RWS

• Critical reading


  Requires you to ask challenging questions: "Do I believe what I am reading?", "Does it make sense?", "Is the argument compelling?", "Is the evidence provided sufficient and credible?", "What is missing?", "What is most important?", "How does this fit with what I already know?", "How is this useful to me?", "What do I need to do with this information?"
• When students read critically, information in the book comes alive and they remember what they read
• Before we believe in something, we should first question it
• Critical thinking and 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
• Critical reading strategies


  • Keeping a reading journal
  • Annotating the text
  • Outlining the text
  • Summarizing the text
  • Questioning the text
• Keeping a reading journal

  Similar to keeping a diary, but you write your feelings and ideas in reaction to what you read/or your reading assignment. This allows you to relate to the essay and understand the author's ideas, and connect them to your personal experiences
• Annotating the text


  Making notes on your copy of the reading, including highlighting, underlining important passages, and writing notes, comments, questions, and reactions on the margins. This allows you to enter into a dialogue with the author and not just passively read the text
• Outlining the text


  Creating a rough outline of what you read, so you can see how the author structures, sequences, and connects their ideas
• Summarizing the text


  Locating the thesis statement and topic sentences, and using the supporting details to clarify the writer's point. A summary consists of getting the main points of the essay and the supporting details
• Questioning the text


  Asking specific questions on points that you are skeptical (doubtful) about, when what the author says fails to meet your expectations or your personal views
• Questions to ask when reading something

  • What type of audience is addressed?
  • What are the writer's assumptions?
  • What are the writer's intentions?
  • How well does the writer accomplished these?
  • How convincing is the evidence presented?
  • How reliable are the sources? Are they merely based on personal experience, scientific data, or outside authorities?
  • Did the writer address opposed the views on the issue?
  • Is the writer persuasive in his/her perspective?
• To read critically is to make judgments about how a text is argued. Avoid analyzing a text by just asking "What information can I get out of it?" Rather ask "How does this text work? How is it argued? How is the evidence (the facts, examples, etc.) used and interpreted? How does the text reach its conclusions?"
• Evaluative Statement


  Statements about a text formulated after having read the text carefully and critically, grasping the essence of the text and checking for possible fallacies in the argument
• When to do Evaluative Statement


  After reading the text carefully and critically
• How to do Evaluative Statement

  1. Formulating Assertions about the Content and the Properties of a text Read

  2. Formulating a meaningful counterclaim in response to a claim made in the text read
• Assertion


  Declarative sentences that claim something is true about something else, which can be either true or false
• Assertions


  • Imply forcefulness, either have evidence to support it or letting your own confidence badger people into agreeing with your viewpoint
• 4 Common Types of Assertion

  • Assertion of Fact
  • Assertion of Convention
  • Assertion of Opinion/Hypothesis
  • Assertion of Preference
• Assertion of Fact

  A statement that can be proven objectively by direct experience, testimonies of witness, verified observations, or the results of research
• Assertion of Fact


  • According to the Minister of Defense, NPA armed insurgents now total some 16, 000 men and women
  • Roses grow best in soil made of ¾ clay and ¼ sand and loam
• Assertion of Convention

  A way in which something is done, similar to traditions and norms, depending on historical precedent, laws, rules, usage, and customs
• Assertion of Convention


  • Jose Rizal is the national hero of the Philippines
  • Dove is a symbol of hope
  • Everyone should be inside their room at 7:30 am at JPHNS
• Assertion of Opinion


  Based on facts, but are difficult to objectively verify because of the uncertainty of producing satisfactory proofs of soundness, resulting from ambiguities thus open to be disputed
• Assertion of Opinion


  • Poverty is the most pressing issue that we need to address in the Philippines today
  • We should change our curriculum
  • Pres. Trump should be impeach immediately
• Assertion of Preference


  Based on personal choice thus it is subjective and cannot be objectively proven or logically attacked
• Assertion of Preference


  • Chocolates tastes better than candies
  • Roses are the most beautiful flower in the world
  • Red is the color that we should use for our room
• Peso bills are six inches long
• If the your body temperature reach more done 37ºc, you already have a fever
• It is a good weather today
• A smart girl is better than a timid
• Students should wear uniform in school
• Heels are for women to wear
• If everyone learns how to plant vegetables and crops, their will be no starvation
• A lady should be elegant
• Counterclaim/Counterargument


  A claim made to rebut a previous claim, providing a contrasting perspective to the main argument
• Counterclaims are important to show that you have a strong argument
• How to formulate a counterclaim

  1. What are the major points on which you and the author can disagree?

  2. What is their strongest argument?

  3. What did they say to defend their position?

  4. What are the merits of their view?

  5. What are the weaknesses or shortcomings in their argument?

  6. Are there any hidden assumptions?

  7. Which lines from the text best support the counterclaim you have formulated?