stands —
by asking questions is discussed in Chapter 6.)
 In keeping with our emphasis on writing as well as reading, we raise
issues not only of what can roughly be called the “content” of the essays but
also of what can (equally roughly) be called the “style” — that is, the ways in
which the arguments are set forth. Content and style, of course, cannot finally
be kept apart. As Cardinal Newman said, “Thought and meaning are
inseparable from each other… . Style is thinking out into language.” In our
Topics for Critical Thinking and Writing, we sometimes ask the student
to evaluate the effectiveness of an essay’s opening paragraph,
to explain a shift in tone from one paragraph to the next, or
to characterize the persona of the author as revealed in the whole
essay.
In short, the book is not designed as an introduction to some powerful ideas
(though in fact it is that, too); it is designed as an aid to writing thoughtful,
effective arguments on important political, social, scientific, ethical, legal, and
religious issues.
The essays reprinted in this book also illustrate different styles of
argument that arise, at least in part, from the different disciplinary
backgrounds of the various authors. Essays by journalists, lawyers, judges,
social scientists, policy analysts, philosophers, critics, activists, and other
writers — including first-year undergraduates — will be found in these pages.
The authors develop and present their views in arguments that have
distinctive features reflecting their special training and concerns. The
differences in argumentative styles found in these essays foreshadow the
differences students will encounter in the readings assigned in many of their
other courses.
Parts One and Two, then, offer a preliminary (but we hope substantial)
discussion of such topics as
identifying assumptions;
getting ideas by means of invention strategies;
finding, evaluating, and citing printed and electronic sources;
interpreting visual sources;
evaluating kinds of evidence; and
organizing material as well as an introduction to some ways of
thinking.
Part Three: Further Views on Argument consists of Chapters 8 through 12.
 Chapter 8, A Philosopher’s View: The Toulmin Model, is a summary
of the philosopher Stephen Toulmin’s method for analyzing
arguments, covering claims, grounds, warrants, backing, modal
qualifiers, and rebuttals. This summary will assist those who wish to
apply Toulmin’s methods to the readings in our book.
Chapter 9, A Logician’s View: Deduction, Induction, Fallacies, offers
a more rigorous analysis of these topics than is usually found in
composition courses and reexamines from a logician’s point of view
material already treated briefly in Chapter 3.
Chapter 10, A Psychologist’s View: Rogerian Argument, with an essay
by psychotherapist Carl R. Rogers and an essay by a student,
complements the discussion of audience, organization, and tone in
Chapter 6.
Chapter 11, A Literary Critic’s View: Arguing about Literature, should
help students to see the things literary critics argue about and how they
argue. Students can apply what they learn not only to the literary
readings that appear in the chapter (poems by Robert Frost and
Andrew Marvell and a story by Kate Chopin) but also to the readings
that appear in Part Six, Enduring Questions: Essays, a Story, Poems,
and a Play. Finally, Part Three concludes with
Chapter 12, A Debater’s View: Individual Oral Presentations and
Debate, which introduces students to standard presentation strategies
and debate format.

THE ANTHOLOGY

Part Four: Current Issues: Occasions for Debate (Chapters 13–18) begins with
some comments on binary, or pro-con, thinking. It then gives a Checklist for
Analyzing a Debate and reprints five pairs of arguments — on student loan
debt (should it be forgiven?), using technology in the classroom (is it a boon
or a distraction?), the local food movement (is it a better way to eat?),
childhood and parenting (what’s best for kids?), genetic modification of
human beings, and mandatory military service (should it be required?). Here,
as elsewhere in the book, many of the selections (drawn from popular journals
and newspapers) are short — scarcely longer than the 500-word essays that
students are often asked to write. Thus, students can easily study the methods
the writers use, as well as the issues themselves.
 Part Five: Current Issues: Casebooks (Chapters 19–25) presents seven
chapters on issues discussed by several writers. For example, the first
casebook concerns the nature and purpose of a college education: Should
students focus their studies in STEM fields in the hopes of securing a more
stable future and contributing to the economy, or should college be a place
where students learn empathy, citizenship, and critical thinking — attributes
often instilled by the humanities?
Part Six: Enduring Questions: Essays, a Story, Poems, and a Play
(Chapters 26–28) extends the arguments to three topics: Chapter 26, What Is
the Ideal Society? (the voices here range from Thomas More, Thomas
Jefferson, and Martin Luther King Jr. to literary figures W. H. Auden, Walt
Whitman, and Ursula K. Le Guin); Chapter 27, How Free Is the Will of the
Individual within Society? (authors in this chapter include Plato, Susan
Glaspell, and George Orwell); and Chapter 28, What Is Happiness? (among
the nine selections in this chapter are writings by Epictetus, C. S. Lewis, and
the Dalai Lama).

