Helping Students Critically Assess Readings

The main purpose of this article is:
Ask yourself why the author(s) wrote this. There may be several reasons but which one contains all the others? Why did they bother to put all this down in writing? This is the objective of the writing, to satisfy some desire or fulfill some need. Look for the purpose usually near the beginning, but not always.

The key objective is:
What question does the article, as a whole, try to answer? Again, there may be several questions but which one is the main one that contains all others? What is the problem to be solved?
If stated outright, it is often near the beginning but again not always. The answer to this question is likely to be the answer to question #4 or related to it. Put your answer here in the form of a question.

The most important information in this article is:
Look for data, evidence, and proof of what the author is trying to say. What empirical evidence if offered to support to support the main conclusion? What statistics, interviews, quotations from experts on the subject, personal experiences for example bolster the claims of the author? What is going to make the author’s conclusion believable? This could be found anywhere but usually in the middle of a piece of writing. Sometimes the evidence of proof will be identified as such but often is not.

The main conclusion in this article are:
The conclusion is typically the answer to the key question (our #2 here). This is the main argument, the main point the author wishes to make. If you were to choose only one of these eight questions to say what the article was all about, this would be the one. What primarily does the want to tell you?
The conclusion is usually found at or near the end of a piece, but not always if the article is actually quoted material where the whole original piece is not given. Watch for word clues such as “in conclusion,” or “what all of this illustrates is…”

The key concept(s) we need to understand is (are):
Look for the main terms with special meanings. They could be theories, principles, axioms, rules (but NOT the main conclusion of the article).
Look for those terms – a few words or a phrase – that in a textbook would be likely to be printed in boldface and included in a glossary. These are supporting concepts of the argument. There may be several so write down all of them and then choose the most important ones someone would need to know to understand the article. Occasionally, they are implied but not stated outright in the words of the article. They may be found anywhere in the article.

The main assumption(s) underlying the author’s thinking is (are):
Think about what is taken for granted and usually not stated outright. These are the presuppositions that the argument is based on. What does the author assume in order to make his or her argument?

Usually these will not be found in the article because the author is not arguing these points. In other words, this is NOT the conclusion but what the author takes for granted, takes as given, in order to make the conclusion. The author already believes these foundational ideas. So you have to dig to discover the assumptions. They are what you must assume along with the author in order to follow the logic of the argument. (if you do not share the assumptions, the author’s argument or conclusion will not be persuasive.) For example, one assumption that the author is most likely to make is the proof that the author uses to rest his or her case on (the answer to our #3 question) is valid evidence.

If people take this line of reasoning seriously, the implications are:
These are the consequences, the results, what come next if what the author says is true. The trick here is to consider what people might be affected by the issue at hand. What particular groups would be concerned or involved in the matter? So first identify the interested parties and then imagine what this would mean for them.

If people fail to take this line of reasoning seriously, the implications are:
In most cases, things remain the same or continue to develop in the direction the author is predicting if no one consciously makes an effort to change the situation or the trend. The implications here would be the same as if the article had not been read at all.

The main point(s) of view is (are):
Be careful here: In the context, the point of view is NOT the same thing as the conclusion. The point of view is the frame of reference, the angle or perspective of the author. Where is the author “coming from”? What social groups does the author belong to that might lead to a particular view point, e.g. sex, age, race/ethnicity, occupation, religion, class?
What life experiences has the author had that would be significant in his or her understanding and/or presentation of the topic? How is the author a credible author on this subject? Is there a bias that might be of concern? Would the issue or arguments change if seen from a different point of view?
Some authors will be described briefly before or after the article itself. If this information is not given, you can ask questions about the possible point of view of the author but you cannot answer those questions without the information given.

By Elizabeth Bodien, Northampton Community College