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Critical reading: what is critical reading, and why do i need to do it.

Critical reading means that a reader applies certain processes, models, questions, and theories that result in enhanced clarity and comprehension. There is more involved, both in effort and understanding, in a critical reading than in a mere "skimming" of the text. What is the difference? If a reader "skims" the text, superficial characteristics and information are as far as the reader goes. A critical reading gets at "deep structure" (if there is such a thing apart from the superficial text!), that is, logical consistency, tone, organization, and a number of other very important sounding terms.

What does it take to be a critical reader? There are a variety of answers available to this question; here are some suggested steps:

1. Prepare to become part of the writer's audience.

After all, authors design texts for specific audiences, and becoming a member of the target audience makes it easier to get at the author's purpose. Learn about the author, the history of the author and the text, the author's anticipated audience; read introductions and notes.

2. Prepare to read with an open mind.

Critical readers seek knowledge; they do not "rewrite" a work to suit their own personalities. Your task as an enlightened critical reader is to read what is on the page, giving the writer a fair chance to develop ideas and allowing yourself to reflect thoughtfully, objectively, on the text.

3. Consider the title.

This may seem obvious, but the title may provide clues to the writer's attitude, goals, personal viewpoint, or approach.

4. Read slowly.

Again, this appears obvious, but it is a factor in a "close reading." By slowing down, you will make more connections within the text.

5. Use the dictionary and other appropriate reference works.

If there is a word in the text that is not clear or difficult to define in context: look it up. Every word is important, and if part of the text is thick with technical terms, it is doubly important to know how the author is using them.

6. Make notes.

Jot down marginal notes, underline and highlight, write down ideas in a notebook, do whatever works for your own personal taste. Note for yourself the main ideas, the thesis, the author's main points to support the theory. Writing while reading aids your memory in many ways, especially by making a link that is unclear in the text concrete in your own writing.

7. Keep a reading journal

In addition to note-taking, it is often helpful to regularly record your responses and thoughts in a more permanent place that is yours to consult. By developing a habit of reading and writing in conjunction, both skills will improve.

Critical reading involves using logical and rhetorical skills. Identifying the author's thesis is a good place to start, but to grasp how the author intends to support it is a difficult task. More often than not an author will make a claim (most commonly in the form of the thesis) and support it in the body of the text. The support for the author's claim is in the evidence provided to suggest that the author's intended argument is sound, or reasonably acceptable. What ties these two together is a series of logical links that convinces the reader of the coherence of the author's argument: this is the warrant. If the author's premise is not supportable, a critical reading will uncover the lapses in the text that show it to be unsound.

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Princeton Correspondents on Undergraduate Research

In Between the Lines: A Guide to Reading Critically

I often find that Princeton professors assume that we all know how to “read critically.” It’s a phrase often included in essay prompts, and a skill necessary to academic writing. Maybe we’re familiar with its definition: close examination of a text’s logic, arguments, style, and other content in order to better understand the author’s intent. Reading non-critically would be identifying a metaphor in a passage, whereas the critical reader would question why the author used that specific metaphor in the first place. Now that the terminology is clarified, what does critical reading look like in practice? I’ve put together a short guide on how I approach my readings to help demystify the process.

Put on your scholar hat. Critical reading starts before the first page. You should assume that the reading in front of you was the product of several choices made by the author, and that each of these choices is subject to analysis. This is a critical mindset, but importantly, not a negative one. Not taking a reading at face value doesn’t mean approaching the reading hoping to find everything that’s wrong, but rather what could be improved .
Revisit Writing Sem : Motive and thesis are incredibly helpful guides to understanding tough academic texts. Examining why the author is writing this text (motive), provides a context for the work that follows. The thesis should be in the back of your mind at all times to understand how the evidence presented proves it, but simultaneously thinking about the motive allows you to think about what opponents to the author might say, and then question how the evidence would stand up to these potential rebuttals.
Get physical . Take notes! Critical reading involves making observations and insights—track them! My process involves underlining, especially as I see recurring terms, images, or themes. As I read, I also like to turn back and forth constantly between pages to link up arguments. I was reading a longer legal text for a class and found that flipping back and forth helped me clarify the ideas presented in the beginning of the text so I could track their development in later pages.
Play Professor. While I’m reading, I like to imagine potential discussion or essay topics I would come up with if I were a professor. These usually involves examining the themes of the text, placing this text in comparison or contrast with another one we have read in the class, and paying close attention to how the evidence attempts to prove the thesis.
Form an (informed) opinion. After much work, underlining, and debating, it’s safe to make your own judgments about the author’s work. In forming this opinion, I like to mentally prepare to have this opinion debated, which helps me complicate my own conclusions—a great start to a potential essay!

Critical reading is an important prerequisite for the academic writing that Princeton professors expect. The best papers don’t start with the first word you type, but rather how you approach the texts composing your essay subject. Hopefully, this guide to reading critically will help you write critically as well!

–Elise Freeman, Social Sciences Correspondent

Critical Reading and Reading Strategy

What is critical reading.

Reading critically does not, necessarily, mean being critical of what you read.

Both reading and thinking critically don’t mean being ‘ critical ’ about some idea, argument, or piece of writing - claiming that it is somehow faulty or flawed.

Critical reading means engaging in what you read by asking yourself questions such as, ‘ what is the author trying to say? ’ or ‘ what is the main argument being presented? ’

Critical reading involves presenting a reasoned argument that evaluates and analyses what you have read. Being critical, therefore - in an academic sense - means advancing your understanding , not dismissing and therefore closing off learning.

See also: Listening Types to learn about the importance of critical listening skills.

To read critically is to exercise your judgement about what you are reading – that is, not taking anything you read at face value.

When reading academic material you will be faced with the author’s interpretation and opinion. Different authors will, naturally, have different slants. You should always examine what you are reading critically and look for limitations, omissions, inconsistencies, oversights and arguments against what you are reading.

In academic circles, whilst you are a student, you will be expected to understand different viewpoints and make your own judgements based on what you have read.

Critical reading goes further than just being satisfied with what a text says, it also involves reflecting on what the text describes, and analysing what the text actually means, in the context of your studies.

As a critical reader you should reflect on:

What the text says: after critically reading a piece you should be able to take notes, paraphrasing - in your own words - the key points.
What the text describes: you should be confident that you have understood the text sufficiently to be able to use your own examples and compare and contrast with other writing on the subject in hand.
Interpretation of the text: this means that you should be able to fully analyse the text and state a meaning for the text as a whole.

Critical reading means being able to reflect on what a text says, what it describes and what it means by scrutinising the style and structure of the writing, the language used as well as the content.

Critical Thinking is an Extension of Critical Reading

Thinking critically, in the academic sense, involves being open-minded - using judgement and discipline to process what you are learning about without letting your personal bias or opinion detract from the arguments.

Critical thinking involves being rational and aware of your own feelings on the subject – being able to reorganise your thoughts, prior knowledge and understanding to accommodate new ideas or viewpoints.

Critical reading and critical thinking are therefore the very foundations of true learning and personal development.

See our page: Critical Thinking for more.

Developing a Reading Strategy

You will, in formal learning situations, be required to read and critically think about a lot of information from different sources.

It is important therefore, that you not only learn to read critically but also efficiently.

The first step to efficient reading is to become selective.

If you cannot read all of the books on a recommended reading list, you need to find a way of selecting the best texts for you. To start with, you need to know what you are looking for. You can then examine the contents page and/or index of a book or journal to ascertain whether a chapter or article is worth pursuing further.

Once you have selected a suitable piece the next step is to speed-read.

Speed reading is also often referred to as skim-reading or scanning. Once you have identified a relevant piece of text, like a chapter in a book, you should scan the first few sentences of each paragraph to gain an overall impression of subject areas it covers. Scan-reading essentially means that you know what you are looking for, you identify the chapters or sections most relevant to you and ignore the rest.

When you speed-read you are not aiming to gain a full understanding of the arguments or topics raised in the text. It is simply a way of determining what the text is about.

When you find a relevant or interesting section you will need to slow your reading speed dramatically, allowing you to gain a more in-depth understanding of the arguments raised. Even when you slow your reading down it may well be necessary to read passages several times to gain a full understanding.

See also: Speed-Reading for Professionals .

Following SQ3R

SQ3R is a well-known strategy for reading. SQ3R can be applied to a whole range of reading purposes as it is flexible and takes into account the need to change reading speeds.

SQ3R is an acronym and stands for:

This relates to speed-reading, scanning and skimming the text. At this initial stage you will be attempting to gain the general gist of the material in question.

It is important that, before you begin to read, you have a question or set of questions that will guide you - why am I reading this? When you have a purpose to your reading you want to learn and retain certain information. Having questions changes reading from a passive to an active pursuit. Examples of possible questions include:

What do I already know about this subject?
How does this chapter relate to the assignment question?
How can I relate what I read to my own experiences?

Now you will be ready for the main activity of reading. This involves careful consideration of the meaning of what the author is trying to convey and involves being critical as well as active.

Regardless of how interesting an article or chapter is, unless you make a concerted effort to recall what you have just read, you will forget a lot of the important points. Recalling from time to time allows you to focus upon the main points – which in turn aids concentration. Recalling gives you the chance to think about and assimilate what you have just read, keeping you active. A significant element in being active is to write down, in your own words, the key points.

The final step is to review the material that you have recalled in your notes. Did you understand the main principles of the argument? Did you identify all the main points? Are there any gaps? Do not take for granted that you have recalled everything you need correctly – review the text again to make sure and clarify.

Continue to: Effective Reading Critical Thinking

See also: Critical Analysis Writing a Dissertation Critical Thinking and Fake News

2a. Critical Reading

An introduction to reading in college.

While the best way to develop your skills as a writer is to actually practice by writing, practicing critical reading skills is crucial to becoming a better college writer. Careful and skilled readers develop a stronger understanding of topics, learn to better anticipate the needs of the audience, and pick up sophisticated writing “maneuvers” and strategies from professional writing. A good reading practice requires reading text and context, which you’ll learn more about in the next section. Writing a successful academic essay also begins with critical reading as you explore ideas and consider how to make use of sources to provide support for your writing.

Questions to ask as you read

If you consider yourself a particularly strong reader or want to improve your reading comprehension skills, writing out notes about a text—even if it’s in shorthand—helps you to commit the answers to memory more easily. Even if you don’t write out all these notes, answering these basic questions about any text or reading you encounter in college will help you get the most out of the time you put into your reading. It will also give you more confidence to understand and question the text while you read.

Is there context provided about the author and/or essay? If so, what stands out as important?

Context in this instance means things like dates of publication, where the piece was originally published, and any biographical information about the author. All of that information will be important for developing a critical reading of the piece, so track what’s available as you read.

If you had to guess, who is the author’s intended audience ? Describe them in as much detail as possible.

Sometimes the author will state who the audience is, but sometimes you have to figure it out by context clues, such as those you tracked above. For instance, the audience for a writer on Buzzfeed is very different from the audience for a writer for the Wall Street Journal —and both writers know that, which means they’re more effective at reaching their readers. Learning how to identify your audience is a crucial writing skill for all genres of writing.

In your own words, what is the question the author is trying to answer in this piece? What seems to have caused them to write in the first place?

In nonfiction writing of the kind we read in Writing 121, writers set out to answer a question. Their thesis/main argument is usually the answer to the question, so sometimes you can “reverse engineer” the question from that. Often, the question is asked in the title of the piece.

In your own words, what’s the author’s main idea or argument ? If you had to distill it down to one or two sentences, what does the author want you, the reader, to agree with?

If you’ve ever had to write a paper for a class, you’re probably familiar with a thesis or main argument. Published writers also have a thesis (or else they don’t get published!), but sometimes it can be tricky to find in a more sophisticated piece of writing. Trying to put the main argument into your own words can help.

How many examples and types of evidence did the author provide to support the main argument? Which examples/evidence stood out to you as persuasive?

It’s never enough to just make a claim and expect people to believe it—we have to support that claim with evidence. The types of evidence and examples that will be persuasive to readers depends on the audience, though, which is why it’s important to have some idea of your readers and their expectations.

Did the author raise any points of skepticism (also known as counterarguments)? Can you identify exactly what page or paragraph where the author does this?

As we’ll see later when the writing process, respectfully engaging with points of skepticism and counterarguments builds trust with the reader because it shows that the writer has thought about the issue from multiple perspectives before arriving at the main argument. Raising a counterargument is not enough, though. Pay careful attention to how the writer responds to that counterargument—is it an effective and persuasive response? If not, perhaps the counterargument has more merit for you than the author’s main argument.

In your own words, how does the essay conclude ? What does the author “want” from us, the readers?

A conclusion usually offers a brief summary of the main argument and some kind of “what’s next?” appeal from the writer to the audience. The “what’s next?” appeal can take many forms, but it’s usually a question for readers to ponder, actions the author thinks people should take, or areas related to the main topic that need more investigation or research. When you read the conclusion, ask yourself, “What does the author want from me now that I’ve read their essay?”

Reading Like Writers: Critical Reading

Reading as a creative act.

“The theory of books is noble. The scholar of the first age received into him the world around; brooded thereon; gave it the new arrangement of his own mind, and uttered it again. It came into him life; it went out from him truth. It came to him short-lived actions; it went out from him immortal thoughts. It came to him business; it went from him poetry. It was dead fact; now, it is quick thought. It can stand, and it can go. It now endures, it now flies, it now inspires. Precisely in proportion to the depth of mind from which it issued, so high does it soar, so long does it sing.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar”

Consider the discourse community when you read and write in your college classes
Analyze any reading for text and context
Read like a writer so you can write for your readers

illustration of a worm and an apple on top of a stack of two books.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to apply the concept of discourse community to honing your college-level critical reading skills.

Good writers are good readers, so let’s start there. When you can confidently identify the audience, context, and purpose of a text —position it within its discourse community—you’ll be a stronger, savvier reader.

Strong, savvy readers are more effective writers because they consider their own audience, context, and purpose when they write and communicate, which makes their writing clearer and to the point.

So the goal of this lesson is to help you read like a writer!

The Savvy Reader

Good writers are good readers! And good readers. . .

get to know the author
get to know the author’s community + audience
accurately summarize the author’s argument
look up terms you don’t know
“listen” respectfully to the author’s point of view
have a sense of the larger conversation
think about other issues related to the conversation
put it in current context
analyze and assess the author’s reasoning, evidence, and assumptions

Why read critically? While the best way to develop your skills as a writer is to actually practice by writing, practicing critical reading skills is crucial to becoming a better writer. Careful and skilled readers develop a stronger understanding of topics, learn to better anticipate the needs of the audience, and pick up writing “maneuvers” and strategies from professional writing.

Reading Like Writers

How do you read like a writer? When you read like a writer, you are practicing deeper reading comprehension. In order to understand a text, you are reading not just what’s in it but what’s around it, too: text and context.

Practice: Reading Like Writers

In-class discussion : Advertisements are helpful for practicing reading like writers because advertisers make deliberate choices with text and images based on audience (target consumer), context (where they are reaching them), and purpose (buy this product).


2012 print ad for Justin Bieber’s Girlfriend perfume	2018 Nike ad featuring Colin Kaepernick
? does the ad rely on the viewer sharing?

But I’m not trying to sell a product! How can I use my newfound understanding of audience, context, and purpose to improve my writing?

It’s true! You aren’t selling a product. You aren’t (I hope) trying to manipulate your audience. You aren’t relying on discriminatory assumptions or stereotypes to appeal to your audience. But when you write, let’s say, an essay, you are asking readers to “buy into” your point of view. The goal doesn’t have to be for them to agree with you; it can be for your readers to respectfully consider, understand, or sympathize with your point of view or analysis of an issue. The point is you’re thinking of your reader when you write, and that will make your writing process smoother and your writing clearer.

Writing for Your Readers

When you write for your readers, you. . .

Learn from your reading and communication experience: What makes texts work? How are ideas conveyed clearly?
Analyze the writing situation: What are the goals and purpose for a writing project? Who is your audience?
Explore and play as you draft: What are different ways to respond? Can you use a better word or phrase?
Consider your audience: What might a reader expect to see? What does your reader need to understand your point of view? What questions might a reader have?

poster on a wall that reads "ask more questions"

Writing as a process of inquiry

Just as you want your readers to take you seriously, you want to approach texts with an open and curious mind. Whatever the topic, it was important enough for this person to want to write on it. While we don’t have to agree with the point someone is making, we can respect their opinion and appreciate reading a different perspective.

Approach reading and writing in college in a learning zone. Be open, be curious, ask questions, seek answers. Share, stretch, experiment.

Guides and Worksheets

Use this guide for any of your college reading!
Learn a basic study skill–annotating or taking notes on your readings

Critical Reading Guide: Text + Context

Title of the text: Author:

Reading the text: Comprehension

Main idea . In one sentence, summarize the main point or argument of the text.

Claim . Identify one claim in the text.

Key points . Paraphrase a key point, example, or passage that interested you.

Evidence . In your own words, describe 1-2 compelling examples or pieces of evidence that support the point/argument of the text.

Conclusion . What is the ultimate takeaway the text gives us on the topic/issue?

Personal experience . What is your experience of the topic? Have you had problems related to it?

Vocabulary . What is a word or phrase in the text you didn’t know? Look it up. What does it mean?

Inquiry . What is one thing you need more information about? Or, what is one question you have about the content of the text?

Reading for context: Rhetorical analysis

The author . Do an internet search on the author. What did you find out?

