Reading critically

So far this handout has outlined how a careful and close reading of a text can be undertaken. In this section, the process is taken a step further by making some suggestions to enable you to add a critical reading to your text. In the unit ‘Creative thinking and critical thinking’, the characteristics of critical thinking were outlined. So, what is the difference between critical reading and critical thinking? We can distinguish between them in the following way:

• Critical reading is a technique for discovering information and ideas within a text. It leads to our ‘understanding’ of the text.
• Critical thinking is a technique for evaluating information and ideas, for deciding what to accept and believe.