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Critical Reading

Annotate

Annotating is writing down your thoughts about what you are reading. This can be done by actual writing or by creating notes in an electronic version of a text.

  1. Throw away your highlighter
    • Highlighting can be cryptic when you re-read the text. Instead make notes with a pen or pencil (or add a comment to an eText)
  2. Mark up the margins
    • Writing notes in the margins will trigger memories when re-reading the text.
  3. Use Symbols
    • Develop a symbol system that is meaningful to you, this will help you find the perfect quote when using the text to write your essay.
  4. Ask Questions
    • What questions do you have about the text? Others in your class may have them as well. Writing down questions can help you have a better discussion of the text during class.

Outline, Summarize and Analyze

Take the information apart, look at its parts, and then try to put it back together again in a way that is meaningful to you.

  1. Outlining
    • When reading a text look for headings to help identify the outline (the main ideas of the text). Subject headings can help you focus on the point the author is trying to convey.
  2. Summarizing
    • Putting ideas together in your own words shows how reading critically can lead to a deeper understanding of the text.
  3. Analyzing

    • In analyzing a text, you reflect upon and decide how effectively (or poorly) its argument has been made. Questions to ask:

      • What is the writer trying to make me understand?
      • What am I being asked to believe or accept? Facts? Opinions? Some mixture?
      • What reasons or evidence does the author supply to convince me? Where is the strongest or most effective evidence the author offers -- and why is it compelling?
      • Is there anywhere that the reasoning breaks down? Are there things that do not make sense. conclusions that are drawn prematurely, moments where the writer undermines his purposes or shows a bias towards a certain way of thinking?
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