Effective critical reading
R20–0691 POPH60041 ASYNC ONLY
Supporting materials
- Online session materials: Hello video, student team tips on reading, Cornell notes exemplar, editable Cornell notes doc, Being Critical, Note-making, Feedback form, padlet, Article
Practicalities
- Group: 100
- Length: 60–90 mins
- Discipline: Any
- Level: UG/PGT
Learning outcomes
After engaging with this support, you will be able to:
- Distinguish between types of reading for different purposes
- Assess how a particular source fits within the wider context of literature and existing knowledge
- Critically analyse arguments within sources to identify strengths and weaknesses
- Develop effective strategies for note-taking/making in different situations
- Understand the conventions for citation styles and bibliographies required for your assignment
- Evaluate reference management tools, identify one to use if appropriate and learn how to use it effectively
Content
Watch this video from Sam Aston (Embed video)
(Embed text) Introduction
In this section we are going to cover how you can develop your reading skills to be a more critical and efficient reader by focusing upon developing what you do when you read. You can practice the skills as you work through the content and return to the support when you need it.
The following article can be used to practice with
(embed text) What is critical reading?
Reading is a core part of your learning. There is considerable value in developing how you approach academic reading and developing an awareness of how reading for learning is different to reading for pleasure.
So how is critical reading different to reading for pleasure? When you are reading critically you are actively engaging with the text rather than passively absorbing the information like you would do perhaps if you were reading a novel or a magazine.
Critical reading is about examining the text. You will evaluate the evidence and arguments presented in the text, and decide to what extent you accept the author’s opinions and conclusions.
Effective critical readers have been found to demonstrate a selection of behaviours that support their approach to reading. Here you will explore these critical reading behaviours allowing you to practice them in your own academic reading.
Read with a purpose:
Knowing why you are reading something is key to giving your academic reading the focus that it needs. If you have a clear understanding of why you are reading what you are reading then you can be sure that you are identifying what you need. Typical reasons for reading might be one of the following.
- Context: to get an overview of the topic that you are studying
- Data/Evidence: to locate relevant data and evidence
- Deep understanding: to gain more detailed knowledge of a topic
Actively engage with the text:
Before opening a book or looking at a journal article it is important to be aware of your method to engage with the material. This is what makes academic reading significantly different to reading for pleasure. Below are a few options available to you.
- read in more detail or more quickly
- take notes
- highlight/ underline key words
- annotate the text with own comments/questions
Activity
Individually consider what method you usually adopt when it comes to note-taking when reading?
Recognise signposts within the writing:
Effective readers typically read a lot and can recognise signposts within writing that signal to them that there is something to examine more closely. Identifying signposts can facilitate you reading for your purpose. Here are some examples:
- References to the work of others.
- Statistics, numbers and data.
- Words that are unfamiliar.
- Words that indicate an absolute (something that is certain or known to be true). For example “Everyone learns to read”.
- Contrasting and comparisons of ideas.
Activity
Using the following link go to the journal article. https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l2110
In the format that best suits your reading style — digital or print — read this article and identify the signposts outlined above.
Add any annotations that the signposts prompt for you.
Identify the authors main idea:
Following an active read of a paper or a book effective readers are able to identify the main idea that the author is communicating. Authors are usually making a claim and as a reader you should be able to identify their idea and define it in your own words.
The author’s main idea is the author’s opinion, it is not the data, it is not the facts.
Since the author’s main idea is an opinion, you can decide whether you agree or disagree with it — and crucially, you can be critical about it!
Identify the evidence
The evidence supporting the opinion, or main idea, will include facts. Wherever you see references, citations, footnotes, web links, statistics or quotations, you know you the author is attempting to back up their opinion with some evidence. So identifying the evidence that an author is using is a valuable step in you taking a critical view of the authors main idea.
Identify the analysis
The analysis is where the author examines the evidence they have presented. They may discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence. In the analysis the author will make connections to trends, larger ideas and the rest of the text. The author will use the evidence to make an argument and communicate their main idea.
Argue or Agree
Your own analysis can then take place in that, you will either argue or agree with the author. Not only that you should be able to articulate why you are arguing or agreeing with them using the notes that you have made that are based upon the connections that you are making with the content.
Summarise for understanding
By actively engaging with a text and drawing out the author’s main idea, you should be able to succinctly summarise the whole piece in your own words. Imagine you are explaining what you have read to a friend; if you are able to communicate the author’s main idea(s) in your own words, it demonstrates that you understood the text.
Apply a structure to your reading
Taking a structured approach to your note-taking can enhance the work that you want your notes to do. Using a strategy like the Cornell note-taking technique provides a systematic way to approach, to prompt you to write a summary of what you have just read.
One strategy that can assist you in keeping your notes organised is Cornell Notes. Cornell notes have three sections: Details, Key Points, and Summary.
1. In the Details section, write down all the important bits of information you discover about a topic while researching and reading. This can include quotes, statistics, diagrams or paraphrased information.
2. In the Key Points section, write down all the questions and thoughts you have about the details of your reading. The thoughts and questions you record here will guide further revision on where you may want to focus next.
3. In the Summary section, in your own words write a summary of everything you have learned and recorded in the two other sections. Summarising a lot of information into a few sentences helps to really focus on what is important.
