英语自学教程

CriticalReading

Criticalreadingappliestonon-fictionwritingwithwhichtheauthorputsforthapositionor

lvesmorethanjust

alreadinginvolvesquestioningandevaluating

whattheauthorissaying,andformingyourownopinionsaboutwhattheauthorissaying.

Herearethethingsyoushoulddotobeacriticalreader.

bereadingsomethingthatwaswritten

,youmaybereadingsomething

erca,youmust

recognizeandtakeintoaccountanydifferencesbetweenyourvaluesandattitudesand

thoreprentedbytheauthor.

’tacceptwhatiswrittenatfacevalue.

Beforeacceptingwhatiswritten,becertainthattheauthorprovidessufficientsupportfor

rfacts,examples,,look

toeiftheauthorhasintegratedtheworkofauthorities.

ethatwhatis

eare

inconsistencies,carefullyevaluatethesupporttheauthorprovidesfortheinconsistencies.

tionsarewhatevertheauthormust

cas,theauthor’sassumptionsarenot

ansyoumustreadcarefullyinordertoidentifyanyassumptions.

Onceyouidentifyanassumption,youmustdecidewhetherornottheassumptionisvalid.

gthis,becertainthatthesourcesare

mple,Einstein*isacrediblesourceiftheauthoriswritingaboutlandmark

inisnota

y,iftheauthoriswritingaboutasubjectin

itscurrentstate,mple,studiesdonebyEinstein

intheearly20thcenturymaynotbeappropriateifthewriterisdiscussingthecurrentstateof

knowledgeinphysics.

endiscussionofAmericanpoliticswilllikelylook

considerablydifferentdependingonwhetherthewriterisaDemocrat*oraRepublican*.

dtotakethispossiblebias

,takewhatiswrittenwith“a

grainofsalt.”

Bybeingacriticalreader,youwillbecomebetterinformedandmaychangeyourviewsas

appropriate.