ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

(EAPP)

Lesson 3: Critical Reading

CRITICAL READING

Critical reading involves scrutinizing any information that you read.

Critical reading is an active process of discovery.

WAYS TO HELP YOU BECOME A CRITICAL READER:

Annotate what you read – You can underline, circle, highlight words, phrases or sentences that
contain important details or you can write marginal notes asking or commenting on the ideas of
the writer.
 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
(EAPP)

Outline the text – You need to identify the main points of the writer and list them down.

Thesis statement:

Supporting Details:

Point 1:

Point 2:

Point 3:

Summarize the text – You can also get the main points of the text you are reading and write its
gist in your own words. A summary is usually one paragraph long.

Evaluate the text – The most challenging part in critical reading is the process of evaluating
what you are reading. This is the point where the other three techniques – annotate, outlining,
summarizing – will be helpful.

These four ways in reading critically are not isolated processes that are independent of each
other; they are overlapping processes that you can use simultaneously as you engage in a
dialogue with the writer of the text.