Hello, if you attended class today, you have this handout and your notes from my mini lecture about reading critically. This is a "just in case" you were unable to attend class or if you happen to misplace it and are desperate to have another copy. :-)
English 20, College Composition II
C. Fraga
How to Critically Read an Essay
Educated adults exist in a delusional state, thinking we can read.
In a most basic sense, we can.
However, odds are, some of us cannot read, at least not as well as we would like.
Too many college students are capable of only some types of reading and that becomes painfully clear when they read a difficult text and must respond critically about it.
Intelligence and a keen memory are excellent traits and most students have learned to read in a certain way that is only useful for extracting information. Thus, students are often fairly well skilled in providing summary.
However, the act of reading to extract information and to read critically are vastly different!
The current educational system in American primary schools (and many colleges) heavily emphasizes the first type of reading and de-emphasizes the latter.
In many ways, THIS MAKES SENSE.
Reading to extract information allows a student to absorb the raw materials of factual information as quickly as possible. It is a type of reading we all must engage in frequently. However, each type of reading calls for different mental habits. If we do not learn to adjust from one type of reading to another when necessary, we cripple our intellectual abilities to read critically.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN READING TO EXTRACT INFORMATION AND READING CRITICALLY.
1. They have different goals. When students read to extract information, usually they seek facts and presume the source is accurate. No argument is required. On the other hand, when students read critically, they try to determine the quality of the argument. The reader must be open-minded and skeptical all at once, constantly adjusting the degree of personal belief in relation to the quality of the essay’s argument.
2. They require different types of discipline. If students read to learn raw data, the most efficient way to learn is repetition. If students read critically, the most effective technique may be to break the essay up into logical subdivisions and analyze each section’s argument, to restate the argument in other words, and then to expand upon or question the findings.
3. They require different mental activity. If a student reads to gain information, a certain degree of absorption, memorization and passivity is necessary. If a student is engaged in reading critically, that student must be active!!! He or she must be prepared to pre-read the essay, then read it closely for content, and re-read it if it isn’t clear how the author is reaching the conclusion in the argument.
4. They create different results. Passive reading to absorb information can create a student who (if not precisely well read) has read a great many books. It creates what many call “book-smarts.” However, critical reading involves original, innovative thinking.
5. They differ in the degree of understanding they require. Reading for information is more basic, and reading critically is the more advanced of the two because only critical reading equates with full understanding.
ULTIMATELY, WHAT WE WANT IS THE CONSCIOUS CONTROL OF OUR READING SKILLS, SO WE CAN MOVE BACK AND FORTH AMIDST THE VARIOUS TYPES OF READING.
FIVE GENERAL STAGES OF READING
1. Pre-Reading—examining the text and preparing to read it effectively (5 minutes)
2. Interpretive Reading—understanding what the author argues, what the author concludes, and exactly how he or she reached that conclusion.
3. Critical Reading—questioning, examining and expanding upon what the author says with your own arguments. Skeptical reading does not mean doubting everything your read.
4. Synoptic Reading—putting the author’s argument in a larger context by considering a synopsis of that reading or argument in conjunction with synopses of other readings or arguments.
5. Post-Reading—ensuring that you won’t forget your new insights.