Ethos . Do you trust the author on the topic/issue? Why or why not?

Container . When and where was the text first published? Who will read/see it?

Audience . How does the author address or appeal to their readers? What tone does the author use in the text?

Bias . What knowledge, values, or beliefs does the author assume the reader shares?

Types of evidence . What types of evidence does the author use? Types of evidence include facts, examples, statistics, statements by authorities (references to or quotes from other sources), interviews, observations, logical reasoning, and personal experience

Structure . How does the author organize the text?

Purpose . What question does the author seek to answer in the text? In other words, why do you think they wrote this piece?

Mark-up Assignment: The Savvy Reader Practice

The object is to fill the empty space of the margins with your thoughts and questions to the text. By reading sympathetically (reading to understand what the writer is saying) and critically (reading to analyze and critique what the writer is saying), you are reading mindfully and creatively. You are finding those passages that you are drawn to, asking questions that you have, and beginning to develop your reaction, response, and ideas about a topic or issue. It’s a useful tool in the “getting started” phase of the writing process. Learning how to read effectively will be an invaluable skill in your college career and beyond because it means engaging in a task actively rather than passively.

Choose 1-2 paragraphs from READING X to fully annotate. This passage should be one that interests you, i.e. seems important, confusing, and/or prompted agreement, disagreement, or questions for you.

Circle any word you think is crucial for the passage, including ones you cannot easily define.
Underline phrases or images you think crucial for the meaning of the passage/essay.
Put a bracket around ideas or assertions you find puzzling or questionable.
Then write notes around the margins of the passage defining these terms, identifying the important ideas, or raising questions with the bracketed phrases. For each item you have circled, underlined, or bracketed, there should be a margin note. For this assignment, your margin notes should be substantive: they should meaty statements and full questions.

Photocopy or clear, legible photograph of paragraphs with your annotations or type up the paragraphs and annotate.

Writing as Inquiry Copyright © 2021 by Kara Clevinger and Stephen Rust is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Critical Reading: A Step-by-step Guide for Learners

Unlocking the true potential of reading involves more than just scanning words on a page, it’s about developing the skill of critical reading. Picture it as acquiring a special set of tools that allows you to delve beneath the surface of texts, gaining a deeper understanding of their nuances. This essay delves into the significance of critical reading and its transformative impact on how we engage with written material. By exploring the principles and strategies that underpin this skill, we’ll unravel how it equips us to navigate the complexities of written communication, fostering a more profound and insightful reading experience.

1. What is critical reading?

Critical reading is an advanced form of reading that goes beyond simply understanding the text’s surface meaning. It involves actively and analytically engaging with a piece of writing to evaluate, interpret, and question its content. Critical readers not only comprehend the information but also assess the author’s arguments, identify biases, and evaluate the evidence presented. This approach requires readers to think beyond the literal words on the page and consider the underlying assumptions, perspectives, and implications of the text.

Critical reading is a skill often honed in academic settings including IELTS, TOEIC, or TOEFL Reading test sections, where individuals are expected to assess the credibility and validity of information, make connections between different texts, and form their own informed opinions based on evidence and reasoning. Developing critical reading skills can enhance one’s ability to think critically and make well-informed decisions across various aspects of life.

2. Why should you read critically? Benefits of critical reading

Critical reading offers numerous benefits that extend beyond mere comprehension of the text. Here are some key reasons why developing critical reading skills is valuable:

2.1. Empowerment in Discussions

Individuals with strong critical reading skills are better equipped to engage in discussions and debates. They can articulate their views, challenge assumptions, and contribute meaningfully to conversations.

2.2. Preparation for academic success

Critical reading is a fundamental reading skills in academia. It prepares students for the demands of higher education by honing their ability to analyze complex texts, a skill vital for success in academic pursuits.

2.3. Effective decision-making

Critical reading helps individuals assess the reliability and validity of information. This skill is crucial in making informed decisions, whether in academic, professional, or personal contexts.

2.4. Identification of bias

Critical readers can identify biases present in a text, allowing them to recognize the author’s perspective and potential limitations. This awareness contributes to a more well-rounded understanding of the subject matter.

2.5. Critical thinking development

Engaging critically with texts encourages the development of critical thinking skills. Readers learn to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information, fostering a more active and discerning approach to learning.

3. What are critical reading strategies?

Critical reading involves employing specific strategies to actively engage with a text, analyze its content, and form an informed opinion. Here are some key critical reading strategies:

3.1. Questioning

Critical reading begins with the art of questioning. By formulating insightful and probing questions about the text, readers embark on a journey of active exploration. These questions serve as intellectual guideposts, directing attention toward the author’s intentions, the validity of arguments, and the depth of evidence provided. Effective questions might delve into the author’s bias , the reliability of sources, or the underlying assumptions shaping the narrative. This strategy fosters an interactive reading experience, transforming passive absorption into an engaging dialogue with the text. As readers question and seek answers, they not only enhance comprehension but also develop a nuanced understanding of the material.

3.2. Annotating

Annotation, the act of marking up a text with notes, highlights, and comments, is a powerful tool in the critical reader’s arsenal. As one reads, actively engaging with the material through annotation reinforces comprehension and facilitates later review. Annotations can take various forms, from underlining key concepts to jotting down personal reflections or questions in the margins. This strategy transforms the act of reading into a dynamic, participatory process, as the reader interacts with the text, leaving a tangible trail of insights. In essence, annotation is a personalized dialogue between the reader and the author, allowing for a deeper connection and a more profound grasp of the material.

3.3. Identifying the main idea

At the heart of critical reading lies the ability to discern the main idea or central theme of a text. This foundational strategy requires readers to sift through the details and distill the core message. Identifying the main idea serves as a compass, guiding readers through the author’s narrative intent and highlighting the overarching purpose of the text. By grasping the essence of the material, readers gain clarity on the author’s primary argument and can navigate the intricate web of supporting details with greater ease. This strategy not only enhances comprehension but also empowers readers to engage in thoughtful analysis, recognizing the significance of each element about the broader narrative.

3.4. Considering the source

In the realm of critical reading, evaluating the source is a paramount strategy. Readers must assess the credibility, authority, and potential biases inherent in the authorship and publication. Considering the source involves scrutinizing the author’s qualifications, the reputation of the publication, and any potential agendas that might shape the information presented. This discerning approach ensures that readers engage with material that is not only informative but also reliable. By contextualizing the source within the broader landscape of knowledge, readers can make informed judgments about the trustworthiness of the information, enhancing the depth and quality of their critical reading.

3.5. Making connections

Critical reading transcends the mere absorption of information; it involves actively connecting the text to one’s existing knowledge and experiences. Making connections bridges the gap between new information and the reader’s mental schema, fostering a holistic understanding. Whether drawing parallels to personal experiences, relating concepts to previously learned material, or recognizing patterns across diverse disciplines, this strategy enriches comprehension. By integrating new information with pre-existing knowledge, readers not only deepen their understanding but also create a cognitive framework that facilitates retention and application. Making connections is the thread that weaves together the fabric of knowledge, transforming critical reading into a transformative intellectual exercise.

4. How to develop critical reading steps? Step-by-step guide

To help learners develop their critical reading skill, Estudyme suggest a step-by-step guide for you:

4.1. Step 1: Establish a purpose of reading

Before delving into a text, define your purpose for reading. Whether it’s gaining a general understanding, extracting specific information, or critically analyzing the content, clarifying your objective sets the stage for effective critical reading.

4.2. Step 2: Preview the text

Begin by previewing the text to grasp its structure, headings, and key points. This initial scan provides a roadmap, offering insights into the author’s organization and main ideas. Pay attention to introductory and concluding paragraphs for overarching themes.

4.3. Step 3: Questioning and predicting

Formulate questions about the text based on your preview. What is the author’s main argument? Are there biases or assumptions? Engage in predictive thinking, anticipating the author’s next moves. This step sets the foundation for an active and inquisitive reading approach.

4.4. Step 4: Actively read and annotate

Read the text actively, making annotations as you progress. Highlight key phrases, jot down questions, and record your reactions. Annotation transforms the reading process into a dynamic dialogue, enhancing comprehension and facilitating later review.

4.5. Step 5: Identify the main idea

Discern the main idea or central theme of the text. What is the author trying to convey? Recognizing the primary message provides a focal point for understanding supporting details and evaluating the author’s argument.

4.6. Step 6: Evaluate source credibility

Assess the reliability of the source by considering the author’s qualifications, the publication’s reputation, and potential biases. Critical reading involves discerning not only what is said but also who is saying it and why. This step ensures you engage with trustworthy information.

4.7. Step 7: Make connections

Connect the material to your existing knowledge and experiences. Relate concepts to prior learning, draw parallels to personal experiences, and identify patterns across disciplines. Making connections enriches comprehension and contributes to a holistic understanding.

4.8. Step 8: Reflect and summarize

Pause periodically to reflect on the material. Summarize key points, evaluate the author’s arguments, and assess the overall impact of the text. Reflection solidifies your understanding and allows for deeper engagement with the content.

4.9. Step 9: Engage in critical analysis

Move beyond comprehension to critical analysis. Question the author’s assumptions, consider alternative viewpoints, and assess the soundness of the arguments presented. Critical analysis involves evaluating the text’s strengths, weaknesses, and broader implications.

4.10. Step 10: Synthesize information

Synthesize the information gleaned from the text with your existing knowledge. This step involves integrating new insights into your mental framework, fostering a cohesive understanding of the subject matter. Synthesis is the culmination of critical reading, transforming information into knowledge.

5. Practice critical reading with estudyme.com

Consistent practice is a vital component in refining one’s reading skills, and Estudyme.com serves as an exceptional platform tailored for this purpose. With an extensive array of diverse reading materials, our online resource provides a systematic approach to augment comprehension, vocabulary, and overall reading proficiency. Immerse yourself in the variety of passages available on Estudyme.com to cultivate a deeper understanding of various topics, styles, and genres.

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Reading Critically and Actively

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.

Reading a Text--Some Definitions

You might think that reading a text means curling up with a good book, or forcing yourself to study a textbook. Actually, reading a text can mean much more. First of all, let's define the two terms of interest here--"reading" and "text."

What Counts as Reading?

Reading is something we do with books and other print materials, certainly, but we also read things like the sky when we want to know what the weather is doing, someone's expression or body language when we want to know what someone is thinking or feeling, or an unpredictable situation so we'll know what the best course of action is. As well as reading to gather information, "reading" can mean such diverse things as interpreting, analyzing, or attempting to make predictions.

What Counts as a Text?

When we think of a text, we may think of words in print, but a text can be anything from a road map to a movie. Some have expanded the meaning of "text" to include anything that can be read, interpreted or analyzed. So a painting can be a text to interpret for some meaning it holds, and a mall can be a text to be analyzed to find out how modern Americans behave in their free time.

How Do Readers Read?

Those who study the way readers read have come up with some different theories about how readers make meaning from the texts they read.

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.

The Reading Equation

Prior Knowledge + Predictions = Comprehension

When we read, we don't decipher every word on the page for its individual meaning. We process text in chunks, and we also employ other "tricks" to help us make meaning out of so many individual words in a text we are reading. First, we bring prior knowledge to everything we read, whether we are aware of it or not. Titles of texts, authors' names, and the topic of the piece all trigger prior knowledge in us. The more prior knowledge we have, the better prepared we are to make meaning of the text. With prior knowledge we make predictions, or guesses about how what we are reading relates to our prior experience. We also make predictions about what meaning the text will convey.

Related Information: How can Reaching Comprehension Make Us Better Writers?

When you have successfully comprehended the text you are reading, you should take this comprehension one step further and try to apply it to your writing process. Good writers know that readers have to work to make meaning of texts, so they will try to make the reader's journey through the text as effortless as possible. As a writer you can help readers tap into prior knowledge by clearly outlining your intent in the introduction of your paper and making use of your own personal experience. You can help readers make accurate guesses by employing clear organization and using clear transitions in your paper.

Related Information: Making Predictions

Whether you realize it or not, you are always making guesses about what you will encounter next in a text. Making predictions about where a text is headed is an important part of the comprehension equation. It's alright to make wrong guesses about what a text will do--wrong guesses are just as much a part of the meaning-making process of reading as right guesses are.

Related Information: Tapping into Prior Knowledge

It's important to tap into your prior knowledge of subject before you read about it. Writing an entry in your writer's notebook may be a good way to access this prior knowledge. Discussing the subject with classmates before you read is also a good idea. Tapping into prior knowledge will allow you to approach a piece of writing with more ways to create comprehension than if you start reading "cold."

Cognitive Reading Theory

When you read, you may think you are decoding a message that a writer has encoded into a text. Error in reading comprehension, in this model, would occur if you as a reader were not decoding the message correctly, or if the writer was not encoding the message accurately or clearly. The writer, however, would have the responsibility of getting the message into the text, and the reader would assume a passive role.

Related Information: Reading has a Model

Let's look at a more recent and widely accepted model of reading that is based on cognitive psychology and schema theory. In this model, the reader is an active participant who has an important interpretive function in the reading process. In other words, in the cognitive model 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).

Strategies for Reading More Critically

Although you probably already read critically in some respects, here are some things you can do when you read a text to improve your critical reading skills.

Most successful critical readers do some combination of the following strategies:

Summarizing

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:

What is my Purpose for Reading?

If you are being asked to summarize a particular piece of writing, you will want to look for the thesis and main points. Are you being asked to respond to a piece? If so, you may want to be conscious of what you already know about the topic and how you arrived at that opinion.

What can the Title Tell Me About the Text?

Before you read, look at the title of the text. What clues does it give you about the piece of writing? It may reveal the author's stance, or make a claim the piece will try to support. Good writers usually try to make their titles do work to help readers make meaning of the text from the reader's first glance at it.

Who is the Author?

If you have heard the author's name before, what comes to your mind in terms of their reputation and/or stance on the issue you are reading about? Has the author written other things of which you are aware? How does the piece in front of you fit into to the author's body of work? What is the author's political position on the issue they are writing about? Are they liberal, conservative, or do you know anything about what prompted them to write in the first place?

How is the Text Structured?

Sometimes the structure of a piece can give you important clues to its meaning. Be sure to read all section headings carefully. Also, reading the opening sentences of paragraphs should give you a good idea of the main ideas contained in the piece.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Annotating the thesis and main points

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:

Assumptions
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

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 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.

The First Reading

The first time you read a text, skim it quickly for its main ideas. Pay attention to the introduction, the opening sentences of paragraphs, and section headings, if there are any. Previewing the text in this way gets you off to a good start when you have to read critically.

The Second Reading

The second reading should be a slow, meditative read, and you should have your pencil in your hand so you can annotate the text. Taking time to annotate your text during the second reading may be the most important strategy to master if you want to become a critical reader.

The Third Reading

The third reading should take into account any questions you asked yourself by annotating the margins. You should use this reading to look up any unfamiliar words, and to make sure you have understood any confusing or complicated sections of the text.

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.

Keeping a writer's notebook

A writer's notebook, or journal, is a place in which you can respond to your reading. You should feel free to say what you really think about the piece you are reading, to ask questions, and to express frustration or confusion about the piece. The writer's notebook is a place you can come back to when it is time to write an assignment, to look for your initial reactions to your readings, or to pull support for an essay from personal experience you may have recorded. Writing about what you are reading is a way to become actively engaged in the critical reading process.

Discussing the text with others

Cooperative activities are important to critical reading just as they are to the writing process. 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.

Critically Reading Assignment Sheets

It is important to have read your assignment sheet critically before you begin to write. Consider the following things:

Analyze your Assignment Sheet Carefully

Pay attention to the length of the essay, and other requirements, plan your time well.

You may want to annotate your assignment sheet like you would any other piece of writing. Look for key terms like analyze, interpret, argue, summarize, compare, contrast, explain, etc. These terms will tell you your purpose for writing. Be sure to know how your instructor is using key words on the assignment sheet. If you don't understand something about the assignment, be sure to ask your instructor. It's vital to understand the assignment completely before you begin writing.

Be sure to have a firm grasp on what you must do to meet the requirements of the assignment. Know how long the essay must be, because this will affect the thesis and focus of the paper. Short papers dictate a narrow focus, whereas longer paper allow for a larger focus.

Know also what formatting requirements are in place, such as font size, margins and other constraints.

Know when the assignment due date is and be sure to allow enough time for all thinking, reading, researching , drafting and revising. Be aware of your instructor's policy on due dates. Most instructors do not accept late papers.

Reading for Meaning

After you've read an essay once, use the following set of questions to guide your re-readings of the text. The question on the left-hand side will help you describe and analyze the text; the question on the right hand side will help focus your response(s).



Describe the author's overall (to inquire, to convince, to persuade, to negotiate or other purpose)	Is the overall purpose clear or muddled?
How did the essay or text actually affect you: did the author's purpose succeed?	How does the author want to or the reader?
	Was the author's actual purpose different from the stated purpose?

Who is the ?	Are you part of the intended audience?
What does the author make about the reader's knowledge or beliefs?	Does the author talk to or talk down to the reader?
From what or is the author writing?

What does the author address?	Where is the thesis stated?
What is the author's	Are the main ideas actually related to the thesis?
What are related to the thesis?	Do key passages convey a message different from the thesis?
What are the or in the text?	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?

Where does the author the essay's organization?	Where did you clearly get the author's signals about the essay's organization?
How does the author new sections of the essay?	Where were you confused about the organization?
What does the author use (personal experience, descriptions, statistics, other authorities, analytical reasoning, or other).	What evidence was most or least effective?
	Where did the author rely on assertions rather than on evidence?

