Critical Reading Some books are to be tasted, others to be chewed, and some few to be chewed and digested.—Francis Bacon

Active Reading: Previewing Author’s bio and background Place of Publication Title You want to gather as much information prior to starting to help you focus on where the author is coming from-what outside influences is he bringing to the text?

Skimming After previewing-especially for non-fiction essays and articles, you want to skim to gather information, such as: thesis and main points. This step will help you to find the author’s argument, then we you reread, you can better analyze the way the author sets up his argument.

Annotating As you read, underline or highlight key passages and make annotations in the margins (called marginalia or margin notes) Annotating the text as you read enables you to interact with the text Annotations allow you to make notes, ask questions, notice when there is a shift in an argument and so on. This comes in handy when you return to the text for analysis. Annotation is different based on what your purpose is

Explain the following quote: Reading furnishes the mind with materials of knowledge; it is thinking [that] makes what we read ours. We are of the ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections; unless we chew them over again they will not give us strength and nourishment.—John Locke, 17 th century English philosopher.

First, Second and Third thoughts Read pages to class and discuss

Summarizing and Paraphrasing A paraphrase is a word by word or phrase by phrase rewording of a text, a sort of translation of the author’s language into your own words. A paraphrase is therefore as long as the original or longer. A summary is much shorter-think Cliff’s Notes

When to use each You may want to paraphrase an important text that your reader may find obscure because it is written in specialized, technical language. A paraphrase is used when you want to include a chunk of text from an author, but you believe that your reader might need some clarification. You want to make sure you tell the reader that it is a paraphrase or it is plagiarizing, even if you document, because you are altering the original work.

Paraphrase use continued Another time to use paraphrase is when there is substantial disagreement about what the text says: Second Amendment: A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. Read 2 paraphrases on page 37, what is the difference?

2 reasons to paraphrase 1. To help yourself to understand it—and in this case it will not appear in your paper. 2. To help your reader understand a passage that is especially important but for one reason or another is not immediately clear. In this case your paraphrase will appear in your paper.

Rule for Writers Your essay is likely to include brief summaries of points of view that you agreeing or disagreeing with, but it will rarely include a paraphrase unless the original is obscure and you think you need to present a passage at length but in words that are clearer than those in the original, but always state that you are paraphrasing.

Summary As you read a text, article, etc, summarizing each paragraph or each group of closely related paragraphs will help you to follow the thread of the discourse, and when you are finished, it will provide you with a useful map of the reading. Summaries do not include the reader’s evaluation or any other sort of comment on the original; it is simply an attempt to condense the original—purpose being to merely assist the reader to grasp the ideas of the original=shorthand.

Practice: Preview the article: If We’re Gonna Have Guns,… Skim the article to find thesis and main points Annotate the article Paraphrase or Summarize