Here is a completed example from the student team.
You can use this version of Cornell notes to take notes for your next journal club.
Activity
Notes are a key part of academic and critical reading. Think about the notes that you took when you read and add your answers to each question on the board below. (Embed Padlet) https://padlet.com/sam_aston/effectivereadingpoph60041
Summary
Consider how you approach reading for your course and next time you are reading is there a change that you can make so that you can improve your approach to reading?
(Text embed) Students advice on approaching reading
Tips to stay organised with your reading
Nandana Santosh — Student Team
“When dealing with digital sources, you can download them as a PDF and you can import them into OneNote to highlight, to annotate and to add notes just as if you were dealing with physical resources. When highlighting sources, it’s important to consider what you are looking for. If you’re not yet sure what you’re looking for, or what information is most relevant to the findings of the source, you might end up highlighting lots of irrelevant material! Instead of highlighting on the first read, read the material carefully first, think about the main message, and then highlight the supporting information on the second read. Colour-code your highlighting so that when you return to your work, you understand why you have highlighted a particular word or phrase.”
Fatimah Opebiyi — Student Team
“Use sticky notes to note down the key points/contributions or questions answered in each source you read, and stick them up appropriately.”
Tips to improve reading efficiency
Fatimah Opebiyi — Student Team
“When you pick up a source, go through the abstract, the results and conclusions briefly. This will help you identify if the source contains information relevant to your research or if it answers the questions you have especially if the source is mathematical or STEM based.”
Daniel Abara — Student Team
“Now when I’m reading I like to use Mendeley desktop as a companion software. Now this helps me keep track of all my sources and articles and helps me to find whatever article or source I’m looking for at a particular time very very easily because I have all of them in one place. Secondly, it helps when I want to start writing because I can easily generate bibliography files erhm which can be used for in text citation if writing with a software like latex which is the one I use. Also, using mainly Mendeley desktop, you can easily add notes to your sources or to your articles. So if you read an article and you want to add a summary, or you want to add some of the key points or key takeaways, you can add sticky notes directly to the article via Mendeley desktop, so you don’t need to use physical papers and physical sticky notes if you don’t want to.”
Nandana Santosh — Student Team
“When researching you might come across a long paper or journal that seems to support your arguments and results. As tempting as it may seem, do not just read the abstract and conclusions before using it as a resource for your work. Make sure to read the entire piece.”
General and subject based approaches to reading
Olivia Mak — Student Team
“How do you know whether you really understand what you’re reading? How can you tell? Well, quickly ask yourself what the author is saying or arguing under each subheading or section, and then try to explain it to yourself in your own words. That way, you’ll know for sure.”
Fatimah Opebiyi — Student Team
“When reading sources, verify their claims about the authors they cite, because these authors may have been cited out of context.”
Olivia Mak — Student Team
“Required reading is called that for a reason — it’s required for your success on the course! ;) Seriously though, required reading is important because it may well be used as exam material or to inform upcoming assignments. So make sure you read them carefully — skim first to get a general gist of the key points and then read in a more focused, refined way in order to make notes that you can refer back to later on or to use to revise.”
Daniel Abara — Student Team
“So when reading, I like to take a multiple pass approach whereby in the first instance I read the paper passively and then the second and third instances, I go into much more detail. So for example, I am a STEM student, so I read a lot of mathematical papers. So the first time, I will just try to get a general idea of what the paper is talking about or what the author is trying to pass across to the reader and I might not consider in detail whether I understand all the equations and what they’re trying to achieve at that point. What my interest is initially is just to go through the paper from the top to the end and basically get a general feel of what the author is saying. Then in the second instance, I could then try to get into more detail. Now this depends also on how much time I have on my hands. If I have a lot of time on my hands then I could read three or four times. If I don’t have a lot of time then perhaps I will read it just twice. But at least two times is what I usually do when I’m reading.”
Olivia Mak — Student Team
“Scientific reports can be full of contradictory results. To find out potential reasons for discrepancies, read the methods and results sections in detail and see if you can identify why they may have reached different conclusions; perhaps, the procedure was critically different or the participant selection may have been important. If, for example, the paper is studying cognitive processes in psychiatric patients, you may be able to figure out important compounding factors — like for example if the patients are on different types of antipsychotic meditation, this would have definitely affected the results.”
Daniel Abara — Student Team
“So a very useful tip that I make use of when I’m reading especially long reports or articles, is the find feature. The find feature can be activated by using the CTRL+F keys on your keyboard — that means you hold CTRL and then you press the ‘F” key on your keyboard. If you’re reading on a software like Adobe Reader for example, then a small search bar would open at the top right corner of your screen. If you’re reading on your browser, then the search bar would open on the bottom left corner of your screen. Here you can type in the word or phrase that you want to search for and then press ‘enter’ and it will take you to the portion of your document that has that word or phrase.”
(Text embed) Exploring further
There are other note-taking options available and you can find further skills support here:
- Note-Making: capturing what counts:
- Note taking blog post
- Being Critical takes you from critical reading to critical writing
- Read for what you need
(Embed evaluation form)
(Text embed) Help and support
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Email us uml.teachingandlearning@manchester.ac.uk
Use the ‘Ask a question’ tab at the right side of the page on any Subject Guide.
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R20–0691