What’s New in the Eleventh Edition

This eleventh edition brings highly significant changes. The authors of the
previous ten editions established a firm foundation for the book: Hugo Bedau,
professor of philosophy, brought analytical rigor to the instruction in
argumentation. and Sylvan Barnet, professor of English, contributed expertise
in writing instruction. They have now turned the project over to John O’Hara,
professor of critical thinking, to contribute a third dimension, augmenting and
enriching the material on critical thinking throughout, especially in the early
chapters. Other changes have been made to ensure practical instruction and
current topics.
Fresh and timely new readings. Thirty-seven of the essays (about one-
third of the total) are new, as are topics such as genetically engineered foods,
protection of religious rights in prison, marijuana regulation, technology’s
place in classrooms, social media’s effect on “real life,” over- and under-
parenting, American exceptionalism, police violence against minorities, and
the widespread jailing of U.S. citizens.
New debates and casebook topics. New debates include Technology in
the Classroom: Useful or Distracting?, The Current State of Childhood: Is
“Helicopter Parenting” or “Free-Range Childhood” Better for Kids?, and
Mandatory Military Service: Should It Be Required? New casebooks —
which were developed based on feedback from users of the text — include
Race and Police Violence: How Do We Solve the Problem?, Online Versus
IRL: How Has Social Networking Changed How We Relate to One Another?,
The Carceral State: Why Are So Many Americans in Jail?, and American
Exceptionalism: How Should the United States Teach about Its Past?
A vibrant new design. A new full-color layout makes the book more
engaging and easier for students to navigate, and an expanded trim size allows
more space for students to annotate and take notes. Over fifty new visuals,
including ads, cartoons, photographs, and Web pages, provide occasions for
critical inquiry.
Expanded coverage of critical thinking in Part One. Part One has been
heavily revised to help better show students how effective reading, analysis,
and writing all begin with critical thinking. Enhancements include an
expanded vocabulary for critical thinking, instruction on writing critical
summaries, guidance on confronting unfamiliar issues in reading and writing,
new strategies for generating essay topics, and extended critical reading
approaches.
New “Thinking Critically” activities. Throughout the text, new
interactive exercises test students’ ability to apply critical thinking, reading,
and writing concepts. Students can also complete these exercises online in
LaunchPad.
Expanded discussion of developing thesis statements in Chapter 6.
This updated section helps better illustrate for students what the difference is
between taking a truly critical position versus resting on their laurels in
argumentative essays.
Updated coverage of visual rhetoric in Chapter 4. The “Visual
Rhetoric” chapter has been expanded to include discussion of how to analyze
images rhetorically, including how to recognize and resist the meanings of
images, how to identify visual emotional appeals, and what the difference is
exactly between seeing passively and truly looking critically.
LaunchPad for Current Issues and Enduring Questions. This edition of
Current Issues includes access to LaunchPad — an interactive platform that
brings together the resources students need to prepare for class, working with
the textbook. Features include interactive questions and exercises and quizzes
on all of the readings and instructional content, allowing instructors to quickly
get a sense of what students understand and what they need help with. You
and your students can access LaunchPad at
macmillanhighered.com/barnetbedauohara. Students receive access
automatically with the purchase of a new book. Students can purchase
standalone access at macmillanhighered.com/barnetbedauohara. To get
instructor access, register as an instructor at this site.

Acknowledgments
Finally, the authors would like to thank those who have strengthened this
book by their comments and advice on the eleventh edition: Heidi Ajrami,
Victoria College; Rick Alley, Tidewater Community College; Kristen
Bennett, Wentworth Institute of Technology; David Bordelon, Ocean County
College; Linda Borla, Cypress College; Chris Brincefield, Forsyth Technical
Community College; Erin Carroll, Ocean County College; Tamy Chapman,
Saddleback College; Donald Carreira Ching, Leeward Community College;
Jeanne Cosmos, Mass Bay Community College; Marlene Cousens, Yakima
Community College; Christie Diep, Cypress College; Sarah Fedirka,
University of Findlay; Mary Ellen Gleason, Paul D. Camp Community
College; Michael Guista, Allan Hancock College; Anthony Halderman, Allan
Hancock College; Tony Howard, Collin College; Tariq Jawhar, Tidewater
Community College; Patrick Johnson, Northwest Iowa Community College;
Amy Jurrens, Northwest Iowa Community College; Fay Lee, Lone Star
College CyFair; James McFadden, Buena Vista University; Patricia Mensch,
Bellevue College; Cornelia Moore, Victor Valley College; Sylvia Newman,
Weber State University; Robert Piluso, Chaffey College; Jenni Runte,
Metropolitan State University; Anne Spollen, Ocean County College;
Rosanna Walker, College of the Desert; Ronald Tulley, University of Findlay;
Steve Yarborough, Bellevue College; and our anonymous reviewers from San
Joaquin Delta College, University of South Alabama, and Worcester State
University. We would also like to thank Kalina Ingham, Elaine Kosta, Martha
Friedman, Angela Boehler, and Jen Simmons, who adeptly managed art
research and text permissions.
We are also deeply indebted to the people at Bedford/St. Martin’s,
especially to our editor, Alicia Young, who is wise, patient, supportive, and
unfailingly helpful. Steve Scipione, Maura Shea, John Sullivan, and Adam
Whitehurst, our editors for all of the preceding editions, have left a lasting
impression on us and on the book; without their work on the first ten editions,
there probably would not be an eleventh. Others at Bedford/St. Martin’s to
whom we are deeply indebted include Edwin Hill, Leasa Burton, Karen
Henry, Joy Fisher Williams, Jennifer Prince, Elise Kaiser, and Jessica Gould,
all of whom have offered countless valuable (and invaluable) suggestions.
Intelligent, informed, firm yet courteous, persuasive — all of these folks
know how to think and how to argue.

Get the Most Out of Your Course with Current Issues and
Enduring Questions
Bedford/St. Martin’s offers resources and format choices that help you and
your students get even more out of your book and course. To learn more about
or to order any of the following products, contact your Macmillan sales
representative, e-mail sales support (sales_support@bfwpub.com), or visit
the Web site at macmillanhighered.com/currentissues11e/catalog.

LAUNCHPAD FOR CURRENT ISSUES AND ENDURING QUESTIONS : WHERE

STUDENTS LEARN

LaunchPad provides engaging content and new ways to get the most out of
your book. Get an interactive e-book combined with useful, highly relevant
materials in a fully customizable course space; then assign and mix our
resources with yours.
Auto-graded reading quizzes, comprehension quizzes on argument
topics, and interactive writing templates help students to engage
actively with the material you assign.
Pre-built units — including readings, videos, quizzes, discussion
groups, and more — are easy to adapt and assign by adding your
own materials and mixing them with our high-quality multimedia
content and ready-made assessment options, such as LearningCurve
adaptive quizzing. LearningCurve now includes argument modules
focusing on topic, purpose, and audience, arguable claims, reasoning
and logical fallacies, and persuasive appeals (logos, pathos, and
ethos).
LaunchPad also provides access to a Gradebook that provides a clear
window on the performance of your whole class, individual students,
and even results of individual assignments.
A streamlined interface helps students focus on what’s due, and
social commenting tools let them engage, make connections, and learn
from each other. Use LaunchPad on its own or integrate it with your
 school’s learning management system so that your class is always on
the same page.
To get the most out of your book, order LaunchPad for Current Issues and
Enduring Questions packaged with the print book. (LaunchPad for Current
Issues and Enduring Questions can also be purchased on its own.) An
activation code is required. To order LaunchPad for Current Issues and
Enduring Questions with the print book, use ISBN 978-1-319-05917-0.