What is the author's (casual, humorous, ironic, angry, preachy, distant, academic, or other)?	Did the tone support or distract from the author's purpose or meaning?
Are and easy, average or difficult?	Did the sentences and vocabulary support or distract from the purpose or meaning?
What recur throughout the text?	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.

Walker, Debra, Kate Kiefer, & Stephen Reid. (1995). Critical Reading. Writing@CSU . Colorado State University. https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide,cfm?guideid=31

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2 – Critical Reading

“Citizens of modern societies must be good readers to be successful. Reading skills do not guarantee success for anyone, but success is much harder to come by without being a skilled reader. The advent of the computer and the Internet does nothing to change this fact about reading. If anything, electronic communication only increases the need for effective reading skills and strategies as we try to cope with the large quantities of information made available to us.” –William Grabe

The importance of reading as a literacy skill is without a doubt. It is essential for daily life navigation and academic success. Reading for daily life navigation is relatively easier, compared to academic reading. Think about the kinds of reading you did in elementary and high school (e.g., story books, picture books, textbook chapters, literary works, online information, lecture notes, etc.).

Now think about what you were expected to do with your reading at school (e.g., memorize, summarize, discuss, pass a test, apply information, or write essays or papers).

Research shows that what you expect to do with a text affects how you read it.

–Bartholomae & Petrosky (1996)

So, reading is not always the same; you read school texts differently than the texts you choose outside of school tasks. Furthermore, there are many external and internal factors that influence how you interpret and use what you read. Much depends on your background (e.g., cultural participation in communities, identity, historical knowledge), and the context in which you are reading. Classrooms and teachers certainly have an influence. The teaching methods used by your instructor, the texts your instructor chooses, and expectations of student performance on assignments all affect how you read and what you do to accomplish an assignment.

Different levels of education also emphasize different types of reading. For example, in primary or secondary education, you learn what is known, so you focus on correctness, memorization of facts, and application of facts. In higher education, although you might still be required to understand and memorize information, you expand what is known by examining ideas and creating new knowledge. In those processes at different levels, reading has been used for different purposes.

Multilingual reading and writing expert William Grabe has identified six different purposes:

Reading to search for information (scanning and skimming)
Reading for quick understanding (skimming)
Reading to learn
Reading to integrate information
Reading to evaluate, critique, and use information
Reading for general comprehension (in many cases, reading for interest or reading to entertain)

In college, reading to evaluate, critique, and use information is the most practiced and tested skill. But what does it mean? Reading to evaluate, critique, and use information is related to critical reading.

Definition of Critical Reading

Critical reading is a more ACTIVE way of reading. It is a deeper and more complex engagement with a text. Critical reading is a process of analyzing, interpreting and, sometimes, evaluating. When we read critically, we use our critical thinking skills to QUESTION both the text and our own reading of it. Different disciplines may have distinctive modes of critical reading (scientific, philosophical, literary, etc).

[Source: Duncan , n.d., Critical Reading ]

Critical reading does not have to be all negative. The aim of critical reading is not to find fault but to assess the strength of the evidence and the argument. It is just as useful to conclude that a study, or an article, presents very strong evidence and a well-reasoned argument, as it is to identify the studies or articles that are weak.

[Source: What is critical reading? ]

There’s No Reason to Eat Animals by Lindsay Rajt

If we care about the environment and believe that kindness is a virtue-as we all say that we do–a vegan diet is the only sensible option. The question becomes: Why eat animals at all?

Animals are made of flesh, bone, and blood, just as you and I are. They form friendships, feel pain and joy, grieve for lost loved ones and are afraid to die. One cannot profess to care about animals while tearing them away from their friends and families and cutting their throats–or paying someone else to do it–simply to satisfy a fleeting taste for flesh.

[adapted from Pattison, 2015, Critical Reading: English for Academic Purposes for instructional purposes ]

What is your position on the issue?

Do you think that the language used helps the audience? How?

How does the language use affect your evaluation of the issue?

Obesity: A Public Health Failure? By Tavis Glassman PhD, MPH, MCHES, Jennifer Glassman M.A., CCC-SLP, and Aaron J. Diehr, M.A.

Obesity rates continue to increase, bringing into question the efficacy of prevention and treatment efforts. While intuitively appealing, the law on weight gain focusing on calories is too simplistic because calories represent only one factor on issues of weight management. From a historical perspective, the recommendation to eat a low fat, high carbohydrate diet may have been the wrong message to promote, thereby making the obesity situation worse. Suggestions to solve the issues of obesity include taxing, restricting advertising, and reducing the use of sugar. Communities must employ these and other strategies to decrease sugar use and reduce obesity rates.

How would you describe the authors’ educational background?

How does the authors’ background affect your evaluation of the argument?

Students Want More Mobile Devices in Classroom by Ellis Booker

Released last week, the Student Mobile Device Survey reveals that students almost unanimously believe mobile technology will change education and make learning more fun. The survey, which collected the responses of 2,350 US students, was conducted for learning company Pearson by Harris Interactive.

According to the survey, 92% of elementary, middle and high school students believe mobile devices will change the way students learn in the future and make learning more fun (90%). A majority (69%) would like to use mobile devices more in the classroom.

The survey results also contained some surprises. For example, college students in math and science are much more likely to use technology for learning, and researchers expected to see this same pattern in the lower grades.

Are you convinced by the survey results? Why?

Color Scheme Associations in Context

The colors you surround yourself with at work are also important as they make a difference in how you are perceived by members of the public. Traditional workplaces still use dark colors such as navy blue, forest green, and chocolate brown to give clients a sense of seriousness and professionalism.

Think about it: which accountant would you choose to prepare your tax return: the one whose office has navy blue drapes and lamps and a maritime scene on the wall or the one whose office is painted in hot pink with a cartoon character on the wall? An online survey of lawyers carried out by Legal Scene magazine showed that of 287 respondents, 38 percent chose a navy blue color scheme for their office; 32 percent chose brown; 19 percent chose forest green; 7 percent chose burgundy; and only 4 percent chose red, pink or orange (Perkins, 2013).

What kind of bias might be implicated in this survey?

What is your personal experience?

These practices do not ask you to memorize or summarize the information you read, but instead, they ask you to provide your opinions and judgment. To answer those questions, you need to engage in critical reading, a form of active reading.

Active reading, which predominates college-level reading, means reading with the purpose of getting a deeper understanding of the texts you are reading and being engaged in the actions of analyzing, questioning, and evaluating the texts. In other words, instead of accepting the information given to you, you challenge its value by examining the source of the information and the formation of an argument.

The difference in how you read falls into two broad categories:

(Source: Reading Critically ]

Reading critically and actively is essential for college students. But what does critical reading look like in actual practice? Here are the steps that you can follow to do the critical reading.

Step 1: Understand the purpose of your reading and be selective

As college students, you are very busy with your daily coursework. A freshman usually takes four to five courses or even six courses per semester. This means you have tons of reading to do every week. Getting to know the purpose of the reading assignments can save you time as your reading is more targeted. Remember you do not have to read a whole chapter or book. What you can do is through scanning to determine the sections that are useful for you and then read the parts carefully.

Step 2: Evaluate the reading text

While reading a text, you need to question/analyze/evaluate the text by considering the following:

Assess whether a source is reliable (Read around the text for the title, author, publisher, publication date, good/bad examples, tones, etc.)
Distinguish between facts and opinions (Scan for any evidence)
Recognize multiple opinions in a text
Infer meaning when it is not directly stated
Agree or disagree with what you read
Consider the relevance of the text to your task
Consider what is missing from a text

It may well be necessary to read passages several times to gain a full understanding of texts and be able to evaluate the source. In this process, you can underline, highlight, or circle important parts and points, take notes, or add comments in the margins.

Critical reading often involves re-reading a text multiple times, putting our focus on different aspects of the text. The first time we read a text, we may be focused on getting an overall sense of the information the author is presenting – in other words, simply understanding what they are trying to say. On subsequent readings, however, we can focus on how the author presents that information, the kinds of evidence they provide to support their arguments (and how convincing we find that evidence), the connection between their evidence and their conclusions, etc.

[Source: Lane, 2021, Critical Thinking for Critical Writing ]

Step 3: Document your reading and form your own argument

After you finish reading a text, sort out your notes and keep track of the sources you have read on the topic you are exploring. After you read several sources, you might be able to form your own argument(s) and use the sources as evidence for your argument(s).

In college, critical reading usually leads to critical writing.

Critical writing comes from critical reading. Whenever you have to write a paper, you have to reflect on various written texts, think and interpret research that has previously been carried out on your subject. With the aim of writing your independent analysis of the subject, you have to critically read sources and use them suitably to formulate your argument. The interpretations and conclusions you derive from the literature you read are the stepping stones towards devising your own approach.

[Source: Does Critical Reading Influence Academic Writing? ]

In a word, through critical reading, you form your own argument(s), and the evidence used to support your argument(s) is usually from the texts that you read critically. The Source Essay Writing Service explains how critical reading influences academic writing.

How does critical reading influence your writing skills?

Once you start reading texts critically, you develop an understanding of how to write research papers. Here are some practical tips that will help you in academic writing:

Examine introductions and conclusions of the texts while critical reading so when you write an independent content, you would be able to decide how to focus your critical work.
When you highlight or take notes from a text, make sure you focus on the argument. The way the author explains the analytical progress, the concepts used, and arriving at conclusions will help you to write your own facts and examples in an interesting way.
By closely reading the texts, you will be able to look for the patterns that give meaning, purpose, and consistency to the text. The way the arguments are presented in paragraphs will aid you in structuring information in your writing.
When you critically read a text, you are able to learn how an argument is placed in the text. Try to understand how you can use this placement strategy in academic writing. Paying attention to the context is an important aspect that you learn from critical reading.
While reading a text, you will notice that the author has given the due credit to the sources used or the references that were consulted. This will help you in understanding how you can cite sources and quotes in your content.
Critical reading skills enhance your way of thinking and writing skills. The more you read, the better is your knowledge and vocabulary. It is important to use the precise words to express your meaning. You can learn new words and improve your writing by reading as many texts as you can.

Activity 1: Discuss the following questions with your group

A website from the United Nations Educational, Scientific ad Cultural Organization (UNESCO) gives some statistics about the level of education reached by young women in Indonesia. Is this a reliable source?
You find an interesting article about addiction to online gambling. The article has some interesting statistics, but it was published ten years ago. Is it worth using?
You find a book about World War II that presents a different opinion from your other sources. What would you like to know about the author before you decide whether or not to take him seriously?
An article tells you that research into space exploration is a waste of money. Do you think this article is presenting facts or opinions? How can you tell? What might you look for in the article?
You find some research that states that people who own dogs generally live longer lives than those who do not. The author has some convincing arguments, but you are not sure whether or not she has enough evidence. How mush is enough?
A newspaper article tells you about human rights abuses in a certain country. The writer of this article has never visited the country in question; his claims are based on interviews with other people. How would you evaluate his information?
You find two websites about the use of seaweed as a source of energy. One is full of long words and complicated sentences; the other uses simple, clear language. Is the first one a more reliable source?
You have read nine different articles that tell you that there is no connection between wealth and happiness. The tenth article gives the opposite opinion: rich people are happier than those who are poor. What questions would you ask yourself about this article before you decide whether or not to consider it?

Activity 2: Reading for analyzing styles

Please read the news and discuss the importance of the graphs in supporting the arguments of the text.

Gender Pay Gap in U.S. Held Steady in 2020

By amanda barroso and anna brown.

The gender gap in pay has remained relatively stable in the United States over the past 15 years or so. In 2020, women earned 84% of what men earned, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers. Based on this estimate, it would take an extra 42 days of work for women to earn what men did in 2020.

As has been the case in recent decades, the 2020 wage gap was smaller for workers ages 25 to 34 than for all workers 16 and older. Women ages 25 to 34 earned 93 cents for every dollar a man in the same age group earned on average. In 1980, women ages 25 to 34 earned 33 cents less than their male counterparts, compared with 7 cents in 2020. The estimated 16-cent gender pay gap among all workers in 2020 was down from 36 cents in 1980.

The U.S. Census Bureau has also analyzed the gender pay gap, though its analysis looks only at full-time workers (as opposed to full- and part-time workers). In 2019, full-time, year-round working women earned 82% of what their male counterparts earned, according to the Census Bureau’s most recent analysis.

Why does a gender pay gap still persist?

Much of this gap has been explained by measurable factors such as educational attainment, occupational segregation and work experience. The narrowing of the gap is attributable in large part to gains women have made in each of these dimensions.

Even though women have increased their presence in higher-paying jobs traditionally dominated by men, such as professional and managerial positions, women as a whole continue to be over-represented in lower-paying occupations relative to their share of the workforce. This may contribute to gender differences in pay.

Other factors that are difficult to measure, including gender discrimination, may also contribute to the ongoing wage discrepancy. In a 2017 Pew Research Center survey , about four-in-ten working women (42%) said they had experienced gender discrimination at work, compared with about two-in-ten men (22%). One of the most commonly reported forms of discrimination focused on earnings inequality. One-in-four employed women said they had earned less than a man who was doing the same job; just 5% of men said they had earned less than a woman doing the same job.

Motherhood can also lead to interruptions in women’s career paths and have an impact on long-term earnings. Our 2016 survey of workers who had taken parental, family or medical leave in the two years prior to the survey found that mothers typically take more time off than fathers after birth or adoption. The median length of leave among mothers after the birth or adoption of their child was 11 weeks, compared with one week for fathers. About half (47%) of mothers who took time off from work in the two years after birth or adoption took off 12 weeks or more.

Mothers were also nearly twice as likely as fathers to say taking time off had a negative impact on their job or career. Among those who took leave from work in the two years following the birth or adoption of their child, 25% of women said this had a negative impact at work, compared with 13% of men.

[Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/05/25/gender-pay-gap-facts/ ]

Activity 3: Reading for arguments

What’s the main argument of the poem?

Fire and Ice

By robert frost, some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. from what i’ve tasted of desire i hold with those who favor fire. but if it had to perish twice, i think i know enough of hate to say that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice..

References:

Barroso, A., & Brown, A. (2021, May 25). Gender pay gap in U.S. held steady in 2020. Pew Research Center. Retrieved July 22, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/05/25/gender-pay-gap-facts/

Bartholomae, D., Petrosky, T., & Waite, S. (2002). Ways of reading: An anthology for writers (p. 720). Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Duncan, J. (n.d.). The Writing Centre, University of Toronto Scarborough. Modified by Michael O’Connor. https://www.stetson.edu/other/writing-program/media/CRITICAL%20READING.pdf

Grabe, W. (2008). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. Cambridge University Press.

Lane, J. (2021, July 9). Critical thinking for critical writing. Simon Fraser University. Retrieved July 22, 2022, from https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/writing/argumentation/critical-thinking-writing

Pattison, T. (2015). Critical Reading: English for academic purposes for instructional purposes. Pearson.

Sourceessay. (n.d.). What is critical reading. https://sourceessay.com/does-critical-reading-influence-academic-writing/

University of Leicester. (n.d.). What is critical reading? Bangor University. https://www.bangor.ac.uk/studyskills/study-guides/critical-reading.php.en

Critical Reading, Writing, and Thinking Copyright © 2022 by Zhenjie Weng, Josh Burlile, Karen Macbeth is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Study Skills

Wolfson college academic skills: critical reading and evaluation.

Transition to Wolfson
Finding Information on Reading List
Literature Searching
Keeping up to date
Critical reading and evaluation
Speed reading
Reference management
Note making
Research Data Management
Academic writing
Finishing a long document in Word
Publishing your research
Using AI for Academic Purposes
Reflection and setting goals
Responding to and using feedback
Time management
Digital wellbeing
Working remotely
Exam and Revision Tips

Everyone is different and reads at different paces for different reasons and contexts. Ultimately it is more important to do deep reading than simply get it done. But you may find some tools and techniques on this page to help you identify areas to spend your time on so you don't waste time on material you already know or sections that are irrelevant.

1. Your reading should be just as structured as your essay. Before beginning, you need to plan. Create a list or mind map to analyse your question and help identify what you do and don’t know. Draw out themes you are comfortable with and those which will need more research. This is where to focus your reading

2. Then ask yourself: Why I am reading this? What questions do I want it to answer? This will depend on whether you are looking for information, to improve your understanding or to analyse a text. You may ony want an additional citation to strengthen your argument.

3. Once you know what you want from a reading session, your strategic approach to reading should ideally include the following steps:

4. Do not accept what you read at face value, always question the information, ideas and arguments you come across. Use evidence to help you form your own opinions, arguments, theories and ideas.

5. Critical reading is only effective if you take critical notes. Your notes to need to interpret the overall meaning of what you have read within the wider context of what you know from other sources and your argument. If you write your notes in a critical way, you should be able to drop them into your essay without much editing.

This video introduces the idea of critical reading but it also helpful to look at in conjunction with our notemaking resources.

Academic reading
Preparing to read
Critical reading and notemaking

Underlying Principles of Academic Reading

Moving beyond task-oriented attitude of ‘doing the reading’
Active academic reading is about higher-order cognitive skills: analysis and synthesis,
Generally, active academic reading is not about reading every word in order and then quickly reaching for the next reading
Active academic reading is about reflection (note making)

Active Academic Reading

Positioning the text in terms of your piece of writing
Surveying the text for clues about its arguments, methods and results
Reading in a focused manner
Reflecting on the usefulness of the text for your work

Before you read…stop!

