R&W

• Critical Reading

  Whenever you read something and you evaluate claims, seek definitions, judge information, demand proof, and question assumptions, you are thinking critically.
• Critical Reading

  This type of reading goes beyond passively understanding a text, because you process the author's words and make judgments after carefully considering the reading's message.
• A reading journal is similar to keeping a diary, except you are writing your feelings and ideas in reaction to your reading assignment.
• When keeping a reading journal, it is best to have a separate notebook for this purpose.
• Annotating the text simply means making notes on your copy of the reading.
• Annotating the text this includes highlighting or underlining important passages and writing notes, comments, questions, and reactions on the margins.
• Outlining the text will also be helpful in getting to understand it more critically. By locating the thesis statement, claims, and evidence, and then plotting these into an outline, you can see how the writer structures, sequences, and connects his or her ideas.
• Outlining the text this way you will be able to better evaluate the quality of the writing.
• Summarizing the text is similar to outlining, in that you need to get the gist. A summary consists of getting the main points of the essay and important supporting details.
• Summarizing is a useful skill because you can better understand the reading if you can recognize and differentiate major and minor points in the text.
• Questioning the text involves asking specific questions on points that you are skeptical about.
• Questioning the text these may be e topics that do not meet your expectations or agree with your personal views.
• information that is clearly stated (explicit)
• ideas that are suggested (implicit).
• explicit information is clearly written and explained in the text so the reader will not be confused.
• Implicit information is something that is implied but not stated outright in the text.
• Whenever you read something, you find yourself looking for the writer's point or position regarding the chosen topic. That point is also known as the claim
• This claim is what the writer tries to prove in the text by providing details, explanations, and other types of evidence.
• The claim is the most important part of the text.
• Types of Claim

  Fact

  Value

  Policy
• Claims of Fact state a quantifiable assertion, or a measurable topic.
• Claims of Value assert something that can be qualified. They consist of arguments about moral, philosophical, or aesthetic topics.
• Claims of Policy posit that specific actions should be chosen as solutions to a particular problem
• Critical Reading

  Keeping a journal reading

  Annotating the text

  Outlining the text

  Summarizing the text

  Questioning the text
• Reading is a cognitive process of decoding symbols to derive meaning from a text.
• Getting an Overview of the Text

  Previewing

  Scanning

  Skimming
• Previewing means looking at the readily visible parts of the text, like titles and subtitles, and also visuals and graphs, pictures, and charts.
• Skimming the text means you look for the main point of the reading and identify the ideas that develop it.
• Scanning the reading is looking for specific information. To scan the text effectively, you need to have an idea of the details you are looking for.
• One technique to improve your reading comprehension and reading pace is using context clues.
• Context clues are words, phrases, and sentences that surround an unfamiliar word that can help you recognize the meaning of an unknown word because the text gives you information about it.
• Common types of context clues

  Synonyms

  Antonyms

  Example

  Explanations and Definitions

  Situations
• Synonyms are used when the text has words or phrases that are similar in meaning to the unknown word.
• Antonyms is a word that reveals the opposite meaning in relation to the unknown word.
• Examples are specific details in a text that are used to clarify the meaning of a word.
• Explanations may be given as clues to describe an unknown term.
• Definitions may follow an unfamiliar word.
• Situation in which a word is used can also be helpful in determining the meaning of that word.
• Two ways of describing the meaning of a word are called denotation and connotation.
• Denotation is the basic, precise, literal meaning of the word that can be found in a dictionary.