Introduction to Critical Reading

Situjuh Nazara
UKI Jakarta, March 5, 2012

Why are you reading?

My hobby/Interest For information To find out what the latest developments are in a field To seek evidence to support or contradict your ideas To broaden my research To find out exactly how a certain piece of research was done Because I have to
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What is critical reading?

affective

AFFECTIVE READING, fuses the readers intellectual and emotional responses to what he read.

Reading

Critical
CRITICAL READING is the process of questioning and evaluating reading material and is closely associated with the readers ability to think critically and to react intelligently to the writers ideas

LITERAL READING entails the ability to recognize words accurately; to identify topic, main ideas, and supporting details; to understand sequence of events; to recognize cause and effect relationships; to interpret directions; and to understand organizational patterns used in various types of reading matter.

Literal
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Critical Reading and Critical Thinking

Critical reading is the manifestation of critical thinking, i.e. the use of mental ability as a tool of inquiry for making purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based, in reading Critical reading is a technique for discovering information and ideas within a text. Critical thinking is a technique for evaluating information and ideas, for deciding what to accept and believe. Critical reading refers to a careful, active, reflective, analytic reading. Critical thinking involves reflecting on the validity of what you have read in light of our prior knowledge and understanding of the world. Critical thinking means taking control of your conscious thought processes. Critical reading and critical thinking work together

Reading & CR

What is CR for?
To enable someone to realize why he/she is influenced or not influenced by by certain information To enable someone to weigh public information and make intellegent choices among the information To enable someone to detect misleading advertisment claims, recognise the best values, and avoid to be foolished
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Examples
"Many people insist that cocaine should be legalized because it doesn't do them any harm. But, in fact, cocaine is harmful, because users end up in jail."
Cycling is more popular than swimming. When I was in the sport hall yesterday no one was swimming. Every body was cycling. John Lee aimed high. So, he took our Made-simple Business Management Course. Now he is the Director of a big moneymaking enterprise, and he lives happily with his beautiful wife and children in a luxurious seaside bungalow. You too aim high! Remember: what Mr. John Lee has achieved, you also can!
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The process of CR
Identifying facts, in which the reader tries to clearly recognize what the author is saying Examining the source, during which the reader critically looks at the author and his or her competence, reliability, and probable viewpoints or biases Analyzing the material by examining the authors assumptions and the logic and accuracy of these assumptions and conclusions; recognizing the inferences that the reader is supposed to make; detecting the implications present in the authors diction, style, or tone; and by recognizing the authors use of propaganda tricks and emotional appeals Comparing of a selection with other sources that may present conflicting viewpoints.
profitable in such area as political science, sociology, psychology, history, law, journalism, as well as in literary critics, essays, biography, and much expository material.

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Critical Reading Questions

1. Are the statements fact or opinion? 2. What is the authors purpose or motif in writing this material? 3. What is the author bias? 4. How is the author qualified to write this particular material? 5. How recently was the material written? 6. What do I know about the publication of this material? 7. Who is the target reader? 8. Do I accept, reject, or defer judgment on the authors material? 9. How has the author organized his material? 10. Does the writer employ emotionally toned words? 11. What is the relationship, if any, of the authors ideas to my own experience? 12. What analogies exist in the reading? 13. What are the cause-and-effect relationships, if any? 14. What, if anything, is irrelevant in the reading? 15. Is there any fallacious reasoning or misuse of statistics in the reading? 16. What comparison can I make of present reading with previous reading? 17. What inference might I draw from knowledge I have gained?

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CRITICAL EVALUATION
CRITIC
What is the writers argument? What are the main points/ideas that support that argument? Does the writer attempt to address their stated point of view? What point of view? Is it successful? Are the main points directly and logically linked to the argument and therefore, the question? If so, give examples and explain how they are linked. If not, give examples and explain why they are not linked. What kinds of evidence does the author present to support these points? (Quality and quantity) Consideris the evidence provided relevant, reliable and believable? Where does it come from? Are there hidden assumptions that lie behind the evidence presented? What are they? Are the assumptions believable? Explain why/why not.

EVALUATION
ARGUMENT SUPPORT QUESTION? LOGICAL

EVIDENCE ASSUMPTIONS

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Example
This exercise is called Waving Hands by the Lake. It is good for regulating breathing and maintaining the balance of blood pressure. It is also good for strengthening the function of the kidney; calming the nerves and relieving knee arthritis/pains. Do this exercise daily.
Questions: 1. After reading the paragraph, do you think you can do the exercise? 2. Why not? 3. What is needed so that you can perform the exercise correctly?
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Critical Reading Skills

Distinguishing Fact from Opinion
Statement of Opinion Statement of Fact Justified and Unjustified Opinions Denotations and Connotations Tone and Mood Hasty or Over-Generalizations Attack on the Person Appeal to the Emotions Circular Argument False Analogy Equivocation Either- or Assumption Talking What is to be What ought Jumping from a Non-Inclusive Proposition to an Inclusive Conclusion Supposing the Whole to be Like the Parts Asking False Questions Taking What are Mere Coincidences to be the Causes

Detecting Propaganda
Name Calling Glittering Generation Transfer Testimonial Plain Folks Card Stacking Band Wagan Propaganda and Emotions The Deceptive Sample The Misleading Average Plausible Charts and Graphs Presenting the Facts without a Reference Point Using Terms of Quality Considering Words Choice Considering Details of Support

Interpreting Connotation of Words

Recognizing Crooked and Fallacious Thinking

Recognizing Statistical Slips

Making Inferences

Discoring the Authors Competence, Intention, Attitude,Bias, The Time of Publication of the Material, The Policies of Publication, and The Target Readers
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thank you

This slide, the course outline, and the modul are available on myblog (http://blog.uki.ac.id/situjuh)
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