MTL Guide to Critical Reading

A Guide to Critical Reading

Two modes of reading

It is helpful to think of critical reading as involving two modes of reading:
reading with the author, or trying to completely understand the authors views,
and reading the author critically, or questioning the authors views. The first
mode is necessary for the second to be possible. By reading in two modes, you
will be able to develop your own ideas and theoriesbut only after thoroughly
understanding the authors arguments.
Reading with the author: understanding the authors perspective
1. Make sure you truly understand the authors views and ideas.
Summarising and paraphrasing his/her argument in your own words may
be helpful at this stage.
2. Accept the authors ideas temporarily (even if you disagree). Use the
authors ideas as a lens with which to look at your world, extending the
authors theories with examples of your own that are in agreement.
Reading the author critically: engaging the author in a dialogue
1. Looking through your own lens now, question and challenge the author.
Some things to look for include: limitations, biases, faulty reasoning,
questions left unaddressed, and problems with or alternate
interpretations of the authors evidence or examples.
2. Now you can form your own ideas and theories. What parts of the
authors ideas do you agree with? What parts would you question or
revise? What aspects would you like more evidence or information about?
What is your perspective?
Engaging effectively in this kind of active reading involves a bit of preparation
before you start reading, as well as the use of different kinds of strategies while
you are actually reading.

MTL Guide to Critical Reading

Before you begin reading
Before you begin it is important to establish why you are reading a particular
item. While the simple answer might be because it has been set, that rationale
wont help you to make the best use of it; so make sure you are clear about why
you are being asked to engage with any particular reading and what you are
expected to do with the ideas, arguments or information that it contains.
Make sure too that you know what you are reading. In some cases this is
obvious. It might be a policy document produced by the government; a report of
a specific research project; a teachers account of their own practice. In other
cases this may be much less clear particularly if the reading is just an extract
from a bigger book or chapter. But take note of any information you are given
about the author, and the context in which the work was written. Does it draw
on specific research in classroom settings? (If so - where?; with whom?; when?;
on what scale?) Or is it a review of several research studies or based on the
authors own experience as a teacher?; or on theoretical ideas from specific
disciplines such as cognitive psychology? Knowing where the authors ideas or
arguments come from will help in the critical mode of reading deciding
whether you find them persuasive or relevant to your context and helping to
establish what more you might want to know.
Also think before you start about what you already know or want to know about the issue that you are reading about. Being aware of your existing ideas
and assumptions will also help you to engage actively and critically with the
authors claims.
During reading
This advice has been divided into two sections: (i) making notes on your reading
(annotation); and (ii) recording your responses to the reading reflecting the
two modes of reading outlined above. But the two are not entirely separate
phases and you may in fact move backwards and forwards between clarifying
what the author is arguing and noting down your responses to it. Both are part
of the reading process.
(i) Annotation
Reading actively means making connections between your current knowledge
and what you are reading. You are asking yourself questions as you read or
rather engaging in an ongoing internal dialogue with the author: reflecting on,
postulating and forming opinions about, examining and assessing their
arguments.
One way of supporting active reading is to use a pencil or highlighter as you
read to mark key ideas and supporting examples or evidence. Once you have
identified the main ideas from the text, then you can respond with your feelings,
interpretations, and assessments. So, dont be afraid to write in books (as long

MTL Guide to Critical Reading

as you own them!) or copies of articles. Annotating helps you to remember and
internalise the material you read. It also encourages you both to engage with the
text and to develop your own ideas in response. You may find it helpful to print
out electronic copies of documents so that it is easier to engage actively with
them by marking the text or use the highlighting and comment box functions
on your computer.

Highlight, underline, or circle important parts that you might want to

return to later. These may include main ideas, examples used to support
the argument, illustrations of important points, or sections where the
focus of the argument shifts.

Add your own comments too - reflecting on and challenging the

meanings of what you read. Note your questions and objections. Draw
comparisons between what youre reading and your own experience or
what you have read elsewhere. Pick out any discrepancies.

