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CRITICAL READING TOWARD CRITICAL WRITING

Critical writing depends on critical reading. Most of the essays you write will involve reflection

on written texts -- the thinking and research that have already been done on your subject. In

order to write your own analysis of this subject, you will need to do careful critical reading of

sources and to use them critically to make your own argument. The judgments and

interpretations you make of the texts you read are the first steps towards formulating your own

approach.

CRITICAL READING: WHAT IS IT?

To read critically is to make judgments about how a text is argued. This is a highly reflective

skill requiring you to “stand back” and gain some distance from the text you are reading. (You

might have to read a text through once to get a basic grasp of content before you launch into an

intensive critical reading.) THE KEY IS THIS:

don’t read looking only or primarily for information

do read looking for ways of thinking about the subject matter

When you are reading, highlighting, or taking notes, avoid extracting and compiling lists of

evidence, lists of facts and examples. Avoid approaching a text by 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?

HOW DO I READ LOOKING FOR WAYS OF THINKING?

1. First determine the central claims or purpose of the text (its thesis). A critical reading

attempts to identify and assess how these central claims are developed or argued.

2. Begin to make some judgments about context. What audience is the text written for? Who

is it in dialogue with? (This will probably be other scholars or authors with differing

viewpoints.) In what historical context is it written? All these matters of context can

contribute to your assessment of what is going on in a text.

3. Distinguish the kinds of reasoning the text employs. What concepts are defined and used?

Does the text appeal to a theory or theories? Is any specific methodology laid out? If there

is an appeal to a particular concept, theory, or method, how is that concept, theory, or

method then used to organize and interpret the data? You might also examine how the text

is organized: how has the author analyzed (broken down) the material? Be aware that

different disciplines (i.e. history, sociology, philosophy, biology) will have different ways

of arguing.

Critical Reading Toward Critical Writing