Ask yourself: what do you want to achieve by reading this?

Background/understanding
Answer a specific question about context
Example/case study/data
Extract their citation/their thesis
Summary for a seminar

Use KWL to get you started

Reading academically mean reading with real purpose. That way, you won't waste time reading things you already know or that are irrelevant.

KWL method of approaching reading
Know	Want to know	Learned
What do you know about this before reading?	What is left unanswered? This is the motivation to start reading	Fill this in as you go and record your progress

How has your thinking moved on?	What is left unanswered? This is the motivation to read in more depth

Survey the text
Question and evaluate
Reading techniques
Recall and Reviewing what you have read

You don’t have time to read everything, nor do you need to. Take a structured approach to target your reading:

If it is a book , look at the contents page and index. If the information you are looking for isn’t mentioned here, you probably don’t need to read any further.
If it is a chapter or journal article, use the structure of headings and subheadings to give you an idea about the content.
Do you recognise anything in the reference list ? Is it linked to material you have been reading? Do they support or refute one another?
Quickly look at the text to identify keywords or phrases.
Figures, data and images are much easier to digest at speed than words.
Evaluate the relevance and usefulness of the resource and decide if you need to read more.
Note key points made in the summary or abstract.
Read the first and last paragraphs or sections to identify the main argument. Then decide if you need more specific information from the body of text.
This is the case for paragraphs too. A good writer should introduce an argument in the first sentence and summarise it in the last.
Look for repetition of arguments, phrases or words to give clues to the author’s intentions.
What do they consider crucial ? Does this match what you think is crucial?

Then, and only then, should you decide if you need to read further and take in-depth notes. If not, move on the next text.

Once you have established what an individual thinks, you’ll need to link it to the bigger picture. Develop a checklist to evaluate what you read: Authority

Can you tell who wrote it? If the author is not identified who is the sponsor, publisher, or organisation behind the information?
Are the author’s credentials or organisational affiliations listed?
Is the source reputable?
What is the purpose of the information? To inform, sell or entertain?
Does the point of view appear objective or can you determine bias? Is this clearly stated or apparent through a close reading?
Does the text/site provide information or is it a critical evaluation of other information?
When was the information published/posted? Does this matter in your field?
When was it last revised? Have there been new studies or developments in theory since then?
If reviewing a web source, are the links current or broken?
Where does the information presented come from? Are the sources listed?
Can you verify the information in other sources or from your own knowledge?
What is the depth of coverage?
Is the information central to your topic or does the source only touch on it?
Is it unique? Is better quality information available from another source?
Who is the intended audience?

Speaking as we read is something associated with childhood. Whilst reading silently can speed up the rate at which we digest text, it sometimes hinders clarity of thought. If passage is difficult or you are finding it hard to concentrate, reading aloud can focus your mind and improve comprehension. Speak into the digital recorder on your phone to listen to it again if you are struggling to understand passages or need to revise them.

Note down words or concepts you are struggling with and then follow them up on another occasion. Don't get distracted whilst reading the passage.

Finger-tracking

Again, this is something we do when learning to read as a child but has huge value for advanced readers too. It is best employed when you don’t need to read every word. Run your finger across the text or, as you get more experienced, in a zigzag fashion down the centre of the page. You will still be able to take in the gist of argument despite not reading every word. It will help identify repeated keywords and arguments.

It is good practice to take a moment after reading to see if you can do the following by way of a summary:

Restate : reiterate the same topics and facts. What is it about?
Describe : discuss the topics and facts within the context of the author’s argument. What do they think?
Interpret : apply meaning within the wider context of your prior knowledge and values. Is this what you think? What are the implications of your analysis?

If you are struggling to do this, you may need to re-read sections before moving on to another text.

If you make effective notes in this way, you can then lift chunks directly into your essay or assignment. It is therefore important not to simply describe what you have read but to analyse it too. That way you will writing critically; comparing, contrasting and synthesising information while clarifying the importance of some authors, arguments and sources overs others.

Find out more

An introduction to Critical Reading - breaking it down - This is a self-paced course on Moodle, created by Cambridge librarians. It should take around 45 minutes to complete.The course is an opportunity to sharpen your techniques for reading scholarly literature effectively. It outlines techniques to read productively, and introduce a question-based method to help with being critical. The course allows you to reflect on your current way of working and also includes a practical exercise to consolidate the skills which have been taught.

Unless otherwise stated, this work is licenced under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence by Wolfson College Cambridge.

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Last Updated: Aug 14, 2024 3:43 PM
URL: https://libguides.cam.ac.uk/wolfsoncollege

Subject Guides

Being critical: a practical guide

Critical reading.

Being critical
Critical thinking
Evaluating information
Reading academic articles
Critical writing

The purposes and practices of reading

The way we read depends on what we’re reading and why we’re reading it. The way we read a novel is different to the way we read a menu . Perhaps we are reading to understand a subject, to increase our knowledge, to analyse data, to retrieve information, or maybe even to have fun! The purpose of our reading will determine the approach we take.

Reading for information

Suppose we were trying to find some directions or opening hours... We would need to scan the text for key words or phrases that answer our question, and then we would move on.

It's a bit like doing a Google search and then just reading the results page rather than accessing the website.

Reading for understanding

When we're reading for pleasure or doing background reading on a topic, we'll generally read the text once, from start to finish . We might apply skimming techniques to look through the text quickly and get the general gist. Our engagement with the text might therefore be quite passive: we're looking for a general understanding of what's being written, perhaps only taking in the bits that seem important.

Reading for analysis

When we're doing reading for an essay, dissertation, or thesis, we're going to need to actively read the text multiple times . All the while we'll engage our prior knowledge and actively apply it to our reading, asking questions of what's been written.

This is critical reading !

Reading strategies

When you’re reading you don’t have to read everything with the same amount of care and attention. Sometimes you need to be able to read a text very quickly.

There are three different techniques for reading:

Scanning — looking over material quite quickly in order to pick out specific information;
Skimming — reading something fairly quickly to get the general idea;
Close reading — reading something in detail.

You'll need to use a combination of these methods when you are reading an academic text: generally, you would scan to determine the scope and relevance of the piece, skim to pick out the key facts and the parts to explore further, then read more closely to understand in more detail and think critically about what is being written.

These strategies are part of your filtering strategy before deciding what to read in more depth. They will save you time in the long run as they will help you focus your time on the most relevant texts!

You might scan when you are...

...browsing a database for texts on a specific topic;
...looking for a specific word or phrase in a text;
...determining the relevance of an article;
...looking back over material to check something;
...first looking at an article to get an idea of its shape.

Scan-reading essentially means that you know what you are looking for. You identify the chapters or sections most relevant to you and ignore the rest. You're scanning for pieces of information that will give you a general impression of it rather than trying to understand its detailed arguments.

You're mostly on the look-out for any relevant words or phrases that will help you answer whatever task you're working on. For instance, can you spot the word "orange" in the following paragraph?

Being able to spot a word by sight is a useful skill, but it's not always straightforward. Fortunately there are things to help you. A book might have an index, which might at least get you to the right page. An electronic text will let you search for a specific word or phrase. But context will also help. It might be that the word you're looking for is surrounded by similar words, or a range of words associated with that one. I might be looking for something about colour, and see reference to pigment, light, or spectra, or specific colours being called out, like red or green. I might be looking for something about fruit and come across a sentence talking about apples, grapes and plums. Try to keep this broader context in mind as you scan the page. That way, you're never really just going to be looking for a single word or orange on its own. There will normally be other clues to follow to help guide your eye.

Approaches to scanning articles:

Make a note of any questions you might want to answer – this will help you focus;
Pick out any relevant information from the title and abstract – Does it look like it relates to what you're wanting? If so, carry on...
Flick or scroll through the article to get an understanding of its structure (the headings in the article will help you with this) – Where are certain topics covered?
Scan the text for any facts , illustrations , figures , or discussion points that may be relevant – Which parts do you need to read more carefully? Which can be read quickly?
Look out for specific key words . You can search an electronic text for key words and phrases using Ctrl+F / Cmd+F. If your text is a book, there might even be an index to consult. In either case, clumps of results could indicate an area where that topic is being discussed at length.

Once you've scanned a text you might feel able to reject it as irrelevant, or you may need to skim-read it to get more information.

You might skim when you are...

...jumping to specific parts such as the introduction or conclusion;
...going over the whole text fairly quickly without reading every word;

Skim-reading, or speed-reading, is about reading superficially to get a gist rather than a deep understanding. You're looking to get a feel for the content and the way the topic is being discussed.

Skim-reading is easier to do if the text is in a language that's very familiar to you, because you will have more of an awareness of the conventions being employed and the parts of speech and writing that you can gloss over. Not only will there be whole sections of a text that you can pretty-much ignore, but also whole sections of paragraphs. For instance, the important sentence in this paragraph is the one right here where I announce that the important part of the paragraph might just be one sentence somewhere in the middle. The rest of the paragraph could just be a framework to hang around this point in order to stop the article from just being a list.

However, it may more often be that the important point for your purposes comes at the start of the paragraph. Very often a paragraph will declare what it's going to be about early on, and will then start to go into more detail. Maybe you'll want to do some closer reading of that detail, or maybe you won't. If the first paragraph makes it clear that this paragraph isn't going to be of much use to you, then you can probably just stop reading it. Or maybe the paragraph meanders and heads down a different route at some point in the middle. But if that's the case then it will probably end up summarising that second point towards the end of the paragraph. You might therefore want to skim-read the last sentence of a paragraph too, just in case it offers up any pithy conclusions, or indicates anything else that might've been covered in the paragraph!

For example, this paragraph is just about the 1980s TV gameshow "Treasure Hunt", which is something completely irrelevant to the topic of how to read an article. "Treasure Hunt" saw two members of the public (aided by TV newsreader Kenneth Kendall) using a library of books and tourist brochures to solve a series of five clues (provided, for the most part, by TV weather presenter Wincey Willis). These clues would generally be hidden at various tourist attractions within a specific county of the British Isles. The contestants would be in radio contact with a 'skyrunner' (Anneka Rice) who had a map and the use of a helicopter (piloted by Keith Thompson). Solving a clue would give the contestants the information they needed to direct the skyrunner (and her crew of camera operator Graham Berry and video engineer Frank Meyburgh) to the location of the next clue, and, ultimately, to the 'treasure' (a token object such as a little silver brooch). All of this was done against the clock, the contestants having only 45' to solve the clues and find the treasure. This, necessarily, required the contestants to be able to find relevant information quickly: they would have to select the right book from the shelves, and then navigate that text to find the information they needed. This, inevitably, involved a considerable amount of skim-reading. So maybe this paragraph was slightly relevant after all? No, probably not...

Skim-reading, then, is all about picking out the bits of a text that look like they need to be read, and ignoring other bits. It's about understanding the structure of a sentence or paragraph, and knowing where the important words like the verbs and nouns might be. You'll need to take in and consider the meaning of the text without reading every single word...

Approaches to skim-reading articles:

Pick out the most relevant information from the title and abstract – What type of article is it? What are the concepts? What are the findings?;
Scan through the article and note the headings to get an understanding of structure;
Look more closely at the illustrations or figures ;
Read the conclusion ;
Read the first and last sentences in a paragraph to see whether the rest is worth reading.

After skimming, you may still decide to reject the text, or you may identify sections to read in more detail.

Close reading

You might read closely when you are...

...doing background reading;
...trying to get into a new or difficult topic;
...examining the discussions or data presented;
...following the details or the argument.

Again, close reading isn't necessarily about reading every single word of the text, but it is about reading deeply within specific sections of it to find the meaning of what the author is trying to convey. There will be parts that you will need to read more than once, as you'll need to consider the text in great detail in order to properly take in and assess what has been written.

Approaches to the close reading of articles:

Focus on particular passages or a section of the text as a whole and read all of its content – your aim is to identify all the features of the text;
Make notes and annotate the text as you read – note significant information and questions raised by the text;
Re-read sections to improve understanding;
Look up any concepts or terms that you don’t understand.

Questioning

Questioning goes hand-in-hand with reading for analysis. Before you begin to read, you should have a question or set of questions that will guide you. This will give purpose to your reading, and focus you; it will change your reading from a passive pursuit to an active one, and make it easier for you to retain the information you find. Think about what you want to achieve and keep the purpose in mind as you're reading.

Ask yourself...

Why am I reading this? — What is my task or assignment question, and how is this source helping to answer it?
What do I already know about the subject? — How can I relate what I'm reading to my own experiences?

You'll need to ask questions of the text too:

Examine the evidence or arguments presented;
Check out any influences on the evidence or arguments;
Check the limitations of study design or focus;
Examine the interpretations made.

Are you prepared to accept the authors’ arguments, opinions, or conclusions?

Critical reading: why, what, and how

Blocks to critical reading.

Certain habits or approaches we have to life can hold us back from really thinking objectively about issues. We may not realise it, but often we're our own worst enemies when it comes to being critical...

Select a student to reveal the statement they've made.

I have been asked to work on an area that is completely new. Where do I start in terms of finding relevant texts?

Ask for guidance:

ask your tutor or module leader

use your module reading lists

make use of the Skills Guides (oh... you are! Excellent!)

ask your Faculty Librarians

Take a look at our contextagon and begin to consider sources of information .

I don’t understand what I'm reading – It's too difficult!

If the text is difficult, don’t panic!

If it is a journal article, scan the text first – look at the contents, abstract, introduction, conclusion and subheadings to try to make sense of the argument.

Then read through the whole text to try to understand the key messages, rather than every single word or section. On a second reading, you will find it easier to understand more.

If you are struggling to get to grips with theories or concepts, you might find it useful to look at a summary as a way in -- for example, in an online subject encyclopaedia .

If you are struggling with difficult vocabulary, it may be useful to keep a glossary of key vocabulary, particularly if it is specialist or technical.

Remember, the more you read, the more you will understand it and be able to use it yourself.

Take a look at our Academic sources Skills Guide .

Help! There is too much to read and too little time!

University study involves a large amount of reading. However, some texts on your reading lists are core texts and some are more optional.

You will generally need to read the core text, but on the optional list there may be a range of texts which deal with the same topic from different perspectives. You will need to decide which are the most relevant to your interests and assignments.

Keep in mind the questions you want the text to answer and look for what is relevant to those questions. Prioritise and read only as much as you need to get the information you need (if it's a book, use the index; if it's an article, concentrate on the relevant parts).

Improve your note-taking skills by keeping them brief and selective.

If in doubt, ask your tutor or Faculty Librarians for guidance.

Take a look at the Organise and Analyse section of the Skills Guides.

I am struggling to remember what I have read.

To remember what you have read, you need to interact with the material. If you have questioned and evaluated the material you are reading, you will find it easier to remember.

Improve your active note-taking skills using a method like Cornell or Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review (SQR3).

Annotate your pdfs and use a note-taking app .

Make time to consolidate your reading periodically. You could do this by summarising key points from memory or connecting ideas using mindmapping.

Consider using a reference management program to keep on top of reading, and mind-mapping software like Mindgenius to connect ideas.

Where did I read that thing?

Make sure you have a good system for taking notes and try to keep your notes organised/in one place, whether that is using an app or taking notes by hand. There is no right way to do this - find a system that works for you.

Logically label and file your notes, linking new information with what you already know and cross-reference with any handouts.

Make sure you make a note of information for referencing sources.

Where possible, save resources you have used to Google Drive or your University filestore , and organise these (e.g. by module, assessment, topic etc.).

Many of the above tips can be achieved with reference management software .

I have strong opinions about the argument being presented in the reading – why can’t I just put this side forward?

Truth is a complicated business. Core texts or texts by highly respected authors are an author’s interpretation, and that interpretation is not above question. Any single text only provides a perspective. Even a scientific observation may be modified by further evidence. Critical writing means making sure your argument is balanced, considering and critiquing a range of perspectives.

Read texts objectively and assess their value in terms of what they can bring to your work, rather than whether you agree with them or not.

If you agree or disagree strongly with an author, you still need to analyse their argument and justify why it is sound or unsound, reliable or unreliable, and valid or lacking validity.

Ignoring opposing views can be a mistake. Your reader may think you are unaware of the different views or are not willing to think the ideas through and challenge them.

Be careful not to be blinded by your own views about a topic or an author. Engaging actively with a text which you initially don’t agree with can mean you have to rethink or adjust your own position, making your final argument stronger.

Take a look at the other parts of the Being critical Skills Guides .

That's not right. Try again.

Being actively critical

Active reading is about making a conscious effort to understand and evaluate a text for its relevance to your studies. You would actively try to think about what the text is trying to say, for example by making notes or summaries.

Critical reading is about engaging with the text by asking questions rather than passively accepting what it says. Is the methodology sound? What was the purpose? Do ideas flow logically? Are arguments properly formulated? Is the evidence there to support what is being claimed?

When you're reading critically, you're looking to...

...link evidence to your own research;
...compare and contrast different sources effectively;
...focus research and sources;
...synthesise the information you've found;
...justify your own arguments with reference to other sources.

You're going beyond just an understanding of a text. You're asking questions of it; making judgements about it... What you're reading is no longer undisputed 'fact': it's an argument put forward by an author. And you need to determine whether that argument is a valid one.

"Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting"

– Edmund Burke

"Feel free to reflect on the merits (or not) of that quote..."

– anon.

