Critical Reading Skills

Strategies for Effective Critical Reading

 Statements in the text must be evaluated.

 Examine the facts and the examples, try to check if there
are gaps and inconsistencies.
 Check for the accuracy and reliability of the sources and
distinguish facts from opinions.
 Aside from evaluating, look for what is not presented a s
well.
 Based on all the facts presented, assess if the conclusions
are acceptable.
 Remember to evaluate the credibility of the writer.
 Analyze the motivation for writing the text by looking at
the writer’s sociopolitical, cultural, economic and
personal situations.
 Guide Questions for Critical Reading

 What is the writer’s perspective? Does he/she write

from an outsider’s or insider’s perspective?
 What relevant information is excluded from the
text?
 Do you agree with the writer?
 Is the writer objective and accurate?
 How would you describe the tone of the writer?
 Does the text contain fallacies? What are those?
 Are there assumptions made by the writer?
 Does the writer oversimplify complex ideas?
 Does the writer use reasonable generalizations and
inference?
Hypertext vs. Intertext
 Intertext

 Refers to a work whose meaning is shaped by

referencing or calling to mind other texts.
 The reader gets to understand the context of the
piece through other texts which parallel it in terms
of plot, characters, premise, and the like.
 In an intertextual work, the context is not given
immediately; only through the wealth of previous
knowledge and experience or further research will
the reader be able to understand the text.
 It can occur in either online or printed media, but it is
not limited to literature, it spans other media such as
movies, songs and the like
 Hypertext
 Is characterized by the external links embedded in a
text by the writer.
 The reader can read the text in a non-linear way,
because he is led to other links outside the main
text.
 A work in hypertext also enables the reader to
arrive at the intended interpretation, because he is
led to where the author exactly wants him to go.
 The context is taken through links or commentaries
directly connected to the text ( definitions of some
terms, explanations of a certain phenomena
mentioned, direction to the next part of the plot,
etc.)
Logical Fallacy
 Logical Fallacy

 errors in reasoning that invalidate an argument.

 False Dilemma

 occurs when an arguer presents his/her

argument as one of only two options
despite the presence of multiple
possibilities.
 Example

 Either you fully devote yourself to the

company or you quit.
 Appeal to Ignorance

 occurs when something is instantly

concluded to be true just because it is not
proven to be false, and vice versa.
 Example

 The writer does not talk about the

connection between the victim’s killer and
his sister, so there must be none.
 Slippery Slope

 Occurs when a series of increasingly

superficial and unacceptable consequences
is drawn.
 Example

 If we ban computer shops, then students

will not be able to do research. If they do
not have tools for research, these students
will fail their subjects.
 Complex Question

 occurs when two or more points are rolled into

one and the reader is expected to either accept
or reject both at the same time, when one point
may be satisfactory while the other is not.
 Example

 “Have you stopped cheating on exams?”

 Appeal to Force

 occurs when a threat, instead of reasoning,

is used to argue.
 Example

 If you do not admit that evolution is not

real, we will isolate you from the group.
 Appeal to Pity

 occurs when the element of pity is used

instead of logical reasoning.
 Example

 Please do not fire me for being absent all

month; I have a sick mother and a special
child to support.
 Appeal to Consequences

 occurs when unpleasant consequences of

believing something are pointed out to
show that the belief.
 Example

 You can’t believe that colonialism is bad,

because if it were, then we would not be
civilized.
 Bandwagon

 occurs when an argument is considered to

be valid because it is what the majority
thinks.
 Example

 Most Filipinas want to have fair skin

because they think they look beautiful.
Therefore, having fair skin must be the real
standard of beauty.
 Attacking the Person

 occurs when someone tries to refute an

argument is considered to be valid because
it is what the majority thinks.
 Example

 I cannot accept your argument because

unlike me, you were not educated at
Harvard University.
 Appeal to Authority

 Occurs when the argument quotes an

expert who is not qualified in the particular
subject matter
 Example

 Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft,

recommends the effective fabric softening
properties of Downy fabric softener.
 Anonymous Authority

 the authority in question is not mentioned

or named.
 Example

 Experts claim that eating peanuts causes

pimples.
 Hasty Generalization

 Occurs when a sample is not significant or

enough to support a generalization about a
population.
 Example

 The foreigner from France, is very impolite.

French people are mean and rude.
 False Analogy

 occurs when a writer assumes that two

concepts that are similar in other ways.
 Example

 Drugs are like massages; they make you feel

good.
 Accident

 occurs when a general rule is applied to a

situation, even when it should be an
exception.
 Example

 Jaywalking is not allowed, so you should not

have done that even when you were being
chased by terrorists.
 Post Hoc

 occurs when the arguer claims that since

event A happened before event B, A is the
cause of B
 Example

 Dina saw a black cat when they went home.

Along the way, they crashed into a tree. The
black cat must be the reason why they met
an accident.
 Wrong Direction

 occurs when the direction between cause

and effect is reversed.
 Example

 Liver damage lead to alcoholism.

 Complex Cause

 occurs when the explanation for an event is

reduced to one thing when there are other
factors which also contributed to the event.
 Example

 We were not able to solve the problem

because of limited time, even if all the other
groups were able to do so.
 Irrelevant Conclusion

 occurs when an argument which is

supposed to prove something concludes
something else instead.
 Example

 We must support the fight for gender

equality between men and women. Women
have suffered enough violence at home.
Violence against women must be stopped.
 Straw Man

 occurs when the position of the opposition

is twisted so that it is easier to refute.
 Example

 Opponent: We should relax the law

governing the allowed smoking areas in the
city.
 Fallacy: We should not do so, because the
number of smokers might increase.
 Affirming the Consequent

 any argument of the form: If A is true then B

is true; If B is true, therefore A is true.
 Example

 If you are drinking wine, you have a

problem. Therefore, if you have a problem,
you are drinking wine.
 Denying the Antecedent

 any argument of the form: If A is true then B

is true; If A is not true then B is not true.
 Inconsistency

 occurs when arguments contradict one

another.
 Example

 Frank is older than Jake, Jake is older than

Noli, and Noli is older than Frank.