Tips for Improving Academic Reading as a Critical Reader
- Boon Yih Mah
- Apr 28, 2022
- 14 min read
Updated: Apr 14
Reading is an active activity that involves gathering information and comprehending a text. Reading serves multiple purposes: learning, influencing, gaining wisdom, entertainment, social connections, and more (Smith, 2018). Reading is important because it helps us learn new skills, gain influence, and acquire wisdom. It entertains us, develops compassion, and allows us to escape reality. Reading deepens social connections, expands vocabulary, and enriches our experiences.
Academic reading is defined as reading with a specific educational goal involving several essential focus areas. It focuses on skills like vocabulary development, text analysis, and argument evaluation (Jones & Peters, 2020). These include vocabulary development, reading techniques and mechanics, passage structure recognition, text analysis, author's purpose, viewpoint and tone interpretations, inferences, drawing conclusions, and argument evaluation.
A. Tips for Developing Vocabulary Solutions
a. Contextual Clues
When we read, we frequently come across vocabulary that we are unfamiliar with. To avoid disrupting the momentum of your reading to comprehend the text, you should deduce the term's meaning from its context. Context refers to the thoughts surrounding an unknown term and may hint at the meaning of the word you guess.
Contextual clues are employed to deduce the meanings of these unknown terms. The hints (signal word or indicator) can appear in various ways before, after, or within words, phrases, or expressions. Use eight types to deduce meanings of unknown words (Carter, 2017). Here are eight different kinds of contextual clues:
Definition clue
The meaning or explanation of the unfamiliar term can be found in the phrase that precedes or follows it.
The phrase generally indicates this clue 'that/who is' as well as punctuation such as the comma (,), dash (-), and parentheses [()].
Example:
The skinny woman, who is extremely thin, and her clothing appears several sizes larger on her.
Clue: who is
Meaning of skinny: extremely thin
Synonym clue
Other terms with identical meanings are used in the statement.
Example:
Several notions, or ideas, were proposed as to how the murder occurred.
Clue: or
Meaning of notions: ideas
Antonym clue
The phrase contains a word or a group of words with the opposite meaning of the unknown term.
This clue is generally indicated by 'even though', 'whereas', 'unlike', and 'as opposed to'.
Example:
The flight departs from Kuala Lumpur at 9.40 a.m. and arrives in Alor Star at 10.40 a.m.
Clue: arrives
Meaning of departs: leaves
Example clue
Examples are given to explain the unknown word.
Example:
Nutritious foods, such as fruits and vegetables, aid in human growth.
Clue: such as fruits and vegetables
Meaning of nutritious: healthy
Experience clue
The reader's personal experience can be used to explain how people or objects behave in certain circumstances.
This information gives hints as to the meaning of the unfamiliar word.
Example:
Nandini enjoys seclusion since she lives alone in a remote hut on a small island without phone service.
Clue: lives alone in a remote hut on a small island with no phone service
Meaning of seclusion: isolation
Cause and effect clues
The statement explains the cause for or the effect of the unknown word.
This clue is generally indicated by the words 'so, 'since,' 'thus,' and 'therefore'.
Example:
She wanted to wow her dinner guests with the cuisine she prepared, so she acquired a gastronomic art book and studied it for a week.
Clue: wow her dinner guests with the cuisine she prepared
Meaning of gastronomic: food preparation
Inference clue
The meaning of the unknown word can be inferred from the context of the sentence.
Example:
Nobody wants to be an underperformer since he would never earn excellent grades, get a decent job, or be successful.
Clue: would never earn excellent grades, a decent job, or be successful
Meaning of underperformer: less success than expected achiever
Affixes clues
Prefixes and suffixes (affixes) can give immediate hints about the meaning of an unfamiliar word.
This clue is generally indicated by the usage of 'pre-','re-', 'un-', 'in-', 'dis-', and 'mis-'.
Example:
She had to rewrite the report since it included many grammatical problems.