Critical reading involves understanding the content of the text as well as how the subject matter is developed...

How true is what's being written?
How significant are the statements that are being made?

Regardless of how objective, technical, or scientific the text may be, the authors will have made certain decisions during the writing process, and it is these decisions that we will need to examine.

Two models of critical reading

There are several approaches to critical reading. Here's a couple of models you might want to try:

Choose a chapter or article relevant to your assessment (or pick something from your reading list).

Then do the following:

Determine broadly what the text is about.

Look at the front and back covers

Scan the table of contents

Look at the title, headings, and subheadings

Read the abstract, introduction and conclusion

Are there any images, charts, data or graphs?

What are the questions the text will answer? Write some down.

Use the title, headings and subheadings to write questions

What questions do the abstract, introduction and conclusion prompt?

What do you already know about the topic? What do you need to know?

Do a first reading. Read selectively.

Read a section at a time

Answer your questions

Summarise or make brief notes

Underline or highlight any key points

Recite (in your own words)

Recall the key points.

Summarise key points from memory

Try to answer the questions you asked orally, without looking at the text or your notes

Use diagrams or mindmaps to recall the information

After you have completed the reading…

Go back over your notes and check they are clear

Check that you have answered all your questions

At a later date, review your notes to check that they make sense

At a later date, review the questions and see how much you can recall from memory

Choose a relevant article from your reading list and make brief notes on it using the prompts below.

Choose an article you have read earlier in your course and re-read it, applying the prompts below.

Compare your comments and the notes you have made. What are the differences?

Who is the text by? Who is the text aimed at? Who is described in the text?

What is the text about? What is the main point, problem or topic? What is the text's purpose?

Where is the problem/topic/issue situated?, and in what context?

When does the problem/topic/issue occur, and what is its context? When was the text written?

How did the topic/problem/issue occur? How does something work? How does one factor affect another? How does this fit into the bigger picture?

Why did the topic/problem/issue occur? Why was this argument/theory/solution used? Why not something else?

What if this or that factor were added/removed/altered? What if there are alternatives?

So what makes it significant? So what are the implications? So what makes it successful?

What next in terms of how and where else it's applied? What next in terms of what can be learnt? What next in terms of what needs doing now?

Here's a template for use with the model.

Go to File > Make a copy... to create your own version of the template that you can edit.

CC BY-NC-SA Learnhigher

Arguments & evidence

Academic reading can be a trial. In more ways than one...

It might help to think of every text you read as a witness in a court case. And you're the judge ! You're going to need to examine the testimony...

What’s being claimed ?
What are the reasons for making that claim?
Are there gaps in the evidence?
Do other witnesses support and corroborate their testimony?
Does the testimony support the overall case ?
How does the testimony relate to the other witnesses?

You're going to need to consider all sides of the case...

Considering the argument

An argument explains a position on something. A lot of academic writing is about gathering those claims and explaining your own position through their explanations.

You'll need to question...

...the author's claims ;
...the arguments they use — are their claims well documented ?;
...the counter-arguments presented;
...any bias in the source;
...the research method being used;
...how the author qualifies their arguments.

You'll also need to develop your own reasoned arguments, based on a logical interpretation of reliable sources of information.

What's the evidence?

Evidence isn't just the results of research or a reference to an academic study. You might use other authors' opinions to back up your argument. Keep in mind that some evidence is stronger than others:

weak

— personal opinions of the author;

— an attempt to be persuasive;

— personal experiences or case studies;

— primary or secondary findings or data.

strong

You can get an idea of an author's certainty through the language they use, too:

weak	"It that..." "It that..." "There's that..." "It (not)..." "It (not)..." "It is (not)..." "It is (not)..." "It (not)..." "It is (un) ..." "It (not)..." "It (not)..." "It is ..." "It is ..." "It (not)..." "It (not)..." "It (not)..." "It is (ly)..." "It is (ly)..." "It is (ly)..." "it is ..."
strong

Linking evidence to argument

Why did the author select the evidence they did? — Why did they decide to use a particular methodology, choose a specific method, or conduct the work in the way they did?
How does the author interpret the evidence?
How does the evidence prove or help the argument?

Even in the most technical and scientific disciplines, the presentation of argument will always involve elements that can be examined and questioned. For example, you could ask:

Why did the author select that particular topic of enquiry in the first place?
Why did the author select that particular process of analysis?

Synthesis :

"the combination of components or elements to form a connected whole."

You'll need to make logical connections between the different sources you encounter, pulling together their findings. Are there any patterns that emerge?

Analyse the texts you've found, and how meaningful they are in context of your studies...

How do they compare to each other and to any other knowledge you are gathering about the subject? Do some ideas complement or conflict with each other?
How will you synthesise the different sources to serve an idea you are constructing? Are there any inferences you can draw from the material?

Embracing other perspectives

Good critical research seeks to be impartial, and will embrace (or, at the very least, address) conflicting opinions. Try to bring these into your research to show comprehensive searching and knowledge of the subject.

You can strengthen your argument by explaining, critically, why one source is more persuasive than another.

Recall & review

Synthesising research is much easier if you take notes. When you know an article is relevant to your area of research, read it and make notes which are relevant to you. Consider keeping a spreadsheet or something similar , to make a note of what you have read and how it relates to the task.

You don't need elaborate notes; just a summary of the relevant details. But you can use your notes to help with the process of analysing and synthesising the texts. One method you could try is the recall & review approach:

Try to summarise key words and elements of the text:

Sketch a rough diagram of the text from memory — test what you can recall from your reading of the text;
Make headings of the main ideas and note the supporting evidence;
Include your evaluation — what were the strengths and weaknesses?
Identify any gaps in your memory.

Go over your notes, focusing on the parts you found difficult. Organise your notes, re-read parts, and start to bring everything together...

Summarise the text in preparation for writing;
Be creative: use colour and arrows; make it easy to visualise;
Highlight the ideas you may want to make use of;
Identify areas for further research.

Critical analysis vs criticism

The aim of critical reading and critical writing is not to find fault; it's not about focusing on the negative or being derogatory. Rather it's about assessing the strength of the evidence and the argument. It's just as useful to conclude that a study or an article presents very strong evidence and a well-reasoned argument as it is to identify weak evidence and poorly formed arguments.

Criticising

The author's argument is poor because it is badly written.

Critical analysis

The author's argument is unconvincing without further supporting evidence.

Academic reading: What it is and how to do it

Struggling with academic reading? This bitesize workshop breaks it down for you! Discover how to read faster, smarter, and make those academic texts work for you:

Think critically about what you read...

examine the evidence or arguments presented
check out any influences on the evidence or arguments
check out the limitations of study design or focus
examine the interpretations made

Active critical reading

It's important to take an analytical approach to reading the texts you encounter. In the concluding part of our " Being critical " theme, we look at how to evaluate sources effectively, and how to develop practical strategies for reading in an efficient and critical manner.

Forthcoming training sessions

Forthcoming sessions on :

CITY College

Please ensure you sign up at least one working day before the start of the session to be sure of receiving joining instructions.

If you're based at CITY College you can book onto the following sessions by sending an email with the session details to your Faculty Librarian:

[email protected]

There's more training events at:

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Next: Critical writing >>
Last Updated: Aug 7, 2024 2:21 PM
URL: https://subjectguides.york.ac.uk/critical

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Critical reading is the process of reading that goes beyond just understanding a text. Critical reading involves:

carefully considering and evaluating the reading
identifying the reading's strengths and implications
identifying the reading's weaknesses and flaws
looking at the 'big picture' and deciding how the reading fits into the greater academic context (the understandings presented in other books and articles on this topic)

In brief, you are actively responding to the reading. Critical reading is useful at all stages of academic study, but is particularly important when writing an article critique or a literature review .

Critical reading often involves asking questions about the reading. In particular, you are examining the strengths and weaknesses of the reading's argument.

To do this, you need to consider

the reading's background
its purpose and overall conclusion (claim)
the evidence used in the reading
the logical connections between the claim and the evidence
the reading's balance
its limitations
how it relates to other sources and research
if the reading is based on research, how this research was conducted

Each of these affects how 'strong' the argument is, that is, how convincing it is.

Note: The questions here can also be used to improve your own writing, especially when you are required to construct an argument.

Before you consider the argument of a reading, you should build up a background picture of the reading.

While you cannot evaluate an argument based solely on the qualifications of the author, their background can give you an indication of credibility or potential bias.

Are they a recognised academic expert or a new researcher?
Do they work for a university, the government, an organisation, or a commercial interest?

As with the author, the type of reading can give you an idea of potential bias and the quality / applicability of the information. Is this an academic source ? Is it trying to convince you of something or sell something?

Periodical articles: Is this from a scholarly journal, a magazine, or a newspaper?
Books: Is this from an academic publisher or a commercial publisher?
Websites: Is the publishing organisation clearly identified? Check the URL: Is it governmental (URL ending in .govt.nz/.gov), academic (URL ending in .ac/.ac.nz/.edu), commercial (URL ending in .co.nz/.com) or an organisation (URL ending in .org/.org.nz)?

The reading may be organised and written differently or have different goals depending on the intended audience.

Is it aimed at:

academics and researchers?
people in the industry?
the general public?

Up-to-date information is more useful. Something that was believed to be true in 1982 may have been disproved or improved since then.

Getting the 'big picture' of the reading is essential so that you can see how all the pieces fit together.

The main claim (or argument) of the reading is the point that it is trying to prove. The claim of a reading is often a single statement: the thesis statement . This is often found in the abstract, the introduction, and/or the conclusion of the article.

Is the main conclusion clear?
Does the evidence lead to this conclusion?

It is useful to think about the consequences and applications of the argument, as this may uncover particular strengths or further flaws.

Are the applications practical or meaningful?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the applications?
What are the costs and benefits of the applications?

The structure of the reading will give you an idea of which points are most important, and which points support the conclusion. Look at

subheadings
the introduction

It may be useful to draw a map or diagram of the reading's structure.

It is essential to consider the quality of the evidence in the reading, as this directly relates to the usefulness of the reading.

Objective facts are generally acceptable.
Information obtained through research is convincing, as long as the methodology is appropriate.
Opinions can easily be contradicted by an alternative opinion. They are more likely to be biased.
Personal experience may not apply to other cases and so is not easily generalized.
Does the evidence agree with other sources?
Does the evidence agree with your own understanding of the topic?
Does the evidence connect to the reading's conclusion?
Is it enough to support the argument?
Is the evidence convincing?

Many readings rely on particular theories or models to make their argument.

Is the theory the best fit for this topic?
Is the theory properly interpreted and explained in the reading?
Does the theory explain the entire conclusion or only part of it?
Are there parts of the conclusion not explained by the theory?

Methodology

If the reading is based on any kind of research (e.g. a survey, an experiment, a case study), it is important to consider how the research was conducted as this can affect the validity of the findings reported.

Quantitative research involves measuring (quantifying) and analysing specific numerical or statistical data. It uses mathematical models to interpret data. Studies are designed so that mathematical models can be easily applied to research contexts using experiments and surveys.
Qualitative research involves the examination, analysis, and interpretation of observations or accounts of events in order to identify themes, underlying meanings, and patterns. This approach does not use mathematical models, but rather interviews, case studies and analysis of written documents.

Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, but the type of research will always affect the findings. Is this type of research appropriate for this topic?

The wider the range or sample size of research, the more the findings can be generalised.

If the research is a survey or questionnaire, how many participants were there?
Did the participants come from different cultural / social backgrounds?
Were the participants of different ages / occupations / genders / ethnic groups / nationalities?

Could other research prove this research wrong? This is not asking whether the research is false, but whether it is possible to test its validity. If it is impossible to prove a claim wrong, it is also impossible to prove a claim right; the claim is instead a matter of faith.

If someone else conducted similar research using these methods, would they be likely to have a similar result? If it is impossible to repeat research, it is also impossible to test it.

Were there other methods that may be more effective, more scientific, more reliable, more culturally-sensitive, or more practical? Why weren't they used?

When reading critically it is important to examine the chain of reasoning used by the author, as any gaps or problems can undermine the validity of the conclusion.

Definitions are an important part of academic study; terminology often varies between topics and between authors.

Is each term that has been used properly defined?
Are there any terms that could have several different interpretations?

Does every point follow on from the last point? If there is a gap between two ideas, this could be a 'leap of faith' that undermines the overall conclusion.

Is the reasoning logically sound? Some arguments are weak because they rely on faulty logic; these are often referred to as logical fallacies .

In order to read critically you have to consider whether the argument is appropriately balanced, looking at the issue or problem from relevant perspectives.

What details are missing?
Are there any claims that seem unusual or extraordinary? You should pay attention to parts of the argument that seem controversial, as there are likely to be other explanations.

It is impossible for a reading to be completely balanced because a conclusion must ultimately be drawn, but some readings are more biased than others.

Is the reading trying to convince you of something? Why?
Did the reading push one point of view to the exclusion of others ?

Readings are often written from one perspective; what other ways can you look at this topic?

Try, for example, a PESTLE analysis, which examines the p olitical, e conomic, s ociological, t echnological, l egal, and e nvironmental perspectives and implications.

A reading that offers several perspectives is more balanced, and a strong argument must consider and argue against counter-arguments.

Are you aware of any counter-arguments that exist but were not discussed? This is a sign of a weaker argument.

Limitations

Some readings will identify their assumptions; this is so that if an assumption is later proven false, it is clear whether the argument is still correct or not.

Does the reading make assumptions that it does not identify? Hidden assumptions may weaken the argument.

Some theories or principles only apply in certain situations. If a theory is applied outside of those situations, it may weaken the argument.

Other sources

No reading exists in isolation. You must consider how the reading fits into the 'bigger picture' of the larger academic context.

If the reading disagrees with something from other readings, your textbook, or the lecturer, it may be incorrect. It may also be a controversial or debatable argument, or this reading may be discussing the argument from a different perspective.

When there is more than one way to explain evidence, you must carefully evaluate the plausibility of each explanation.

What may have changed since the reading was written?

References and further reading

Allen, M. (2004). Smart thinking: Skills for critical understanding and writing (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. [ Massey Library link ]

Flage, D. (2003). The art of questioning: An introduction to critical thinking . Pearson Education. [ Massey Library link ]

Groarke, L. A., & Tindale, C. W. (2004). Good reasoning matters! A constructive approach to critical thinking (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. [ Massey Library link ]

Metcalfe, M. (2006). Reading critically at university. Sage. [ Massey Library link ]

Turner, J. (2002). How to study: A short introduction . Sage. [ Massey Library link ]

Page authorised by Director - Centre for Learner Success Last updated on 26 February, 2020

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What Is Critical Reading? A Definition For Learning

Critical reading is reading with the purpose of critical examination of the text and its implicit and explicit themes and ideas.

The Definition Of Critical Reading

by Terry Heick

Critical reading is reading with the purpose of critical examination of the text and its ideas.

To add a bit more to that definition, we might say, “Critical reading is reading with the purpose of critical examination of the text and its implicit and explicit themes and ideas.”

What is Critical Reading? To expand on the simple definition above, critical reading is the close, careful reading of a text that is undertaken in order to understand it fully and assess its merits. It is not simply a matter of skimming a text or reading for plot points; rather, critical reading requires that you read attentively and thoughtfully, taking into account the text’s structure, purpose, and audience, among other characteristics (e.g., tone, mood, diction, etc.)

Critical reading is the process of reading texts with the purpose to understand them fully. It involves asking questions about the author’s intention, the text’s structure and purpose, and the meanings of individual words and phrases. Critical readers also consider the context in which a text was written and how it might be interpreted by different audiences.

What is a critical reading strategy? A critical reading strategy is anything the reader does that helps them critically evaluate a text.

See also Creating A Culture Of Reading In Your Classroom

What are some examples of critical reading strategies?

Critical Reading Strategies

Inferring ( ‘Reading between the lines’ is the act of identifying and examining implicit messages and biases.)

Claim/Counter-Claim (itemizing each and how they work/don’t work together in a specific text; concept mapping can be useful here)

Journaling (while or after reading to reflect both on the text and the process of evaluating that text)

Marking The Text

Adjusting Reading Rate

Monitoring Understanding

SPQ: Stop, Paraphrase, and Question

The Contrarian (viewing the text from a specific perspective other than your own–often the opposite of your beliefs, opinion, or perspective)

Critical Lenses (reading a text while ‘seeing’ that text through a specific concept or category–including socioeconomic, historical, gender, race, sexuality, and other ‘concepts’ or realities; this can help uncover bias, create new meaning previously inaccessible to the reader and, perhaps most importantly, help the reader understand the subjectivity of reading and how much of an impact our own biases have on our understanding of both texts we read and the world around us).

See also How To Help Your Students See Quality

Why is Critical Reading Important?

Critical reading is important because it allows you to read and analyze a text critically, breaking it down into its component parts and assessing its strengths and weaknesses. It also helps you understand the author’s purpose in writing the text and how it relates to your own life.

As the process of reading texts with a focus on understanding and evaluating the arguments and evidence presented, critical reading involves asking questions about the text, making connections to other texts, and thinking critically about the author’s argument. Critical reading is necessary for success in school and in life because it allows you to assess information critically and make informed decisions.

How To Read Critically

To read critically, you only need to read with the purpose of identifying and evaluating the ‘quality’ of a text.

