If you aren't subscribed to a newspaper, you can find free papers on JSTOR or Academia (I think you may need to link your school email). I've also been reading classic literature, but it's not as helpful for exposing you to specific topics like science.
They might have some archived newspapers for research purposes, but they mostly have published academic papers written by professors, scholars, researchers, etc. You can browse certain topics or look up a topic yourself!
@MichaelWright I don't understand why The Economist is a go-to answer for this. The Economist is famous for their clear prose, with use of active voice, simple language, avoidance of metaphors and so forth. That's why The Economist is a great example of how lawyers should write (and is often recommended for that purpose). The same cannot be said for the prose often seen in RC passages, which is probably closer to how lawyers actually write (not great).
@1s44c You make a fair point -- lots of RC passages feature academic writing, where parsing complex grammatical structures is a core challenge. That's an important skill, and reading journal articles and other academic writing is best for that.
Another core challenge in RC is navigating complex argumentative structures. Like oh here's two viewpoints and each one is backed by a three-premise argument and an example, and there's a central analogy running through the whole piece. That's where The Economist shines. It presents rhetorically complex arguments, and the clear language lets you focus on tracking structure, which is a different and also valuable skill.
It also covers a lot of pop-academia concepts at approximately the same level of complexity the LSAT does. Things like "bees dance for their hives to indicate the location of honey" and "people are loss-averse" and "fair trade restrictions sometimes lead to worse outcomes for workers." Just random concepts from various disciplines that would be covered in an intro-level undergrad class. The LSAT loves to pull from that pool, and The Economist does too.
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8 comments
I love the NYT
@Stas1973 Opinions column specifically as they are short and follow the passage styles.
If you aren't subscribed to a newspaper, you can find free papers on JSTOR or Academia (I think you may need to link your school email). I've also been reading classic literature, but it's not as helpful for exposing you to specific topics like science.
@haena can you send me the link to the newspaper, please:)
@LuanaSemedo Oh sorry, the websites don't have newspapers, but they have academic papers!
Here is the link to JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org/
Here is the link to Academia: https://www.academia.edu/
They might have some archived newspapers for research purposes, but they mostly have published academic papers written by professors, scholars, researchers, etc. You can browse certain topics or look up a topic yourself!
The Economist
@MichaelWright I don't understand why The Economist is a go-to answer for this. The Economist is famous for their clear prose, with use of active voice, simple language, avoidance of metaphors and so forth. That's why The Economist is a great example of how lawyers should write (and is often recommended for that purpose). The same cannot be said for the prose often seen in RC passages, which is probably closer to how lawyers actually write (not great).
@1s44c You make a fair point -- lots of RC passages feature academic writing, where parsing complex grammatical structures is a core challenge. That's an important skill, and reading journal articles and other academic writing is best for that.
Another core challenge in RC is navigating complex argumentative structures. Like oh here's two viewpoints and each one is backed by a three-premise argument and an example, and there's a central analogy running through the whole piece. That's where The Economist shines. It presents rhetorically complex arguments, and the clear language lets you focus on tracking structure, which is a different and also valuable skill.
It also covers a lot of pop-academia concepts at approximately the same level of complexity the LSAT does. Things like "bees dance for their hives to indicate the location of honey" and "people are loss-averse" and "fair trade restrictions sometimes lead to worse outcomes for workers." Just random concepts from various disciplines that would be covered in an intro-level undergrad class. The LSAT loves to pull from that pool, and The Economist does too.