 Critical reading as reasoning

- Critical reading is a technique which involves analyzing the claims presented in the
text. This kind of reading requires you to do processing by making judgement on
the author’s message.
- Reading critically mean you think critically while you read. You do not readily
accept the message but you decide which one to accept or which one to reject.
- Why is it important to critique, analyze and evaluate what we are reading
rather than to believe and absorb them?
- Critical reading is a process of analyzing, interpreting and sometimes, evaluating
the larger meanings of a text and how those meanings are created by the text. When
we read critically, we use our critical thinking skills to question both the text and our
own reading of it.
- As a reader who uses reasoning, you are better equipped with needed data in
deciding later on whether to accept or reject the argument of the writer.

Formulate meaningful
counterclaims
Factual
information,
Counterclaim – a statement statistics, expert’s
in opposite to the claim opinion, or any
presented. When you make valid and reliable
counterclaim, you are detail to support
demonstrating familiarity to one’s argument
the topic.

 Claim – stand
Counterclaim – opposes the claim
 Informed – based on personal perception
Expert opinion – expert, professional
 Reliable – accuracy
Credible – reputation
 Formulating counterclaims
Chocolates are bad for the human brain. (Claim)
As a reader: What? But I know that chocolates…
Based on what I have read, chocolates are…
- One easy way to spot a counterclaim is to look for signal words like “however”,
“but”, “on the other hand”, “yet”, “otherwise” etc.
 Determining textual evidence
- An evidence can strengthen one’s claim or argument. In giving of evidence, you ask
yourself questions like did the evidence support the claim? How reliable and valid
are the evidences?
- Sentence Starters: On page…, The author wrote…, The graphic showed…, An example
is…, I know because…
 Context of Text Development
- Context refers to the social, cultural, political, historical and other related factors
that surround a text. In analyzing the context of a written text, it is important for you
to identify intertext and hypertext.
- Intertext happens when the author borrows or cites an idea from another text.
 - Intertextuality is a dialogue among different texts and interpretations of the writer,
the reader and the context.
- Hypertext is a text on a computer screen or other electronic devices with references
(hyperlinks) to other texts which the reader can immediately access.
- As an effective reader, you have to be aware of the hypertext and intertext because
these two affects how you grasp the meaning of the entire reading material.
 Film Critique
 Film review is a popular way for critics to assess a film’s overall quality and to
determine whether or not they think the film is worth recommending.
 Writing the Film Review
- I. Introduction (Catch the Reader’s Attention)
 Basic details about the materials: title, director, or artist
- II. Summary (Character and Plot Summary)
 Summarize the basic plot of the movie. Keep this brief and avoid specific details
that would spoil the viewing for others.
- III. Analysis (Evaluate the Movie)
 Discussion and analysis of the work (employ the critical approaches here)
- IV. Conclusion (Evaluate the Film)
 The closing of your film review should remind the readers of your general
thoughts and impressions of the film.
 Make sure to remind the reader of why the film is or not worth seeing.
 Critical Approaches
- Literary Criticism
 Study, analysis, evaluation of imaginative literature
 Field of study, provides deeper understanding of a text, looking at a story from
different perspectives often results in discovering new and intriguing things.
- Elements of Fiction
 Setting, Characters, Plot, Point of View, Theme, Conflict
- Critical Approaches
 Formalism, Philosophical, Biographical, Historical, Psychological, Queer Theory,
Marxist, Feminist, Reader response, Archetypal, Deconstructive
 Formalistic Approach
>> Believes that literature is a form of knowledge with intrinsic elements—style,
structure, imagery, tone, and genre
>> Examines plot, characterization, dialogue, point of view, setting and style to
show how these elements contribute to the theme or unity of the literary work.’
 Philosophical Approach
>> Focuses on themes, view of the world, moral statements, author’s philosophy
a. What view of life does the story represent?
b. According to this work’s view of life, what is mankind’s relationship to the
universe?
c. What moral statement, if any, does this story make? Is it explicit or implicit?
d. What does the work say about human nature?