Quality can mean different things depending on the purpose and context of a text. Note, the quality here is different than the ‘quality’ of literature or film, or other fiction. In these cases, specific hallmarks of quality certainly exist but they relate to the ability to convey a compelling fiction (e.g., tell a ‘good story’). The use of dialogue to establish characters, the use of setting to ground conflicts, and the weaving of a unifying narrative through the course of dozens of small events, each done with the purpose of helping the reader slowly uncover some truth about themselves or the world around them–these are the kinds of practices that help determine the quality of fiction.

In non-fiction form–essays, for example–quality is concerned more with the clarity and relevance of a specific claim and the author’s ability to demonstrate the importance and truth of that claim.

Wikipedia offers up a strong example of the need for critical reading: “The psychologist Cyril Burt is known for his studies on the effect of heredity on intelligence. Shortly after he died, his studies of inheritance and intelligence came into disrepute after evidence emerged indicating he had falsified research data. A 1994 paper by William H. Tucker is illuminative on both how “critical reading” was performed in the discovery of the falsified data as well as in many famous psychologists’ “non-critical reading” of Burt’s papers. Tucker shows that the recognized experts within the field of intelligence research blindly accepted Cyril Burt’s research even though it was without scientific value and probably directly faked: They wanted to believe that IQ is hereditary and considered uncritically empirical claims supporting this view. This paper thus demonstrates how critical reading (and the opposite) may be related to beliefs as well as to interests and power structures.”

Types Of Questions To Ask While Critical Reading

Critical reading is the process of analyzing a text to understand its meaning and to assess its argument. When you critically read a text, you ask yourself questions about the author’s purpose, the evidence they provide, and the logic of their argument.

Who is saying what to whom? That is, who is the author, what is their message, and who is that message for?

Is this true? By what standard?

Does the thesis pass the ‘So what?’ challenge. Put another way, are the claims being made compelling and significant? Worth understanding?

What is explicitly stated? What is implied? What is the relationship between the two?

What are the underlying assumptions of both the text and the claims within it?

Does the knowledge (facts, truths, information, data, etc.) in the text represent our current best understanding of things as they are today? If not, what has changed and why? And how does that change impact the strength and meaning of the text itself?

What here is fact and what is opinion?

What is the significance of this text?

What are the claims made by this text? Are these claims clear? Relevant? Compelling? New? That is, has this been said before?

What reasons are given to support those claims? Are these reasons aligned with the claims? That is, is the claim-evidence reasoning precise?

That is, is the claim-evidence reasoning accurate?

By formulating questions like these, you can not only guide your own comprehension of the text, you can also begin to learn how arguments (and the texts that contain them) are constructed. This can help students form rational, strong arguments of their own while also providing practice analyzing and evaluating the merit of arguments put forth by others (these can be formal academic arguments or informal ‘arguments’/claims made in real conversations on a day to day basis in their lives).

The Mindset Of Critical Reading

We bring ourselves to a reading and the ‘self’ we were is forever changed if only ever so slightly. Knowledge acquisition changes us and reading is a process of knowledge acquisition. The same text read five years ago has new meaning now because the meaning is not in the text but in your mind which has changed over that period of time. This kind of realization illustrates the necessity for critical reading (and critical thinking while reading).

Interrogating Texts

Reading Strategies

15th century Altarpiece fragment, Mary Magdalene reading. National Gallery (Great Britain). Available through ArtSTOR

Rogier van der Weyden, 1399 -1464. Altarpiece fragment, Mary Magdalene reading. National Gallery (Great Britain). Available through A rt STOR

Workshop of Rogier van der Weyden. St. Ivo reading, ca.1450. National Gallery (Great Britain). Available through ArtSTOR

max beckmann reclining woman reading with irises 1923

Max Beckmann (1884-1950). Reclining Woman Reading, with Irises (192 3). Oil on canvas. Private collection. Image available in HOLLIS

daumier reader man with book with red-edged pages

H onore Daumier (1808-1879). Reader (1863). Oil on wood. University of California, San Diego. Image available in ARTStor

young man reading book 16th century painting aga khan museum

Young Man Reading a Book (c.1570-1574). Attributed to Mirza 'Ali (c.1510-1576). Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Image available in HOLLIS

Ms. Richardson 5, fol. 66v Book of Hours, England, ca. 1420. Houghton Library. Image linked from HOLLIS

Pencil drawing of reader in Farnsworth Room] / E. E. Johnson, March 20, 1917

Pencil drawing of reader in Farnsworth Room [originally in Widener Library] / E. E. Johnson, March 20, 1917 [Farnsworth Room Scrapbooks, v.1]. image available in HOLLIS

Thinking-Intensive Reading

Critical reading--active engagement and interaction with texts--is essential to your academic success at Harvard, and to your intellectual growth. Research has shown that students who read deliberately retain more information and retain it longer.

Your college reading assignments will probably be more substantial and more sophisticated than those you are used to from high school. The amount of reading will almost certainly be greater. College students rarely have the luxury of successive re-readings of material, however, given the pace of life in and out of the classroom.

So how should you approach reading in this new environment?

While the strategies described below are (for the sake of clarity) listed sequentially, you typically do most of them simultaneously. If you're used to doing little more than moving your eyes across the page, they may feel awkward at first, and you may have to deploy them consciously. But

But as they become habits, you'll notice the differences -- both in what you “see” in a course reading, and in the confidence with which you approach your texts.

Look “around” the text before you start reading.

Previewing enables you to develop a set of expectations about the scope and aim of the text. These very preliminary impressions offer you a way to focus your reading.

You’ve probably engaged in one version of previewing in the past, when you’ve tried to determine how long an assigned reading is (and how much time and energy, as a result, it will demand from you). But you can learn a great deal more about the organization and purpose of a text by taking note of features other than its length. For instance:

What does the presence of headnotes , an abstrac t, or other prefatory materia l tell you?
Is the author known to you already? If so, how does their reputation or credentials (like an institutional affiliation) influence your perception of what you are about to read?

If an author is unfamiliar or unknown in an essay collection, does an editor introduce them (by supplying brief biographical information, an assessment of the author’s work, concerns, and importance)?

Texts demand different things of you as you read, so whenever you can, register the type of information you’re presented with.

How does the disposition or layout of a text prepare you for reading? Is the material broken into parts--subtopics, sections, or the like? Are there long and unbroken blocks of text or smaller paragraphs or “chunks” and what does this suggest? How might the identified parts of a text guide you toward understanding the line of inquiry or the arc of the argument that's being made?
Does the text seem to be arranged according to certain conventions of discourse ? Newspaper articles, for instance, have characteristics that you will recognize, including "easy" language. Textbooks and scholarly essays are organized quite differently.

2. Annotate

Annotating puts you actively and immediately in a "dialogue” with an author and the issues and ideas you encounter in a written text. .

It's also a way to have an ongoing conversation with yourself as you move through the text and to record what that encounter was like for you. Here's how to make your reading thinking-intensive from start to finish:

Throw away your highlighter : Highlighting can seem like an active reading strategy, but it can actually distract from the business of learning and dilute your comprehension. Those bright yellow lines you put on a printed page one day can seem strangely cryptic the next, unless you have a method for remembering why they were important to you at another moment in time. Pen or pencil will allow you to do more to a text you have to wrestle with.
Mark up the margins of your text with words and phrases : the ideas that occur to you, notes about things that seem important to you, reminders of how issues in a text may connect with class discussion or course themes. This kind of interaction keeps you conscious of the reasons you are reading as well as the purposes your instructor has in mind. Later in the term, when you are reviewing for a test or project, your marginalia will be useful memory triggers.
Develop your own symbol system : asterisk (*) a key idea, for example, or use an exclamation point (!) for the surprising, absurd, bizarre. Your personalized set of hieroglyphs allow you to capture the important -- and often fleeting -- insights that occur to you as you're reading. Like notes in your margins, they'll prove indispensable when you return to a text in search of that perfect passage to use in a paper, or when you are preparing for a big exam.
Get in the habit of hearing yourself ask questions: “What does this mean?” “Why is the writer drawing that conclusion?” “Why am I being asked to read this text?” etc.

Write the questions down (in your margins, at the beginning or end of the reading, in a notebook, or elsewhere. They are reminders of the unfinished business you still have with a text: something to ask during class discussion, or to come to terms with on your own, once you’ve had a chance to digest the material further or have done other course reading.

3. Outline, Summarize, and Analyze

The best way to determine that you’ve really gotten the point is to be able to state it in your own words. take the information apart, look at its parts, and then, put it back together again in language that is meaningful to you. three ways to proceed: .

Outlining the argument of a text is a version of annotating, and can be done quite informally in the margins of the text, unless you prefer the more formal Roman numeral model you may have learned in high school. Outlining enables you to see the skeleton of an argument: the thesis, the first point and evidence (and so on), through the conclusion. With weighty or difficult readings, that skeleton may not be obvious until you go looking for it.

Summarizing accomplishes something similar, but in sentence and paragraph form, and with the connections between ideas made explicit.

Analyzing adds an evaluative component to the summarizing process—it requires you not just to restate main ideas, but also to test the logic, credibility, and emotional impact of an argument. In analyzing a text, you reflect upon and decide how effectively (or poorly) its argument has been made. Questions to ask:

What is the writer asserting?
What am I being asked to believe or accept? Facts? Opinions? Some mixture?
What reasons or evidence does the author supply to convince me? Where is the strongest or most effective evidence the author offers -- and why is it compelling?
Is there any place in the text where the reasoning breaks down? Are there things that do not make sense, conclusions that are drawn prematurely, moments where the writer undermines their purposes?

4. Look for repetitions and patterns

The way language is chosen, used, and positioned in a text can be an important indication of what an author considers crucial and what they expect you to glean from their argument. .

Language choices can also alert you to ideological positions, hidden agendas or biases. Be watching for:

Recurring images
Repeated words, phrases, types of examples, or illustrations
Consistent ways of characterizing people, events, or issues

5. Contextualize

Once you’ve finished reading actively and annotating it, consider the text from the multiple perspectives..

When you contextualize, you essentially "re-view" a text you've encountered, acknowledging how it is framed by its historical, cultural, material, or intellectual circumstances. Do these factors change, complicate, explain, deepen or otherwise influence how you view a piece?

Also view the reading through the lens of your own experience. Your understanding of the words on the page and their significance is always shaped by what you have come to know and value from living in a particular time and place.

6. Compare and Contrast

Set course readings against each other to determine their relationships (hidden or explicit)..

At what point in the term does this reading come? Why that point, do you imagine?
How does it contribute to the main concepts and themes of the course?
How does it compare (or contrast) to the ideas presented by texts that come before it? Does it continue a trend, shift direction, or expand the focus of previous readings?
How has your thinking been altered by this reading, or how has it affected your response to the issues and themes of the course?

Susan Gilroy , Librarian for Undergraduate Writing Programs, Lamont Library

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Interrogating texts [2 page printable]

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1 Critical Reading

Elizabeth Browning; Karen Kyger; and Cate Bombick

Reading as a Conversation

What would happen if you walked by the tables in front of Duncan Hall on your first day at HCC, approached a group of strangers quietly chatting, and proceeded to announce to the group exactly what you were thinking at the moment? Most likely, the group would stop talking, look at you, laugh, and slowly move away. Let’s try another approach.

This time, you walk up and quietly join the group. You listen for a few minutes to figure out the topic being discussed and to understand the group members’ different perspectives before adding your own voice to the conversation. You have probably used this method many times throughout your life and have found it to work well, especially when joining a group of people you do not know very well. This method is the very same way to approach reading in your college courses.

To be a successful reader in college, you will need to move beyond simply understanding what the author is trying to say and think about the conversation in which the author is participating.

By thinking about reading and writing as a conversation, you will want to consider:

Who else has written about this topic?
Who are they?
What is their perspective or argument on this topic?
What type of evidence do they use to support their point of view?

In this chapter, we will introduce expectations for college reading, identify key strategies of skilled readers, and review the active reading process. Throughout the chapter, you will find links to samples, examples, and materials you may use.

We will also be introducing the concept of critical reading. Critical reading is moving beyond just understanding the author’s meaning of a text to consider the choices the author makes to communicate their message.

By learning to read critically, you will not only improve your comprehension of college-level texts, but also improve your writing by learning about the choices other writers have make to communicate their ideas. Honing your writing, reading, and critical thinking skills will give you a more solid foundation for success, both academically and professionally.

Understanding and using the strategies outlined in this chapter is an important part of your success in your ENGL-121 College Composition course. You will need strong reading skills in order to understand assignments, write papers and participate in class discussion. Here are the ENGL-121 objectives that are relevant to the reading process:

4) Maintain a controlling purpose for research and writing that emerges from a clearly-defined research question.

5) Locate, evaluate, and integrate appropriate sources accurately and fairly through paraphrase and direct quotation.

6) Critically engage sources through interpretation, analysis, and/or critique in service of developing and supporting logical, well-defined claims.

Taken together, these objectives prescribe an approach to reading that is driven by questions, that is sensitive to authors’ meaning, credibility, and relevance, and that does not take sources’ perspectives for granted but that evaluates the reliability of their claims.

In This Chapter

1. Expectations for Reading in College

2. What is critical reading?

3. Why do we read critically?

4. How do we read critically?

4.1 Start with Questions

4.2 Identify the Main Idea and Supporting Details

4.3 Decode Vocabulary

4.4 Utilize Metacognitive Strategies

4.5 read recursively, 5. the active reading process, 5.1 before you read, 5.2 while you read, 5.3 after you read.

6. Now what?

1. Expectations for Reading in College

How does reading in college differ from reading in high school.

In college, academic expectations change from what you may have experienced in high school. As the quantity of work expected of you increases, the quality of the work also changes. You must do more than just understand course material and summarize it on an exam. You will be expected to engage seriously with new ideas by reflecting on them, analyzing them, critiquing them, making connections, drawing conclusions, or finding new ways of thinking about them. Educationally, you are moving into deeper waters. Learning how to read and write strategically and critically will help you swim.

“High School versus College Assignments” summarizes other major differences between high school and college assignments.

: Textbook, literature	: Textbook, literature, persuasive analysis, research, multimedia sources, self-selected material
Read to find the main idea, share opinions, and make personal connections	: Read to form new conclusions about the author or text, generate examples that support/refute a text and compare/contrast texts. Use texts to develop questions for further inquiry.
: Understand text and share reactions to the text, be able to answer questions posed by the teacher, and ask questions to clarify understanding.	: Analyze the text and synthesize to enter academic conversations on a topic, be able to ask questions, and share insights with peers and professors in order to further the conversation.
: Complete reading/assignment, answer who, what, when, where, and how questions, and share connections to the text.	Develop thoughtful reactions to assignments, enter into a conversation on the topics, questions are the focus, share questions and answers about a topic.
: Check student understanding of the material through assignments (test, quizzes, papers, etc).	: To guide and respond to student’s analysis and synthesis of information. Comprehension is assumed.
Teachers may go out of their way to help students who are performing poorly on exams, missing classes, not turning in assignments, or struggling with the course. Students are often given “second chances” to complete and submit assignments.	: Professors may notice students performing poorly, but often expect students to be proactive and take steps to help themselves (i.e. attending office hours, emailing professors, etc.). “Second chances” are less common.

2. What is critical reading?

Reading critically does not simply mean being moved, affected, informed, influenced, and persuaded by a piece of writing. It refers to analyzing and understanding the overall composition of the writing as well as how the writing has achieved its effect on the audience.

This level of understanding begins with thinking critically about the texts you are reading. In this case, “critically” does not mean that you are looking for what is wrong with a work (although during your critical process, you may well do that). Instead, thinking critically means approaching a work as if you were a critic or commentator whose job it is to analyze a text beyond its surface.

A text is simply a piece of writing, or as defines it, “the main body of printed or written matter on a page.” In English classes, the term “text” is often used interchangeably with the words “reading” or “work.”

These rhetorical strategies are covered in the next chapter . If you disagree with a text, what is the point of contention? If you agree with it, how do you think you can expand or build upon the argument put forth?

Consider the example below. Which of the following tweets below are critical and which are uncritical?

alt="A Tweet from Helvetica Smith that reads, 'I just finished # Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. Would love to know what y'all think about it!' Graine O'Donnell replies, 'Lean In inspired me to seek out mentors in my profession.' I Am Only One Me replies, 'This book revitalized my sense of purpose. I am inspired! # Lean In.' anna bo banna replies, 'I think the real-life situations experienced by working moms she uses to illustrate some of her points make the book relatable to a wide audience.' Billie da Kidd replies, 'she convinced me that I have been holding myself back at work!' Just Harold replies, 'Sheryl Sandberg is a Harvard-educated woman in a business run by her family. How much does her book apply to women without that level of privilege?'"

3. Why do we read critically?

Critical reading has many uses. If applied to a work of literature, for example, it can become the foundation for a detailed textual analysis. With scholarly articles, critical reading can help you evaluate their potential reliability as future sources.

Finding an error in someone else’s argument can be the point of destabilization you need to make a worthy argument of your own, illustrated in the final tweet from the previous image, for example. Critical reading can help you hone your own argumentation skills because it requires you to think carefully about which strategies are effective for making arguments, and in this age of social media and instant publication, thinking carefully about what we say is a necessity.

4. How to read critically

Reading does not come naturally. It is not an instinct that you were born with — rather, it is a cultural development that began 6,000 years ago when humans began to use symbols to represent ideas. The process of reading is learned through instruction and recruits brain mechanisms that evolved for other purposes.

