Critical Reading Exercises

8/3/2019 Critical Reading Exercises

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While you read, use a pencil or highlighter to mark key ideas and supporting

examples or evidence. Choose four main ideas from the text and respond with your

feelings, interpretations, and assessments.

Main Ideas in the Text My Responses

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.


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While You Read:

Two Modes of Reading (Worksheet: Exercise for While You Read)

Effective Reading: Taking Notes

To read effectively is not easy. It requires focus and attention.

When you read actively, you will be participating in an ongoing conversation with the

author in which you respond to and question the text. The notes that you take while reading

document this dialogue. Your active involvement through note taking will keep you fromgetting distracted and missing important points. Its also nice to have something to show for

your hard work when you are finished reading!

Marking Your Text

Dont be afraid to write in your book (as long as you own it)! Mark your text by

highlighting, underlining, or circling important parts that you might want to return to later.These may include main ideas, examples used to support the argument, illustrations of

important points, or sections where the focus of the argument shifts.

For more ideas on how to mark your text, see the handout, "While You Read: Strategies for

Close Reading."
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Understanding a work that is challenging requires a close readingone in which we make

decisions about what the text means as we read it, keep track of the authors ideas and

points, and connect these new ideas with what we already know. Marking up the text whilewe read facilitates this process. Here are some suggested marks for things you should look

for while you are reading (but you should try to think of your own):

Look for . . . Mark it with . . .

The main question or issue in each chapter or

section

aim / objective / main

Fundamental concepts and their explanations

or descriptions

highlighting / underlining

Important conclusions. (You may use morethan one to rank the importance)

* / / X

Unclear or confusing parts, faulty logic Q / ?Supporting data or information used

as evidence

evidence

Author voicing an opinion viewpoint / VP

Problematic assumptions being made problematic/ prob

Greater implications of the argumentor discussion

implication

You may also keep track of your own ideas as you are reading in a separate journal or on

the blank pages or half pages of the book. Making diagrams to visualize how the importantideas are related is also a helpful technique.


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Consider the Authority of the Writer (Go to worksheet)

Using both the information that you have about the writer as a person (training,

political affiliation, life experiences), as well as clues from the language, tone, andapproach of the text, decide whether the writer is credible. Is the writer

knowledgeable? What biases or values may be playing a role in his/her argument?

Authority of the Writer
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Commenting on the Text

Information about the writer (training, political affiliation, life experiences, etc.)


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What does the language, tone and approach of the text tell you about the writer?

Is the writer knowledgeable? why? /why not?

What biases or values appear to have a role in the writer's argument?

Consider the Logic of the Writers Argument (Go to worksheet)

It is important to ask yourself what the writer wants you to believe and whether thereasons and supporting evidence convince you of this viewpoint. Examine the

credibility of the facts as well as the line of reasoning that ties the facts to the

main assertion.
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Does the writer try to evoke respect for his/her authority? How? Cite examples.

Does the writer try to get you to care about the subject, cause or problem? How -- appeals to

emotion? statistics or other facts? anecdotes? detailed descriptions? something else? Citeexamples.

Does the writer seem to assume you have particular interests and/or values, and use them as

the basis for argument? How? Cite examples.

Consider the Writers Use of Language and Style (Go to worksheet)

The writer makes many decisions concerning language and style that serve toinfluence your responses as a reader. Examine the following aspects of the writing:

overall tone, sentence formation, choice and connotation of words, use of

punctuation, and brevity or length of passages. How do the writers choices aboutlanguage and style aid their argument? What do these choices reveal about the

writers argument?
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What words and ideas are valued in the text

or represented by the author in a positiveway?

What are the opposites of those words/ideas?

1.

2.


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3.

4.

After You Read:

After Reading: Evaluating What You Have Read

After reading the article, answer these questions to help you to reflect upon and analyze

what you have read.

1. What is the authors main argument? Use your own words to rearticulate the main

idea.
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2. List and explain the reasons the author provides for his/her main argument.

