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Critical Reading
Critical Reading
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This Writing Guide was downloaded from the Writing@CSU Web Site at Colorado State University on November 15, 2013 at 11:48 AM. You can view the guide at http://writing.colo http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=31. Copyright information and a citation can be found at the end of this document.
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Critical reading is a vital part of the writing process. In fact, reading and writing processes are alike. In both, you make meaning by actively engaging a text. As a reader, you are not a passive participant, but an active constructor of meaning. Exhibiting an inquisitive, "critical" attitude towards what you read will make anything you read richer and more useful to you in your classes and your life. This guide is designed to help you to understand and engage this active reading process more effectively so that you can become a better critical reader.
Being aware of how readers read is important so that you can become a more critical reader. In fact, you may discover that you are already a critical reader.
you as a reader are more than a passive participant who receives information while an active text makes itself and its meanings known to you. Actually, the act of reading is a push and pull between reader and text. As a reader, you actively make, or construct, meaning; what you bring to the text is at least as important as the text itself. Related Information: Reading is an active, constuctive, meaning-making process Readers construct a meaning they can create from a text, so that "what a text means" can differ from reader to reader. Readers construct meaning based not only on the visual cues in the text (the words and format of the page itself) but also based on non-visual information such as all the knowledge readers already have in their heads about the world, their experience with reading as an activity, and, especially, what they know about reading different kinds of writing. This kind of non-visual information that readers bring with them before they even encounter the text is far more potent than the actual words on the page. Related Information: Reading is hypothesis based In yet another layer of complexity, readers also create for themselves an idea of what the text is about before they read it. In reading, prediction is much more important than decoding. In fact, if we had to read each letter and word, we couldn't possibly remember the letters and words long enough to put them all together to make sense of a sentence. And reading larger chunks than sentences would be absolutely impossible with our limited short-term memories. So, instead of looking at each word and figuring out what it "means," readers rely on all their language and discourse knowledge to predict what a text is about. Then we sample the text to confirm, revise, or discard that hypothesis. More highly structured texts with topic sentences and lots of forecasting features are easier to hypothesize about; they're also easier to learn information from. Less structured texts that allow lots of room for predictions (and revised and discarded hypotheses) give more room for creative meanings constructed by readers. Thus we get office memos or textbooks or entertaining novels. Related Information: Reading is multi-level When we read a text, we pick up visual cues based on font size and clarity, the presence or absence of "pictures," spelling, syntax, discourse cues, and topic. In other words, we integrate data from a text including its smallest and most discrete features as well as its largest, most abstract features. Usually, we don't even know we're integrating data from all these levels. In addition, data from the text is being integrated with what we already know from our experience in the world about all fonts, pictures, spelling, syntax, discourse, and the topic more generally. No wonder reading is so complex! Related Information: Reading is Strategic We change our reading strategies (processes) depending on why we're reading. If we are reading an instruction manual, we usually read one step at a time and then try to do whatever the instructions tell us. If we are reading a novel, we don't tend to read for informative details. If we a reading a biology textbook, we read for understanding both of concepts and details (particularly if we expected to be tested over our comprehension of the material.) Our goals for reading will affect the way we read a text. Not only do we read for the intended message, but we also construct a meaning that is valuable in terms of our purpose for reading the text. Strategic reading also allows us to speed up or slow down, depending on our goals for reading (e.g. scanning newspaper headlines v. Carefully perusing a feature story).
