When you read texts for academic classes—either fiction/literature or nonfiction—your job is to read in order to understand, interpret, and ultimately discuss an author’s work either orally or in writing. While fiction/literature and nonfiction have many different qualities, the first step is always to read carefully and critically. Critical reading is active reading: the search for meanings, connections, patterns as you go through the material. Making notes as you read can be the basis for analysis and interpretation when you write. Here are two outlines for critical reading, one for fiction/literature and one for nonfiction. Show READING FICTION/LITERATUREGeneral Guidelines
Ask Silent Questions about the Work
Consider the Major Literary Elements
Analyze the Relationships
READING NONFICTIONUnderstand the Content
Evaluate the Content
Evaluate Yourself
Consider the Author and Historical Context
Dr. Murray and Anna C. Rockowitz Writing Center website feedback: 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:
Specific questions generated by the text can guide your critical reading process. Use them when reading a text, and if asked to, use them in 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. Preparing for a Reading AssignmentYou need to make a plan before you read. Planning ahead is a necessary and smart step in various situations, inside or outside of the classroom. You wouldn’t want to jump into dark water head first before knowing how deep the water is, how cold it is, or what might be living below the surface. Instead, you would want to create a strategy, formulate a plan before you made that jump. The same goes for reading. Planning Your ReadingHave you ever stayed up all night cramming just before an exam or found yourself skimming a detailed memo from your boss five minutes before a crucial meeting? The first step in successful college reading is planning. This involves both managing your time and setting a purpose for your reading. Managing Your Reading TimeThis step involves setting aside enough time for reading and breaking assignments into manageable chunks. If you are assigned a seventy-page chapter to read for next week’s class, try not to wait until the night before it’s due to get started. Give yourself at least a few days and tackle one section at a time. The method for breaking up the assignment depends on the type of reading. If the text is dense and packed with unfamiliar terms and concepts, limit yourself to no more than five or ten pages in one sitting so that you can truly understand and process the information. With more user-friendly texts, you can handle longer sections—twenty to forty pages, for instance. Additionally, if you have a highly engaging reading assignment, such as a novel you cannot put down, you may be able to read lengthy passages in one sitting. As the semester progresses, you will develop a better sense of how much time you need to allow for reading assignments in different subjects. Also consider previewing each assignment well in advance to assess its difficulty level and to determine how much reading time to set aside. Establishing Your PurposeEstablishing why you read something helps you decide how to read it, which saves time and improves comprehension. This section lists some purposes for reading as well as different strategies to try at each stage of the reading process. Purposes for ReadingIn 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:
Tip: 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: ●Title ●Introductory paragraph, which often contains the writer’s thesis or main idea ●Topic sentences of body paragraphs ●Conclusion paragraph ●Bold or italicized terms 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. Key Takeaways
Right Before You ReadOnce 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:
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.
((https://tinyurl.com/y7ak9ygk ) While You ReadImproving Your ComprehensionThus far, you have blocked out time for your reading assignments, established a purpose for reading, and previewed the text. Now comes the challenge: making sure you actually understand all the information you are expected to process. Some of your reading assignments will be fairly straightforward. Others, however, will be longer and more complex, so you will need a plan for how to handle them. For any expository writing—that is, nonfiction, informational writing—your first comprehension goal is to identify the main points and relate any details to those main points. Because college-level texts can be challenging, you should monitor your reading comprehension. That is, you should stop periodically to assess how well you understand what you have read. Finally, you can improve comprehension by taking time to determine which strategies work best for you and putting those strategies into practice. Identifying the Main PointsIn college, you will read a wide variety of materials, including the following:
Regardless of what type of expository text you are assigned to read, the primary comprehension goal is to identify the main point: the most important idea that the writer wants to communicate, often stated early on in the introduction and often re-emphasized in the conclusion. 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. After identifying the main point, find the supporting points: the details, facts, and explanations that develop and clarify the main point. Tip: Your instructor may use the term “main point” interchangeably with other terms, such as thesis, main argument, main focus, or core concept. Some texts make the task of identifying the main point relatively easy. Textbooks, for instance, include the aforementioned features as well as headings and subheadings intended to make it easier for students to identify core concepts as well as the hierarchy of concepts (working from broad ideas to more focused ideas). Graphic features, such as sidebars, diagrams, and charts, help students understand complex information and distinguish between essential and inessential points. When assigned a textbook reading, be sure to use available comprehension aids to help you identify the main points. Trade books and popular articles may not be written specifically for an educational purpose; nevertheless, they also include features that can help you identify the main ideas. These features include the following:
How do you read critically and effectively?How to read effectively and critically. On this page.. Have a clear reading purpose.. Choose what to read.. Preview a text.. Use different ways of reading.. Ask critical questions of the text.. Take notes of your reading.. Connect multiple readings.. What are the 5 critical reading techniques?Top 5 critical reading techniques. Survey – Know what you're looking for! Before you crack open your book, take a few minutes to read the preface and introduction, and browse through the table of contents and the index. ... . Ask questions. ... . Read actively. ... . Respond to your own questions. ... . Record key concepts.. What are the 3 main strategies in critical reading?Habits • Skimming: Preview the text to estimate the time it will take complete the reading. Rereading: Reread difficult sentences for comprehension. Vocabulary: Build your vocabulary by using a dictionary and flash card for new words.
|