Critical Reading

• Critical reading - is a technique that allows readers to analyze claims and evaluate messages based on proofs.
• Critical Reader

  • can distinguish facts from opinions
  • not gullible
  • evaluates information
  • you communicate with the writer through the written text and match his or her arguments with yours based on your own perspectives and personal experiences
• How do you read critically?

  1. Determine the writer's purpose.
  2. Summarize the message of the text.
  3. Identify the writer's claim.
• Summary - tells the main idea and presents the major points of the text.
• Claim - is a central argument or thesis statement that the writer wants you to accept.

  Writers use sufficient details, logical proofs, expert opinion, and other pieces of evidence to prove their argument or thesis statement.
• 3 most commonly used claims

  1. Claim of fact
  2. Claim of policy
  3. Claim of value
• claim of fact - argues that something exists by presenting credible sources of information, factual data, and testimonies.

  • measured through evidences
  • has logical proofs

  Examples: The K to 12 curriculum has successfully been implemented since it started in 2013. Reading intervention programs improved the comprehension skills of grade 3 pupils.
• claim of policy - argues that a policy or a law needs to be implemented to solve a problem.

  • Modal verbs such as should, ought to, need to, and must are used to indicate a claim of policy.

  Examples: ROTC should be revived and be made mandatory among senior high school students.
• claim of value - asserts the importance or the goodness of an argument. It is based on a person's taste, philosophy, and moral judgment.

  Examples: Divorce is never acceptable considering our faith and culture as Filipinos. Boracay is the best island in the world.
• Context - further explanation of the subject or background information of a situation.
• Hypertext - can be defined as a nonlinear text which connects to other works through hyperlinks.
• Intertext

  • referencing
  • a secondary meaning of the orignal piece
  • refers to a text which connects to or uses another text. Its meaning is interpreted by pointing back to another text.
• counterclaims - or statements that oppose or contradict a writer's claim
• textual evidence - or details found in the text that support a writer's claim
• evaluative statement - you write if you agree or disagree with a text.