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Introduction To Critical Reading

Critical reading involves actively engaging with a text to understand the author's meaning and message. It is a process that analyzes, evaluates, and forms a reasoned argument about the text. Practicing critical reading can improve comprehension, promote open-mindedness, and help the reader continue learning outside their own views. The goals of reading should be to learn and develop, rather than just memorize information. Maintaining an objective and detached perspective helps readers analyze the logic of a text rather than just their emotional response.

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Charles Ildefonso
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62 views18 pages

Introduction To Critical Reading

Critical reading involves actively engaging with a text to understand the author's meaning and message. It is a process that analyzes, evaluates, and forms a reasoned argument about the text. Practicing critical reading can improve comprehension, promote open-mindedness, and help the reader continue learning outside their own views. The goals of reading should be to learn and develop, rather than just memorize information. Maintaining an objective and detached perspective helps readers analyze the logic of a text rather than just their emotional response.

Uploaded by

Charles Ildefonso
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to

Critical Reading
What is
Critical
Reading?
Critical Reading
It is the manner of engaging yourself in what you
read. Some questions to be asked may include:

“What does the author mean?”


“What message is being conveyed in the text?”
“What is the argument raised?”
The process of critical reading involves
raising a reasoned, logical and
balanced argument that analyzes and
evaluates the text.

Critical
Reading What can a critical reader achieve?
a higher level of comprehension
open-mindedness
continuation to learn and embrace
knowledge and wisdom outside one's
own standards and beliefs.
Reading critically means reflecting on:

•Descriptions in the
•Content of the
text: the reader should •Interpretation of
text: the reader
be able to create his or the text: the reader
should be able to her own examples should be able to
explain the main based from the objectively analyze
points of the text described key points
the text in parts
and be able to compare
on his or her own and in whole.
them with other texts
words.
of the same topic.
Making reading a habit widens our
Critical Reading as a
horizons and allows us to always
Daily Routine look at the bigger picture from a
vantage point. Making it a habit does
Reading takes a lot of time,
not only require you to read every
especially in higher education
where evaluation and analysis day, but also to absorb as much as
are staple parts of the process. you can, to integrate the valuable
Nevertheless, reading for ones to your own principles and
academic purposes needs not to values, and to adopt the attitude
be challenging. It should be an necessary to keep yourself inspired in
active process which leads to
reading.
development.
How Reading
Develops
How Reading
Develops

From familiarizing in a linguistic point of view, the reading


process becomes more complicated as our academic and
intellectual levels go up. We learn to add new words to our daily
vocabulary. We start challenging what textbook call “facts” as
we adopt a skeptic or curious attitude. We start asking and start
answering questions. Finally, we learn to integrate reading and
learning in the truest sense.
How Reading
Develops

However, as we progress down the academic path and


absorb more bits of knowledge and perspectives, our
principles, values and beliefs also start crumble, some of
which are permanently changed through the influence of
other sources and people. The wide range of information
available to us makes thinking more complex as we have to
consider more things than usual.
How Reading
Develops

This process of transitioning from mere data gathering to a


deeper level of consciousness that involves analysis and
evaluation is crucial for our own personal development and
professional advancement. The more we develop our reading
capacity, the more proficient we become in accepting and
rejecting what we read.
The Goals of
Reading
The Challenges in
Reading

The goal of reading should be to learn, not to be just updated with what famous people
are talking about. This is a challenge in social media and amidst the rapid increase of fake
news and social media influencers.
Students usually observe two main academic goals: 1) to learn and develop, and 2) to
pass the subject. Sadly, many students only aim to pass and not to learn and develop.
This mindset and attitude may only be helpful to a certain degree when still studying, not
when venturing in the real world as a professional. Furthermore, this mindset challenges
the issues of own competitiveness and efficiency.
The Challenges in
Reading

Many read just to memorize, and not to comprehend, analyze, and interpret the text.
There is memorization but with very minimal learning. The knowledge is forgotten when
the memorized words and sentences are also forgotten. This is the reason why
memorization is considered as the lowest form of intelligence.
Adapting a Healthy
Attitude in Critical
Reading

Critical reading is less challenging as there is no need to focus on the text verbatim. You
are encouraged to learn meaning and identify value rather than absorb everything at
face value. Being able to follow the flow of the story and predict what’s bound to happen
by drawing conclusions and making inferences is given priority over being able to
familiarize yourself with the specific details. In order to keep a positive attitude when
reading, one has to equip him or herself with tools that make learning more convenient
and less tiresome.
Adapting a Healthy
Attitude in Critical
Reading
Another way to maintain a healthy attitude in reading
is by emotionally detaching yourself from the text.
Subjective reading clouds judgment is when authors
try to influence readers by using their own emotions
against them. Advisably, one has to maintain
objectivity when reading as this allows a person to
analyze the text using logic and not feelings.
Differentiating Facts
from Interpretation

For non-critical readers, a text is a source of facts.


But for critical readers, a text only provides the
author’s own interpretation of facts. This
interpretation may be considered valid or invalid.
Hence, critical readers recognize not only what
the text says, but also how the text discusses
the topic.
Example

When studying history, historians gather as much information as possible, stitch the
different interpretations together, and validate the ones that are supported by logical or
scientific explanations. They learn to link information from different sources to create a
timeline where the past, present and future connect with each other.
THANK
YOU!

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