ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

UNIT 1
CHAPTER 2

Chapter Reading Texts Critically

2
What is critical reading?

Critical reading involves scrutinizing any information that you read or hear. Critical reading
means not easily believing information offered to you by a text. “read not to contradict and confute;
nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider” as
Frances Bacon stated in The Essay.
It is an active process of discovery because when you read critically, you are not just receiving
information but also making an interaction with the writer. The interaction happens when you
question the writer’s claims and assertions and when you comment on the writer’s ideas.

Ramage, Bean, and Johnson (2006) identified the following requirements in critical thinking:
 The ability to pose problematic questions.
 The ability to analyze a problem in all its dimensions- to define its key terms, determine its
causes, understand its history, appreciate its human dimension and its connection to one’s own
personal experience, and appreciate what makes it problematic or complex.
 The ability to find, gather and interpret data, facts, and other information relevant to the
problem.
 The ability to imagine alternative solutions to the problem, to see different ways in which the
questions might be answered and different perspectives for viewing it.
 The ability to analyze competing approaches and answers, to construct arguments for and
against alternatives, and to choose the best solution in the light of values, objectives, and
criteria that you determine and articulate.
 The ability to write an effective argument justifying your choice while acknowledging counter-
arguments.

The following are some suggested ways to help you become a critical reader:

1. Annotate what you read. One of the ways to interact with the writer is to write on the text.
You can underline, circle, or highlight words, phrases, or sentences that contain important
details or you can write marginal notes asking questions or commenting on the ideas of the
writer. There are no clear and definite guidelines to annotating a text; you can create your own
style. For instance, you can circle unfamiliar words or underline ideas that you think are
questionable.
2. Outline the text. In order to fully engage in a dialogue with the text or with the writer of the
text, you need to identify the main points of the writer and list them so you can also identify
the ideas that the writer has raised to support his/her stand. You don’t necessarily have to
write a structured sentence or topic outline for this purpose; you can just write in bullet or in
numbers.
3. Summarize the text. Aside from outlining, you can also get the main points of the text you are
reading and write its gist in your own words. This will test how much you have understood
the text and will help evaluate it critically. A summary is usually one paragraph long.
4. Evaluate the text. The most challenging part in critical reading is the process of evaluating
what you are reading. This is the point where the other three techniques- annotating, outlining,
summarizing- will be helpful. When you evaluate a text, you question the author’s purpose
and intentions, as well as his- her assumptions in the claims. You also check if the arguments
are supported by evidence and if the evidences are valid and are credible sources.

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 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
UNIT 1
CHAPTER 2
What is Pre-writing Process?
Pre-writing facilitates the process of writing because it allows us to think more concretely
about our assignment or topic. For example, if I have to write a paper on the government structure, it
may be beneficial to create something like a concept map to break down exactly what that is
comprised of.
Pre-writing is the first stage of the writing process, typically followed by drafting, revision, editing
and publishing. Pre-writing can consist of a combination of outlining, diagramming, storyboarding,
and clustering.
Pre-writing usually begins with motivation and audience awareness: what is the student or
writer trying to communicate, why is it important to communicate it well and who is the audience
for this communication. It helps you put your thought out onto the paper on what you want to write
about.
Writers usually begin with a clear idea of audience, content and the importance of their
communication; sometimes, one of these needs to be clarified for the best communication.
The pre-writing stage consists of all the work that is done before actual text production takes place.
At this stage you identify what you will write about as well as how you will write about it. This
means that before you start writing, you need to know what demands are placed on your writing.
When embarking on a writing task, there are three questions you need to ask as a writer:
• who do you write for?
• what do you want to say?
• what kind of text are you going to write?
Once you have an idea of the task at hand, you can start preparing for your writing. Although
the exact nature of what you do in this pre-writing stage depends on your academic field.
What you do at the pre-writing stage will affect your writing and how your text develops.
One important task in pre-writing is choosing a topic and then narrowing it to a length that
can be covered in the space allowed. Here are some ways or methods to be able to choose a good topic:
 Brainstorming. This activity aims to generate as many topics as you can in 10 to 15 minutes so
that these random topics can be made into a focused topic later on. Brainstorming is a group
creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by
gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In other words,
brainstorming is a situation where a group of people meet to generate new ideas and solutions
around a specific domain of interest by removing inhibitions. People are able to think more
freely and they suggest as many spontaneous new ideas as possible. All the ideas are noted
down without criticism and after the brainstorming session the ideas are evaluated.
 Free-writing. This has traditionally been seen as a prewriting technique in academic
environments, in which a person writes continuously for a set period of time without
worrying about rhetorical concerns or conventions and mechanics, sometimes working from
a specific prompt provided by a teacher. While free-writing often produces raw, or even
unusable material, it can help writers overcome writing blocks and build confidence by
allowing them to practice text-production phases of the writing process without fear of
censure.
 Clustering. This technique provides a graphic representation of your ideas, allowing you to
visualize the connections and/or relationships of your ideas. Write your main topic at the
center of your paper then circle or box it. Think of subtopics and place them around the
center circle until you feel that you have developed all the subtopics fully.

The next step is to make sure that you focus on one idea that you are going to discuss
thoroughly in your paper. Once you have narrowed down your topic, know your purpose. Lastly,
identify your reader or audience.