Reading Critically

In Reading Critically, the author thoroughly explains a reading process that, if used correctly, can help the reader fully understand and get the most out of what they are reading. The author defines critical reading as reading that looks beneath the surface of a work, whether written or visual, seeking to understand the creator's intentions, the strategies for achieving them, and their worthiness. To help readers do this, the author outlines the basic things that the reader must do before, during, and after reading. Before reading any of the content of a piece of writing, one must identify the preliminaries, which are the title, the author, where the work was published, and when the work was published. By doing this, the reader gains background knowledge that will help them better understand the content of the piece. Next, the reader must do a basic first reading in which he or she gets the general feel for the piece without diligently combing through every detail in the writing. This allows a reader to glimpse an essay in its entirety so that later he or she can go back and process those little details. As the reader reads the piece, it is essential for him or her to mark up the piece of writing. Whether it's writing questions in the margins or underlining important words and phrases, this can help to point out things in the writing that need to be more carefully processed or better understood. It is always good to write a summary of the writing, be it a detailed explanation of the most important parts or a short description of the main concept of the piece. Doing these things will help a reader to think critically and better understand the author's meaning for writing the piece. A reader should analyze, make inferences about, synthesize, and evaluate a writing piece to grasp the full concept or message that the author was trying to convey. By doing these things, according to Reading Critically, a reader would be going past the written words and understanding why the author wrote a certain piece.