Clue: re-
Meaning of rewrite: to write again
b. Dictionary Skills
You can use the dictionary to validate your comprehension of an unknown word after guessing its meaning from the context with far less certainty. If you know the shortcuts, it can be easy. The first thing to understand is that all of the entries in the dictionary are listed alphabetically. The words at the top of each dictionary page are guide words. These words indicate the first and last words explained on a specific page. Here are two steps for using guidewords:
Look at the guide words.
Decide whether the word you seek falls between the two guide words.
A dictionary entry provides all the information about a word we need. You need to be able to spot the various sections of a dictionary entry to obtain the correct information. Learn to navigate entries, guide words, pronunciation, parts of speech, and definitions (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Guide words
This tells you the first and last words defined on each page.
Entry word
The • separates the syllables.
The ¹ notes that there is more than one definition entry.
Pronunciation
This is separated into syllables and tells you how to pronounce the entry word.
The ' tells you which syllable is stressed.
Part of speech
This abbreviation tells you what part of speech the defined word is.
Definition
This explains the meaning of the entry word.
The definition is divided by numbers if there is more than one meaning.
A sentence is often used as an example to make the meaning clearer.
Plural form
This shows how the entry word is written in plural form.
Origin
This shows the origin of the entry word.
B. Tips for Reading Techniques Solutions
You rapidly read a large portion of it whenever you skim or scan a text. Skimming and scanning are speed reading techniques and are related in certain ways. This particular reading technique's purpose, process, and output are the distinctions.
a. Skimming
Skimming aims to locate general information in a text, such as the text's main idea or the main idea of each paragraph, to comprehend its content. Quickly grasp the main idea and structure by focusing on titles, headings, and key sentences (Williams, 2019). Everyone must understand the stages involved in skimming. These key steps are as follows:
Rapidly perform a search over the text with your eyes.
Selectively read key points in the text.
Examine the title, introduction, first paragraph, first sentence of each section, and last paragraph of the passage.
b. Scanning
Scanning is an important reading ability that helps find specific text information. Locate specific details (e.g., dates, names) with focused eye movements (Williams, 2019). Scanning needs more steps than skimming, and these are the steps:
Remember the question that we need to answer.
Know the form of the information, linear or non-linear.
Move our eyes quickly over the text.
Read the whole sentence/non-linear section, which contains the information
Look for specific 'wh' details: name, date, place, statistics, reason, method, etc.
C. Tips for Recognising Paragraph Structure Solutions
A paragraph is a group of sentences arranged logically and meaningfully. You must identify the topic if the paragraph does not have a topic sentence, heading, or subheading. The main idea or topic sentence notifies readers about the key issue of that paragraph. Supporting details describe the main idea and assist readers in comprehending the paragraph's topic.
a. Topic
Your understanding of the topic will guide your comprehension of the text. A text's topic can be used as the title of the text. A one-word topic can be assigned to a paragraph with a basic concept. Keywords are terms that are used repeatedly or that are alluded to.
b. Main Idea
The main idea of a text is the text's primary focus. It is also known as a topic sentence (paragraph) or a thesis statement (passage). A topic sentence can be positioned at a paragraph's beginning, middle, or end. A thesis statement can only be found in the introduction of the passage, which is generally located in the last sentence.
The author may directly or indirectly state the main idea. The stated main idea is an author-constructed topic sentence. Sometimes, the topic sentence can also be implied or the implied main idea, which means it does not appear anywhere in the paragraph. As a result, the supporting details will assist the readers in identifying the paragraph's main idea. It is the reader-constructed topic sentence. To formulate your implied main idea, do the following:
Read the paragraph.
Find the topic.
Identify the keywords.
Connect them into a sentence.
c. Supporting Details
Supporting details are detailed information utilised to support, clarify, describe, extend, explain, or exemplify the main idea of a paragraph. Reason (belief, assumption, and value) and evidence (fact, instance, and statistics) are supporting details that provide readers with a foundation for accepting an argument.
