Critical Reading

Critical Reading

Critical Reading is a more active way of reading. Critical reading is a process of analyzing, interpreting and sometimes evaluating. The purpose of critical reading is to form judgments about how a text workss. The focus of critical reading is “what a text does and means?”. “How does text work?” and “What kinds of reasoning and evidence are used?” are the questions raised during critical reading

Methods of Critical Reading are:

·        Previewing

·        Contextualizing

·        Outlining and summarizing

·        Comparing and contrasting

Previewing is to identify: What you read for? Why are you reading?

Contextualizing: When you read a text, you read through the lenses of your experience. Your understanding of the words on the page and their significance is informed by what you have come to know and value from living in a particular time and place.

Outlining and summarizing are especially helpful strategies for understanding the content and structure of reading sections. Outlining reveals the basic structure of text and summarizing a selection of main arguments in brief.

Comparing and contrasting: Many of the authors we read are concerned with the same issues or questions, but how to discuss them in different ways.

Consider the following questions:

·        What is the author’s main point?

·        What is the author’s purpose?

·        Who is the intended audience?

·        What are the writer's assumptions about the audience?

·        How is the material organized? Is the text clear, and easy to read?

·        What kind of language and imagery does the author use?

·        Have the important terms clearly defined?

·        What arguments does the author use to support the main point?

·        What evidence does the author present to support the arguments?

·        Are the author’s facts accurate?

·        Does the text present and refute opposing points of view?

Criticism of the Text

Criticism of the text is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of the text. This is the close study of a particular literary work in order to establish its original text. This includes the classification by genre, analysis of structure, and judgment of value. Literary criticism asks what literature is, what it does, and what it is worth.

Literary criticism helps us to understand:                    

–        what is important about the text

–        its structure

–        its context:  social, economic, historical

–        what is written

–        how the text manipulates the reader

Literary criticism helps us to understand the relationship between authors, readers, and texts. The act of literary criticism ultimately enhances the enjoyment of our reading of the literary work

The purpose for writing a critique is to evaluate somebody's work (a book, an essay, a movie, a painting...) in order to increase the reader's understanding of it. A critical analysis is subjective writing because it expresses the writer's opinion or evaluation of a text. Analysis means to break down and study the parts. Writing a critical paper requires two steps: critical reading and critical writing.

Critical reading:

1.      Identify the author's thesis and purpose

2.      Analyze the structure of the passage by identifying all main ideas

3.      Consult a dictionary or encyclopedia to understand material that is unfamiliar to you

4.      Make an outline of the work or write a description of it

5.      Write a summary of the work

6.      Determine the purpose which could be

·        To inform with factual material

·        To persuade with appeal to reason or emotions

·        To entertain (to affect people's emotions)

7.   Evaluate the means by which the author has accomplished his purpose

·        If the purpose is to inform, has the material been presented clearly, accurately, with order and coherence?

·        If the purpose is to persuade, look for evidence, logical reasoning, contrary evidence.

·        If the purpose was to entertain, determine how emotions are affected? Does it make you laugh, cry, angry? Why did it affect you?