Annotation also includes writing down definitions of words or terms that

you come upon that are not already familiar to you. You may also choose
to rearticulate or summarise an idea or argument to clarify it. Finding
your own ways to express the authors ideas will help both to understand
and to remember what you have read.

Some participants have found the following marks helpful to use in annotating
texts and they may alert you to things to look for while you are reading - but of
course feel free to develop your own!
Look for . . .

Mark it with . . .

The main question or issue in each

chapter or section

aim / objective / main

Fundamental concepts and their

explanations or descriptions

highlighting / underlining

Important conclusions. (You may use

more than one to rank the importance)

*/

Unclear or confusing parts, faulty logic

Q/?

Supporting data or information used

as evidence

evidence

Author voicing an opinion

viewpoint / VP

Problematic assumptions being made

problematic/ prob

Greater implications of the argument

or discussion

implication

/X

MTL Guide to Critical Reading

(ii) Recording your responses
You can facilitate the process of two-modal reading by also keeping a reading log
that will allow you to develop longer responses, elaborating your understanding of
what you have read and your reactions to it.
This will help you to store and keep track of your own ideas. You may begin by
writing down quotations from the text that you feel are important or have
comments about. Making diagrams to represent the key claims in a visual form,
and perhaps show how they relate to ideas you have read about elsewhere, can
also be a very helpful technique. Your first impressions and reactions to the text
can also go into the log. You can also use the space to help clarify the authors
ideas by writing about them in your own words. Here too you can develop the
questions you are asking of the text, make connections, and explore the ideas of
your own that are triggered by what you have read.
Taking time to develop your response logs will give you a great resource to use for
your own writing at each stage throughout the MTL programme. So make sure that
your log always includes the full details of the author and publication to which
your notes relate so that you can draw on the material and reference it effectively
in assignments, and so that you can find it again if you want to go back to the
original ideas!
Two specific strategies for more extended note-taking as you evaluate the reading
are suggested below. The second of these is the technique you are asked to use
for the first online task of the MTL programme, so you will be expected to share
your responses in that format with a partner online but you may also find the
first suggested method of evaluating your reading helpful as a preliminary step
towards completing this task or as an approach to other readings within the MTL
programme.
Note-taking model A: A three-step strategy for evaluating your reading
Step 1:
Answer the following questions freely (write whatever comes to mind) to gauge
the extent to which the text influenced your views.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

What
What
What
What
What
What
What

does the author want me to believe or agree with?

were my beliefs about the subject before I read this?
are my beliefs about it now?
has the text convinced me of specifically?
do I still have doubts about?
questions does this text raise for me?
insights do I have now that I didnt have before I read this?

MTL Guide to Critical Reading

Step 2:
Now, although you may firmly agree or disagree with the authors views, take
turns writing from each perspective. First write freely in support of the author,
looking at the world through the authors perspective: writing with the author.
In doing this, look to your own personal experiences, memories, and knowledge
for anything that is in line with the authors argument.
Next, think of all the problems, contradictions and weak points in the authors
argument: writing critically about the authors ideas. Either one of these roles
may be harder for you, depending on whether you have a strong opinion about
the subject. However, this is a very important exercise for critical readers,
because it teaches you to explore unfamiliar perspectives.
Step 3:
Think of questions you would ask the author if you could. These may include
ideas that came up during the first two parts of this exercise, your doubts about
or problems with their argument, or a request for clarification or expansion on a
point.
Note-taking model B: recording three kinds of response to your reading
It can be helpful to organise your responses to the reading in relation to the
following sub headings:

affective responses how you feel about the ideas expressed;

cognitive responses what you think about the ideas expressed and the
evidence offered in support of them;

reflective responses how your thinking and feeling relate to your practice
and experience and how your practice and experience could develop through
your thinking and feeling in relation to the text.

Using this model your responses could be set out in a table like the one below:
Main Ideas in the Text

My Responses

1.

Affective
Cognitive
Reflective

2.

Affective
Cognitive
Reflective