Previewing
Previewing a text means gathering as much information about the text as you can before you actually read it. You can ask yourself the following questions:
Annotating
Annotating is an important skill to employ if you want to read critically. Successful critical readers read with a pencil in their hand, making notes in the text as they read. Instead of reading passively, they create an active relationship with what they are reading by "talking back" to the text in its margins. You may want to make the following annotations as you read: Mark the Thesis and Main Points of the Piece
Mark Key Terms and Unfamiliar Words Underline Important Ideas and Memorable Images Write Your Questions and/or Comments in the Margins of the Piece Write any Personal Experience Related to the Piece Mark Confusing Parts of the Piece, or Sections that Warrant a Reread Underline the Sources, if any, the Author has Used Mark the Thesis and Main Points of the Piece Mark the thesis and main points of the piece. The thesis is the main idea or claim of the text, and relates to the author's purpose for writing. Sometimes the thesis is not explicitly stated, but is implied in the text, but you should still be able to paraphrase an overall idea the author is interested in exploring in the text. The thesis can be thought of as a promise the writer makes to the reader that the rest of the essay attempts to fulfill. The main points are the major subtopics, or sub-ideas the author wants to explore. Main points make up the body of the text, and are often signaled by major divisions in the structure of the text. Marking the thesis and main points will help you understand the overall idea of the text, and the way the author has chosen to develop her or his thesis through the main points s/he has chosen. Mark Key Terms and Unfamiliar Words While you are annotating the text you are reading, be sure to circle unfamiliar words and take the time to look them up in the dictionary. Making meaning of some discussions in texts depends on your understanding of pivotal words. You should also annotate key terms that keep popping up in your reading. The fact that the author uses key terms to signal important and/or recurring ideas means that you should have a firm grasp of what they mean. Underline Important Ideas and Memorable Images You will want to underline important ideas and memorable images so that you can go back to the piece and find them easily. Marking these things will also help you relate to the author's position in the piece more readily. Writers may try to signal important ideas with the use of descriptive language or images, and where you find these stylistic devices, there may be a key concept the writer is trying to convey. Write Your Questions and/or Comments in the Margins of the Piece Writing your own questions and responses to the text in its margins may be the most important aspect of annotating. "Talking back" to the text is an important meaning-making activity for critical readers. Think about what thoughts and feelings the text arouses in you. Do you agree or disagree with what the author is saying? Are you confused by a certain section of the text? Write your reactions to the reading in the margins of the text itself so you can refer to it again easily. This will not only make your reading more active and memorable, but it may be material you can use in your own writing later on. Write any Personal Experience Related to the Piece One way to make a meaningful connection to a text is to connect the ideas in the text to your own personal experience. Where can you identify with what the author is saying? Where do you differ in terms of personal experience? Identifying personally with the piece will enable you to
get more out of your reading because it will become more relevant to your life, and you will be able to remember what you read more easily. Mark Confusing Parts of the Piece, or Sections that Warrant a Reread Be sure to mark confusing parts of the piece you are reading, or sections that warrant a reread. It is tempting to glide over confusing parts of a text, probably because they cause frustration in us as readers. But it is important to go back to confusing sections to try to understand as much as you can about them. Annotating these sections may also remind you to bring up the confusing section in class or to your instructor. Underline the Sources, if any, the Author has Used Good critical readers are always aware of the sources an author uses in her or his text. You should mark sources in the text and ask yourself the following questions: Is the source relevant? In other words, does the source work to support what the author is trying to say? Is the source credible? What is his or her reputation? Is the source authoritative? What is the source's bias on the issue? What is the source's political and/or personal stance on the issue? Is the source current? Is there new information that refutes what the source is asserting? Is the writer of the text using source material that is outdated?
Summarizing
Summarizing the text you've read is an valuable way to check your understanding of the text. When you summarize, you should be able to find and write down the thesis and main points of the text.