 Biographical Approach
>> Real life experiences can help an author’s work; understanding an author’s
life can help us better understand the work
a. What aspects of the author’s personal life are relevant to this story?
b. Which of the author’s stated beliefs are reflected in the work?
c. Does the writer challenge or support the values of the contemporaries?
 d. Do any of the events in the story correspond to events experienced by the
author?
e. Do any of the characters in the story correspond to real people?
 Historical Approach
>> Investigates social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it;
explores how time and place of creation affect meaning in the work.
a. How does it reflect the time in which it was written?
b. What literary or historical influences helped to shape the form and content
of the work?
c. What historical events or movements might have influenced this writer?
d. How important is the historical context (the work’s and the reader’s) to
interpret the work?
 Psychological Approach
>> Holds the belief that great literature truthfully reflects life and is realistic
representation of human motivation and behavior; takes into account dreams,
subconscious desires and sexual repression
a. Conscious
Consciousness is an individual’s state of awareness of their environment,
thoughts, or feelings; in order to experiences consciousness, one must be
both awake and aware
b. Unconscious
The unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and
memories outside of our conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the
unconscious are unacceptable and unpleasant such as feelings of pain,
anxiety, or conflict. According to Freud, the unconscious continues to
influence our behavior and experience even though we are unaware of these
underlying influences.
 What forces are motivating the characters?
 Which behaviors of the characters are conscious ones?
 Which are unconscious?
 What conscious or unconscious conflicts exist between the
characters?
 Queer Theory
>> Recent school of criticism which questions and problematizes the issues of
gender identity and sexual orientation in literary texts; gender is not a fixed
identity that shapes actions and thoughts but rather a “role” that is “performed”
 Feminist Theory
>> Role of women in literary texts; examines the way in which literature
reinforce or underdetermine the economic, political, social, and psychological
oppression of women
>> The common aspects looked into when using feminism are as follows:
a. How culture determines gender
b. How gender equality (or the lack of it) is presented in the text
c. How women are socially, politically, psychologically, and economically
oppressed by patriarchy
d. How patriarchal ideology is an overpowering presence
  Reader response theory
>> Focuses on the reader (or “audience”) and his or her experience of a literary
work, in contrast to other schools and theories that focus attention primarily on
the author or the content and form of the work. Ex. Dead Stars
 Research
- A research is empirical, cyclical, methodological, critical
- TYPES OF RESEARCH: 1) Qualitative; 2) Quantitative; 3) Mixed methods
- Quality – characteristic
Quantity – number
- THE RESEARCH PROCESS (DURING PLANNING):
a. Introduction – Problem, Objectives, Statement of the Problem/Research
Questions, Related Literature, Significance of the Study, Scope/Delimitation,
Hypothesis, Variables
b. Methodology – Design, Research tools for data collection
c. Findings – Plan for data analysis, processing, interpretation
d. Discussion – Conclusion and Recommendation, Writing the research
report/result, Presentation
- Qualitative Research
 Data – descriptions
 Instruments – observation, interview, documentary analysis
 Population – based on the design, small number
 Presentation of data – actual responses, taken individually
 Data analysis – transcribing, theming, coding (three ways in presenting data)
- Kinds of Qualitative Research
Qualitative design Nature of Focus of Selection/ Product
questions asked question asked Population Realized
Case study In-depth Issue 1 to many Lessons learned
description
Historical Examine past Information from Biography, Historical
events to the past chronology, issue
understand paper
present and its
effects
Phenomenology Essence Meaning 3-13 Collective
description
Ethnography Experiences Cultural Small, usually Accurate
experiences one case reflection of
perspectives and
behaviors
- Quantitative Research
 Data – numerical data
 Research tools – structured research instrument (survey), experiments,
observations
 Population – large sample size
 Presentation of data – illustrated in graphs, tables, and charts
 Data treatment – descriptive and inferential statistics

