An Introduction to Critical Reading

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An Introduction to Critical Reading

• Presented by
• Paul Krauss
• Traci Scherdell
• The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

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Exercise 1

• Take 2-3 minutes to read the following passage
  entitled Higher Levels of Reading and Higher
  Education.
• When you are finished, please turn over the paper.

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What is critical reading?

• Preface Critical is not intended to have a
  negative meaning in the context of critical
  reading.
• Definition An active approach to reading that
  involves an in depth examination of the text.
  Memorization and understanding of the text is
  achieved. Additionally, the text is broken down
  into its components and examined critically in
  order to achieve a meaningful understanding of
  the material.

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Passive vs. Active Reading

• Passive Reading - (4 traits)
• 1. Largely inactive process.
• 2. Low motivation to examine the text critically
  or at an in-depth level.
• 3. Important pieces of data and assumptions may
  be glossed over and missed.
• 4. Data and assumptions that are perceived by the
  passive reader are accepted at face value or are
  examined superficially, with little thought.

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Passive vs. Active Reading

• Active Reading - Active reading involves
  interacting with the text and therefore requires
  significantly more energy than passive reading.
• Critical reading ALWAYS involves active reading.
  The active reader invests sufficient effort to
  understand the text and commit important details
  to memory.
• The active reader identifies important pieces of
  data, the assumptions underlying arguments, and
  examines them critically. They rely on their
  personal experiences and knowledge of theory to
  analyze the text.

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Techniques of Critical Reading

• Previewing
• Writing
• Critical Reading (at least two times)
• Summarizing
• Forming a Critical Response
• Finding a Focus for Your Paper

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Previewing

• Form meaningful expectations about the reading.
• Pace yourself decide how much time you will
  dedicate to the reading.
• Skimming.
• Look for Title, Section Headings, Date
• Expectations about the Author (previous works)
• Define the important vocabulary words
• Brief summaries of chapters
• The goal is to obtain a general grasp of the text

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Writing

• Writing While Reading
• a. Margin
• b. Divided Page Method
• c. Landmark/Footnote Method
• d. Reading Journal
• e. Online Documents

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Writing - Margin

• Mark, highlight, or underline parts of the text
  that you think are very important.
• Option 1 - Write a few words in the margin that
  capture the essence of your reaction.
• Option 2 Write a few words that will help you
  to remember the passage. This is useful for
  learning definitions or parts of a theory.

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Example - Margin

• Please turn to the handout titled, Example 1
  Margin.

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Divided Page Method

• On a separate piece of paper, divide your page
  into two columns.
• Label one column text (meaning from your
  reading) and the other response (meaning your
  response).
• Write down a part of the text you think is
  important in the text column and then write a
  reaction to it in the other column.

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Example Divided Page Method

• Please turn to the handout titled, Example 2
  Divided Page Method.

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Landmark/Footnote Method

• On a separate piece(s) of paper or in your
  reading journal, dedicate an adequate amount of
  space to an article, book, chapter, etc, you are
  reading.
• Highlight, mark, or underline a critical part in
  your reading. In the margin, indicate that you
  are going to write a footnote. For example, write
  a 1 or a (or whatever you want).
• In your reading journal, write a 1 or a (or
  whatever symbol you chose) and then write your
  critical response.

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Example Landmark/Footnote

• Please turn to the handout titled, Example 3
  Landmark/Footnote Method.

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Reading Journal

• In addition to the other uses described above,
  use the reading journal to track what you are
  reading and to form critical responses to
  articles, chapters, etc you have read in their
  entirety.
• Try to summarize the entire article, describe the
  main points, define key terms, and express your
  reactions.
• Remember, do NOT refer back to the text until you
  absolutely have to! Give your memory a workout!
  Force yourself to learn the material as you read
  and be able to write it down clearly afterwards.
• Also, put concepts into your own words.
• A general rule is 3-5 pages of notes per 100
  pages of text.

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Online Documents

• Two ways to write while reading online documents
• Reading Journal
• Cut and Paste in Word Processor, then insert
  comments
• For example

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Read 1

• Read in an environment where you will be free
  from distractions.
• Read steadily and smoothly. Try to enjoy the
  work.
• Write notes, but do so sparingly.
• What works best for you?
• We suggest avoiding your cell phone, television,
  computer, and most music (besides instrumental).

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Read 2

• Re-read the material more slowly than during your
  first read.
• The two most important objectives are
• Understand the content of the material
• Understand the materials structure

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3 Responses to Texts

• Restatement- Restating what a text says talking
  about the original topic.
• Description- Describing what a text a does
  identifies aspects of text.
• Interpretation- Analyze what a text means
  asserts an overall meaning.

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Summarization

• Summarization Pull out the main points of the
  text and write them down.
• The summarys complexity and length will vary
  according to the complexity and length of the
  text you have read!

