Whenever you read something and you evaluate claims,

seek definitions, judge information, demand proof, and

question assumptions, you are thinking critically. This type of
reading goes beyond passively understanding a text, because
you process the author’s words and make judgments after
carefully considering the reading’s message.
 A reading journal is similar to keeping a
diary except you are writing your feelings and
ideas in reaction to your reading assignments.
This process allows you to develop your impressions
of the text and connect them to your personal
experiences. This allows your to better relate to
the essay and understand the author’s ideas.
 Annotating the text simply means making notes on your
copy of the reading. This includes highlighting or underlining
important passages and writing notes, comments, questions,
and reactions on the margins.

By doing this, your are entering into a dialogue with the

author and not just passively reading the text.
 Creating a rough outline of the text will also
be helpful in getting to understand it more
critically. By locating the thesis statement, claims,
and evidence, and then plotting these into an
outline, you can see how the writer structures,
sequences, and connects his or her ideas. This way
you will be able to better evaluate the quality of
the writing.
 Summarizing the text is similar to
outlining, in that you need to get the gist.

A summary consists of getting the main

points of the essay and important supporting
details.
 Summarizing is a useful skill because
you can better understand the reading if
you can recognize and differentiate
major and minor points in the text.
 Questioning the text involves asking
specific questions on points that your are
skeptical about. These may be topics that do
not meet your expectations or agree with your
personal views.
Determining Explicit and
Implicit Information
 Critical reading also means that you are
able to distinguish the information that is
clearly stated (explicit) in the text from
ideas that are suggested (implicit). This will
help you make inferences about what you
read.
Defining Claims
 The claim is the most important part of the
text. The quality and complexity of the reading
depend on the claim, because the claim defines
the paper’s direction and scope. The claim is a
sentence that summarizes the most important
thing that the writer wants to say as a result of
his/her thinking, reading, or writing.
1.A claim should be argumentative and debatable.
2.A claim should be specific and focused.
3.A claim should be interesting and engaging.
4.A claim should be logical.
Distinguishing Between
the Types of Claim
 First, claims of fact state a
quantifiable assertion, or a measurable topic.
They assert that something has existed,
exist, or will exist based on data. They rely
on reliable sources or systematic procedures
to be validated; this is what makes them
different from inferences.
 Next, claims of value assert something
that can be qualified. They consist of arguments
about moral, philosophical, or aesthetic topic.
These types of topics try to prove that some
values are more or less desirable compared to
others. They make judgments, based on certain
standards, on whether something is right or wrong,
good or bad, or something similar.
 Finally, claims of policy posit that
specific actions should be chosen as solutions
to a particular problem.
 Being a critical reader also involves understanding
that texts are always developed with a certain context. A
text is neither written nor read in a vacuum; its meaning
and interpretation are affected by a given set of
circumstances. Thus, context is defined as the social,
cultural, political, historical, and other related
circumstances that surround the text and form the terms
from which it can be better understood and evaluated.

When was the work written?

What were the circumstances that produced it?
 Another important technique in analyzing the context
of a text’s development is defining its intertextual link to
another text. Intertextuality is the modeling of a text’s
meaning by another text. It is defined as the connections
between language, genre, or discourse. This is seen when
an author borrows and transforms a prior text, or when
you read one text and you reference another. This view
recognizes that the text is always influenced by previous
texts and in turn anticipates future texts.
 A text contains many layers of accumulated
cultural, historical, and social knowledge, which
continually adds to and affects one another. Thus,
intertextuality becomes a dialogue among
different texts and interpretation of the writer,
the audience, and the current and earlier cultural
contexts.
Take, for intake, the local legend of folk hero Bernardo
Carpio. Many versions of his tale exist, but local
folklore says he is a giant who is the cause of
earthquake. In Greek mythology, there is also Poseidon,
who is the god of sea and earthquakes. Many cultures
also attribute natural disasters to legendary figures.
This is an example intertextuality.
 Meanwhile, hypertext is a relatively new way
of reading a text online. Traditionally, reading
was viewed as a linear process, where you read
from the beginning until the end. However, the
advent of the Internet and technology has created
new ways of reading and processing a text, which
includes hypertext.
 , therefore, is a nonlinear
way of showing information.

connects topics on a screen

to related information, graphics, videos,
and music---information is not simply
related to text.
This information appears as links and is
usually accessed by clicking. The reader can
jump to more information about a topic, which
in turn may have more links.
 A reader can skim through sections of a text,
freely jumping from one part to another depending on
what aspect of the text interests him/her. Thus, in
reading with hypertext, you are given more flexibility
and personalization because you get to select the
order in which you read the text and focus on
information that is relevant to your background and
interest. Therefore, you create your own meaning out
of the material.
 For example, you are doing research about the
Philippine eagle. A quick Google search would lead you to
a Wikipedia article on it. Information on it would include
a picture and a brief, written description. While reading
about the Philippine eagle, you will also encounter links to
its conversation status. This may lead you to more
information about conversation effort. However, if you
were interested in the appearance of the Philippine
physical description and even give you links to pictures
and videos of the Philippine eagle.
 Thus, depending on your purpose and
interests, the article on the Philippine
eagle could lead you to a variety of
different, detailed paths.
 Becoming a good critical reader means that you
are able to logically evaluate the claims of the
writer. Any writer would want the reader---and
possibly agree with---the claims that he or she
puts forward. In expository writing, assertions
become the primary channel for a reader to assent
to a claim.
Assertions are declarative sentences that claim
something is true about something else. Simply put,
it is a sentence that is either true or false.
 The sampaguita’s roots are used for
medicinal purposes, such as an anesthetic
and a sedative.

The sampaguita belong to the genus

Jasminum of the family Oleaceae.
 The popularity of sampaguita flowers is
most evident in places of worship.

Sampaguitas are the most beautiful

and most fragrant of all flowers.
 A. The first type of assertion is a
This is a statement that can be
proven objectively by direct
experience, testimonies of witnesses,
verified observations, or the results
of research.
 B. The second type is an
A convention is a way in
which something is done, similar to
traditions and norms.
 C. The third type of assertion is
an . Opinions are based on
facts, but are difficult to objectively
verify because of the uncertainty of
producing satisfactory proofs of
soundness.
C.
Opinions result from ambiguities;
the more ambiguous a statement, the
more difficult it is to verify. Thus,
they are open to disputes.
 The popularity of sampaguita flowers
is most evident in places of worship.

The above statement is an opinion because it is based on an observation

that need to be proven by studies and repeated observations; there are too
many factors involved that makes explicit judgement difficult.