Critical reading occurs when you read a piece of writing beyond basic comprehension. Critical reading involves evaluation of the writing and the source itself, it involves interpreting the message that the author is trying to convey, it involves being curious and utilizing skills of inquiry by asking good questions about a piece of writing. When reading critically it is important to disregard your own bias and look for new perspectives that might provide new opinions. It is also important to look for a particular bias that the author of the text might hold. Overall, critical reading involves a variety of tasks, but I will primarily focus on using inquiry skills, considering new perspectives, and making connections within my own reading.
For me, one of the most important pieces of critical reading is creating good questions to ask about the text I am evaluating. Through doing this, I am forcing myself to think in a more divergent manner in order to come up with possible solutions to the questions I have composed. In the artifact I am referencing, notes for my Line of Inquiry, I had read an article regarding the importance of political correctness, and written down some information that I thought was valuable. I found the author of this article making some sweeping statements that I came to question, and those questions developed into ideas that would help to further my research. Within my notes you can see that I composed a question that says, “Does an expansion of language equal our rights to freedom of speech?” This curiosity over what the author had stated led me to research my new question further, and surprisingly that research allowed me to see a new perspective on the issue. In this case, I critically read an article, that critical reading made me question some of the authors’ opinions, I used inquiry skills to create a good question that furthered my research, and eventually I was led to new ideas that I would not have discovered otherwise.
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When attempting to critically read a piece of writing, it is so important for me to acknowledge the fact that I have my own bias. Once I can successful Identify my personal bias, I can attempt to overlook it in order to discover new ideas. A major aspect of critical reading is the task of discovering new information and considering the ideas that those authors are presenting as possible truths. When I do this, I allow myself to see entirely new perspectives on particular issues. The blog post beside this is completely based around this premise. My reasoning behind creating this post was to consider some opinions that I might have otherwise dispelled. As you can see, at the beginning of this post I acknowledged that I had a bias, I did not believe that there were any positive aspects to political correctness. I set this opinion aside and attempted to find some positive aspects of political corrects, and I accomplished just that. I stated within this post, “I can honestly say that these sources have helped me to understand some of the positive aspects of political correctness that I have never considered, or have refused to consider in the past.” I discovered that political correctness is a true attempt at promoting safety and diversity. The only reason I found these new ideas was because I practiced being a critical reader through specifically searching for a new perspective. This is such an applicable skill that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. How can I truly resolve any issue, or find the best answer to a question, if I do not intentionally search for a variety of ideas and opinions?
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I find myself making connections within my reading by relating the piece to previous events that have occurred in my life. The daybook entry underneath this is my response to the peer feedback article that we read earlier in this course. After reading this article I made connections to my previous experiences with peer feedback before entering college. I discuss how peer feedback in high school was always pathetic and never helpful, and I also discuss how that article gave me insight on the way that peer feedback should have been conducted. The purpose of the connections I made when critically reading this piece is that it allows me to evaluate my previous knowledge of a topic, such as peer feedback, and then it provides me a model to reference when I am considering the progress I have made in my learning.