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CriticalReadingCriticalreadingappliestonon-fictionwritingwithwhichtheauthorputsforthapositionorseekstomakeastatement.Criticalreadingisactivereading.Itinvolvesmorethanjustunderstandingwhatanauthorissaying.Criticalreadinginvolvesquestioningandevaluatingwhattheauthorissaying,andformingyourownopinionsaboutwhattheauthorissaying.Herearethethingsyoushoulddotobeacriticalreader.Considerthecontextofwhatiswritten.Youmaybereadingsomethingthatwaswrittenbyanauthorfromadifferentculturalcontextthanyours.Or,youmaybereadingsomethingwrittensometimeagoinadifferenttimecontextthanyours.Ineithercase,youmustrecognizeandtakeintoaccountanydifferencesbetweenyourvaluesandattitudesandthoserepresentedbytheauthor.Questionassertionsmadebytheauthor.Don’tacceptwhatiswrittenatfacevalue.Beforeacceptingwhatiswritten,becertainthattheauthorprovidessufficientsupportforanyassertionsmade.Lookforfacts,examples,andstatisticsthatprovidesupport.Also,looktoseeiftheauthorhasintegratedtheworkofauthorities.Comparewhatiswrittenwithotherwrittenworkonthesubject.Looktoseethatwhatiswrittenisconsistentwithwhatothershavewrittenaboutthesubject.Ifthereareinconsistencies,carefullyevaluatethesupporttheauthorprovidesfortheinconsistencies.Analyzeassumptionsmadebytheauthor.Assumptionsarewhatevertheauthormustbelieveistrueinordertomakeassertions.Inmanycases,theauthor’sassumptionsarenotdirectlystated.Thismeansyoumustreadcarefullyinordertoidentifyanyassumptions.Onceyouidentifyanassumption,youmustdecidewhetherornottheassumptionisvalid.Evaluatethesourcestheauthoruses.Indoingthis,becertainthatthesourcesarecredible.Forexample,Einstein*isacrediblesourceiftheauthoriswritingaboutlandmarkachievementsinphysics.Alsobecertainthatthesourcesarerelevant.Einsteinisnotarelevantsourcewhenthesubjectispoetry.Finally,iftheauthoriswritingaboutasubjectinitscurrentstate,besurethatthesourcesarecurrent.Forexample,studiesdonebyEinsteinintheearly20thcenturymaynotbeappropriateifthewriterisdiscussingthecurrentstateofknowledgeinphysics.Identifythatpossibleauthorbias.AwrittendiscussionofAmericanpoliticswilllikelylookconsiderablydifferentdependingonwhetherthewriterisaDemocrat*oraRepublican*.Whatiswrittenmayverywellreflectabiasedposition.Youneedtotakethispossiblebiasintoaccountwhenreadingwhattheauthorhaswritten.Thatis,takewhatiswrittenwith“agrainofsalt.”Bybeingacriticalreader,youwillbecomebetterinformedandmaychangeyourviewsasappropriate.