Analyzing
Analyzing a text means breaking it down into its parts to find out how these parts relate to one another. Being aware of the functions of various parts of a piece of writing and their relationship to one another and the overall piece can help you better understand a text's meaning. To analyze a text, you can look at the following things: Evidence Assumptions
Sources Author Bias Analyzing Evidence Consider the evidence the author presents. Is there enough evidence to support the point the author is trying to make? Does the evidence relate to the main point in a logical way? In other words, does the evidence work to prove the point, or does is contradict the point, or show itself to be irrelevant to the point the author is trying to make? Related Information: Source Evaluation Good critical readers are always aware of the sources an author uses in her or his text. You should mark sources in the text and ask yourself the following questions: Is the source relevant? In other words, does the source work to support what the author is trying to say? Is the source credible? What is his or her reputation? Is the source authoritative? What is the source's bias on the issue? What is the source's political and/or personal stance on the issue? Is the source current? Is there new information that refutes what the source is asserting? Is the writer of the text using source material that is outdated? Analyzing Assumptions Consider any assumptions the author is making. Assumptions may be unstated in the piece of writing you are assessing, but the writer may be basing her or his thesis on them. What does the author have to believe is true before the rest of her or his essay makes sense? Example: "[I]f a college recruiter argues that the school is superior to most others because its ratio of students to teachers is low, the unstated assumptions are (1) that students there will get more attention, and (2) that more attention results in a better education" (Crusius and Channell, The Aims of Argument, Mayfield Publishing Co., 1995). Analyzing Sources If an author uses outside sources to back up what s/he is saying, analyzing those sources is an important critical reading activity. Not all sources are created equal. There are at least three criteria to keep in mind when you are evaluating a source: Is the Source Relevant? Is the Source Credible? Is the Source Current? Analyzing Author Bias Taking a close look at the author's bias can tell you a lot about a text. Ask yourself what experiences in the author's background may have led him or her to hold the position s/he does. What does s/he hope to gain from taking this position? How does the author's position stand up in comparison to other positions on the issue? Knowing where the author is "coming from" can help you to more easily make meaning from a text.
Re-reading
Re-reading is a crucial part of the critical reading process. Good readers will reread a piece several times, until they are satisfied they know it inside and out. It is recommended that you read a text three times to make as much meaning as you can.
Responding
Responding to what you read is an important step in understanding what you read. You can respond in writing, or by talking about what you've read to others. Here are several ways you can respond critically to a piece of writing: Writing a Response in Your Writer's Notebook Discussing the Text with Others Writing a response in your writer's notebook One way to make sure you have understood a piece of writing is to write a response to it. It may be beneficial to first write a summary of the text, covering the thesis and main points in an unbiased way. Pretend you are reporting on the "facts" of the piece to a friend who has not read it, the point being to keep your own opinion out of the summary. Once you have summarized the author's ideas objectively, you can respond to them in your writer's notebook. You can agree or disagree with the text, interpret it, or analyze it. Working with your reading of the text by responding in writing is a good way to read critically.
Sharing your knowledge of a text with others reading the same text is a good way to check your understanding and open up new avenues of comprehension. You can annotate a text on your own first, and then confer with a group of classmates about how they annotated their texts. Or, you can be sure to participate in class discussion of a shared text--verbalizing your ideas about a text will reinforce your reading process.
Describe the author's overall purpose (to inquire, to convince, to persuade, to negotiate or other purpose) How did the essay or text actually affect you: did the author's purpose succeed?
Was the author's actual purpose different from the stated purpose? II. Audience/Reader Who is the intended audience? Are you part of the intended audience? Does the author talk to or talk down to the reader?
What assumptions does the author make about the reader's knowledge or beliefs? From what context or point of view is the author writing? III. Thesis and Main Ideas What question or problem does the author address? What is the author's thesis
Are the main ideas actually related to the thesis? Do key passages convey a message different from the thesis? What assumptions (about the subject or about culture) does the author make? Are there problems or contradictions in the essay? What bothers or disturbs you about the essay? Where do you agree or disagree?
What main ideas are related to the thesis? What are the key moments or key passages in the text?
Where did you clearly get the author's signals about the essay's organization? Where were you confused about the organization? What evidence was most or least effective?
How does the author signal new sections of the essay? What kinds of evidence does the author use (personal experience, descriptions, statistics, other authorities, analytical reasoning, or other).
Where did the author rely on assertions rather than on evidence? V. Language and Style What is the author's tone (casual, humorous, ironic, angry, preachy, distant, academic, or other)? Are sentences and vocabulary easy, average or difficult? Did the tone support or distract from the author's purpose or meaning? Did the sentences and vocabulary support or distract from the purpose or meaning? Did recurring works or images relate to or support the purpose or meaning?
Remember that not all these questions will be relevant to any given essay or text, but one or two of them may suggest a direction or give a focus to your overall response. When one of these questions suggests a focus for your response to the essay, go back to the text to gather evidence to support your response.
Citation Information
Debra Walker, Kate Kiefer, and Stephen Reid.. (1994 - 2012). Critical Reading. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University. Available at http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=31.
Copyright Information
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