Reading and Writing Ideas As Well As Words

How the Language Really Works:

The Fundamentals of Critical Reading and Effective Writing

"Never accept things as they're portrayed." Anthony Shadid, journalist, 1968-2012

To non-critical readers, many texts offer the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

To the critical reader, any single text provides but one portrayal of the facts, one individual's "take" on the subject.

Critical reading is an analytic activity. The reader rereads a text to identify patterns of elements -- information, values, assumptions, and language usage-- throughout the discussion. These elements are tied together in an interpretation, an assertion of an underlying meaning of the text as a whole.

Critical thinking involves bringing outside knowledge and values to bear to evaluate the presentation and decide what to ultimately accept as true.

Alternative Indexes to the Site

I Know What It Says. What Does It Mean?

Everyone complains that students cannot read well…

and yet most high schools and colleges offer no course in critical reading.

This is the website for just such a course.

Copyright © 2002, 2010 by Daniel J. Kurland. All rights reserved.

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