Educator Characteristic 4 3 2 1
Applies new
ways to
accomplish
tasks to attain
objectives
  Format – IMRAD
 The nature of variables
>> are “changing qualities or characteristics” of persons or things like age,
gender, intelligence, ideas, achievements, confidence, and so on that are involved
in your research study.
a. Independent – cause changes in subject
b. Dependent – bear or manifest the effects caused by the independent
variables
Ex: Physical Learning Environment and Its Relation to Academic
Performance of LHS Students
>> IV: Physical Learning Environment
>> DV: Academic Performance
 STRENGTHS:
a. Best way of proving or disproving hypothesis
b. Results are unbiased
c. Objective answers are sought
d. Large sample size
e. Easy to generalize and compare to other studies
 WEAKNESSES:
a. Difficult for non-mathematicians
b. Results are limited in term of narrative description
c. For experiment, it is expensive and requires a lot of time
 SAMPLE TITLES:
a. Board exam difficulties of board examiners and their techniques in
overtaking these difficulties
b. Possibility of merchandising businesses inside the university of the
assumption
c. Perceptions of the grade 11 students of the university of the assumption
senior high school in intellectual property rights
d. Influence of family business on grade 11 accounting, business, and
management students in taking up the abm strand
e. The reasons of changing the preferred course of students after taking the
accountancy business and management strand
f. Analysis on the successful business for young entrepreneurs
g. The possibility of implementing daylight saving time in the university of the
assumption senior high school
h. A peek into the teenage mind: a study on online gaming and its implications
among senior high school
i. Identifying the right-hand man of low self-esteem: the virtual world or the
real world
j. Impact of the management in the academic performance of senior high
school students
k. I wonder why students wander: an analysis to students in the university of
the assumption senior high school who roam after class
l. Senior high school students’ coping strategy towards academic failure
 Guidelines in choosing a research topic:
- Interest in subject matter
- Availability of information
- Timeliness and relevance of the topic
- Limitations on the subject
 - Personal resources
 Research topics to be avoided:
- Controversial topics
 Topics that depend greatly on the writer’s opinion, may tend to be biased or
prejudicial
- Highly technical subjects
 For a beginner, researching on topics that require an advanced study, technical
knowledge, and vast experience is a very difficult task
- Hard-to-investigate subjects
 Subject is hard to investigate if there are no available reading materials about it
and if such materials are not up to date
- Too broad subjects
 Will prevent researcher from giving a concentrated or an in-depth analysis of the
subject matter of the paper
- Too narrow subjects
 Limited or specific that an extensive or thorough searching or reading for
information about these is necessary
- Vague subjects
 Choosing topics like these will prevent you from having a clear focus on your
paper
 Research is a systematic process of gathering, interpreting and analyzing information to
resolve a specific problem.
 Qualitative research – focuses on words or ideas, pictures, videos, sounds, smells,
objects or artifacts and other non-numerical data
- Core or qualitative analysis is interpretation and descriptions; focuses on
experiences or data that cannot be expressed numerically
a. How are people’s attitudes and opinions formed?
b. How are people can be affected by the events around them?
c. How and why cultures develop the way they did?
d. Why do people behave the way they do?
 Quantitative Research
- Core of quantitative analysis is the measure
a. How many, how frequent
 CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A TOPIC
a. Problem situations
- Consider the problems that you see in your surroundings (school, home,
community)
- Literature Review
b. Compiling preliminary bibliographies
- Title of material, author’s name, publisher, place published, date of publication
c. Making your topic manageable
- Broad topic – entire book
- Narrow – questions are answered by one paragraph
 NARROWING DOWN OF TOPICS – ASK THESE:
- Who (people involved)
- Where (geographical scope of your topic)
- When (timeframe of your topic)
- What (limits categories of your studies such as age, sex, gender, civil status,
nationality, and educational level
 SAMPLE TITLE: A phenomenological study of the behavior of students with absentee
parents