In other words, you weren’t born to read. Reading is a learned skill that relies on interaction nature, nurture, and culture. It is a cognitive tool that is developed through learning and practice. So what reading strategies are already in your toolbox? What strategies can you add to your toolbox to become a more efficient and effective college reader?

4.1 Start with Questions

Questions to ask a text.

Inquiry-based learning methods, or question-based investigations, are often the basis for writing and research at the college level. Specific questions generated about the text can guide your critical reading process and help you when writing a formal analysis.

When reading critically, you should begin with broad questions and then work towards more specific questions; after all, the ultimate purpose of engaging in critical reading is to turn you into an analyzer who asks questions that work to develop the purpose of the text

In order to develop good questions before reading a text, you will want to think about your purpose for reading. As a college student, you’ll want to think about why your professor assigned this particular text? How does this text connect to topics you have been discussing in class or to other assigned readings?

For example, if you have been assigned to read UMBC President, Freeman Hrabowski’s essay entitled, “Colleges Prepare People for Life,” ask yourself why your professor assigned that particular text. Perhaps your professor wants you to read a variety of perspectives on the purpose of college. In that case, you’ll want to ask a question such as, What is Hrabowski’s view on the purpose of college? Perhaps, your professor is preparing you to write an argument essay and would like students to see how other authors have crafted their arguments. In that case, a good question might be, How does Hrabowski introduce other people’s views on this topic and how can that help me in my own writing?

Another effective questioning strategy is to turn the title or a sub-heading into a question by adding what, how, or why to the title or heading. You can turn the title into a question by adding how. The question becomes “How do colleges prepare people for life?” Once you have finished reading the essay, return to that question to see how well you can answer it using the information you learned from the text.

Example Questions to Ask Text; an upside-down triangle divided into horizontal sections. From largest to smallest, the sections read, 1. What general topic or issue is the writer covering? 2. What is the writer's thesis (or main argument)? 3. What points or examples does the writer use to support her thesis? 4. How does the writer organize those supporting points and examples throughout the text? 5. What specific details does the writer include? 6. What kind of diction (or word choice) does the writer use? How do these elements help to support the writer's thesis?

Questions For Further Inquiry

In addition to asking questions of the text and author, you will want to use a text to develop additional questions about the topic. This is a crucial step in the process of entering into an academic conversation. To develop questions for further inquiry, you should focus on open-ended questions that cannot be easily answered by a quick Internet search.

For example, if you are reading a text about changing the name of Washington’s NFL team, a question for future inquiry could be “What are the effects of media stereotypes?” A closed-ended question such as “What other NFL teams use Native Americans as a mascot?” would close the door to inquiry. The answer to the second question can be easily found using a quick search that ends your line of inquiry. Conversely, the first question can lead to a much deeper level of critical thinking about the topic.

As you read and learn more about the topic, you may want to develop additional questions even if this line of inquiry goes in a completely different direction from where you started. To develop questions for inquiry consider asking these types of questions:

Where are there holes or gaps in the logic or evidence in this text?
What else would you like to know about this topic beyond this text?
How are other authors writing about this topic?
Where are the disagreements between texts?

4.3 Decode Vocabulary

Understanding the vocabulary used in your college texts is a critical component of reading comprehension. Having strategies to use when you come across unfamiliar words will help you build and improve your vocabulary. You can sometimes determine the meaning of a word by looking within the word (at its root, prefix, or suffix) or around the word (at the clues given in the sentence or paragraph in which the word appears). If you are unable to determine the meaning of word in context, you may look up the definition.

Each academic discipline has its own terminology, and part of your success in all of your college courses will require you to move beyond simple memorization of word meanings to using these terms appropriately within the context of the situation. This means being aware that words have different meanings and connotations associated with them, and these meanings and connotations can change depending upon the situation in which they are being used.

Context Determines Meaning

Match the correct meaning of the word synthesis to the context in which it is being used:

Definition #1: the combination of ideas to form a theory or system.

Definition #2: the production of chemical compounds by reaction from simpler materials.

Context: Your English professor would like to see you use more synthesis within the body of your essay.

Answer: You may get a failing grade on your essay if you combine chemicals to form an explosion, so you better go with definition #1!

What strategies do I use when I read? What strategies do I need to add?

How many times have you read a page in a book, or even just a paragraph, and by the end of it thought to yourself, “I have no idea what I just read; I can’t remember any of it?” Almost everyone has done it, and it’s particularly easy to do when you don’t care about the material, are not interested in the material, or if the material is full of difficult or new concepts. If you don’t feel engaged with a text, then you will passively read it, failing to pay attention to substance and structure. Passive reading results in zero gains; you will get nothing from what you have just read.

On the other hand, critical reading is based on active reading because you actively engage with the text, which means thinking about the text before you begin to read it, asking yourself questions as you read it as well as after you have read it, taking notes or annotating the text, summarizing what you have read, and, finally, evaluating the text.

Completing these steps will help you to engage with a text, even if you don’t find it particularly interesting, which may be the case when it comes to assigned readings for some of your classes. In fact, active reading may even help you to develop an interest in the text even when you thought that you initially had none.

By taking an actively critical approach to reading, you will be able to do the following:

Stay focused while you read the text
Understand the main idea of the text
Understand the overall structure or organization of the text
Retain what you have read
Pose informed and thoughtful questions about the text
Evaluate the effectiveness of ideas in the text

Establish Your Purpose

Establishing why you read something helps you decide how to read it, which saves time and improves comprehension. Before you start to read, remind yourself what questions you want to keep in mind. (Review Start with a Question section in this chapter). Then establish your purpose for reading.

In college and in your profession, you will read a variety of texts to gain and use information (e.g., scholarly articles, textbooks, reviews). Some purposes for reading might include the following:

to scan for specific information
to skim to get an overview of the text
to relate new content to existing knowledge
to write something (often depends on a prompt)
to discuss in class
to critique an argument
to learn something
for general comprehension

Strategies differ from reader to reader. The same reader may use different strategies for different contexts because her purpose for reading changes. Ask yourself “why am I reading?” and “what am I reading?” when deciding which strategies work best.

Preview the Text

Once you have established your purpose for reading, the next step is to preview the text. Previewing a text involves skimming over it and noticing what stands out so that you not only get an overall sense of the text, but you also learn the author’s main ideas before reading for details. Thus, because previewing a text helps you better understand it, you will have better success analyzing it.

Questions to ask when previewing may include the following:

What is the title of the text? Does it give a clear indication of the text’s subject?
Who is the author? Is the author familiar to you? Is any biographical information about the author included?
If previewing a book, is there a summary on the back or inside the front of the book?
What main idea emerges from the introductory paragraph? From the concluding paragraph?
Are there any organizational elements that stand out, such as section headings, numbering, bullet points, or other types of lists?
Are there any editorial elements that stand out, such as words in italics, bold print, or in a large font size?
Are there any visual elements that give a sense of the subject, such as photos or illustrations?

Once you have formed a general idea about the text by previewing it, the next preparatory step for critical reading is to speculate about the author’s purpose for writing.

What do you think the author’s aim might be in writing this text?
What sort of questions do you think the author might raise?

To skim a text means to look over a text briefly in order to get the gist or overall idea of it. When skimming, pay attention to these key parts:

Activate Your Background Knowledge on the Topic

All of us have a library of life experiences and previous reading knowledge stored in our brains, but this stored knowledge will sit unused unless we consciously take steps to connect to it or “activate” this knowledge.

After previewing a text, ask yourself, “What do I already know about this topic?” If you realize that you know very little about the topic or have some gaps, you may want to pause and do some quick Internet searches to fill in those gaps.

Although Wikipedia is usually not considered a credible source for an academic essay, it can be a helpful tool to discover what other people are saying about the topic, author, or publisher of a text. Internet searches, online encyclopedias, news websites may all be used to help you quickly learn some of the key issues related to the topic.

As you read, you should consider what new information you have learned and how it connects to what you already know. Making connections between prior knowledge and new information is a critical step in reading, thinking, and learning.

Reading with Purpose

Improve Comprehension through Annotation

Annotating a text means that you actively engage with it by taking notes as you read, usually by marking the text in some way (underlining, highlighting, using symbols such as asterisks) as well as by writing down brief summaries, thoughts, or questions in the margins of the page. If you are working with a textbook and prefer not to write in it, annotations can be made on sticky notes or on a separate sheet of paper.

Regardless of what method you choose, annotating not only directs your focus, but it also helps you retain that information. Furthermore, annotating helps you to recall where important points are in the text if you must return to it for a writing assignment or class discussion.

Annotations should not consist of JUST symbols, highlighting, or underlining. Successful and thorough annotations should combine those visual elements with notes in the margin and written summaries; otherwise, you may not remember why you highlighted that word or sentence in the first place.

A scanned article titled 'Education's Hungry Hearts.' It is heavily annotated in blue pen.

Consider the Unique Qualities of the Text

The way you approach a text should vary based on the type of text you encounter. Reading a poem is very different from reading a chapter in a textbook. There are unique structures, elements, and purposes to the various texts you will encounter in college.

Below are some examples of active reading strategies employed with a variety of “texts” you might encounter in college including textbooks, scientific research, online media, artwork, and more. Notice how the readers approach the text differently based on the length, format, subject matter, and the reader’s own purpose for reading.

Once you’ve finished reading, take time to review your initial reactions from your first preview of the text. Were any of your earlier questions answered within the text? Was the author’s purpose similar to what you had speculated it would be?

The following steps will help you process what you have read so that you can move onto the next step of analyzing the text.

Summarize the text in your own words (note your impressions, reactions, and what you learned)
Talk to someone about the author’s ideas to check your comprehension
Identify and reread difficult parts of the text
Review your annotations
Try to answer some of your own questions from your annotations
Connect the text to others you have read or researched on the topic

Once you understand the text, the next steps will be to analyze and synthesize the information with other sources and with your own knowledge. You will be ready to add your perspective, especially if you can provide evidence to support your viewpoint.

Just like with any new skill, developing your ability to read critically will require focus and dedication. With practice, you will gain confidence and fluency in your ability to read critically. You will be ready to join the academic conversations that surround you at HCC and beyond.

6. Now What?

After you have taken the time to read a text critically, the next step, which is covered in the next chapter , is to analyze the text rhetorically to establish a clear idea of what the author wrote and how the author wrote it, as well as how effectively the author communicated the overall message of the text.

Students are often reluctant to seek help. The truth is, every learner occasionally struggles. If you are sincerely trying to keep up with the course reading but feel like you are in over your head, seek out help. Speak up in class, schedule a meeting with your instructor, or visit your university learning center for assistance. Deal with the problem as early in the semester as you can. Instructors respect students who are proactive about their own learning. Most instructors will work hard to help students who make the effort to help themselves.

Key Takeaways

College-level reading and writing assignments differ from high school assignments in quantity, quality, and purpose.
Managing college reading assignments successfully requires you to plan and manage your time, set a purpose for reading, implement effective comprehension skills, and use active reading strategies to deepen your understanding of the text.
Finding the main idea and paying attention to textual features as you read helps you figure out what you should know. Just as important, however, is being able to figure out what you do not know and developing a strategy to deal with it.
Ask and answer questions. When you begin reading a section, try to identify two to three questions you should be able to answer after you finish it. If you cannot answer a question, try to determine why. Active engagement in the inquiry process is critical to success in college.
College writing assignments place greater emphasis on learning to think critically about a particular discipline and less emphasis on personal and creative writing. Your focus becomes analyzing and synthesizing information to enter into academic conversations.
Do not read in a vacuum. Simply put, don’t rely solely on your own interpretation. Look for opportunities to discuss the reading in and out of class to help clarify and deepen your understanding.

Additional Instructional Overviews

The Reading Process
Close Reading in College
Student Success and Metacognition

CC Licensed Content, Shared Previously

English Composition I , Lumen Learning, CC-BY 4.0.

Rhetoric and Composition , John Barrett, et al., CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Writing for Success , CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Rhetoric and Composition , Bay College , CC-BY 4.0

Image Credits

Figure 1.1 “High School versus College Assignments,” Cate Bombick, Howard Community College, CC -0, derivative image from “High School Versus College Assignments,” Writing for Success , CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Figure 1.2 “Lean In Tweets,” Kalyca Schultz, Virginia Western Community College, CC-0.

Figure 1.3 “Example Questions to Ask a Text,” Kalyca Schultz, Virginia Western Community College, CC-0 .

Figure 1.4 “Sample Says/Does Annotation,” Karen Kyger, Howard Community College, CC-0.

Originally Composed by Elizabeth Browning; revised by Karen Kyger and Cate Bombick, Howard Community College Faculty

Critical Reading Copyright © 2021 by Elizabeth Browning; Karen Kyger; and Cate Bombick is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Write a Critical Essay

Last Updated: April 8, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Megan Morgan, PhD . Megan Morgan is a Graduate Program Academic Advisor in the School of Public & International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Georgia in 2015. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,164,678 times.

The goal of a critical essay is to analyze a book, film, article, painting, or event and support your argument with relevant details. When writing a paper like this, you will have to come up with an interpretation of your own and then use facts or evidence from the work or other sources to prove that your interpretation is acceptable. A critical essay on a book, for example, might focus on the tone and how that influences the meaning of the book overall and would use quotations from the book to support the thesis. This type of paper requires careful planning and writing, but is often a creative way to engage with a subject that you are interested in and can be very rewarding!

Preparing to Write a Critical Essay

Step 1 Make sure that you understand the assignment.

Get to know the text inside and out by reading and rereading it. If you have been asked to write about a visual text like a film or piece of art, watch the film multiple times or view the painting from various angles and distances.

Step 3 Take notes as you read your text.

What is the text about?
What are the main ideas?
What is puzzling about the text?
What is the purpose of this text?
Does the text accomplish its purpose? If not, why not? Is so, how so? [3] X Research source Don't: summarize the plot — you should already be familiar with it. Do: jot down thoughts that may guide your paper: Does he mean __? Does this connect to __?

Step 4 Review your notes to identify patterns and problems.

Your solution to the problem should help you to develop a focus for your essay, but keep in mind that you do not need to have a solid argument about your text at this point. As you continue to think about the text, you will move closer to a focus and a thesis for your critical analysis essay. Don't: read the author's mind: Mary Shelley intended Frankenstein's monster to be more likable because... Do: phrase it as your own interpretation: Frankenstein's monster is more sympathetic than his creator, leading the reader to question who the true monster really is.

Conducting Research

Step 1 Find appropriate secondary sources if required.

Books, articles from scholarly journals, magazine articles, newspaper articles, and trustworthy websites are some sources that you might consider using.
Use your library’s databases rather than a general internet search. University libraries subscribe to many databases. These databases provide you with free access to articles and other resources that you cannot usually gain access to by using a search engine.

Step 2 Evaluate your sources to determine their credibility.

The author and his or her credentials. Choose sources that include an author’s name and that provide credentials for that author. The credentials should indicate something about why this person is qualified to speak as an authority on the subject. For example, an article about a medical condition will be more trustworthy if the author is a medical doctor. If you find a source where no author is listed or the author does not have any credentials, then this source may not be trustworthy. [5] X Research source
Citations. Think about whether or not this author has adequately researched the topic. Check the author’s bibliography or works cited page. If the author has provided few or no sources, then this source may not be trustworthy. [6] X Research source
Bias. Think about whether or not this author has presented an objective, well-reasoned account of the topic. How often does the tone indicate a strong preference for one side of the argument? How often does the argument dismiss or disregard the opposition’s concerns or valid arguments? If these are regular occurrences in the source, then it may not be a good choice. [7] X Research source (Note, however, that literary criticism often presents a very strong preference for one reading; this is not usually considered "bias" because the field of literary study is inherently subjective.) Don't: dismiss an author for favoring one point of view. Do: engage critically with their argument and make use of well-supported claims.
Publication date. Think about whether or not this source presents the most up to date information on the subject. Noting the publication date is especially important for scientific subjects, since new technologies and techniques have made some earlier findings irrelevant. [8] X Research source
Information provided in the source. If you are still questioning the trustworthiness of this source, cross check some of the information provided against a trustworthy source. If the information that this author presents contradicts one of your trustworthy sources, then it might not be a good source to use in your paper. [9] X Research source

Clearly indicate when you have quoted a source word for word by putting it into quotation marks and including information about the source such as the author’s name, article or book title, and page number. Don't: highlight a phrase just because it sounds significant or meaningful. Do: highlight phrases that support or undermine your arguments.

Writing Your Essay

Make sure your thesis provides enough detail. In other words, avoid simply saying that something is "good" or "effective" and say what specifically makes it "good" or "effective." [12] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source
Place your thesis statement at the end of your first paragraph unless your instructor tells you to place it elsewhere. The end of the first paragraph is the traditional place to provide your thesis in an academic essay.
For example, here is a multi-sentence thesis statement about the effectiveness and purpose of the movie Mad Max: Fury Road : "Many action films follow the same traditional pattern: a male action hero (usually white and attractive) follows his gut and barks orders at others, who must follow him or die. Mad Max: Fury Road is effective because it turns this pattern on its head. Instead of following the expected progression, the movie offers an action movie with multiple heroes, many of whom are women, thereby effectively challenging patriarchal standards in the Hollywood summer blockbuster." Don't: include obvious facts ( Mad Max was directed by George Miller ) or subjective opinions ( Mad Max is the greatest movie of 2015 ). [13] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source Do: present an argument that you can back up with evidence.

You may want to use a formal outline structure that uses Roman numerals, Arabic numerals, and letters. Or, you may want to use an informal "mind-map" type of outline, which allows you to gather your ideas before you have a complete idea of how they progress.