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Exercise 2

• Take 4-6 minutes to read the following article
  entitled Graduate Students debate the merits of
  unionizing.
• Use what you have learned about critical writing
  during this read.
• When you are finished, please turn over the
  paper.

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Forming Your Critical Response

• Analysis
• Interpretation
• Synthesis
• In forming your critical response, you will now
  go beyond what the author has explicitly written
  to form your impressions of the text.

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Analysis

• Analysis is the separation of something into its
  parts or elements, which helps to examine them
  more closely.
• To analyze reading, you can take at least these
  two approaches
• Choose a question to guide analysis.
• Look at the authors argument structure.

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Analysis (continued)

• Examine the argument structure.
• Claims Statements that require support by
  evidence.
• Assumptions The writers underlying beliefs,
  opinions, principles, or inferences that connect
  evidence to the claims.

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Analysis (continued)

• Types of evidence
• Facts Verifiable evidence.
• Opinion Judgments based upon facts.
• Expert Opinion Judgments formed by authorities
  on a given subject.
• Appeal to Beliefs or Needs Readers are asked to
  accept a claim in part because they already
  accept it as true WITHOUT factual evidence or
  because it coincides with their needs.
• Appeal to Emotion A claim that is persuasive
  because it evokes an emotion within the reader,
  but may or may not rely on factual evidence.

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Analysis (continued)

• To judge the reliability of evidence, look at the
  following areas
• Accuracy
• Relevance
• Representativeness
• Adequacy

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Analysis (continued)

• Logical Fallacies Errors in reasoning.
• Examples
• Red herring-introduction of an irrelevant issue
  in an argument.
• Non sequitur- linking two or more ideas that have
  no logical connection.
• Making broad generalizations without proven
  empirical evidence.
• Learn to identify logical fallacies by visiting
• http//www1.ca.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/inde
  x.html

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Interpretation

• After breaking down the text into its components
  and examining them, ask yourself about the
  conclusions you can draw from this evidence.
• What claims does the author make?
• What evidence supports these claims?
• Can you infer anything beyond what the author has
  explicitly written that either strengthens or
  weakens the claims made by the author?
• See Critical Reading Checklist Handout

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Synthesis

• Now that you have broken down the text into its
  parts, analyzed them, and interpreted it all, you
  should make new connections with what you know.
• Ask yourself again What are the main points of
  this text? Were my expectations for this article
  met? If I read in between the lines do I learn
  anything else about what the author is saying?
  Overall, what can I conclude from this text?

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Delivering Your Critical Response

• By this point, you will have everything you need
  to create a critical response. At The Chicago
  School of Professional Psychology, your delivery
  will typically be in the form of a written paper
  or oral presentation.
• If you want assistance on this task, please feel
  free to stop by the Academic Support Center.

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Finding a Focus for Your Paper
If you are delivering a critical response in the
form of a written paper, we have some tips for
finding a focus for your writing and getting
started.
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Step 1Finding Your Focus

• Start early. Give yourself enough time.
• Understand the assignment requirements.
• Know the material.
• Choose a topic that interests you has potential
  future value.
• Make sure the topic is relevant and researchable
  (appropriate available research).
• Develop a controlling idea that is congruent with
  your angle on a topic or what you read.

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Step 2Developing your angle and establishing a
controlling idea

• Developing an angle and establishing a
  controlling idea is important for every type of
  paper.
• Be as specific as possible.
• Use it to focus direct the paper.
• Make a statement instead of a question
• State a point that you can further develop,
  explain, or substantiate.

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Developing Your FocusExamples

• Angle Controlling Idea
• Homelessness. The causes of homelessness
• Cultural bias in testing. Problems, solutions,
  the
• clinicians role
• Professional Ethics. Bridging the gap between
• professional ethical
• standards and personal morals

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Step 3Getting Started

• Start-up Styles
• Outline Intro, body, conclusion
• Brainstorm Write down points ideas you have
  regarding your topic.
• Find relevant research writing regarding your
  topic and highlight important quotations.
• Start writing organize it later.
• Different strategies work for different people!

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The Writing Process

• Rough Draft
• Final Draft
• Edit
• Edit Again
• If you need assistance you can bring your paper
  to the Academic Support Center (room 631) for
  review.

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References
Adler M. J., Van Doren, C. (1972). How to read
a book. Touchstone New York. Fowler, H. R.,
Aaron, J. E. (2001). The little, brown handbook.
Longman New York. Godfrey, A., Krauss, P.
(2006). The art of essay writing back to
basics. Presented in March and July, 2006. The
Chicago School Chicago. Kurland, D. (2000). How
language really works The fundamentals of
critical reading and effective writing.
Retrieved 5 July 2006 from http//www.criticalrea
ding.com
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References continued
Stover, A. (2005). An introduction to critical
reading. Presented October, 2005 and March,
2006. The Chicago School Chicago.