Claim, description, explanation, or definition can all be used as supporting details. They are divided into two categories: major and minor supporting details. The major supporting detail is directly related to the topic sentence as the explanation; however, the minor supporting detail depends on the previous sentence as the elaboration of the major supporting detail as the former sentence.
d. Organisation Patterns
Paragraph structure refers to how information in a paragraph is organised. The structure of a text might be altered several times within a paragraph. In reading assessments, students are frequently asked to identify text structures or patterns of organisation. Understanding text structures may also help students construct and comprehend arguments. For these reasons, here are the seven orders commonly used patterns of organisation.
Cause and effect
The outcomes of something as a factor are being discussed.
Chronological
The information in the paragraph is ordered chronologically based on the timeline.
Compare and contrast
At least two objects are described.
The similarities and contrasts between them are addressed.
Order of importance
The information is presented in a hierarchical or ranking order.
Problem and solution
An issue is stated, and a solution or answer is provided or explained.
Sequence/Process
Steps are used to arrange information, while procedures are discussed in the sequence in which they occur.
Spatial/Descriptive
Information is organised in order of space (top to bottom, left to right).
D. Tips for Recognising Reading Mechanics Solutions
a. Reference Words
Reference words refer to the previous or following word or phrase without repeating it. These words are prevalent in many reading texts. Reference words can appear in a reading text in six forms:
Personal pronouns: I, you, she, he, we, they (things, people) it (one thing)
Relative pronouns: who, whom, which, what, where, when, whose
Possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their
Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs
Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those
Comparative adjectives: both, similar, same, better, more, earlier, later, previous, subsequent
Determiners: a, an, the, any, another, one another, other, others, each, each other
In English, a possessive pronoun indicates ownership and substitutes a noun. A possessive adjective modifies a noun by identifying who owns it. Possessive adjectives such as my, your, his, her, its, our, and their can be replaced with the relative pronoun 'whose'. It's worth noting that certain versions of the possessive adjective and possessive pronoun are interchangeable, like his and its.
The noun being referred to by the reference word for the possessive adjective (my, for example) and possessive pronoun (mine, for example) must be expressed with an apostrophe (') and s, such as John's. Here are the two types of reference words:
Anaphoric
The idea referred to in the text is mentioned before the reference word.
Example: I went to Ali's house on Tuesday. He looked delighted. (The reference word 'He' refers to 'Ali'.)
Cataphoric
The idea referred to in the text is mentioned after the reference word.
Example: When he arrived, Kent was shocked to see the door of his house wide open. (The reference word 'he' refers to 'Kent'.)
b. Transitions
Transitions link sentences and demonstrate the connections between ideas or the evolution of an argument. They are words or phrases that assist readers in the flow of the writer's thoughts. They emphasise essential links and help readers comprehend the text. The following are common transitions with different functions used in reading texts.
To sequence ideas: first, second, third, next, then, finally
To illustrate: for example, for instance, namely, to illustrate, in other words, in particular, such as
To add more ideas: additionally, again, also, as well, besides, furthermore, in addition, moreover, then
To compare: similarly, likewise, similar to, same like, equally
To contrast: but in spite of, on the one hand, nonetheless, in contrast, on the contrary, still, yet
To emphasise: even, indeed, in fact, of course, truly
To specify: specifically, especially, in particular, to list, to enumerate, in detail
To show cause and effect: hence, so, therefore, thus, accordingly, consequently
To conclude: finally, in a word, in brief, in conclusion, in the end, on the whole, to conclude, in summary
E. Tips for Drawing a Conclusion Solutions
A conclusion is a decision or judgement reached based on facts or information supplied. To conclude, the author may employ either inductive or deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning begins with particular evidence or a minor premise and concludes with a broad statement or conclusion. Deductive reasoning starts with a generalisation or a major premise, proceeds to certain evidence or a minor premise, and concludes with examining specific evidence. You can form conclusions as you read, as shown in the phases below:
Take note of all of the facts, arguments, and evidence offered.