- What are we looking for? Behavior of students w/ absentee parent
- Who are the subjects? Students with absentee parents
- What study is used? Qualitative study
- Data collection will involve obtaining information from participants: interviews,
observations
 Objectives – another way of detailing the purpose of study, set by the researcher to
explain in detail what the study is expected to achieve
- STEPS:
 1) formulate general objective
 2) create specific objectives from main objective
 Review of Related Literature
- Account of materials published by professionals, researchers, and experts in their
corresponding fields of expertise related to your present research, These materials
are the outcomes of their professionals work and researches (Salkind, 2019).
 Review of Related Literature
 Compiles and evaluates the research available on a certain topic or issue that
you are researching and writing about
 Characteristics: 1) Information swiftly changes due to the rapid development; 2)
Must be relevant to the current study
 Purpose: To provide an overview of what is known about the topic
 Citation is necessary when:
a. Paraphrasing, summarizing, quoting, making a reference to
 CITATION RULE #5 When two or more articles are cited in the same
parentheses, the order to be followed is the order of the articles in the reference
separated by a semi-colon.
 CITATION RULE #6 When the author is not known, cite the title or the first two
words of the title in the parentheses instead. Titles of books are italicized or
underlined while titles of articles are in quotation marks.
 Introduction
>> should identify your topic, some discussion of the significance of that topic
and state the gap or the need to conduct the study
 Body
>> should discuss and assess the research according to a specific organizational
principle rather than addressing each source separately
 Conclusion
>> should provide a summary of your finding from the literature review—
explain what your analysis of the material leads you to conclude about your
overall state of the literature, what it provides and where it is lacking
 Standard format requirements: 1.5 spacing, Cambria, size 11, Short bond paper
 A. Working title
B. Objectives (3 specific objectives of the study)
C. Introduction – identify topic, significance of study, gaps or problem
D. Body – related literature (as many as you can – minimum of 10)
E. Conclusion – summary of the findings from your RRLs
F. Reference list – list of all the references
 Citing (Books)
- FORMULA: Author’s Surname, First Name Initial.(Year).Book Title: Subtitle.Place of
Publication: Publisher
- EXAMPLE: Mayer,D.(2010).Essential evidence-based medicine
(2nd ed.).Cambridge,England: Cambridge University Press.
 Business Letter (Application/Cover Letter)
- Business writing is simply standard writing used by professionals for specific
business purposes.
- PARTS:
 MAJOR PARTS:
a. Letterhead
b. Heading
c. Dateline
d. Inside address
e. Salutation
f. Body of the letter
g. Complimentary close
h. Signature
 MINOR PARTS:
a. Attention line
b. Subject line
c. Reference line
d. Company signature
e. Foot notation
 Letterhead – name of company, mailing address, telephone number, addresses of the
main branch as well as the branches and the warehouse
ABC COMPANY
135 Sampaoc St. Cubao Quezon City
258-6925, 09171234567, FAX #258-6922
Warehouse: Taguig City (456-7890) Branches: Manila City (123-
4567), Navotas (987-6543)
 Heading – shows place of origin of the message; used in personalized sheets or in formal
business letters such as the application letter, or socio-business letters such as the
invitation letter; used for letter sheets without a letterhead
4321 Magnolia Street
Cubao, Quezon City
- Dateline – indicates the time when the letter was written. Two ways of writing the
dates:
 FORMAL: April 30, 2012
INFORMAL: 30 April 2012
 Inside Address – tells to whom the letter is written. Includes the addressee’s name and
its business address; three to four lines are normally used. The space between the
heading and the inside address varies with the length of the letter. For letter of average
length, four to six spaces are preferable.
Dr. Benjamin P. Pulino, President
Philippine School of Business Administration
1029 Aurora Blvd, Quezon City
 Salutation – formal or informal greeting used to open the business letter. It is a form of
courtesy to the reader. The salutation used in a business letter should have the same
degree of formality as observed in the complimentary close.
 CATEGORY FOR MEN FOR WOMEN
Most formal Sir: Madam:
Formal My dear sir: My dear Madam:
Less Formal Dear Sir: Dear Madam:
Friendly/Intimate My dear Romeo, My dear Juliet,

