What is the source doing? Inquiry-based learning methods, or question-based investigations, are often the basis for writing and research at the college level. What is the source doing? 
What is the source saying? 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! Shortly after he died, his studies of inheritance and intelligence came into disrepute after evidence emerged indicating he had falsified research data. 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). Blaming police violence on the lower-class origins of officers, rather than the demands of capitalist employers.
Textbooks often include comprehension questions in the margins or at the end of a section or chapter. You must do more than just understand course material and summarize it on an exam. Some purposes for reading might include the following: Strategies differ from reader to reader. Effective Reading How does this text connect to topics you have been discussing in class or to other assigned readings?
5) Locate, evaluate, and integrate appropriate sources accurately and fairly through paraphrase and direct quotation. This kind of realization illustrates the necessity for critical reading (and critical thinking while reading). 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 authors main ideas before reading for details. 
See our page: Critical Thinking for more.
What type of evidence do they use to support their point of view? Some of your reading assignments will be fairly straightforward. Admittedly, Fairchild finally considered the enemys will as the ultimate objective, and distinctions between will and the capacity to wage war can be arbitrary.
In the political climate of the civil rights and black power eras, ethnicity was necessary but not sufficient. 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.
The Princeton Guide to Historical Research, now on sale. 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.
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 cant remember any of it? Almost everyone has done it, and its particularly easy to do when you dont care about the material, are not interested in the material, or if the material is full of difficult or new concepts. What is the source doing?
The source is advancing an unstated agenda. 
If applied to a work of literature, for example, it can become the foundation for a detailed textual analysis. Suggestive, too, is how nonchalantly even a paper at the respected level of the Times could report that one or perhaps two million of the Emperors subjects had been killed in an attack on arsenals, electric plants, engine plants, and home factoriesand leave it at that. Once you have selected a suitable piece the next step is to speed-read. English Composition I, Lumen Learning, CC-BY 4.0. Bruce J. Schulman and Julian E. Zelizer, 178.
1. Do not just consider what the text says; think about what effect the author intends to produce in a reader or what effect the text has had on. Once you have established your purpose for reading, the next step is to preview the text.
What is the source saying? Internet searches, online encyclopedias, news websites may all be used to help you quickly learn some of the key issues related to the topic. If previewing a book, is there a summary on the back or inside the front of the book? These rhetorical strategies are covered in the next chapter. 6) Critically engage sources through interpretation, analysis, and/or critique in service of developing and supporting logical, well-defined claims. While its advice is designed primarily for undergraduate and graduate students of United States history, I hope it will prove useful to all those who wish to study history and related disciplines. Simply put, dont rely solely on your own interpretation. 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 themthese are the kinds of practices that help determine the quality of fiction.
There could be no more flagrant case of the evils resulting from such refusal [to submit to a physical exam] than the present case affords. This site is maintained by Zachary M. Schrag, Professor of History at George Mason University. The answer to the second question can be easily found using a quick search that ends your line of inquiry. What is their perspective or argument on this topic? In college, academic expectations change from what you may have experienced in high school. If not electrical power, then the destruction of some other common element, will render them both inoperative at a single blow. That Americans should promote colonization yet consider former slaves to be free Americans of African descent who could remain in the United States. 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). If you cannot answer a question, try to determine why. Both reading and thinking critically dont mean being critical about some idea, argument, or piece of writing - claiming that it is somehow faulty or flawed. For a one-page list of these techniques, see Critical Reading Moves. Edited February 2007. .
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.
See also: Listening Types to learn about the importance of critical listening skills. Alan Taylor, The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies, 382. Reading actively and recursively is the secret to becoming an effective reader.
By bringing that mindset to a text, we stand a better chance of evaluating the claim-reasoning strength of a text and, in doing so, stand a better chance of improving our own knowledge and critical reasoning skills. Inferring (Reading between the lines is the act of identifying and examining implicit messages and biases. How are other authors writing about this topic? We erect a sense of self to withstand the sheer momentum of the text, then rummage through the debris when its all over to see whats left behind.. It is a cognitive tool that is developed through learning and practice. Critical reading is the process of analyzing a text to understand its meaning and to assess its argument. Why or why not? The way you approach a text should vary based on the type of text you encounter. 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. 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.
Critical reading is necessary for success in school and in life because it allows you to assess information critically and make informed decisions. 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? External evidence shows that a source is lying. 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. Does the thesis pass the So what? challenge. Put another way, are the claims being made compelling and significant? Figure 1.2 Lean In Tweets, Kalyca Schultz, Virginia Western Community College, CC-0. Honing your writing, reading, and critical thinking skills will give you a more solid foundation for success, both academically and professionally. John Dower, Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq, 184. Reading does not come naturally.
Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence? His claim for damages was based principally on alleged internal injuries, which could only have been understood and properly estimated by a physician. When you have a purpose to your reading you want to learn and retain certain information. You will be ready to join the academic conversations that surround you at HCC and beyond. Did you understand the main principles of the argument? If you agree with it, how do you think you can expand or build upon the argument put forth? In some cases, it can mean doubting the factual accuracy of the authors statements. You will need strong reading skills in order to understand assignments, write papers and participate in class discussion. The source uses striking terminology, metaphors, and imagery. Even sources that are factually accurate and logically sound are worthy of exploration, for every person must make choices when presenting information or argument. Reading a poem is very different from reading a chapter in a textbook. Part of the Skills You Need Guide for Students. ), Claim/Counter-Claim (itemizing each and how they work/dont 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), The Contrarian (viewing the text from a specific perspective other than your ownoften the opposite of your beliefs, opinion, or perspective). For example, does the author want to persuade, inspire, provoke humor, or simply inform the audience? Working With Words: Which Word is Right? Having strategies to use when you come across unfamiliar words will help you build and improve your vocabulary. SP22 Edition; Revised September 30th, 2021, Sarah Johnson; Beth Caruso; and Nic Learned, Elizabeth Browning; Karen Kyger; and Cate Bombick. in the text represent our current best understanding of things as they are today? Understand the overall structure or organization of the text, Pose informed and thoughtful questions about the text, Evaluate the effectiveness of ideas in the text, to relate new content to existing knowledge, to write something (often depends on a prompt). This had been the assumption from the beginning. Look for opportunities to discuss the reading in and out of class to help clarify and deepen your understanding. . That pornography spurs sex crimes, and that there is no evidence to show that pornography spurs sex crimes. By taking an actively critical approach to reading, you will be able to do the following: Establishing why you read something helps you decide how to read it, which saves time and improves comprehension. Subscribe to our FREE newsletter and start improving your life in just 5 minutes a day. Who is the author? 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.
As was often the case in strategic thinking, belief in success encouraged imprecision about how to achieve it. Michael Sherry, The Rise of American Air Power, 55. The term police brutality, which first appeared in newspaper accounts in the 1860s, reflects some of these middle-class biases. 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. You may need to read a sentence or paragraph several times to understand it. In addition to asking questions of the text and author, you will want to use a text to develop additional questions about the topic. 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. Consider the example below. Finding the main point gives you a framework to organize the details presented in the reading and to relate the reading to concepts you learned in class or through other reading assignments. To read critically is to exercise your judgement about what you are reading that is, not taking anything you read at face value. That African Americans should seek change through politics, rather than violence. Reading is interested in what was said, comprehending is interested in what was meant, and critical reading is interested in what is actually true. It is rare that you will read a text in college once, straight through from beginning to end. B. With practice, you will gain confidence and fluency in your ability to read critically. As you read, you should consider what new information you have learned and how it connects to what you already know. Critical reading and critical thinking are therefore the very foundations of true learning and personal development. What are the underlying assumptions of both the text and the claims within it? You'll get our 5 free 'One Minute Life Skills' and our weekly newsletter. Examples of possible questions include: Now you will be ready for the main activity of 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. Questions to ask when previewing may include the following: 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 authors purpose for writing. 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. Policemen are like animals. Whitney Strub, Perversion for Profit: The Politics of Pornography and the Rise of the New Right, 27: Kefauvers report downplayed juvenile delinquency as a general concept and instead dwelled specifically on sex crimes. You can improve comprehension by taking time to determine which strategies work best for you and putting those strategies into practice. Is the author familiar to you? To read critically means to extract information actively from a text, rather than taking the authors own statements as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Richard White, Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America, 86. To read critically, you only need to read with the purpose of identifying and evaluating the quality of a text. A very large percentage of the pornography market reaches the hands of juveniles, the report claimed, and the impulses which spur people to sex crimes unquestionably are intensified by reading and seeing pornographic materials. Once again, as with the comics, an absolute lack of evidence confronted Kefauver in his efforts to establish the pornographysex crime connection. That Americans can win honor by fighting British regulars. For the category of white ethnic to sustain political claims, its members needed to draw analogies between their condition and that of officially recognized minorities, most notably African Americans. 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 final step is to review the material that you have recalled in your notes. Who is saying what to whom?
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). Lets try another approach. On January 1, 1874, Fisk and Hatch published numbers that assured investors that the Central Pacific had a large surplus from earnings, more than enough to cover its bonded debt (it didnt mention other debts) .
In that case, youll want to ask a question such as, What is Hrabowskis view on the purpose of college? . When you begin reading a section, try to identify two to three questions you should be able to answer after you finish it. 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. Worth understanding? Look at the process through which the writer achieves (or does not achieve) the desired effect and which rhetorical strategies are used. To skim a text means to look over a text briefly in order to get the gist or overall idea of it. 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. Are there any organizational elements that stand out, such as section headings, numbering, bullet points, or other types of lists? From the concluding paragraph? 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. That U.S. bombers had killed up to two million people. 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. What is the source doing? Critical reading is moving beyond just understanding the authors meaning of a text to consider the choices the author makes to communicate their message. Even when you slow your reading down it may well be necessary to read passages several times to gain a full understanding. We were called wop, polack, and hunky.. Just as important, however, is being able to figure out what you do not know and developing a strategy to deal with it. One could not use it to describe what the forest actually looked like or how these trees interacted with one another. You may get lost in an example and need to double back or skip ahead to understand the point the author is trying to make. In his book, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts, Sam Wineburg describes the start of a history of religion course with Professor Jacob Neusner. Critical Reading 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. What is a critical reading strategy?