CRITICAL READING. What is it?
Reading a long text /using KWL /helps you find the text
Whenever you read something and you evaluate claims,
seek definitions, judge information, demand proof, and
question assumptions, you are thinking critically. This type
of reading goes beyond passively understanding a text
because you process the author's words and make
judgements after carefully considering the readings
message. But why should you read critically? Reading
critically means you are thinking critically. This shows that
you do not simply accept the message on the page. You
bring to your reading your own experience and perspective
and use this to separate yourself from the text and judge for
yourself what you consider important, logical, or right.
This interaction between the text and the reader is necessary
because reading results from a negotiation of meaning
between the text and the reader. By reading critically, you
find out the author's views on something, ask questions,
evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the author's
argument, and decide to agree or disagree with it. Thus,
critical reading allows you to enter into a dialogue with the
author -- and this deepens your understanding of the issue
or topic discussed. Therefore, to arrive at the sufficient
interpretation of the text you need to become a critical and
active reader.
The following shows how reading strategies address the
difficulties you may encounter in reading.
Reading Difficulty /Reading Strategy /How the Strategy
Works
1. Understanding unfamiliar words /Context Clues /helps
you figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word by
looking for other familiar word(s) that surround it or by
looking at its structure, synonyms, antonyms, definition,
and general context
2. Finding the main idea /Skimming /helps you find the
main idea by quickly looking at the text for the most
frequently repeated words and finding the writer's overall
idea based on the supporting details
3. Finding specific details /Scanning /helps you find the
specific information that you need by allowing your eyes to
read the text as quickly as possible until the target
information is spotted
4. Distinguishing general from specific ideas /mapping
/helps you determine the main idea from supporting details
by drawing shapes that represent the ideas then connecting
them in a map
5. Organizing ideas /using graphic organizers /helps you see stand. According to (Tiongson 2016, 20-21), a good claim
how ideas are related through their arrangement in tables,
graphs, diagrams, and other visuals
6.
relevance by writing down what you already know (K),
what you want to know (W) and what you have learned
after reading the text (L)
7. Remembering the text essential information /using SQ3R
/helps you remember general and specific information from
the text by allowing yourself to survey(S) or preview the
text content and organization, question(Q) or turn headings
into questions, read(R) or find clue words that signal the
writers train of thoughts, recite(R) or tell yourself the
answers to the questions you formulated in the Q stage and
review(R) or tell yourself the answers to the questions you
formulated in the Q stage once again
Critical reading entails assessing the validity of the writer's
claim. In doing so, it is necessary for you to become aware
of the fallacies in the arguments, if there are any. Fallacies
are errors in reasoning. Below is the list of some common
fallacies and their examples
1. Hasty generalization – making a conclusion based on
limited cases / examples
Paul likes cheeseburger. Mark likes cheeseburger.
Therefore, men like cheeseburger.
2. Dicto simpliciter – treating a general rule to be a general
truth Milk is good for the bones.
Everyone should drink milk. (Lactose-intolerant people
should avoid drinking milk.)
3. Post hoc - pointing to something as the effect or cause of
something
His parents did not increase his allowance, so he did not go
to school for three days. (There could be another reason for
her absence.)
4. Appeal to pity – making people feel sorry instead of
presenting a logical reason. The man should get the job, for
he has five children and a wife to feed.
5. Poisoning the well – intending to discredit or ridicule a
person or an idea by presenting an unanticipated
information.
Don’t listen to her. She is a daughter of two traditional
politicians.
6. Bandwagon – making people believe that popular ideas
are necessarily right
Seventy percent of housewives in Manila use Brand XXX,
so you should use it too.
Identifying and Analyzing Claims
Claims are synonymous to belief, argument, assertion, or
should be argumentative and debatable, specific and
focused, interesting and engaging, and logical. These
information can be explicit or implicit. An explicit claim is
directly and clearly stated in the text. It is when you can
easily point out the information in the passage. Meanwhile,
an implicit claim is indirectly expressed in the text and you
need to look for clues or make inferences to understand its
meaning.
Distinguishing Between the Types of Claim
1. Claims of fact state a quantifiable assertion, or a
measurable topic. They assert that something has existed,
exists, or will exist based on data. They rely on reliable
sources or systematic procedures to be validated. This is
what makes them different from inferences. Claims of fact
usually answer a “what” question. When determining
whether something is a claim of fact, the following
questions are useful.
• Is this issue related to a possible cause or effect?
• Is this a statement true or false? How can its truthfulness
be verified?
• Is this claim controversial or debatable?
