Critical Reading

What is Critical Reading ?  

Do we read to highlight what we think the faculty member wants us to read? Or do weread to wrestle with ideas.

Critical Reading :                                                                                                       Examine the evidence or arguments presented;

• Check out any influences on the evidence or arguments;
• Check out the limitations of study design or focus;
• Examine the interpretations made; and
• Decide to what extent you are prepared to accept the authors’ arguments, opinions, or conclusions.

Evidence : 

As acknowledged by a number of scholars and wordsmiths,

"...a story has as many versions as it has readers. Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his measure. Some pick out parts and reject the rest, some strain the story through their mesh of prejudice, some paint it with their own delight."

       — John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)

The Ingredients of Critical Reading ;

Concept of Critical Reading :

• Critical reading does not have to be all negative .
• The aim of critical reading is not to find fault, but to assess the strength of the evidence and the argument. 
• It is just as useful to conclude that a study, or an article, presents very strong evidence and a well-reasoned argument, as it is to identify the studies or articles that are weak.

Difference Btw Critical Reading and Passive Reading ;