CHOOSE FROM ALTERNATIVE FORMATS OF CURRENT ISSUES AND ENDURING

QUESTIONS

Current Issues and Enduring Questions is available in a variety of e-book

formats. For details about our e-book partners, visit
macmillanlearning.com/ebooks.

SELECT VALUE PACKAGES

Add value to your text by packaging one of the following resources with
Current Issues and Enduring Questions. To learn more about package options
for any of the following products, contact your Bedford/St. Martin’s sales
representative or visit macmillanhighered.com/currentissues11e/catalog.
Writer’s Help 2.0 is a powerful online writing resource that helps
students find answers whether they are searching for writing advice on their
own or as Part of an assignment.
Smart search: Built on research with more than 1,600 student writers,
the smart search in Writer’s Help 2.0 provides reliable results even
when students use novice terms, such as flow and unstuck.
Trusted content from our best-selling handbooks: Choose Writer’s
Help 2.0, Hacker Version or Writer’s Help 2.0, Lunsford Version and
ensure that students have clear advice and examples for all of their
writing questions.
Adaptive exercises that engage students: Writer’s Help 2.0 includes
LearningCurve, game-like online quizzing that adapts to what students
already know and helps them focus on what they need to learn.
Student access is packaged with Current Issues and Enduring Questions
at a significant discount. Order ISBN 978-1-319-10225-8 for Writer’s Help
2.0, Hacker Version or ISBN 978-1-319-10224-1 for Writer’s Help 2.0,
Lunsford Version to ensure your students have easy access to online writing
support. Students who rent a book or buy a used book can purchase access to
Writer’s Help 2.0 at macmillanhighered.com/writershelp2.
Instructors may request free access by registering as an instructor at
macmillanhighered.com/writershelp2.
For technical support, visit macmillanhighered.com/getsupport.
Portfolio Keeping, Third Edition, by Nedra Reynolds and Elizabeth
Davis, provides all the information students need to use the portfolio method
successfully in a writing course. Portfolio Teaching, a companion guide for
instructors, provides the practical information instructors and writing program
administrators need to use the portfolio method successfully in a writing
course. To order Portfolio Keeping packaged with this text, contact your sale
representative for a package ISBN.

INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES

macmillanhighered.com/currentissues11e/catalog
You have a lot to do in your course. Bedford/St. Martin’s wants to make it
easy for you to find the support you need — and to get it quickly.
Resources for Teaching Current Issues and Enduring Questions is
available as a PDF that can be downloaded from the Bedford/St. Martin’s
online catalog at the URL above. In addition to chapter overviews and
teaching tips, the instructor’s manual includes a sample syllabus and
suggested classroom activities.
Join Our Community! The Macmillan English Community is now
Bedford/St. Martin’s home for professional resources, featuring Bedford Bits,
our popular blog site offering new ideas for the composition classroom and
composition teachers. Connect and converse with a growing team of Bedford
authors and top scholars who blog on Bits: Andrea Lunsford, Nancy
Sommers, Steve Bernhardt, Traci Gardner, Barclay Barrios, Jack Solomon,
Susan Bernstein, Elizabeth Wardle, Doug Downs, Liz Losh, Jonathan
Alexander, and Donna Winchell.
In addition, you’ll find an expanding collection of additional resources
that support your teaching:
Sign up for webinars.
Download resources from our professional resource series that support
your teaching.
 Start a discussion.
Ask a question.
Follow your favorite members.
Review projects in the pipeline.
Visit community.macmillan.com to join the conversation with your fellow
teachers.
Brief Contents
Preface

PART ONE CRITICAL THINKING AND

READING
1 Critical Thinking
2 Critical Reading: Getting Started
3 Critical Reading: Getting Deeper into Arguments
4 Visual Rhetoric: Thinking about Images as Arguments

PART TWO CRITICAL WRITING

5 Writing an Analysis of an Argument
6 Developing an Argument of Your Own
7 Using Sources

PART THREE FURTHER VIEWS ON

ARGUMENT
8 A Philosopher’s View: The Toulmin Model
9 A Logician’s View: Deduction, Induction, Fallacies
10 A Psychologist’s View: Rogerian Argument
11 A Literary Critic’s View: Arguing about Literature
12 A Debater’s View: Individual Oral Presentations and Debate

PART FOUR CURRENT ISSUES: OCCASIONS

FOR DEBATE
13 Student Loans: Should Some Indebtedness Be Forgiven?
14 Technology in the Classroom: Useful or Distracting?
15 The Local Food Movement: Is It a Better Way to Eat?
16 The Current State of Childhood: Is “Helicopter Parenting” or “Free-
Range Childhood” Better for Kids?
17 Genetic Modification of Human Beings: Is It Acceptable?
18 Mandatory Military Service: Should It Be Required?

PART FIVE CURRENT ISSUES: CASEBOOKS

19 A College Education: What Is Its Purpose?
20 Race and Police Violence: How Do We Solve the Problem?
21 Junk Food: Should the Government Regulate Our Intake?
22 Online Versus IRL: How Has Social Networking Changed How We
Relate to One Another?
23 Immigration: What Is to Be Done?
24 The Carceral State: Why Are So Many Americans in Jail?
25 American Exceptionalism: How Should the United States Teach about
Its Past?