2. Claims of value assert something that can be qualified.
They consist of arguments about moral, philosophical, or
aesthetic topics. This types of topics try to prove that some
values are more or less desirable compared to others. They
make judgments based on certain standards on whether
something is right or wrong, good or bad, or something
similar. Claims of value attempt to explain how problems,
situations, or issues ought to be valued. To discover this
explanations, you may ask the following questions:
• Which claims endorse what is good or right?
• What qualities should be considered good? Why?
• Which of these values contend with others? Which ones
are more important, and why? Whose standards are used?
• What are some concrete examples of such values?
3. Claims of policy posit that specific actions should be
chosen as solutions to a particular problem. You can easily
identify a claim of policy because they begin with ‘should’,
‘ought to’ or ‘must’. Claims of policy because they defend
actionable plans, usually answer ‘how’ questions. The
following questions will be useful in evaluating a claim of
policy:
• Does the claim suggest a specific remedy to solve the
problem?
• Is the policy clearly defined?
• Is the need for the policy established?
• Is the policy the best one available? For whom? According
to whose standards?
• How does the policy solve the problem?
Identifying the Context of Text Development
Being a critical reader also involves understanding the texts
are always developed with a certain context. A text is
neither written nor read in a vacuum; its meaning and
interpretation are affected by a given set of circumstances.
Thus, context is defined as the social, cultural, political,
historical, and other related circumstances that surround the
text and form the terms from which it can be better
understood and evaluated. Knowledge of the text’s context
helps in appreciating the text’s message more deeply. In
discovering a reading’s context, you may ask questions like:
• When was the work written?
• What where the circumstances that produced it?
• What issues does it deal with?
Another important technique in analyzing the context of a
text’s development is defining its intertextual link to
another text. Intertextuality is the modeling of a text’s
meaning by another text. It is defined as the connections
between language, images, characters, themes, or subjects
depending on their similarities in language, genre, or
discourse. This is seen when an author borrows and
transforms a prior text, or when you read one text and you
reference another. This view recognizes that the text is
always influenced by previous text and in turn anticipates
future texts. A text contains many layers of accumulated
cultural, historical, and social knowledge which continually
adds to and affects one another. Thus, intertextuality
becomes a dialogue among different text and interpretations
of the writer, the audience and the current and earlier
cultural context.
Meanwhile, hypertext is a relatively new way of reading a
text online. Traditionally, reading was viewed as a linear
process where you read from the beginning until the end.
However, the advent of the internet and technology has
created new ways of reading and processing a text which
includes hypertext. Hypertext, therefore is a nonlinear way
of showing information. Hypertext connects topics on a
screen to related information, graphics, videos and music --
information is not simply related to text. This information
appears as links and is usually accessed by clicking. The
reader can jump to more information about the topic which
in turn may have more links. This opens up the reader to a
wider horizon of information or to a new direction.
A reader can skim through sections of a text freely jumping
from one part to another depending on what aspect of the
text interests him/her. Thus, in reading with hypertext, you
are given more flexibility and personalization because you
get to select the order in which you read the text and focus
on information that is relevant to your background and
interest. Therefore, you create your own meaning out of the
material.
Identifying Assertions
Becoming a good critical reader means that you are able to
logically evaluate the claims of the writer. Any writer would
want the reader to consider - and possibly agree with - the
claims that he or she puts forward. In expository writing,
assertions become the primary channel for a reader to assent
to a claim. Assertions are declarative sentences that claim
something is true about something else. Simply put, it is a
sentence that is either true or false. Read the following
examples:
• The sampaguita’s roots are used for medicinal purposes,
such as an anesthetic and a sedative.
• The sampaguita belongs to the genus Jasminum of the
family Oleaceae.
• The popularity of sampaguita flowers is most evident in
places of worship.
• Sampaguitas are the most beautiful and most fragrant of
all flowers.
There are four common types of assertion, which are
classified according to the degree of certainty they can be
judged as true or false. How would you classify the
previous statements?
The first type of assertion is a FACT. This is a statement
that can be proven objectively by direct experience,
testimonies of witnesses, verified observations, or the
results of research. Because statements of fact can be
double-checked for accuracy, there is general agreement
about the truth they posit. The sampaguita’s roots are used
for medicinal purposes, such as an anesthetic and a
sedative. This is statement is a fact because it can be
directly verified by experience or reliable research report. thoroughly considered the topic, and are willing to engage