Consider what you already know based on your personal experiences.
Ask a few questions and determine whether each question is true or untrue based on the information obtained from the text.
Consider the possible outcomes.
Consider the causes and effects.
'If..., then...' is an example of a sentence.
Construct your conclusion in a statement as a generalisation after considering all the information.
F. Tips for Making Inference Solutions
In your daily life, you make assumptions all the time. Making inferences involves developing an early conclusion regarding your reading content. The inference is a message implied rather than stated clearly in the text. It is a fair guess or an opinion based on facts or evidence offered. The author indicates an oblique message for the reader to deduce. An inference is based on the author's input and the reader's prior knowledge. Below are the five recommended steps:
Identify the text's main idea.
Recognise the author's point of view.
Look for the evidence.
Narrow down the possibilities.
Select the best deduction.
G. Tips for Analysing a Text Solutions
When we analyse a reading text to gain a deeper understanding of its content, we often encounter various supporting details that provide context and clarification. These details can include examples, statistics, anecdotes, and other relevant information that enrich the main ideas presented. To accurately determine the truthfulness of a statement or claim made in the text, it is essential to conduct a thorough examination of the material. This involves evaluating the credibility of the supporting details, considering their relevance, and examining how they contribute to the overall argument or message of the text.
a. Comparison and Contrast
The author develops ideas or arguments using various methods when reading a text. What does it mean to compare and contrast? The term "compare" refers to determining the similarities between two subjects. To contrast implies pointing out the differences between two things.
As we read, clue words can help us to compare and contrast easily. Here are some clue words which can be helpful for comparison: same, similarly, both, alike, equally, correspondingly, likewise, comparable, as with, like, just as, compared to, at the same time, as well as, and have in common.
To show contrast, the clue words are: different, on the other hand, in comparison to, conversely, on the contrary, instead of, even though, but, unlike, whereas, nevertheless, nonetheless, alternatively, otherwise, although, even so, though, despite, and despite.
b. Facts vs. Opinions
Reading texts typically include both facts and opinions. Although facts and opinions may appear similar at first glance, they are not. As attentive and critical readers, you must be able to discern between the two to comprehend the texts properly. The following are the distinctions between facts and views.
A fact can be verified. It can be proven by evidence-based research or empirical studies. The signal words are true, prove, evidence, know, and undoubtedly.
An opinion cannot be verified. It is not based on evidence but on a belief, view or perception. The signal words include feel, think, believe, seems, best, greatest, perceive, agree, and say.
H. Tips for Interpreting the Author's Purpose, Tone, and Viewpoint Solutions
a. Identifying the Author's Purpose
There are several causes or purposes for writing. The author's purpose is also the objective of writing. Some writers write to entertain their readers, while others write to persuade or convince them. Authors also write to inform or educate their readers. The authors may have multiple goals while composing work, with primary and secondary objectives. The most typical purposes are instructing, informing, entertaining, and persuading.
To instruct means to show someone how to do something step-by-step. Advising, guiding, educating, and coaching are examples of teaching. It is to inform if it attempts to offer broad and detailed facts about a particular subject. The examples include analysing, clarifying, discussing, and explaining. To entertain means to create a relatively pleasurable reading experience, such as to amuse, delight, shock, or please. Persuading means convincing the reader to do or believe something. The examples include debating, persuading, criticising, and inspiring.
b. Identifying the Author's Tone
The author's tone relates to his or her attitude toward the issue. The author employs a variety of tones to achieve a range of purposes. The author's tone may be determined by the words used and the information offered in the text. Here are some of the most widely used tones, classed as positive, neutral, or negative:
Positive:
amused, appreciative, authoritative, brave, calm, compassionate, confident, encouraging, enthusiastic, patriotic, optimistic, cheerful, concerned
Neutral:
objective, indifferent, impartial, factual, formal, informative, instructive, reflective, cautious, serious, urgent
Negative:
accusing, angry, bitter, disapproving, insulting, intolerant, fanatical, condemnatory, contradictory, critical, harsh, manipulative, passive, pessimistic
c. Identifying Author's Viewpoint/Point of View
The author's point of view is his or her opinion on a subject or the concepts conveyed in his or her work. You can discern the author's point of view by examining the text's topic and the language used. The expressed point of view, given proof, choice of words and phrases, writing style, and connotation that make you think about something when you read it in the text can all reveal an author's thoughts about a particular issue. Readers who pay close attention can comprehend an author's point of view by recognising the issue, bias, prejudice, and assumption.