PART SIX ENDURING QUESTIONS: ESSAYS,

A STORY, POEMS, AND A PLAY
26 What Is the Ideal Society?
27 How Free Is the Will of the Individual within Society?
28 What Is Happiness?
Index of Authors and Titles
Index of Terms
Contents
Preface

PART ONE CRITICAL THINKING AND

READING
1 CRITICAL THINKING
Thinking Through an Issue: Gay Marriage Licenses
On Flying Spaghetti Monsters: Analyzing and Evaluating from
Multiple Perspectives
Critical Thinking at Work: From Jottings to a Short Essay
A Student’s Essay, Developed from a Cluster and a List
Stirred and Strained: Pastafarians Should Be Allowed to Practice
in Prison (Student Essay)
The Essay Analyzed
Generating Ideas: Writing as a Way of Thinking
Confronting Unfamiliar Issues
Topics
NINA FEDOROFF,
The Genetically Engineered Salmon Is a Boon for
Consumers and Sustainability
The Evan Pugh professor emerita at Penn State University argues in
favor of GMO foods, citing AquaBounty’s genetically modified
salmon as “tak[ing] pressure off wild salmon and mak[ing] salmon
farming more sustainable.”
THINKING CRITICALLY: GENERATING TOPICS
A CHECKLIST FOR CRITICAL THINKING

A Short Essay Calling for Critical Thinking

LYNN STUART PARRAMORE, Fitbits for Bosses
 The author warns against the “brave new world of workplace
biosurveillance.”
Overall View of the Essay
Examining Assumptions
A CHECKLIST FOR EXAMINING ASSUMPTIONS

JENA McGREGOR, Military Women in Combat: Why Making It

Official Matters
“Ending the restrictions [will give] the military the best pool of talent
possible and the most diverse viewpoints for leading it.”

2 CRITICAL READING: GETTING STARTED

Active Reading
Previewing
A Short Essay for Previewing Practice
SANJAY GUPTA, Why I Changed My Mind on Weed
“I had steadily reviewed the scientific literature on medical marijuana
from the United States and thought it was fairly unimpressive… .
Well, I am here to apologize.”
THINKING CRITICALLY: PREVIEWING

Reading with a Careful Eye: Underlining, Highlighting, Annotating

“This; Therefore, That”
Defining Terms and Concepts
THINKING CRITICALLY: DEFINING TERMS AND CONCEPTS

Summarizing and Paraphrasing

Paraphrase, Patchwriting, and Plagiarism
A CHECKLIST FOR A PARAPHRASE

Strategies for Summarizing

Critical Summary
SUSAN JACOBY, A First Amendment Junkie
A feminist argues against those feminists who seek to ban
pornography.
 Summarizing Jacoby
A CHECKLIST FOR GETTING STARTED

Essays for Analysis

ZACHARY SHEMTOB AND DAVID LAT, Executions Should Be Televised
The authors argue that “a democracy demands a citizenry as informed
as possible about the costs and benefits of society’s ultimate
punishment.”
GWEN WILDE, Why the Pledge of Allegiance Should Be Revised
(Student Essay)
A student concludes that “those who wish to exercise religion are
indeed free to do so, but the place to do so is not in a pledge that is
required of all schoolchildren and of all new citizens.”
A Casebook for Critical Reading: Should Some Kinds of Speech Be
Censored?
SUSAN BROWNMILLER, Let’s Put Pornography Back in the Closet
The founder of Women against Pornography argues that
“contemporary community standards” should be decisive.
CHARLES R. LAWRENCE III, On Racist Speech
“Whenever we decide that racist speech must be tolerated because of
the importance of maintaining societal tolerance for all unpopular
speech, we are asking blacks and other subordinated groups to bear
the burden for the good of all.”
DEREK BOK, Protecting Freedom of Expression on the Campus
Prompted by the display of Confederate flags hung from the window
of a Harvard dormitory, the president of Harvard says that students
have the right to display the flags, but he expresses his “regret” and
suggests that students who are offended by the flags should simply
“ignore them.”
THINKING FURTHER: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND SOCIAL MEDIA

3 CRITICAL READING: GETTING DEEPER INTO ARGUMENTS

Persuasion, Argument, Dispute
THINKING CRITICALLY: ESTABLISHING TRUSTWORTHINESS AND CREDIBILITY
Reason versus Rationalization
Some Procedures in Argument
Definition
THINKING CRITICALLY: GIVING DEFINITIONS

Assumptions
Premises and Syllogisms
Deduction
Sound Arguments
Induction
Evidence: Experimentation, Examples, Authoritative Testimony,
Statistics
A CHECKLIST FOR EVALUATING STATISTICAL EVIDENCE

Nonrational Appeals
Satire, Irony, Sarcasm, Humor
Emotional Appeals
Does All Writing Contain Arguments?
A CHECKLIST FOR ANALYZING AN ARGUMENT

An Example: An Argument and a Look at the Writer’s Strategies

GEORGE F. WILL, Being Green at Ben and Jerry’s
Statistics and humor are among the tools this essayist uses in arguing
on behalf of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
George F. Will’s Strategies
Arguments for Analysis
STANLEY FISH, When “Identity Politics” Is Rational
“Is it so irrational and retrograde to base one’s vote on the gender or
race or religion or ethnicity of a candidate? Not necessarily.”
GLORIA JIMÉNEZ, Against the Odds, and against the Common Good
(Student Essay)
A student analyzes the arguments for state-run lotteries and concludes
that “state legislators who genuinely have the interests of their
 constituents at heart will not pass bills that … cause the state to
engage in an activity that is close to pickpocketing.”
ANNA LISA RAYA, It’s Hard Enough Being Me (Student Essay)
An undergraduate, who in college “discovered” that she was a Latina,
objects to being stereotyped and explains how she decided to try to be
true to herself, not to the image that others have constructed for her.
RONALD TAKAKI, The Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority
The image of Asian Americans as a “model minority” is not only
harmful but false, writes a professor of ethnic studies.
JAMES Q. WILSON, Just Take Away Their Guns
A professor explains why he favors “encouraging the police to make
street frisks” to get guns out of the hands of those most likely to use
them for criminal purposes.
KAYLA WEBLEY, Is Forgiving Student Loan Debt a Good Idea?
“Why should taxpayers — especially those who never attended
college in the first place — foot the bill for the borrowers’ education?”
ALFRED EDMOND JR.,Why Asking for a Job Applicant’s Facebook
Password Is Fair Game
A businessman says that, at least for certain kinds of operations — he
cites “the child care industry” — the employer can reasonably request
the potential employee’s Facebook password.
SHERRY TURKLE, The Flight from Conversation
A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology argues that,
in an age of texting, “We live in a technological universe in which we
are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation
for mere connection.”

