8-reading-literature._1

ReadingLiteratureReadCriticallyEfficientreadingThismeanssuspendingjudgmentonatextuntilyouhaveunderstoodthemessagebeingputforward.Ifyoureaduncriticallyyoumayaccepttextsandargumentswhichareflawed,biasedandsubjectivelywritten.Readingcriticallywillhelptomakesurethatyourstudyandresearchactivitiescontinueassoundlyaspossible.Tohelpyoureadinthisway,youmightusethecriticalreadingchecklisttohelpyouasktherightsortofquestionsofthematerialyouhavetoread.ThecriticalreadingchecklistChecklist1Whatistheauthor'sapproach/perspective?Isthereanothertheoreticalorphilosophicalapproachwhichmighthavebeentaken?Who/whatisleftoutofthetext?Doestheauthorwritefromaninsider's/outsider'sperspective?Howdoesthiseffectwhatisincluded/excludedfromthetext?Doyouagreewiththepointstheauthorismaking?Checklist2Arethepointsmadebytheauthorsupportedbyevidence?Istheevidenceanecdotaloristheevidencetheresultofscientificstudy/research?Istheevidencereferenced?Isitrecent?Doesthewriterpresentopinionasfact?Doesthewriterusevalidreasoning?Areanyassumptionsthewriterhasmadecleartothereader?Checklist3Doesthewriteroversimplifycomplexideas?Doesthewritermakeunsupportedgeneralizations?Doesthewritermakereasonableinferences?Doesthewriterrepresenttheideasofothersaccurately?Fairly?Doesthewriterdistorttheideasofothersorpresentthemoutofcontext?Checklist4Doesthewriteruseunfairpersuasiontacticssuchasappealstoprejudiceorfear?Doesthewriterpresentabalancedpictureoftheissue?Howwouldyoucharacterizethewriter'stone?Checklist5Howdoesthetoneaffectyourresponsetothetext?Doesthewriter'slanguage,tone,orchoiceofexamplesrevealanybiases?Ifso,dothewriter'sbiasesreducehisorhercredibility?Checklist6Doyourreactionsrevealbiasesinyourownthinking?Doesthetextchallengeyourownvalues,beliefs,andassumptions?Checklist7Ifthepapercontainsstatistics,graphs,illustrationsetc,aretheseadequatelyintroducedanddiscussedanddotheycontributetotheauthor'sargument?Thequestionsrelevanttoresearcharticles.Arethelimitationsoftheproceduresclear?Isthemethodologyvalid?(e.g.sizeofthesample,methodofsamplingused)Aretheresultsconsistentwiththeobjectives?Aretheresultsverifiable?Aretheclaimstheauthormakesabouthisorherownresearchinternallyconsistent,thatis,aretheaims,method,resultsandconclusionoftheresearchlogicallyconsistentwitheachotherArethediagramscleartothereader?HowtoReadAcademicTextsCriticallyAcademicmaterialisnotmeanttoberead.Itismeanttoberansackedandpillagedforessentialcontent.Thismeansthatyoushouldneverjustsitdowntoreadacademicworksasiftheywerenovelsormagazinearticles.Academicstudyisnotsuitedtosuchanapproach,andthechancesareyoucouldspendhoursreadingandthennothaveacluewhatyouhavebeenreadingabout(doesthatsoundfamiliar?).Rule#1Neverreadwithoutspecificquestionsyouwantthetexttoanswer.Ifyouwantyourreadingtostayinyourmemory,youmustapproachyourtextwithalistofquestionsabouttheparticularinformationyouareafter,andsearchthetextfortheanswerstothosequestions.Don'tjustreadwiththehopethatananswerwillappear.Rule#2Neverstartreadingatpage1ofthetext.Ifthereisasummary,aconclusion,asetofsub-headings,oranabstract,readthatfirst,becauseitwillgiveyouamapofwhatthetextcontains.Youcanthendealwiththetextstructurally,lookingforparticularpoints,notjustreading‘‘blind''andsoeasilygettinglost.Alwayskeepinmindwhatyouneed,whatisrelevanttothequestionyouareaskingthetext.Rule#3Thinkcriticallyasyouread.Inreadingacademictextsyouneedtodevelopapersonal(butneverthelessacademicandrational)responsetothearticle/theory/chapterthrough(1)developinganunderstandingofthecontentand(2)evaluatingandcritiquingthearticle.Therefore,beforereadingatextclosely,readtheintroductionorabstractandskimreadthetexttogiveyouapreliminaryideaofwhatitisabout.Thenreaditcloselyandcritically.Somequestionstohelpyoureadcriticallyare:Whatarethemainpointsofthistext?Canyouputtheminyourownwords?Whatsortsofexamplesareused?Aretheyuseful?Canyouthinkofothers?Whatfactors(ideas,people,things)havebeenincluded?Canyouthinkofanythingthathasbeenmissedout?Isaparticularbiasorframeworkapparent?Canyoutellwhat'schoolofthought'theauthorbelongsto?Canyouworkoutthestepsoftheargumentbeingpresented?Doallthestepsfollowlogically?Couldadifferentconclusionbedrawnfromtheargumentbeingpresented?Arethemainideasinthetextsupportedbyreliableevidence(wellresearched,non-emotive,logical)?Doyouagreeordisagreewiththeauthor?Why?Whatconnectionsdoyouseebetweenthisandothertexts?Wheredoesitdifferfromothertextsonthesamesubject?Whatarethewiderimplications——foryou,forthediscipline?Rule#4Treatcriticalreadingasaskillwhichcanbedevelopedthroughpractices,suchas:Takingnotesofthetext'smainideasandaddingyourownresponsivecomments.Talkingtoothersaboutwhatyouhaveread.Relatingagiventexttoothersinthesyllabusbyidentifyingsimilarorcontrastingthemes.Explainingwhatthetextmeanstoanon-specialistandnotingwhatyouwouldhavetoaddtomakeitintelligible?e.g.Askingyourself:Isitpossibletodisagreewithanyofthis?Askingyourself:'HowcanIconvincemypeers/teachersthatIunderstandwhatthisisabout?'ReadingLiteratureThethreestagesof