Reading Critically

The reading process as discussed in "Reading Critically": read all the way through first time, read with a pencil, once done reading summarize, then think crtically; analyze the reading, make ineferences from the reading, synthesize the reading, and then evaluate the reading. Once you read the reading all the way thorugh you go back with a pencil and annotate the reading. Once done annotating you need to summarize the reading in your own words. The author provides a two-step procedure for this: summarize each paragraph or related group of paragraphs, and then summarize those sentences into two or three sentences "capturing the heart" of the author's meaning. After summarizing you must "think critically." Analyze the reading; separating it into its parts, classifying it, comparing it with something else, or figuring out what caused it. After analyzing make inferences; drawing conclusions about a work based on your store of information and experience. With inference it is especially important in discovering a writer's assumptions. Once you make your inferences you must synthesize; linking elements into a whole, or linking tow or more wholes. With synthesizing you want to renconstitute the work so that it now contains not just the original elements but also your sense of their underpinnings and relationships. Once you synthesize you must evaluate. Not all critical thinking involves this step, but yuo're just judging the quality of the work.