4 VISUAL RHETORIC: THINKING ABOUT IMAGES AS

ARGUMENTS
Uses of Visual Images
Types of Emotional Appeals
Seeing versus Looking: Reading Advertisements
A CHECKLIST FOR ANALYZING IMAGES (ESPECIALLY ADVERTISEMENTS)
 Other Aspects of Visual Appeals
Levels of Images
Accommodating, Resisting, and Negotiating the Meaning of Images
Are Some Images Not Fit to Be Shown?
Politics and Pictures
Writing about a Political Cartoon
A CHECKLIST FOR EVALUATING AN ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL CARTOONS
THINKING CRITICALLY: ANALYSIS OF A POLITICAL CARTOON

JACKSON SMITH, Pledging Nothing? (Student Essay)

Visuals as Aids to Clarity: Maps, Graphs, and Pie Charts
A CHECKLIST FOR CHARTS AND GRAPHS

Using Visuals in Your Own Paper

Additional Images for Analysis
NORA EPHRON, The Boston Photographs
Arguing against the widespread view that newspapers ought not to
print pictures of dead bodies, Ephron suggests that, since “death
happens to be one of life’s main events,” it is “irresponsible … for
newspapers to fail to show it.”

PART TWO CRITICAL WRITING

5 WRITING AN ANALYSIS OF AN ARGUMENT
Analyzing an Argument
Examining the Author’s Thesis
Examining the Author’s Purpose
Examining the Author’s Methods
Examining the Author’s Persona
Examining Persona and Intended Audience
A CHECKLIST FOR ANALYZING AN AUTHOR’S INTENDED AUDIENCE

Summary
A CHECKLIST FOR ANALYZING A TEXT
 An Argument, Its Elements, and a Student’s Analysis of the
Argument
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, For Environmental Balance, Pick Up a Rifle
“Let’s bring back hunting.”
THINKING CRITICALLY: DRAWING CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLYING PROOF

The Essay Analyzed

BETSY SWINTON, Tracking Kristof (Student Essay)
An Analysis of the Student’s Analysis
A CHECKLIST FOR WRITING AN ANALYSIS OF AN ARGUMENT

Arguments for Analysis

JEFF JACOBY, Bring Back Flogging
A journalist argues that, for many offenses, flogging would be an
improvement over prison.
GERARD JONES, Violent Media Is Good for Kids
The author of numerous comic books argues that gangsta rap and
other forms of “creative violence” do more good than harm.
JUSTIN CRONIN, Confessions of a Liberal Gun Owner
A lifelong Democrat makes a case for the right to bear arms.
PETER SINGER, Animal Liberation
Should supporters of equality for women and minorities support
equality for animals? Yes, says a philosopher, who explains why.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER, Let Them Eat Dog: A Modest Proposal for
Tossing Fido in the Oven
In the tradition of Jonathan Swift, a modern essayist argues that “dogs
are practically begging to be eaten… . eating those strays, those
runaways, those not-quite-cute-enough-to-take and not-quite-well-
behaved-enough-to-keep dogs would be killing a flock of birds with
one stone and eating it, too.”

6 DEVELOPING AN ARGUMENT OF YOUR OWN

Planning, Drafting, and Revising an Argument
Getting Ideas: Argument as an Instrument of Inquiry
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
The Lunar “Crater” Frontispiece
Copernicus

Photograph of South 8
Polar Region of the
Moon

The Moon near the 20

“Crater” Tycho

Drawing of Jupiter 28

Drawing of Jupiter 28

Jupiter 38

Saturn 46

Saturn 46

The Milky Way about Chi 58

Cygni
The Great Southern 64
Star-Cluster in
Centauri

Photograph of a Group 76
of Sun-Spots

Polar Streamers of the 89

Sun, Eclipse of 1889

Solar Corona at the 89

Eclipse of 1871

Morehouse's Comet, 96
October 15, 1908

Morehouse's Comet, 96
November 15, 1908

Head of the Great 105

Comet of 1861

Halley's Comet, May 5, 105

1910

The Six-Tailed Comet of 112

1744

Spiral Nebula in Ursa 124

Major (M 101)

The Whirlpool Nebula in 124

 Canes Venatici

Tress Nebula (N. G. C. 132

6992) in Cygnus

The Great Andromeda 140

Nebula

Spiral Nebula in 154

Cepheus (H. IV. 76)

Nebulous Groundwork 154

in Taurus

Nebula in Sagittarius (M. 162

8)

The Great Nebula in 180

Orion

Photographs of Mars 200

Schiaparrelli’s Chart of 220

Martian “Canals”

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

The Rational and the 12

Sensible Horizon

Altitude and Azimuth 14

Right Ascension and 35
Declination

The Ecliptic and Celestial 51

Latitude and Longitude

How the Earth Controls 75

the Moon

The Tidal Force of the 79

Moon

Refraction 85

Dip of the Horizon 87

Sidereal and Solar Time 93

The Change of Day 101

The Seasons 107

Parallax of the Moon 139

Parallax of the Sun from 141

Transit of Venus

Spectrum Analysis 147

The Phases of the Moon 160

Orbits of Mars and the 183

Earth
Ellipse, Parabola, and 203
Hyperbola

The North Circumpolar 244

Stars

Key to North Circumpolar 245

Stars
 PART I.
THE CELESTIAL SPHERE.
 PART I.

THE CELESTIAL SPHERE.