An issue is a contentious topic about which people have strong sentiments and views that they either support or oppose. Bias is the author's penchant for favouring one side of an issue over another. It suggests a bias toward something, which may be deduced from the author's choice of words. Prejudice is a pre-judgment with a negative meaning. Assumptions are things the author has taken for granted that are left unsaid or not made plain or evident.
I. Tips for Evaluating an Argument Solutions
a. Premise/Evidence
A paragraph's key point can be addressed as an argument or claim. A good argument is not always compelling. It displays the correct facts and reasoning that give solid grounds to accept the conclusion. If all of the premises are true, the conclusion must be true. The following criteria can be used to evaluate/support evidence:
Strength
Research findings, statistics, facts, case studies, examples, comparisons, expert testimony, or opinions provide strong support/evidence.
Weak support/evidence are personal experiences and observations.
Relevance
The support/evidence is relevant if it relates directly to the argument.
Objectivity
The support/evidence is objective if it comes from external sources like facts.
The support/evidence is subjective if it comes from the author's judgement and emotional involvement.
b. Structure
To evaluate an argument, you must be able to identify its structure.
Completeness
The argument is complete if:
The author considers opposing views and offers a counterargument against them;
The author concedes that the opposing views have some merits but refutes one or two points of them.
Validity
The argument is valid if:
the evidence is verifiable, robust, and relevant;
the argument is well-reasoned.
Credibility/reliability
The argument is credible if:
the evidence is believable, strong, and relevant;
the argument is objective and complete.
c. Reasoning
Both inductive and deductive reasoning is used in the author's argument. Sentences incorporating premises or evidence to persuade the reader to accept the argument are reasoning. The primary distinction between inductive and deductive thinking is that inductive reasoning seeks to build a hypothesis, whereas deductive reasoning seeks to test an existing theory. Inductive reasoning proceeds from individual facts to broad generalisations, whereas deductive reasoning proceeds in the other direction.
d. Argument
You are frequently asked to assess the stuff you have read in academic settings. An argument is a statement the author makes that the reader is invited to accept. It is a contentious matter being addressed, as well as the author's opinion or belief on the subject. If the author provides information about a topic without adopting a position, he or she is not arguing. The following questions should be considered while evaluating the author's argument:
What is the contentious subject being debated?
What is the author's stance, belief, or bias?
Is the author prejudiced? How is prejudice communicated?
Is the author making any assumptions about the issue? If so, what are the underlying assumptions?
What forms of evidence/support are employed to back up the argument?
Is the evidence/support directly tied to the argument?
Is the evidence/support objective or subjective?
Is the argument complete?
Is the argument sound and logical?
Is the argument credible or believable?
References
Carter, P. (2017). Vocabulary Building for Effective Reading. New York: Academic Publishing.
Jones, L., & Peters, R. (2020). Academic Reading Skills: A Comprehensive Guide. London: Routledge.
Oxford University Press. (2021). The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smith, J. (2018). The Benefits of Reading: A Comprehensive Overview. Boston: Learning Hub Publications.
Williams, T. (2019). Techniques for Efficient Reading. Chicago: Reader's Guide Press.
Let's Recall...
What are the eight contextual clues mentioned in the text, and how do they help you understand unfamiliar words?
Why is skimming considered an essential reading technique, and what steps are involved in effectively skimming a text?
How can the structure of a paragraph assist readers in understanding the organisation of information?
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