 Body of the letter – contains message of letter that is normally typed single-spaced with
double spacing between paragraphs. It begins two spaces below the salutation and two
spaces above the complimentary close. The paragraphs in business message are shorter
than those in other forms of writing. Its aim is to get something done.
- For the second page, do not crowd the first page merely to avoid the use of the
second page. In using the second page, the letterhead should not be printed but use
the same size and quality of paper. Leave an inch or about six lines from the top
before starting to type the rest of the content of the message.
 Complimentary close – polite and courtesy way to end a letter; same degree of formality
should be observed in the complimentary close as observed in the salutation

MOST FORMAL Respectfully yours, Yours respectfully,

FORMAL Very truly yours, Yours very truly,
LESS FORMAL Very sincerely yours, Yours very sincerely,
CORDIAL/FRIENDLY Sincerely yours, Yours sincerely,
 Signature – name of writer and business title. The signature is typed two spaces below
the complimentary close. It usually consist of three parts—the pen-written signature,
the type written signature, and the writer’s designation in the company.
Very truly yours,

A. Reyes
Alice Reyes, President
 Letter styles
- Major Standard Letter Styles
 Full block, modified block, semi block, simplified, hanging indention
- Punctuation styles
 Open, standard, closed
 Full block style
- Has an appearance that is pleasing to the modern reader
- Ever line begins at the left margin
- No indentions required
- You can place your address directly under your signature
  Modified block style
- Varies from full block style
- No indentions needed
- Everything was aligned to the left except the date line, heading, complimentary close
and the signature which was placed at the right
- Most widely used in business letters
__________________________Letter Head
Heading_________________________________
_________________________________
Date line_________________________________
___________________________Inside address
___________________________
___________________________

___________________________Salutation
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________Body_________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Complimentary Close__________________________________
Signature__________________________________
Notations__________________________________

 Punctuation style
- Open punctuation – no punctuation mark is being used
- Mixed punctuation or standard
- Punctuation – colon follows a salutation while comma follows the complementary
close
- Closed punctuation – use of comma for the salutation and complementary close

 Don’t staple, use paper clip at the left corner

 Resume – advertisement for you, who you are, what you’ve done, and what you can do
- Types:
- Chronological resume – lists your jobs, education, relevant accomplishments in
reverse chronological order
- Functional resume – arranges your information under skill headings w/o focusing
on dates
- Hybrid resume – combination of chronological and functional formats (combination
resume)
- Targeted resume – title of the actual job or career you are seeking (tailored resume)
- Electronic resume – apply for jobs online (online resume)
 TIPS FOR WRITING A GREAT RESUME
- Be honest, keep it concise and positive, give your resume a personality, give facts,
figures, results, and numbers
 Context of Text Development
- Intertext is the citing of ideas from another test
- Hypertext
 Resume styles
- Chronological resume
- Combination resume
- Functional resume
 Application letter is a letter that a person send when a person is applying for a job. If
submitting resume online, write “to be available upon request” to protect the
information of the applicant’s character reference.
 Parts of a resume:
- Work history – applicant’s contribution in previous jobs
- Trainings and seminars – relevant events when the applicant was able to improve
his skills and knowledge of the job he is applying
 Letter Styles: Full-block style, modified block style
 Kinds of Application letter: Solicited Letter of Appreciation, Unsolicited Letter of
Appreciation
 FACTUAL STATEMENTS:
- One of the strengths of quantitative research is, it’s the best way of proving or
disproving hypothesis
- Independent variables are constant variables that do not change all throughout the
paper
- A research paper is a product and at the same time a process
- The characteristics of research paper are empirical, cyclical, methodological, critical
- Data in qualitative research is more on description; whereas the data in quantitative
is more on numerical value
- Context refers to the circumstances, surroundings, environments, backgrounds, or
setting that determine, specify, or clarify the meaning of an event
- A text consists of multiple characters and symbol that are used to communicate
- Counterclaim is a position made to rebut a pervious claim
- All things happened in the past may be applicable in the present time
- Literature review must be updated for validity and reliability purposes
- Some examples of academic writing are position paper, title proposal, and article
critique
- Title proposal is the process of suggesting an action to solve certain problems of the
company
 FALSE STATEMENTS:
- A general organization of literature review looks like an inverted funnel.
- Discussion of various reliable sources are found on the conclusion part of the
literature review.
- In qualitative research, structured questionnaires are used to gather data.
 Characteristics of RRL (Review of Related Literature)
- Focused – literature review should focus on work being done on the topic
- Logical – coherence and cohesion should be applied to have a smooth flow of
sentences
- Developed – to narrow down the topic, researchers must present ideas that are
closely related to the topic
- Current – researchers must use standard language in writing a research paper
- Integrative – the research paper should stress how the various concepts from the
different studies are related.
 Steps in writing Literature review
a. choose and finalize topic—see to it that it’s researchable and feasible
b. identify databases and sources needed for development of literature review
c. search literature (relevant and significant) to their chosen topic
d. scrutinize the various literatures and studies & compare the literatures to establish
links or connections
e. write the final part of literature review to proceed
 Other related employment letters
- Letter requesting for personal information
- Letter requesting for personal reference
- Letter of introduction
- Letter of recommendation
- Letter of resignation
- Interview follow-up
- Letter of acceptance
- Letter of refusal
 Parts of a business letter
- Letterhead
- Heading
- Dateline
- Inside address
- Salutation
- Body
- Complimentary close
- Signature