Critical Reading Strategies

• Critical reading involves evaluating claims, seeking definitions, judging information, demanding proof, and questioning assumptions.
• It goes beyond passive understanding and serves as a technique for discovering information and ideas.
• Critical reading and critical thinking are inseparable, interdependent mind processes involving careful, active, reflective, and analytic reading.

Reading Strategies

• Previewing involves learning about a text before reading it thoroughly.
• Contextualizing places a text within its historical and biographical context.
• Questioning and remembering entails asking questions about the content to aid comprehension.
• Reflecting involves examining one's personal responses to the text.
• Outlining and summarizing involves identifying and paraphrasing the main ideas.
• Evaluating arguments involves assessing the logic and credibility of the reading material.
• Comparing and contrasting involves analyzing the similarities and differences between related readings.

Popular Reading Strategies (SQ3R)

• Surveying includes speed reading, scanning, and skimming text before reading it in detail.
• Scanning is used for finding specific information.
• Skimming is used for getting a general idea of the text.
• Question involves formulating possible queries to be answered while reading.
• Read means engaging with the text to achieve the purpose of reading.
• Recite improves comprehension and retention by helping readers think about and understand what they have read.
• Review enhances the reader’s chance of successful achievement and authentic learning.

Explicit vs. Implicit

• Explicit information is clearly written and explained in the text, leaving no room for confusion, like stating "His eyes are blue."
• Implicit information is implied but not directly stated, such as "His eyes reflect the color of the sky on a sunny day."

Claims

• A claim is what the writer tries to prove in the text using details, explanations, and evidence.

Types of Claims

• A claim of fact asserts that a condition existed, exists, or will exist, backed by factual information.
• A claim of policy advocates for the adoption or change of a policy to solve a problem, arguing the benefits of the change.
• A claim of value argues that one view is better than another and makes judgments based on standards of good or bad, right or wrong.

HYPERTEXT AND INTERTEXT

• Text is typically presented in a linear form, with a single path from beginning to end.
• Hypertext is a non-linear way to read online text where multiple sections are connected.
• Hypertext was Coined by Ted Nelson around 1965 and presents a network of materials linked by various connections.
• It connects a topic on screen to related information.
• Hypertextuality is a non-linear way of presenting information.

Hypertext as a System

• Hypertext facilitates navigation through large volumes of documents and data.
• It connects separate documents or objects in meaningful ways to build associations and knowledge.
• Intertextuality, coined by Julia Kristeva in 1996, describes the interconnectedness between different texts.
• Intertextuality shapes the meaning of one text by referencing other texts, adding depth and new perspectives.

Critical Reading as Reasoning

• Critical reading is a part of critical thinking used to connect information, facts, and details.
• It involves forming assertions about the content and properties of a text, such as length, complexity, structure, organization, readership, authorship, writing style, language, and diction.
• It also entails making meaningful counterclaims in response to the claims made by the author.
• A claim is an argument for an opinion, while a counterclaim is a rebuttal to a claim.

Types of Assertion

• Basic assertion involves standing up for personal rights, beliefs, feelings, or opinions.
• Emphatic assertion involves recognizing another person's situation or feelings.
• Escalating assertion involves a minimal assertive response or a failure to respond initially, followed by a stronger response.
• Confrontive assertion involves describing what needs to be done.
• Positive assertion involves expressing positive feelings.
• Repeated assertion ("broken record") involves repeating a statement persistently.
• I-language assertion involves expressing feelings and thoughts using "I" statements.
• Fogging assertion involves acknowledging the possibility of truth in what the other person is saying.