Reading Critically

      The first step in reading critically is to establish the preliminaries. This includes the title, the author, and when and where the work was published. This gives us some background information on the story and can help us greatly when we are trying to dig deeper in our understanding of the piece. Next comes the first read of the work. You shouldn't bog down on everything in the piece, and if you don't understand a word, circle it and come back to it later. You should take notes while you read. This includes circling words that you don't know and writing questions that pop to your mind when you read something. A pencil and journal are good to have near by to take your notes. After you have read the work a few times, summarizing helps you gain a better understanding of what you read by repeating it back in written form. There are short and long ways to do this, but either way, summarizing is helpful (like I'm doing here). Analyzing what you've read is a good way to find the author's main idea, support for the idea, and other elements. By doing these things, you well be a better critical reader, and understand what you are reading on a deeper level.