Critical Reading Toward Critical Writing (Page 2 of 2) in pdf

4. Examine the evidence (the supporting facts, examples, etc) the text employs. Supporting

evidence is indispensable to an argument. Having worked through Steps 1-3, you are now

in a position to grasp how the evidence is used to develop the argument and its controlling

claims and concepts. Steps 1-3 allow you to see evidence in its context. Consider the kinds

of evidence that are used. What counts as evidence in this argument? Is the evidence

statistical? literary? historical? etc. From what sources is the evidence taken? Are these

sources primary or secondary?

5. Critical reading may involve evaluation. Your reading of a text is already critical if it

accounts for and makes a series of judgments about how a text is argued. However, some

essays may also require you to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an argument. If the

argument is strong, why? Could it be better or differently supported? Are there gaps, leaps,

or inconsistencies in the argument? Is the method of analysis problematic? Could the

evidence be interpreted differently? Are the conclusions warranted by the evidence

presented? What are the unargued assumptions? Are they problematic? What might an

opposing argument be?

SOME PRACTICAL TIPS:

1. Critical reading occurs after some preliminary processes of reading. Begin by skimming

research materials, especially introductions and conclusions, in order to strategically choose

where to focus your critical efforts.

2. When highlighting a text or taking notes from it, teach yourself to highlight argument: those

places in a text where an author explains her analytical moves, the concepts she uses, how

she uses them, how she arrives at conclusions. Don’t let yourself foreground and isolate facts

and examples, no matter how interesting they may be. First, look for the large patterns that

give purpose, order, and meaning to those examples. The opening sentences of paragraphs

can be important to this task.

3. When you begin to think about how you might use a portion of a text in the argument you are

forging in your own paper, try to remain aware of how this portion fits into the whole

argument from which it is taken. Paying attention to context is a fundamental critical move.

4. When you quote directly from a source, use the quotation critically. This means that you

should not substitute the quotation for your own articulation of a point. Rather, introduce the

quotation by laying out the judgments you are making about it, and the reasons why you are

using it. Often a quotation is followed by some further analysis.

5. Critical reading skills are also critical listening skills. In your lectures, listen not only for

information but also for ways of thinking. Your instructor will often explicate and model

ways of thinking appropriate to a discipline.

Prepared by Deborah Knott, Director of the New College Writing Centre

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