Critical Reading Skills for GP 1.

1
Critical reading active engagement and interaction with texts is essential to your intellectual growth
and to doing well in General Paper. Students who do well in General Paper recognise that any text that
they read represents one representation and interpretation of the facts and circumstances surrounding
a given issue or situation; it is the authors take on it, which is based not just on an intellectual
engagement with the subject matter, but also on ones prior experiences, deeply held beliefs, and
cherished values.

The non-critical reader (and thinker) would be satisfied with accepting what a text asserts, or what it
says. The critical reader engages with a text two levels deeper, by considering what a text does (Is it
arguing for a particular stance? Offering support and evidence for that position? Providing an alternative
perspective on a contentious issue? Etc.), and most importantly, what it means (E.g. If author argues
this, what are his/her views likely to be regarding a related but different issue? If I accept the authors
arguments, what are the localized and broader implications? Etc.). Additionally, students who read
critically by employing the suggested strategies are likely to retain more information, longer, and be
more able to apply the ideas and information they have come across in a different context or situation.

Strategies for reading critically

While the strategies described below are (for the sake of clarity) listed sequentially, you typically do
most of them simultaneously. They may feel awkward at first, and you may have to deploy them very
consciously the first few times, especially if you are not used to doing anything more than moving your
eyes across the page. But they will quickly become habits, and you will notice the difference in what you
see in a reading, and in the confidence with which you approach your texts. In other words, you will
begin to read and comprehend texts like a General Paper tutor!

Adapted from 1. Harvard Library Research Guide 2. Reading critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide
by Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Cooper (2002) 3. The Fundamentals of Critical Reading and Effective
Writing by Dan Kurland

1. Previewing: Look around a text before reading it closely

Previewing enables you to get a sense of what the text is about and how it is organized before reading it
closely. You will develop a set of expectations about the scope and aim of the text. These preliminary
impressions offer you a way to focus your reading. Previewing includes seeing what you can learn from
head notes, biographical notes about the author, or other introductory material; skimming to get an
overview of the content and organization; and identifying the genre and rhetorical situation.

Looking for arrangements of the text according to certain conventions of discourse

Look at how the content and ideas are arranged. Newspaper articles, for instance, have
characteristics that you will recognize; textbooks and scholarly essays are organized quite
differently. Texts demand different things of you as you read, so whenever you can, register the
type of information youre presented with.
Identifying the Rhetorical Situation
You can also make a tentative decision about the text by first looking at why the piece was
written and to whom it was addressed. These two elements purpose and audience
constitute the rhetorical or writing situation. You would expect an editorial in the Atlantic
written for the purpose of persuading Conservatives to support stricter gun control laws to
look and feel very differently compared to a news report detailing the exchanges of a
Congressional debate on stricter gun control laws.

2. Annotating: recording your reactions to and questions about a text directly on the page

Annotating puts you in an active "dialogue with the author and yourself as you move through the text.
It allows you to engage with the issues and ideas you encounter in the text. Annotating involves
underlining keywords, phrases, or sentences; writing comments or questions in the margins; bracketing
important sections of the text; connecting ideas with lines or arrows; numbering related points in
sequence; and making note of anything that strikes you as interesting, important, or questionable.

You also need to build on and extend annotating by taking inventory: analyzing and classifying your
annotations, searching systematically for patterns in the text, and interpreting their significance. An
inventory is basically a list. When you take inventory, you make various kinds of lists in order to find
meaning in a text.

Inventorying annotations is a three-step process:

1) Examine your annotations for patterns or repetitions of any kind, such as recurring images or
stylistic features, related words and phrases, similar examples, or reliance on authorities.
2) Try out different ways of grouping the items, such as identifying the central issue(s), associated
tensions and main agents.
3) Consider what the patterns you have found suggest about the writers meaning or rhetorical
choices.

CHECKLIST
To annotate a reading:
1. Mark the text using notations
Circle words to be defined in the margin
Underline key words and phrases
Bracket important sentences and passages
Use lines or arrows to connect ideas or words
Use question marks to note any confusion or disagreement
2. Write marginal comments
Identify the audience and purpose of the text (rhetorical situation)
State the main idea of each paragraph
Define unfamiliar words
Note responses and questions
Identify interesting writing strategies
Point out patterns (including identifying issues, tensions and agents)
Compare and contrast ideas and points with other texts (See Strategy 6)

3. Outlining: listing the main idea of each paragraph to see the organization of a text

Outlining is an especially helpful critical reading strategy for understanding the content and structure of
a reading. Outlining, which identifies and organizes the texts main ideas, may be done as part of the
annotating process, or it may be done separately.
Making an outline, however, is not simple. The reader must exercise judgment in identifying the most
important ideas. Reading is never a passive or neutral act; the process of outlining shows how active
reading can be.

CHECKLIST
To make a scratch outline of a text:
Reread each paragraph systematically, identifying the topic and what is being said about it.
Do not include examples, specific details, quotations, or other explanatory and supporting
material
List the main ideas in the margin of the text or on a separate piece of paper.

4. Summarizing: briefly presenting the main ideas of a text

Summarizing is one of the most widely used strategies for critical reading because it helps you
understand and remember what is most important in a text. Another advantage of summarizing is that it
creates a condensed version of the readings ideas and information, which you can refer to later or
insert into your own writing. Along with quoting and paraphrasing, summarizing enables you to refer to
and integrate other writers ideas into your own writing.

A summary has to make explicit the logical connections between the ideas. Writing a summary shows
how reading critically is a truly constructive process of interpretation involving close analysis and
creative synthesis.

5. Paraphrasing: restating and clarifying the meaning of a few sentences from a text

Paraphrasing requires the use of different words and putting these words together into different
sentences. The resulting paraphrase will be different from the original. The paraphrase must remain true
to the original text by including all relevant and important information and ideas. However, it always
expresses the readers interpretation of the original texts meaning, whether intentional or not.

CHECKLIST
To paraphrase information in a text:
Reread the passage to be paraphrased, looking up unknown words in a dictionary
Relying on keywords in the passage, translate the information into your own sentences
Revise to ensure coherence

6. Compare and contrast: with other texts on the same subject matter or issue
Reading a text and then reflecting (through annotating the text. See Strategy 2) on how its ideas have
parallels/similarities or differs/contrasts with that from another text/author, is a good way for students
to build connections between what different authors are saying about a particular situation or subject.
This helps construct a big picture concerning a particular controversial issue, and will aid students in
gaining a much more informed and nuanced understanding of said issue. Building connections between
a text you have just read (new knowledge) and other writings you have already read previously (existing
knowledge) also makes it easier for the new information to be assimilated and internalized.