Q3 Academic Reading and Writing

• Critical thinking


  A series of complex thought processes which allows you to make reasoned judgments, assess the way you think, and solve problems effectively
• Non-critical thinking


  • Happens when you simply accept the things you are told without examining them
  • Happens when you construct thoughts based on emotions
  • Leads people to jump to conclusions without proof or evidence
• Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain

  1. Knowledge

  2. Comprehension

  3. Application

  4. Analysis

  5. Synthesis

  6. Evaluation
• Bloom's Taxonomy was published in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom and a team of educational psychologists
• In 2001, Bloom's student Lorin Anderson and a group of cognitive psychologists published a revision to the original taxonomy to make it more relevant to 21st century students and teachers
• The revised taxonomy changed the names of the levels and used verbs instead of nouns to denote an active process of thinking
• The revised taxonomy also restructured the levels because creating is a more complex form of thinking than evaluating
• Qualities of a critical thinker


  • Inquisitive
  • Does not pretend to know more than what he/she knows
  • Does not settle for a superficial level of interpretation, instead investigates and digs deeper
  • Active listener
  • Curious
  • Has self-discipline
  • Humble and rooted
• Foundational reading skills


  • Phonological and phonemic awareness
  • Phonics and decoding
  • Fluency
  • Print concepts
• Foundational reading skills are a language skill which can be developed through constant practice
• Reading can widen your vocabulary and develop skills in writing
• Reading can be more meaningful if it will be viewed as an interactive process between the writer and the reader
• Benefits of reading


  • Improves brain connectivity
  • Increases vocabulary and comprehension
  • Empowers you to empathize with other people
  • Aids in sleep readiness
  • Reduces stress
  • Lowers blood pressure and heart rate
  • Fights depression symptoms
  • Prevents cognitive decline as you age
  • Contributes to a longer life
• Pre-reading stage


  1. Previewing

  2. Freewriting

  3. Surveying

  4. Questioning

  5. Making assumptions about the author

  6. Identifying the purpose

  7. Selecting a reading system such as SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite, review)
• While-reading stage


  1. Rereading the text until you fully understand its meaning

  2. Getting the meaning of words through context clues

  3. Predicting

  4. Inferencing

  5. Monitoring comprehension

  6. Annotating the text

  7. Reflecting
• Post-reading stage


  1. Reflecting

  2. Summarizing

  3. Paraphrasing

  4. Drawing conclusions

  5. Making graphic organizers

  6. Journal writing
• Rapid reading


  Aims to locate specific information or main ideas in a very short period
• Skimming


  A type of quick reading which aims to get the main idea and to get an overview of the material
• Locating the main idea

  Involves the identification of the central message of a reading selection
• The main idea is usually found in either or both the first and the last sentences of a paragraph, but it may also appear in the middle or may simply be implied and not explicitly stated in the text
• Scanning


  A quick reading strategy that aims to get specific information from a given text
• Previewing


  • A skill wherein a reader looks over a material and focuses on the information he/she finds relevant
  • Allows readers to set the purpose and link the content of the material to their background knowledge
  • Conducted during the pre-reading stage
  • Effective previewing involves clarifying the purpose, reading the title and headings, and checking the illustration and other visuals
  • Browsing or inspecting unhurriedly, the table of contents, introduction, or summary
• Literal reading


  • Involves the understanding of ideas and facts that are directly stated in the printed material
  • Skills under this category include note-taking, paraphrasing and summarizing
• Summarizing


  • A reading skill that involves condensing a lengthy text into a shorter passage which is usually 15 to 30 percent of the source material
  • The thesis statement or the topic sentence is included in the summary
  • A citation of the source is always necessary
• Paraphrasing


  • Involves restating ideas from the original text
  • Its length is almost similar to the length of the original text because it focuses on the details and not on the main idea
  • A paraphrased text also cites and preserves the tone of the original text
  • Done to simplify a complicated text, improve study skills, and borrow ideas without quoting directly
• Inferential reading


  • Refers to the process of deducing facts and ideas not directly expressed in the text
  • Also known as "reading between the lines"
  • Includes making generalizations, inferences, and conclusions
• Inference


  • An idea drawn from facts or details in the text
  • Along with the evidence in the text, prior knowledge and experiences, as well as personal beliefs are also used as bases in making an inference
• Critical reading


  • Refers to the close and thorough evaluation of the claims in the text in terms of relevance, validity, and logic
  • Includes distinguishing facts from opinions and detecting logical fallacies
• Types of reading


  • Functional reading
  • Remedial reading
  • Developmental reading
  • Pleasure reading
• Effective critical reading strategies


  • Activating background knowledge
  • Questioning
  • Analyzing text structure
  • Visualization
  • Summarizing
  • Read with an open mind
  • Examine facts
  • Evaluate the credibility of the writer
  • Assess if the conclusions are acceptable
• Logical fallacies


  • Bandwagon (Argumentum Ad Populum)
  • Appeal to ignorance (Argumentum Ad Ignorantium/Ignorantiam)
  • False dilemma (Non Causa Pro Causa)
  • Appeal to force (Argumentum Ad Baculum)
  • Appeal to pity (Argumentum Ad Misericordiam)
  • Anonymous authority (Argumentum ab auctoritate)
  • Attacking the person (Argumentum Ad Hominem)
  • Appeal to authority (Argumentum Ad Verecundiam)
  • Hasty generalization (Dicto Simpliciter)
  • Inconsistency (Ad Hominem Tu Quoque)
  • Wrong direction (Post Hoc)
  • Denying the antecedent (Non Sequitur)
  • Affirming the consequent (Non Sequitur)
  • Irrelevant conclusion (Non Sequitur)
• Patterns of development


  • The logical arrangement of ideas
  • The process of adding informative and illustrative details to support the main idea
• Types of patterns of development


  • Narration
  • Definition
  • Description
  • Exemplification and classification
  • Comparison and contrast
  • Cause and effect
  • Problem-solution
  • Process analysis
  • Persuasion
• Narration


  1. Tells a story

  2. Accounts for an incident or reports a series of events leading to a conclusion or ending

  3. Contains action verbs that move the story along in an interesting manner

  4. Uses transitional words or phrases to indicate time or sequence
• Definition


  • Explains what something is in comparison to other members of its class, along with any limitations
  • Clarifies the meaning of a word or an idea in a simple and understandable language
• Description


  • Provides information on what a person, an object, a place, or a situation is like
  • Makes use of concrete and specific details, which are carefully chosen to paint a picture in the mind of the reader
• Types of description


  • Objective (aims to inform or to identify; factual)
  • Subjective (aims to elicit special feelings or reactions because it is suggestive or evocative)
• Exemplification and classification


  • Exemplification - used to show or illustrate the characteristics of the rest or the whole of something
  • Classification - explaining something by dividing or grouping it into types of categories
• Comparison and contrast


  • Comparing people, things, places, events, situations, or even ideas is done to illustrate how they are like each other
  • There is a need to identify the points of comparison and make a list of similar characteristics or qualities for each point of comparison
  • A paragraph that shows comparison and contrast has a unifying idea or purpose
• Cause and effect


  • Cause to effect (the cause is stated first, followed by the effects)
  • Effect to cause (the effect is stated first, followed by the causes)
  • Consecutive cause and effect (each cause has its corresponding effect, tackled one by one)