Step 3 Begin your essay with an engaging sentence that gets right into your topic.

Other good techniques to open an essay include using a specific, evocative detail that links to your larger idea, asking a question that your essay will answer, or providing a compelling statistic.

Step 4 Provide background information to help guide your readers.

If you are writing about a book, provide the name of the work, the author, and a brief summary of the plot.
If you are writing about a film, provide a brief synopsis.
If you are writing about a painting or other still image, provide a brief description for your readers.
Keep in mind that your background information in the first paragraph should lead up to your thesis statement. Explain everything the reader needs to know to understand what your topic is about, then narrow it down until you reach the topic itself.

Step 5 Use your body paragraphs to discuss specific components of your text.

Provide a claim at the beginning of the paragraph.
Support your claim with at least one example from your primary source(s).
Support your claim with at least one example from your secondary sources.

Step 6 Develop a conclusion for your essay.

Summarize and review your main ideas about the text.
Explain how the topic affects the reader.
Explain how your narrow topic applies to a broader theme or observation.
Call the reader to action or further exploration on the topic.
Present new questions that your essay introduced. Don't: repeat the same points you made earlier in the essay. Do: refer back to earlier points and connect them into a single argument.

Revising Your Essay

Step 1 Set aside your paper for a few days before revising your draft.

It is important to begin writing a paper far enough ahead of time to allow yourself a few days or even a week to revise before it is due. If you do not allow yourself this extra time, you will be more prone to making simple mistakes and your grade may suffer as a result. [16] X Research source

Step 2 Give yourself sufficient time to do a substantive revision that clarifies any confusing logic or arguments.

What is your main point? How might you clarify your main point?
Who is your audience? Have you considered their needs and expectations?
What is your purpose? Have you accomplished your purpose with this paper?
How effective is your evidence? How might your strengthen your evidence?
Does every part of your paper relate back to your thesis? How might you enhance these connections?
Is anything confusing about your language or organization? How might your clarify your language or organization?
Have you made any errors with grammar, punctuation, or spelling? How can you correct these errors?
What might someone who disagrees with you say about your paper? How can you address these opposing arguments in your paper? [17] X Research source

Step 3 Complete your paper by carefully proofreading a printed version of your final draft.

If you are submitting your paper online or through email, check with your teacher or professor to find out what format s/he prefers. If you have used any textual formatting in your paper, you may wish to save it as a PDF file to preserve your formatting.

Sample Essays

Community Q&A

Ask a friend, family member or other acquaintance to proofread and make constructive comments on your paper. Professional writers go through several drafts of their work and you should expect to do the same. Thanks Helpful 9 Not Helpful 0
It is often easier to write a rough introduction and proceed with the rest of the paper before returning to revise the introduction. If you're feeling lost on how to introduce your paper, write a placeholder introduction. Thanks Helpful 8 Not Helpful 1
Write in your own voice. It is better to correctly use the words you know than to misuse the words you do not know in an attempt to sound scholarly. Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 1

Make sure to cite all of your research including quotations, statistics and theoretical concepts as accurately as possible. When in doubt, err on the side of citing more rather than less, since failing to cite your research can result in a charge of plagiarism. Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 2
Papers written at the last minute suffer from logic gaps and poor grammar. Remember that your teacher has read hundreds, if not thousands of student papers, and as such, can tell when you've written a paper at the last minute. Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 2

↑ https://uwc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/UWC_handouts_readingessayprompts.pdf
↑ http://www.sussex.ac.uk/s3/?id=122
↑ http://www2.southeastern.edu/Academics/Faculty/elejeune/critique.htm
↑ https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/faq/reliable
↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/03/
↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/673/1/
↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/thesis-statements/
↑ https://www.irsc.edu/students/academicsupportcenter/researchpaper/researchpaper.aspx?id=4294967433
↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/2/2/58/
↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/05/

About This Article

To write a critical essay, develop a thesis that expresses your essay's main focus and states an arguable claim. Next, write an introduction that gives a basic overview of your paper and introduces your thesis. Then, create paragraphs that discuss your specific ideas, focusing on one main idea per paragraph. Be sure to start each paragraph with a claim and use examples from primary and secondary sources to support that claim. Finally, create a conclusion that summarizes your main points. For tips on outlining and revising your paper, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Write a Critical Essay

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An Introduction to Punctuation

Olivia Valdes was the Associate Editorial Director for ThoughtCo. She worked with Dotdash Meredith from 2017 to 2021.

B.A., American Studies, Yale University

A critical essay is a form of academic writing that analyzes, interprets, and/or evaluates a text. In a critical essay, an author makes a claim about how particular ideas or themes are conveyed in a text, then supports that claim with evidence from primary and/or secondary sources.

In casual conversation, we often associate the word "critical" with a negative perspective. However, in the context of a critical essay, the word "critical" simply means discerning and analytical. Critical essays analyze and evaluate the meaning and significance of a text, rather than making a judgment about its content or quality.

What Makes an Essay "Critical"?

Imagine you've just watched the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." If you were chatting with friends in the movie theater lobby, you might say something like, "Charlie was so lucky to find a Golden Ticket. That ticket changed his life." A friend might reply, "Yeah, but Willy Wonka shouldn't have let those raucous kids into his chocolate factory in the first place. They caused a big mess."

These comments make for an enjoyable conversation, but they do not belong in a critical essay. Why? Because they respond to (and pass judgment on) the raw content of the movie, rather than analyzing its themes or how the director conveyed those themes.

On the other hand, a critical essay about "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" might take the following topic as its thesis: "In 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,' director Mel Stuart intertwines money and morality through his depiction of children: the angelic appearance of Charlie Bucket, a good-hearted boy of modest means, is sharply contrasted against the physically grotesque portrayal of the wealthy, and thus immoral, children."

This thesis includes a claim about the themes of the film, what the director seems to be saying about those themes, and what techniques the director employs in order to communicate his message. In addition, this thesis is both supportable and disputable using evidence from the film itself, which means it's a strong central argument for a critical essay .

Characteristics of a Critical Essay

Critical essays are written across many academic disciplines and can have wide-ranging textual subjects: films, novels, poetry, video games, visual art, and more. However, despite their diverse subject matter, all critical essays share the following characteristics.

Central claim . All critical essays contain a central claim about the text. This argument is typically expressed at the beginning of the essay in a thesis statement , then supported with evidence in each body paragraph. Some critical essays bolster their argument even further by including potential counterarguments, then using evidence to dispute them.
Evidence . The central claim of a critical essay must be supported by evidence. In many critical essays, most of the evidence comes in the form of textual support: particular details from the text (dialogue, descriptions, word choice, structure, imagery, et cetera) that bolster the argument. Critical essays may also include evidence from secondary sources, often scholarly works that support or strengthen the main argument.
Conclusion . After making a claim and supporting it with evidence, critical essays offer a succinct conclusion. The conclusion summarizes the trajectory of the essay's argument and emphasizes the essays' most important insights.

Tips for Writing a Critical Essay

Writing a critical essay requires rigorous analysis and a meticulous argument-building process. If you're struggling with a critical essay assignment, these tips will help you get started.

Practice active reading strategies . These strategies for staying focused and retaining information will help you identify specific details in the text that will serve as evidence for your main argument. Active reading is an essential skill, especially if you're writing a critical essay for a literature class.
Read example essays . If you're unfamiliar with critical essays as a form, writing one is going to be extremely challenging. Before you dive into the writing process, read a variety of published critical essays, paying careful attention to their structure and writing style. (As always, remember that paraphrasing an author's ideas without proper attribution is a form of plagiarism .)
Resist the urge to summarize . Critical essays should consist of your own analysis and interpretation of a text, not a summary of the text in general. If you find yourself writing lengthy plot or character descriptions, pause and consider whether these summaries are in the service of your main argument or whether they are simply taking up space.
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What Is a Compelling Introduction?

Critical Essay: The Complete Guide. Essay Topics, Examples and Outlines

Whether you specialize in literature or just write an essay for a class, knowing how to write a critical essay will give you an advantage throughout your studies at a university and in your professional career. Writing critical essays allows you to develop critical thinking skills, including attentive reading, technical analysis, academic writing skills, searching for reference books, and editing. Mastering these skills will help you conduct a scientific conversation and allow you to communicate and think more productively.

What is a Critical Essay?

A critical essay is an analysis of any piece of text. It can be a book, a movie, an article or even a painting. The main point of this type of an essay is to interpret text or position it in a wider context. For instance, if you write a critical analysis of a book, you may analyze the tone of its text and find out how it influences the overall meaning of the book. If you analyze a movie, you might concentrate on a symbol that you see over and over again. Nevertheless, you have to include an argumentative thesis about the text and have a lot of evidence sources, obviously textual, to support your statements.

How to write a Critical Essay? Step-by-Step Guide

Find out the topic as early as possible to plan your research.
Find the information you need in a wide variety of sources, including journal articles, books, encyclopedias, and news. Gather more information than you plan to actually refer to when writing a paper, but do not collect too much, it can distract you from the main thing, and you will eventually include it in your essay simply because you found it. Do not use Wikipedia and do not copy other people’s comments; no matter from which website you take them, plagiarism will be discovered.
Look through your sources to separate interesting information from irrelevant material. Interesting research can be found in books, literary guides, in published critical articles on your particular topic. And vice versa, do not investigate things that do not relate to your topic, what I mean is, do not engage in the study of witches, if the topic of your paper is a monarchy.
Carefully reread the relevant materials and evaluate them critically. Highlight, underline or otherwise mark the necessary information in your personal articles and books. Use colored stickers to draw your attention to important details in library books. Make a brief summary of each source after reading it. Pay attention to important details and highlight the main point of view for further use.
Formulate the thesis by reviewing your notes and research. You can write a more general thesis or ask an important question that your paper will answer.
Write a preliminary introduction, knowing that you can edit or even rewrite it later.
Develop an approximate plan based on your notes and studies.

Identify two or three main sections of the body of your essay. These sections should consist of your most important arguments. Use your notes and research to fill these sections with details. You can copy and paste the most important details or arguments into your plan.

Identify the relationships between sections of your essay and briefly describe them on the margins of your plan.
Use this connection to write an approximate conclusion.
Set your paper aside for a few days before rereading the draft.
Leave enough time to make a thorough review of all material that will clarify any illogical reasonings or arguments.
Complete your essay by carefully checking the final version of the printed version. Use your imagination and make the introduction interesting for readers. Write a clear thesis statement and use up-to-date sources, with a lot of useful information.

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Critical Essay Outline

Writing a good critical essay requires a deep analysis of a given topic, and the ability to form clear arguments in order to draw meaningful conclusions. It is important to be aware of the various elements that must be taken into consideration when ordering an essay in order to produce a well-structured, balanced and compelling piece of work. Doing so will help you understand the material better, think more critically, and come up with a more insightful analysis of the topic. Additionally, it will also help you to identify any gaps in the existing literature that can be addressed in your own research.

As with any other essay, the critical analysis consists of the introduction, body, and conclusion. The outline that you will see below is just a sample for you to understand what it can look like. Once you are comfortable, you are free to change it, add more details or arrange it differently to make it more effective. If you are really unsure what your essay is supposed to look like, you can also contact your teacher.

INTRODUCTION

The introduction has three main functions. First of all, you have to introduce the reader to the topic of your paper, what are you going to analyze here but briefly? Then, describe how are you going to address the topic of your paper. And finally, grab the reader’s attention, make them want to stay here, and read the rest of your paper.

BODY PARAGRAPHS

This is going to be the largest part of your essay. Here you have to write about something you said you are going to write about in the intro. In other words, support your thesis statement. You have to make a General Statement, then add some quotes to expand it or prove it. After that you have to explain how the quote relates to the thesis, here you have to ask yourself “so how does it relate to my thesis”. And do not forget about Transitions which are connecting paragraphs.

To write a paper in a relevant way, students need to add new information to their research and assess the significance of each argument. Critical essays are meant to be insightful and thought-provoking, so they should provide enough evidence and analysis to support the argument and connect it to the thesis statement. Moreover, students should pay attention to the structure of the essay and make sure they write a paper that is logically organized and easy to understand.

In other words, the conclusion is restating of your thesis. If you have written a strong and clear introduction, the conclusion will not be a problem at all.

So, you have to Restate your Thesis. But do not just repeat what you said before, put it differently. Basically, you said that you are about to prove to us something and now you have to show us that you did. And make a good ending. Make it memorable. Your reader has to have a feeling that the point has been proven.

Introduction

Attention-catcher
Briefly say what you are going to talk about
Thesis statement

Body paragraphs

Topic Sentence (piece of evidence that supports your opinion)
Supporting Evidence and Details
Concluding Sentence/Transition
Restate the thesis statement in different words
Summarize the main key pieces of evidence
Final closing sentence

Critical Essay Topics

Good critical essay topics.

Describe the way irony was used in your favorite classical book
Feminist ideologies in a piece of literature
Analyse how the background of the author affects his writing.
Describe the secondary characters in your favorite book
What makes a good and captivating drama series?
Choose a movie/series that recently won a best picture award
Provide one alternative to anti-poverty programs today and discuss
What are the problems of eating healthy? Discuss
What are the economic benefits of recycling? Discuss what makes it effective in your context
Discuss how historical figures is portrayed in movies

Critical Essay Tips

Try to start in advance, if possible. You will write a better essay and will not experience stress if you start writing earlier than the last night.
Finish the draft a few days earlier to leave time for checking it.
Ask a friend or a family member to check and comment on your essay. Professional writers write a few drafts of their work, and you, most likely, will have to do the same.
Work according to your own needs. For example, some people need a plan, while others believe that a formal plan kills inspiration. Find out what is best for you, and act accordingly.
Write in your own style. It is better to correctly use words that you know, than abuse words that you do not know, in an attempt to sound smarter.
Make sure that the quotes are given as accurately as possible, including inverted commas, statistics, and theoretical concepts. If in doubt, it’s better to be wrong in quoting than to be accused of not being able to conduct your research, which can lead to accusations of plagiarism.
Essays written at the last minute, suffer from a lack of logic and poor grammar. Remember that your teacher has read hundreds, if not thousands of student papers, and can easily understand that you wrote an essay at the last minute.

I know that you might still be lost in all these long explanations but bear with me. Here are some useful links you might like to review at Edusson :

Essay Topic Generator. Do not know how to name your essay? Then this link is just for you. Everything is simple, enter the keywords for your essay and select the category and you’ve got yourself a great title.
Essay Examples . I know that sometimes you just can’t start writing until you see how it is all supposed to look like. So, here you go – essay examples. Be sure not to rewrite the content, though.
Essay Checker . One of the most important parts of writing an essay is checking it once it’s done. You might write a great essay in terms of content, but if you have grammar mistakes or your answers are not relating to the questions, say goodbye to your good grade.
Essay Editing Service . Just to make sure you have not missed anything, use this service. Let a professional do their work.

Writing a good definition essay can be a challenging task. Students often need to pay for papers to be written for such assignments, and it is not always easy to find a reliable source for them. Fortunately, Edusson can provide quality papers and ensure that students get the best results. By using this custom essay writing service, students can be sure that their papers will meet the requirements of their professor and be of the highest quality.

So, that is it. I hope your skills will get even better now. Good luck!

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IMAGES

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In Between the Lines: A Guide to Reading Critically

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Critical Reading and Reading Strategy

Critical Thinking is an Extension of Critical Reading

Developing a Reading Strategy

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2a. Critical Reading

Questions to ask as you read

Reading Like Writers: Critical Reading

The Savvy Reader

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Critical Reading: A Step-by-step Guide for Learners

1. What is critical reading?

2. Why should you read critically? Benefits of critical reading

2.1. Empowerment in Discussions

2.2. Preparation for academic success

2.3. Effective decision-making

2.4. Identification of bias

2.5. Critical thinking development

3. What are critical reading strategies?

3.1. Questioning

3.2. Annotating

3.3. Identifying the main idea

3.4. Considering the source

3.5. Making connections

4. How to develop critical reading steps? Step-by-step guide

4.1. Step 1: Establish a purpose of reading

4.2. Step 2: Preview the text

4.3. Step 3: Questioning and predicting

4.4. Step 4: Actively read and annotate

4.5. Step 5: Identify the main idea

4.6. Step 6: Evaluate source credibility

4.7. Step 7: Make connections

4.8. Step 8: Reflect and summarize

4.9. Step 9: Engage in critical analysis

4.10. Step 10: Synthesize information

5. Practice critical reading with estudyme.com

Reading Critically and Actively

Reading a Text--Some Definitions

What Counts as Reading?

What Counts as a Text?

How Do Readers Read?

The Reading Equation

Cognitive Reading Theory

Strategies for Reading More Critically

Summarizing

What is my Purpose for Reading?

What can the Title Tell Me About the Text?

Who is the Author?

How is the Text Structured?

Mark the Thesis and Main Points of the Piece

Annotating the thesis and main points

Analyzing Evidence

Analyzing Assumptions

Analyzing Sources

Analyzing Author Bias

The First Reading

The Second Reading

The Third Reading

Writing a response in your writer's notebook

Keeping a writer's notebook

Discussing the text with others

Critically Reading Assignment Sheets

Analyze your Assignment Sheet Carefully

Reading for Meaning

2 – Critical Reading

Definition of Critical Reading

Step 1: Understand the purpose of your reading and be selective

Step 2: Evaluate the reading text

Step 3: Document your reading and form your own argument