3. What kind of evidence is presented to support the authors argument? Is it fact oropinion? What is the source of the informationdoes it come from an informed

authority in the field?

4. What is the purpose and tone of the article?

5. Is the author objective or does he/she try to convince the reader to have a certainopinion? If so, what viewpoint does the author try to convince you of? What reasons

does the author provide for choosing this viewpoint?


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6. Does the authors argument assume that the reader thinks in a particular way or has

a particular world-view? What are the major underlying assumptions that the author

makes, and do you think they are reasonable and acceptable to most people?

7.

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Examining Your Reactions After Reading: A Three-Part Exercise(worksheet)

Part One:

Answer the following questions freely (write whatever comes to mind) to gauge the extent

to which the text influenced your views. (A printable worksheet is available.)

1. What does the author want me to believe or agree with?2. What were my beliefs about the subject before I read this?

3. What are my beliefs about it now?

4. What has the text convinced me of specifically?5. What do I still have doubts about?

6. What questions does this text raise for me?

7. What insights do I have now that I didnt have before I read this?

Part Two:

Now, although you may firmly agree or disagree with the authors views, you will take

turns writing from each perspective. First you will write freely in support of the author,looking at the world through the authors perspective. We can call this writing with the

author. You will look to your own personal experiences, memories, and knowledge for

anything that is in line with the authors argument.

Next, you must think of all the problems, contradictions, and weak points in the authors

argument. We can call this writing critically about the authors ideas. Either one of these

roles may be harder for you, depending on whether you have a strong opinion about thesubject. However, this is a very important exercise for critical readers, because it teaches

you to explore unfamiliar perspectives.

Part Three:

Think of questions you would ask the author if you could. These may include ideas that

came up during the first two parts of this exercise, your doubts about or problems with theirargument, or a request for clarification or expansion on a point.

Stages Involved in Summary Writing

What is a summary?
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It is ashortbut thoroughobjective restatement of the main idea and key points of a

passage. A summary may also mention some of the examples the author used to illustrate

key points.

What does not belong in a summary?

Your opinions and thoughts, as well as the details of the passage.

Why write a summary?

It will help you to fully understand and remember what you read. It also is a useful guidefor responding critically to the material in your own writing.

Stages of Summary Writing

First reading:

As you read, look out for to the main idea and points.

Second reading:

1. Divide the passage into thought progressions (looking at paragraph divisionswill help you to identify these stages). You may indicate each new

progression by using brackets in the margins, or highlighting.

2. Underline or highlight main ideas and terms.

Summaries:

Write a summary sentence for each thought progression.

Thesis statement:

Write a summary of the entire passage that is one or two sentences long andincludes the main idea of the passage (the who, what,where, how, and when).

For apersuasive passage, this should include the authors conclusion.

For a descriptive passage, this should include whatis being described and its

important characteristic(s). First draft:

Combine your thesis statement with the one-sentence summaries of each thought

progression. Take out repetitious partsuse as few words as possible. Take outminor details, or rewrite them in more general terms.

Third reading:

Make further adjustments by comparing your summary to the passage.

Final draft:

Check to see that transitions between sentences are smooth, and make sure the

summary is coherent as a whole. Lastly, check grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

For Reading Literature:

Ide as for Writing and Thinking About a Text

RESPOND freely to an idea from the text without censoring yourself, as you

write whatever comes to mind.
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CHOOSE and DESCRIBE an idea, event, or character that you found especially

interesting or significant. Explain why you chose it.

ASK QUESTIONS about what you have read, and record them.

COMPARE and CONTRAST an event or episode in the reading with your own

experienceslook for similarities. Then think of differences.


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ILLUSTRATE an idea from the reading with examples from your own life.

ANALYZE the why and how of the way the plot unfolded, including the

characters motives and actions.

RELATE this reading to other readings in order to connect it with what you

already know. Points of comparison may include the authors main idea and goal,

the style of the writing (e.g., amount of description), and the way the reading isorganized.


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FORM OPINIONS about the significance, accuracy, originality, and relevance

of the work to our time.

Critical Reading Exercises

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