1. Definition of Astronomy. Astronomy has to do with the earth,

sun, moon, planets, comets, meteors, stars, and nebulæ; in other
words, with the universe, or “the aggregate of existing things.” It is
the most ancient of all sciences. The derivation of the name from two
Greek words, aster, “star,” and nomos, “law,” indicates its nature. It
deals with the law of the stars—the word “star” being understood, in
its widest signification, as including every heavenly body of whatever
kind. The earth itself is such a body. Since we happen to live on the
earth, it becomes our standpoint in space, from which we look out at
the others. But, if we lived on some other planet, we would see the
earth as a distant body in the sky, just as we now see Jupiter or
Mars.
Astronomy teaches us that everything in the universe, from the
sun and the moon to the most remote star or the most extraordinary
nebula, is related to the earth. All are made of similar elementary
substances and all obey similar physical laws. The same substance
which is a solid upon the earth may be a gas or a vapour in the sun,
but that does not alter its essential nature. Iron appears in the sun in
the form of a hot vapour, but fundamentally it is the same substance
which exists on the earth as a hard, tough, and heavy metal. Its
different states depend upon the temperature to which it is
subjected. The earth is a cool body, while the sun is an intensely hot
one; consequently iron is solid on the earth and vaporous in the sun,
just as in winter water is solid ice on the surface of a pond and
steamy vapour over the boiler in the kitchen. Even on the earth we
can make iron liquid in a blast furnace, and with the still greater
temperatures obtainable in a laboratory we can turn it into vapour,
thus reducing it to something like the state in which it regularly exists
in the sun.
This fact, that the entire universe is made up of similar
substances, differing only in state according to the local
circumstances affecting them, is the greatest thing that astronomy
has to tell us. It may be regarded as the fundamental law of the
stars.
2. The Situation of the Earth in the Heavens. One of the
greatest triumphs of human intelligence is the discovery of the real
place which the earth occupies in the universe. This discovery has
been made in spite of the most deceptive appearances. If we
accepted the sole evidence of our eyes, as men once did, we could
only conclude that the earth was the centre of the universe. In the
daytime we see the sun apparently moving through the sky from east
to west, as if it were travelling in a circle round the earth, overhead
by day and underfoot at night. In the night-time, we see the stars
apparently travelling round the earth in the same way as the sun.
The fact is, that all of them are virtually motionless with regard to the
earth, and their apparent movements through the sky are produced
by the earth's rotation on its axis. The earth turns round on itself
once every twenty-four hours, like a spinning ball. Imagine a fly on a
rotating school globe; the whole room would appear to the fly to be
revolving round it as the heavens appear to revolve round the earth.
It would have to be a very intelligent insect to correct the deceptive
evidence of its eyes.
The actual facts, revealed by many centuries of observation and
reasoning, are that the earth is a rotating globe, turning once on its
axis every twenty-four hours and revolving once round the sun every
three hundred and sixty-five days. The sun is also a globe,
1,300,000 times larger than the earth, but so hot that it glows with
intense brilliance, while the substances of which it consists are kept
in a gaseous or vaporous state. Besides the earth there are seven
other principal globes, or planets, which revolve round the sun, at
various distances and in various periods, and, in addition to these,
there are hundreds of smaller bodies, called asteroids or small
planets. There are also many singular bodies called comets, and
swarms of still smaller ones called meteors, which likewise revolve
round the sun.
The earth and the other bodies of which we have just spoken are
not only cooler than the sun, but most of them are in a solid state
and do not shine with light of their own. The sun furnishes both heat
and light to the smaller and cooler bodies revolving round it. In fact,
the sun is simply a star, resembling the thousands of other stars
which surround us in the sky, and its apparent superiority to them is
due only to the fact that it is relatively near-by while they are far
away. It is probable that all, or most, of the stars also have planets,
comets, and meteors revolving round them, but invisible owing to
their immense distance.
The “paths” in which the earth and the other planets and bodies
travel in their revolutions round the sun are called their orbits. These
orbits are all elliptical in shape, but those of the earth and the other
large planets are not very different from circles. Some of the
asteroids, and all of the comets, however, travel in elliptical orbits of
considerable eccentricity, i. e., which differ markedly from circles.
The orbit of the earth differs so slightly from a circle that the
eccentricity amounts to only about one-sixtieth. The distance of the
earth from the sun being, on the average, 93,000,000 miles, the
eccentricity of its orbit causes it to approach to within about
91,500,000 miles in winter (of the northern hemisphere) and to
recede to about 94,500,000 miles in summer. The point in its orbit
where the earth is nearest the sun is called perihelion, and the point
where it is farthest from the sun, aphelion. The earth is at perihelion
about Jan. 1, and at aphelion about July 4.
Now, in order to make a general picture in the mind of the earth's
situation, let the reader suppose himself to be placed out in space as
far from the sun as from the other stars. Then, if he could see it, he
would observe the earth as a little speck, shining like a mote in the
sunlight, and circling in its orbit close around the sun. The universe
would appear to him to be somewhat like an immense spherical
room filled with scattered electric-light bulbs, suspended above,
below, and all around him, each of these bulbs representing a sun,
and if there were minute insects flying around each light, these
insects would represent the planets belonging to the various suns.
One of the glowing bulbs among the multitude would stand for our
sun, and one of the insects circling round it would be the earth.