The second type is an assertion of CONVENTION. A
convention is a way in which something is done, similar to position is on the topic. The following questions will help
traditions and norms. Conventions depend on historical
precedent, laws, rules, usage, and customs. Thus, their
truthfulness is verified by how commonly held definitions
and beliefs are interpreted. Something to note about
conventions is that they may sound factual due to their
being derived from customs, but because they are socially
accepted ways of doing things, they cannot be verified
objectively by measurements. The sampaguita belongs to
the genus Jasminum of the family Oleaceae. This is
statement is a convention because it is based on a
classification system made up by scientist and is susceptible you have formulated?
to the scientific community.
The third type of assertion is an OPINION. Opinions are
based on facts, but are difficult to objectively verify
because of the uncertainty of producing satisfactory proofs to determine the evidence from the text. This will allow you
of soundness. Opinions results from ambiguities; the more
ambiguous a statement, the more difficult it is to verify.
Thus, they are open to dispute. The popularity of
sampaguita flowers is most evident in places of worship.
This statement is an opinion because it is based on an
observation that needs to be proven by studies and repeated the reading more interesting. Evidence is crucial in swaying
observations; if there are too many factors involved that
makes explicit judgment difficult.
The fourth type of assertion is a PREFERENCE.
Preferences are based on personal choice; therefore, they
are subjective and cannot be objectively proven or logically
attacked. Sampaguitas are the most beautiful and most
fragrant of all flowers. This is statements is a preference
because it says a lot about the type of flowers to the writer
likes, instead of objectively comparing the qualities of
sampaguita as to death of other flowers.
Formulating counterclaims
To be an effective critical thinker, it is not enough just to be
able to identify claims and assertions. The ability to analyze
an argument is essential to understanding the text more
deeply, but understanding the claim is not the only facets of
the argument. You must also learn how to analyze the
counterclaims and evidence provided by the text. Being
able to recognize and formulate counterclaims in reaction to
an argument is a characteristic of a good critical reader.
COUNTERCLAIMS are claims made to rebut a previous
claim. They provide a contrasting perspective to the main
argument. By being able to locate and provide
counterclaims to an argument, you show a deep competence
and familiarity with the writer’s topic. It shows that you are
examining different perspectives and not just passively
accepting the writers claim. It shows that you have
different viewpoints from your own, thus remaining
objective. It also helps if you clarify what your personal
you formulate counterclaims:
• What are the major points on which you and the author
can disagree?
• What is their strongest argument? What did they say to
defend their position?
• What are the merits of their view?
• What are the weaknesses or shortcomings in their
argument?
• Are there any hidden assumptions?
• Which lines from the text best support the counterclaim
Determining textual evidence
To better evaluate the author's argument, you should be able
to validate the assertions of the author and your own
counterclaims as a response to reading. Evidence is defined
as the details given by the author to support his/her claim.
The evidence provided by the writer substantiates the text.
It reveals and builds on the position of the writer and makes
the reader to your side. A jury or judge, for example, relies
on evidence presented by a lawyer before it makes a
decision regarding a case. When you give comments on the
text read, you should support your claim by quoting an idea
presented in the text. Since your evidence is in the form of
text, it is called TEXTUAL EVIDENCE.

In using textual evidence, you have to make sure that you

cite both the objective and subjective evidence. Objective
evidence is the information from the text that is considered
as solid support because it includes specific information
such as scores, quantity, and percentages. On the other
hand, subjective evidence is the textual evidence that is
immeasurable or unspecific. This includes assertions and
inferences that can be used to prove the evaluation of the
reviewer.

Evidence can include the following:

• facts and statistics (objectively validated information on
your subject);
• opinion from experts (leading authorities on the topic,
such as researchers or academic); and
• personal anecdotes (generalizable, relevant, and
objectively considered).

The following are some questions to help you determine

evidence from the text:
• What questions can you ask about the claims?
• Which details in the text answer your questions?
• What are the most important details in the paragraph?
• What is each one's relationship to the claim?
• How does the given detail reinforce the claim?
• What details do you find interesting? Why?
• What are some claims that do not seem to have support?
What kinds of support today be provided with?
• What are some details that you find questionable? Why do
you think so?
• Are some details updated, inaccurate, exaggerated, or
taken out of context?
• Are the sources reliable?

The following are the characteristics of good evidence:

• unified;
• relevant to the central point;
• specific and concrete;
• accurate; and
• representative or typical.