With information and ideas under your sleeve, you can also easily engage in conversations, speak confidently about your insights, and clearly lay down your points. I want to be able to determine in 5 minutes: Should I even read this? What do the headings tell you? sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph. If the author provides a rule, are there any exceptions to the rule that are not explained or accounted for? You think to think critically and question what youre reading. Regular readers sleep better, have lower stress levels, higher self-esteem, and lower rates of depression than non-readers. When you know why youre reading a book, itll give you a good idea as to how to read it. If a word is important to the writer, it should be important to the reader. Others, wanting to look at the familiar in an unfamiliar way, might read George Saunderss short story, Puppy, about a child who wants a puppy only to discover that the puppys owner is keeping a boy on a leash. What advice would you give to someone about reading this book? Does the author encourage you to think for yourself? Where most readers would simply say that a novel's ending fell flat, a critic would nail down exactly where the author went wrong. Read carefully, marking or highlighting places that are confusing (or so wonderful that you want to re-read). Does the author address counterarguments, disconfirming evidence, objections etc.? What dont you understand? Example: A non-critical thinker/reader might read a history book to learn the facts of the situation or to discover an accepted interpretation of those events. It calms you down with just a flip of a page. It can work wonders for your reading experience. 1. to your life. Needless to say, being able to distinguish between real and fake news for example is absolutely essential nowadays. What Types of Benefits Are Available To Me? - Quebec.ca If so, to who? Are they an expert in the field? On subsequent readings, however, we can focus on how the author presents that information, the kinds of evidence they provide to support their arguments (and how convincing we find that evidence), the connection between their evidence and their conclusions, etc. Does everything make sense to you? Did you get what you expected out of the work, or were you disappointed? Children take their first critical steps toward learning to read and write very early in life. The subject? The more one reads, the better one reads. After youve tested yourself (and hopefully have a good understanding of the book if not re-read and re-test until you do), written a critique, and read the reviews of others, discuss the book with others who have also read it, and share your insights, lessons and perspectives with each other. However, many people hate reading and avoid it at all costs. If the book is worth reading, are there any books you should read before this one? 3. How Critical Reading Can Improve Your Writing Well-Storied. Theyll put them in bold or italics, they might have a glossary or a word list at the end of the chapter, which makes these words exceptionally important. Which aspect of their argument or rationale is fallacious? This refers to words or phrases having various meanings. Recent research in neuroscience suggests that you might look to the library for solutions; reading literary fiction helps people develop empathy, theory of mind, and critical thinking. Like any complex mental task we take on, critical reading is an amazing workout for our brains.