Photograph of the South Polar Region of the

Moon
Made by G. W. Ritchey with the forty-inch refractor of the Yerkes Observatory.
 We have already remarked that the rotation of the earth on its axis
causes all the other heavenly bodies to appear to revolve round it
once every twenty-four hours, and we must now add that the earth's
revolution round the sun causes the same bodies to appear to make
another, slower revolution round it once every year. This introduces a
complication of apparent motions which it is the business of
astronomy to deal with, and which we shall endeavour to explain.
3. The Horizon, the Zenith, and the Meridian. First, let us
consider what is the ordinary appearance of the sky. When we go
out of doors on a clear night we see the heavens in the shape of a
great dome arched above us and filled with stars. What we thus see
is one half of the spherical shell of the heavens which surrounds us
on all sides, the earth being apparently placed at its centre. The
other half is concealed from our sight behind, or below, the earth.
This spherical shell, of which only one half is visible to us at a time,
is called the celestial sphere. Now, the surface of the earth seems to
us (for this is another of the deceptive appearances which astronomy
has to correct) to be a vast flat expanse, whose level is broken by
hills and mountains, and the visible half of the celestial sphere
seems to bend down on all sides and to rest upon the earth in a
circle which extends all around us. This circle, where the heavens
and the earth appear to meet, is called the horizon. As we ordinarily
see it, the horizon appears irregular and broken on account of the
unevenness of the earth's surface, but if we are at sea, or in the
midst of a great level prairie, the horizon appears as a smooth circle,
everywhere equally distant from the eye. This circle is called the
sensible horizon. But there is another, ideal, horizon, used in
astronomy, which is called the rational horizon. It is of the utmost
importance that we should clearly understand what is meant by the
rational horizon, and for this purpose we must consider another fact
concerning the dome of the sky.
We now turn our attention to the centre of that dome, which, of
course, is the point directly overhead. This point, which is of primary
importance, is called the zenith. The position of the zenith is
indicated by the direction of a plumb-line. If we imagine a plumb-line
to be suspended from the centre of the sky overhead, and to pass
into the earth at our feet, it would run through the centre of the earth,
and, if it were continued onward in the same direction, it would, after
emerging from the other side of the earth, reach the centre of the
invisible half of the sky-dome at a point diametrically opposite to the
zenith. This central point of the invisible half of the celestial sphere,
lying under our feet, is called the nadir.
Keeping in mind the definitions of zenith and nadir that have just
been given, we are in a position to understand what the rational
horizon is. It is a great circle whose plane cuts through the centre of
the earth, and which is situated exactly half-way between the zenith
and the nadir. This plane is necessarily perpendicular, or at right
angles, to the plumb-line joining the zenith and the nadir. In other
words, the rational horizon divides the celestial sphere into two
precisely equal halves, an upper and a lower half. In a hilly or
mountainous country the sensible or visible horizon differs widely
from the rational, or true horizon, but at sea the two are nearly
identical. This arises from the fact, that the earth is so excessively
small in comparison with the distances of most of the heavenly
bodies that it may be regarded as a mere point in the midst of the
celestial sphere.

Fig. 1. The Rational and the Sensible Horizon.

Let C be the earth's centre, O the place of the observer, and H D the rational
horizon passing through the centre of the earth. For an object situated near the
earth, as at A, the sensible horizon makes a large angle with the rational horizon. If
the object is farther away, as at B, the angle becomes less; and still less, again, if
the object is at D. It is evident that if the object be immensely distant, like a star,
the sensible horizon O S will be practically parallel with the rational horizon, and
will blend with it, because the radius, or semi-diameter, of the earth, O C, is
virtually nothing in comparison with the distance of the star.
 Besides the horizon and the zenith there is one other thing of
fundamental importance which we must learn about before
proceeding further,—the meridian. The meridian is an imaginary line,
or semicircle, beginning at the north point on the horizon, running up
through the zenith, and then curving down to the south point. It thus
divides the visible sky into two exactly equal halves, an eastern and
a western half. In the ordinary affairs of life we usually think only of
that part of the meridian which extends from the zenith to the south
point on the horizon (which is sometimes called the "noon-line”
because the sun crosses it at noon), but in astronomy the northern
half of the meridian is as important as the southern.
4. Altitude and Azimuth. Now, suppose that we wish to indicate
the location of a star, or other object, in the sky. To do so, we must
have some fixed basis of reference, and such a basis is furnished by
the horizon and the zenith. If we tried to describe the position of a
star, the most natural thing would be, first, to estimate, or measure,
its height above the horizon, and, second, to indicate the direction in
which it was situated with regard to the points of the compass. These
two measures, if they were accurately made, would enable another
person to find the star in the sky. And this is precisely what is done in
astronomy. The height above the horizon is called altitude, and the
bearing with reference to the points of the compass is called
azimuth. Together these are known as co-ordinates. In order to
systematise this method of measuring the location of a star, the
astronomer uses imaginary circles drawn on the celestial sphere.
The horizon and the meridian are two of these circles. In addition to
these, other imaginary circles are drawn parallel to the horizon and
becoming smaller and smaller until the uppermost one may run close
round the zenith, which is the common centre of the entire set.
These are called altitude circles, because each one throughout its
whole extent is at an unvarying height, or altitude, above the horizon.
Such circles may be drawn anywhere we please, so as to pass
through any chosen star or stars. If two stars in different quarters of
the sky are found to lie on the same circle, then we know that both
have the same altitude.
Fig. 2. Altitude and Azimuth.

C is the place of the observer.

N C S, a north-and-south line drawn in the plane of the horizon.
E C W, an east-and-west line in the plane of the horizon.
N E S W, the circle of the horizon.
Z, the observer's zenith.
N Z S, vertically above N C S, the meridian.
E Z W, the prime vertical.
Z s s′, part of a vertical circle drawn through the star s.
The circle through s parallel to the horizon is an altitude circle.
The angle s C s′, or the arc s′ s, represents the star's altitude.
The angle s C Z, or the arc Z s, is the star's zenith distance.
To find the azimuth, the angular distance round the horizon from S (0°), through W,
N, E, to the point where the star's vertical circle meets the horizon, is measured. In
this case it is 315°. But if we measured it eastward from the south point it would be
—45°.

