Critical Reading From the McGraw-Hill Handbook, Third edition

What to think about during your first reading A first reading is like a first draft of your essay. These are the kinds of questions that can help you find the ‘lay of the land’ in a passage. They can help you ‘see’ what the author’s main ideas and supporting details are. These can be used as notes over the reading.

Why Preview? There is a kind of circular pattern to reading and writing. Both do not have to occur in a linear fashion. Often the reader may start at the end, move around to the charts and graphs and then go to the first paragraph. There is no right and wrong to previewing a text. It depends on the reader. It is important, however, to write during every step of critical reading. These notes or annotations act as guideposts for your personal reading process and lead to clearer, stronger responses to what you’ve read.

Why Preview? These annotations can also help greatly with notes for quizzes and tests over chapters in a textbook. Annotations while you read also will help your writing. Critical reading helps to build common knowledge, critical thinking and Critical Analysis skills in writing, as well as Synthesis writing.

Author: Author Who wrote the text? What do you know about him or her? ( Is a brief bio given before the passage?) What are the author’s credentials and occupation? Who is the author employed by?

Purpose: What does the title tell you about the reading? Read the first and last paragraph. What do they tell you about the purpose of the passage? Are there headings or images that offer clues about the purpose? What might have motivated the author to write about this? (Think back to what you know about the author) What is the goal of the passage- to inform, interpret, argue, reflect, entertain?

Audience: Whom is the author trying to inform or persuade? Based on the vocabulary, who is the intended audience (group of adults- What age range? What education level?

Content: What do the title and headings tell you about the piece? Mark them. Does the first paragraph include the main point? Identify it. Do the headings give you the gist of the text? Write it out Does the conclusion tell you what the author is trying to inform you about, interpret, argue? Jot down your thoughts as they come up. What do you already know and think about the topic?

Context: When was this written? Have things changed since this was written based on what you know about the topic? Does the date matter to the content in the passage? What kind of publication is it? Is it a book, an article in a periodical or library database, a website, or something else? Where was it published? In a textbook, magazine, on the Internet?

Annotating: Annotating comes after carefully reading a passage, usual a second reading of the text. This is permission to write in the margins of your readings. Some students prefer to take reading notes in a notebook. If it is an electronic text, you can use the comments feature for annotations.

How to Annotate: Ask yourself questions as you read through. Think of who, what, how, and why questions. Highlight or underline words, phrases, and sentences that are significant, puzzling, or that jog you in some way (follow your instincts- it may mean something later)

How to Annotate: I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved. It happened like this. There was a big revival at my Auntie Reed's church. Every night for weeks there had been much preaching, singing, praying, and shouting, and some very hardened sinners had been brought to Christ, and the membership of the church had grown by leaps and bounds. Then just before the revival ended, they held a special meeting for children, "to bring the young lambs to the fold." My aunt spoke of it for days ahead. That night I was escorted to the front row and placed on the mourners' bench with all the other young sinners, who had not yet been brought to Jesus.What

“Salvation” continued My aunt told me that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life! And God was with you from then on! She said you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul. I believed her. I had heard a great many old people say the same thing and it seemed to me they ought to know. So I sat there calmly in the hot, crowded church, waiting for Jesus to come to me. Langston Hughes “Salvation”