Chapter 2

Critical Reading and Critique

Size of summary (How many words are there in Koomar’s article?)
Methodology explanation
How to start “That essay talks about …”
Did you find out the thesis statement before you started your summary? Where did
you put it?
Choice of words (Horses paraphrased as stallions). Be careful
Reordering is not sufficient in paraphrasing
Basic grammar problems (passive and active, s/v agreement, use of relative
pronouns in relative clauses)
Violence in a young age might leads …..
The national policy on education are trying to direct schools …………. Rajkoomer
concluded his article by mentioning the importance of teaching profession and how
should teachers deal with their students. …
He advised teachers to deal with their students as if they are his own children.
Marking rubric (how to + instructions in the assignment)
,To avoid plagiarism
Cite all quoted material and all summarized and
paraphrased material, unless the information is
common knowledge.
Make sure that both the wording and the sentence
structure of your summaries and paraphrases are
substantially your own.
 Critical Reading:
(have you encountered the term before?)
When are you often called on to respond critically (giving
opinions, judgments) to source materials?
Abilities required: summary and evaluation
Summary: brief restatement in your own words of a passage
Evaluation: more ambitious undertaking “piece of work”.
In college work, you read to gain and use new information.
Because sources are not equally valid (based on truth and
reason) or equally useful, you must learn to distinguish
critically among them by evaluating them.
 Critical Reading & Critique (written
equivalent)

Require:
Discernment (ability to judge well)
Sensitivity (an awareness and understanding of the
feelings of other people)
Imagination (ability to think of new things)
Knowledge of the subject
Willingness to become involved in what you read.
# skills developed only through repeated practice.
?How do you start
By posing two broad questions about passages,
articles, and books that you read:
1. to what extent does the author succeed in his or her
purpose? (your first job as a critical reader is to
identify the author’s purpose.)
2. to what extent do you agree with the author?
Question 1. to what extent does the author
?succeed in his or her purpose

All critical reading begins with an accurate summary.

Before evaluation, locate the author’s thesis
Identify the selection’s content and structure
Understand the author’s purpose:
to inform (give examples)
to persuade (argument)
to entertain (play, fiction)
It may be all three
?Where do we find written critiques
In academic writing they are found in:
Research papers: critique sources in order to establish
their usefulness.
Position papers: stake out (to give your opinion) a
position by critiquing other positions.
Book reviews: combine summary with critique
Essay exams: demonstrate understanding of course
materials by critiquing them.
Writing to inform
A piece intended to inform will provide:
1. Definitions (give examples)
2. describe or report on a process
3. recount a story (narrate/describe)
4. give historical background (give examples)
5. provide facts and figures (give examples)
An information piece responds to questions
:such as
What or who is ……………?
How does ……………work?
What is the controversy or problem about?
What happened?
 how and why did it happen?
What were the results?
What are the arguments for and against …..?
If the intention is to inform, how can you
?organize your response
By considering three criteria:
accuracy
significance
Fair (not allowing personal opinion to influence your
judgment) interpretation of information
Evaluating informative writing:
Accuracy of information
Be satisfied the information must be trustworthy
As a critical reader, find out if the information is
accurate. How?
1. Check facts against others
For example government publications are reliable
sources for information about: political legislation,
population data, crime statistics, etc.
Evaluating informative writing:
Accuracy of information
2. library data bases
3. on the web (be vigilant in assessing its legitimacy)
Internet contains both: useful and distorted facts;
unsupported opinions; hidden agendas.
Evaluating informative writing:
significance of information
Ask while reading: “So what?”
Does the information provided make a difference?
What can the reader gain from this information?
How is knowledge advanced by the publication of this
material?
Is the information of importance to you or to others in
a particular audience? Why or why not?
Evaluating informative writing:
fair interpretation of information
One of your tasks as a critical reader is to make a
distinction between the author’s presentation of facts
and figures and his or her attempts to evaluate them.
Examples:
20 percent of the population
A mere 20 percent of the population
Evaluating informative writing:
fair interpretation of information
Pay attention to whether the logic with which the
author connects interpretation with facts is sound.
You may find the information is valuable but the
interpretation is not.
Perhaps the author’s conclusions are not justified.
Could you offer a contrary explanation for the same
facts?
Does more information need to be gathered before
firm conclusions can be drawn? Why?
South Arabian languages face threat
Arab News

What would you do to critique this article?

http://www.arabnews.com/news/487731

You are not required to write a critique but to explain

the steps you would follow if you are asked to evaluate
the article. Give concrete examples of how you would
check accuracy, significance and interpretation of
information in the article.