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CriticalReadingCriticalreadingappliestonon-fictionwritinginwhichtheauthorputsforthapositionorseekstomakeastatement.Criticalreadingisactivereading.Itinvolvesmorethanjustunderstandingwhatanauthorissaying.Criticalreadinginvolvesquestioningandevaluatingwhattheauthorissaying,andformingyourownopinionsaboutwhattheauthorissaying.Herearethethingsyoushoulddotobeacriticalreader.Considerthecontextofwhatiswritten.Youmaybereadingsomethingthatwaswrittenbyanauthorfromadifferentculturalcontextthanyours.Or,youmaybereadingsomethingwrittensometimeagoinadifferenttimecontextthanyours.Ineithercase,youmustrecognizeandtakeintoaccountanydifferencesbetweenyourvaluesandattitudesandthoserepresentedbytheauthor.Questionassertionmadebytheauthor.Don'tacceptwhatiswrittenatfacevalue.Beforeacceptingwhatiswritten,becertainthattheauthorprovidessufficientsupportforanyassertionsmade.Lookforfacts,examples,andstatisticsthatprovidessupport.Alsolooktoseeiftheauthorhasintegratedtheworkofauthorities.Comparewhatiswrittenwithotherwrittenworkonthesubject.Looktoseethatwhatiswrittenisconsistent.withwhatothershavewrittenaboutthesubject.Ifthereareinconsistencies,carefullyevaluatethesupporttheauthorprovidesfortheinconsistencies.Analyzeassumptionsmadebytheauthor.Assumptionsarewhatevertheauthormustbelieveistrueinordertomakeassertions.Inmanycases,theauthor'sassumptionsarenotdirectlystated.Thismeansyoumustreadcarefullyinordertoidentifyanyassumptions.Onceyouidentifyanassumption.Youmustdecidewhetherornottheassumptionisvalid.Evaluatethesourcestheauthoruses.Indoingthis,becertainthatthesourcesarecredible.Forexample,Einsteinisacrediblesourceiftheauthoriswritingaboutlandmarkachievementsinphysics.AlsobecertainthatthesourcesarerelevantEinsteinisnotarelevantsourcewhenthesubjectispoetry.Finally,Iftheauthoriswritingaboutasubjectinitscurrentstate,besurethatthesourcesarecurrent.Forexample,studiesdonebyEinsteinintheearly20thcenturymaynotbeappropriateifthewriterisdiscussingthecurrentstateofknowledgeinphysics.Identifyanypossibleauthorbias.AwrittendiscussionofAmericapoliticswilllikelylookconsiderablydifferentdependingonwhetherthewriterisaDemocratoraRepublican.Whatiswrittenmayverywellreflectabiasintoaccountwhenreadingwhattheauthorhaswritten.Thatis,takewhatiswrittenwithagrainofsalt.Bybeingacriticalreader,youwillbecomebetterinformedandmaychangeyourviewsasappropriate.