21st Cent. (Lesson 4)

• Sometimes, we read for entertainment, leisure and fun. It takes a keen observer and valid researcher to become a critical reader.
• Being a critical reader means that you do not aim to simply memorize facts and information in the text that you are reading.
• Being a critical reader means that you are looking for ways of thinking about the subject matter of the text that you are reading
• Critique - a critique analysis and evaluation of something
• Arguments - a set of reasons given to prove a statement or a stand.
• To help you in your critical reading, listed below are the steps or modes of analysis that are reflected in three types of reading and discussion as presented by Daniel J. Kurland (2000):
• Previewing helps prepare your mind for the barrage of information that is to come when you do the actual reading.
• Annotating involves highlighting or making notes of important ideas in the text.
• When you contextualize, you consider the historical, cultural, or biographical context of the text.
• Outlining and summarizing the text help you identify the main ideas in the text and express them again in your own words.
• Outlining helps you understand how the author developed the text through the ideas presented. After making an outline, you can now summarize the text
• Summarizing the text allows you to present your understanding of the text by reviewing and synthesizing important ideas, and then restating them in your own words.
• Analyzing a text deals with examining the information presented to support the author’s argument(s). In analyzing a text, you look at the evidence, sources, and author’s bias(es).
• Rereading requires a repeated examination of the text to enable you to improve your comprehension of the text and to identify ideas that you may not have noticed in initial reading.
• Responding to the text means drawing meaning from what you have read and presenting it in writing or talking about it to others.