Then another set of circles is drawn perpendicular to the horizon,

and all intersecting at the zenith and the nadir. These are called
vertical circles, from the fact that they are upright to the horizon. That
one of the vertical circles which cuts the horizon at the north-and-
south points coincides with the meridian, which we have already
described. The vertical circle at right angles to the meridian is called
the prime vertical. It cuts the horizon at the east and west points,
dividing the visible sky into a northern and a southern half. Like the
altitude circles, vertical circles may be drawn anywhere we please so
as to pass through a star in any quarter of the sky—but the meridian
and the prime vertical are fixed.
With the two sets of circles that have just been described, it is
possible to indicate accurately the location of any heavenly body, at
any particular moment. Its altitude is ascertained by measuring,
along the vertical circle passing through it, its distance from the
horizon. (Sometimes it is convenient to measure, instead of the
altitude of a star, its zenith distance, which is also reckoned on the
vertical circle.)
To ascertain the azimuth, we must first choose a point of beginning
on the horizon. Any of the cardinal points, i.e., east, west, north, or
south, may be employed for this purpose, but in astronomy it is
customary to use only the south point, and to carry the measure
westward all round the circle of the horizon, and so back to the point
of beginning in the south. This involves circular, or degree, measure,
to which a few words must now be devoted.
Every circle, no matter how large or how small, is divided into 360
equal parts, called degrees, usually indicated by the sign (°); each
degree is subdivided into 60 equal parts called minutes, indicated by
the sign (′); and each minute is subdivided into 60 equal parts called
seconds, indicated by the sign (″). Thus there are 360°, or 21,600′, or
1,296,000″ in every complete circle. The actual length of a degree in
inches, yards, or miles, depends upon the size of the circle, but no
circle ever has more than 360°, and a degree of any particular circle
is precisely equal to any other degree of that same circle. Thus, if a
circle is 360 miles in circumference, every one of its degrees will be
one mile long. In mathematics, a degree usually means not a
distance measured along the circumference of a circle, but an angle
formed at the centre of the circle between two lines called radii
(radius in the singular), which lines, where they intersect the
circumference, are separated by a distance equal to one 360th of the
entire circle. But, for ordinary purposes, it is simpler to think of a
degree as an arc equal in length to one 360th of the circle. Now,
since the horizon, and the other imaginary lines drawn in the sky, are
all circles, it is evident that the principle of circular measure may be
applied to them, and indeed must be so applied in order that they
shall be of use to us in indicating the position of a star.
To return, then, to the measurement of the azimuth of a star. Since
the south point is the place of beginning, we mark it 0°, and we
divide the circle of the horizon into 360°, counting round westward.
Suppose we see a star somewhere in the south-western quarter of
the sky; then the point where the vertical circle passing through that
star intersects the horizon will indicate its azimuth. Suppose that this
point is found to be 25° west of south; then 25° will be the star's
azimuth. Suppose it is 90°; then the azimuth is 90°, and the star
must be on the prime vertical in the west, because west, being one
quarter of the way round the horizon from south, is 90° in angular
distance from the south point. Suppose the azimuth is 180°; then the
star must be on the meridian north of the zenith, because north is
exactly half-way, or 180° round the horizon from the south point.
Suppose the azimuth is 270°; then the star must be on the prime
vertical in the east, because east is 270°, or three quarters of the
way round from the south point. If the star is on the meridian in the
south its azimuth may be called either 0° or 360°, because on any
graduated circle the mark indicating 360° coincides in position with
0°, that being at the same time the point of beginning and the point
of ending.
The same system of angular measure is applied in ascertaining a
star's altitude. Since the horizon is half-way between the zenith and
the nadir it must be just 90° from either. If a star is in the zenith, then
its altitude is 90°, and if it is below the zenith its altitude lies
somewhere between 0° and 90°. In any case it cannot be less than
0° nor more than 90°. Having measured the altitude and the azimuth
we have the two co-ordinates which are needed to indicate
accurately the place of a star in the sky. But, as we shall see in a
moment, other co-ordinates beside altitude and azimuth are needed
for a complete description of the places of the stars on the celestial
sphere. Owing to the apparent revolution of the heavens round the
earth, the altitudes and azimuths of the celestial bodies are
continually changing. We shall now study the causes of these
changes.
5. The Apparent Motion of the Heavens. We have likened the
earth to a rotating school globe. As such a globe turns, any particular
spot on it is presented in succession toward the various sides of the
room. In precisely the same way any spot on the earth is turned by
its rotation successively toward various parts of the surrounding sky.
To understand the effect of this, a little patient watching of the actual
heavens will be required, but this has the charm of all out-of-doors
observation of nature, and it will be found of fascinating interest as
the facts begin to unfold themselves.
The Moon Near the “Crater” Tycho
Photographed at the Lick Observatory under the direction of E. S. Holden.

Tycho is the regular oval depression a little below the centre of the view. The vast
depression, 140 miles across, with a row of smaller craters within, below the
centre of the view at the top, is Clavius. The photograph was made when sundown
was approaching on that part of the moon. Observe the jagged line of advancing
night lying across the rugged surface on the western (left-hand) side.

It is best to begin by finding the North Star, or pole star. If you are
living not far from latitude 40° north, which is the median latitude of
the United States, you must, after determining as closely as you can
the situation of the north point, look upward along the meridian in the
north until your eyes are directed to a point about 40° above the
horizon. Forty degrees is somewhat less than half-way from the
horizon to the zenith, which, as we have seen, are separated by an
arc of 90°. At that point you will notice a lone star of what
astronomers call the second magnitude. This is the celebrated North
Star. It is the most useful to man of all the stars, except the sun, and
it differs from all the others in a way presently to be explained. But
first it is essential that you should make no mistake in identifying it.
There are certain landmarks in the sky which make such
identification certain. In the first place, it is always so close to the
meridian in the north, that by naked-eye observation you would
probably never suspect that it was not exactly on the meridian. Then,
its altitude is always equal, or very nearly equal, to the latitude of the
place where you happen to be on the earth, so that if you know your
latitude you know how high to carry your eye above the northern
horizon. If you are in latitude 50°, the star will be at 50° altitude, and
if your latitude is 30°, the altitude of the star will be 30°. Next you will
notice that the North Star is situated at the end of the handle of a
kind of dipper-shaped figure formed by stars, the handle being bent
the wrong way. All of the stars forming this “dipper” are faint, except
the two which are farthest from the North Star, in the outer edge of
the bowl, one of which is about as bright as the North Star itself.
Again, if you carry your eye along the handle to the bowl, and then
continue onward about as much farther, you will be led to another,
larger, more conspicuous, and more perfect, dipper-shaped figure,
which is in the famous constellation of Ursa Major, or the Great Bear.
This striking figure is called the Great Dipper (known in England as
The Wain). It contains seven conspicuous stars, all of which, with
one exception, are equal in brightness to the North Star. Now, look
particularly at the two stars which indicate the outer side of the bowl
of this dipper, and you will find that if you draw an imaginary line
through them toward the meridian in the north, it will lead your eye
directly back to the North Star. These two significant stars are often
called The Pointers. With their aid you can make sure that you have
really found the North Star.