adams chapter 4 literature review and critical reading

Conducting a Literature Review

• What is a Literature Review?
• Types of Literature Reviews
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• Research Iteration

Book Chapters

Books at the adams library & open books, books in the helin consortium (1-3 day delivery).

• Literature Reviews for Education and Nursing Graduate Students by Linda Frederiksen, Sue F. Phelps Call Number: Open Book Literature Reviews for Education and Nursing Graduate Students is an open textbook designed for students in graduate-level nursing and education programs. Its intent is to recognize the significant role the literature review plays in the research process and to prepare students for the work that goes into writing one. Developed for new graduate students and novice researchers just entering into the work of a chosen discipline, each of the eight chapters covers a component of the literature review process. Students will learn how to form a research question, search existing literature, synthesize results and write the review. The book contains examples, checklists, supplementary materials, and additional resources. Literature Reviews for Education and Nursing Graduate Students is written by two librarians with expertise guiding students through research and writing assignments, and is openly licensed.

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Research Methods for Business and Social Science Students

John adams, hafiz t. a. khan, robert raeside, literature review and critical reading - all with video answers.

Chapter Questions

Select a Journal article (any Journal related to social science or business) and use the template above to critically review it. Discuss the article and your findings in class.

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3 What is Critical Reading?

Robin Jeffrey; Christina Frasier; and Andrea Carl

Learning Objectives:

• Develop college-level critical reading skills
• Apply a systematic, critical process to reading texts

Critical reading is an essential skill needed for college. It requires practice, and an adherence to several steps in order for the reader to be successful in reading at a college level.

Why Do We Do It?

When we read critically, we are mainly trying to answer a few major questions: Does the author do what they say they are going to do? and Do they do it fairly or correctly? We would like to think that every person who writes an article, or argument, does so with an open mind and not with a predisposed bias. However, think about your own point of view when you write—it’s hard sometimes not to be biased just a bit because of numerous factors such as age, gender, culture, religion, environment, etc.

So why should authors of articles that you review and possibly use in your own writing be any different? After all, you want your own writing to reflect information from sources that are trust worthy and reliable—right? Well this is the first step to making sure that is in fact the case. Remember…just because someone is an expert doesn’t mean that everything they say should be taken as fact. Being an expert is good-but not if they are also biased on an issue and may be slanting their information a bit to further that bias.

To read efficiently and critically, follow the steps below:

Step One: Previewing the text

Previewing the text provides the reader with an idea of what to expect from the text. The preview should  identify any key concepts or ideas as well as the basic layout of the argument.  To preview the text look at the title, subtitle, any headings, the first and last paragraphs, illustrations, and visuals. Once your preview the article, ask yourself the following questions:

• Where is the article going? What do you think it is about?
• What is its purpose?
• What kind of text are you reading? An essay? A web site?
• Who is the audience and how does the author try to appeal to them?
• What argument is the author making/question does the text try to answer?
• What evidence does the author provide?
• Are there any key terms the author defines?

Step Two: Reading through the article and thinking about your initial response

You will need to read the text several times. The first time you read it, pay attention to the content of the text. This should be a surface level reading only. Afterwards, ask yourself the following questions:

• What is your initial reaction to the text?
• What accounts for your reaction?
• Is there a fact or point that challenged your assumptions?
• Any surprises?
• Did the author make a point or argument that you disagree with?
• Are there any inconsistencies in the text?
• Does the text contain anything (words, phrases, ideas) that you don’t understand?

If the text is visual in nature, try these extra tips:

• What first strikes you about the image?
• Who/what is the main subject of the visual?
• What colors/textures dominate the visual?
• What objects/people are in the background/foreground?
• Do words or numbers play any role in the visual?
• When was the visual created?

Step Three: Annotating

Read the article again, but this time with a specific purpose. Now that you know what the article is about, you need to examine how it makes its point. Identify any patterns in the text by examining the grammar, structure, and diction. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What do these patterns reveal?
• How do these patterns reinforce the explicit meaning of the text?
• Are there things you didn’t notice the first time reading the text?
• Does the text leave some questions open-ended?
• Imagine the author is sitting across from you: what would you ask them about the text? Why?

Step Four: Thinking about how the text works

Reading through the article again, pay attention to what each paragraph says and does. Write a one-sentence summary of each paragraph.. By identifying what each paragraph does in sentence and putting those sentences together, you will compose a summary of the structure of the text.

Adapted from About Writing: A Guide  by Robin Jeffrey,  CC BY 4.0  

Adapted from Critical Reading by Andrea Carl, CC BY 4.0  

What is Critical Reading? Copyright © by Robin Jeffrey; Christina Frasier; and Andrea Carl is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Critical Literacy: A Literature Review

Cara M. Mulcahy, Central Connecticut State University

Critical literacy is a mindset; a way of viewing and interacting with the world. It is not merely a method or an approach to the teaching of literacy or the language arts. Much has been written on the topic of critical literacy of late and as is evident from many of these writings, it is important that we establish the understanding that critical literacy is a philosophy rather than “a set of methods or techniques” (McDaniels, 2004, p. 272). Critical literacy theories as set forth by Freire “advocate for a sweeping transformation in ways of thinking rather than specific teaching strategies or techniques” (McDaniels, 2004, pp. 473-474). As such, critical literacy examines texts in order to identify and challenge social constructs, ideologies, underlying assumptions, and the power structures which intentionally and unintentionally perpetuate social inequalities and injustices. Critical literacy aims to delve deeply into sociopolitical and sociocultural issues embedded in texts in order to identify the root causes of social inequalities and injustices.

Critical literacy, the philosophy

When discussing critical literacy one has to first consider its philosophical underpinnings. Without doubt, one of the most significant and influential books in the field of critical literacy is Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed . Freire, in this book, sets forth his understanding of power relations within society and the ways in which they manifest themselves in the classroom. Freire draws attention to the power differential in the classroom between the teacher and the student which leads to the banking method of education. The banking method of education is an education whereby students are fed information by a teacher who is viewed as an expert and a dispenser of knowledge. Therefore, a child’s own life experience goes unacknowledged. As a result, in the banking method it is the teacher who holds all the power. There is no power sharing between students and teacher. The banking method can, in turn, lead to resistance on the part of the students. Because the students may feel as though another person’s belief system or culture is being imposed on them they resist what the educator has to offer.

Critical literacy, on the other hand, acknowledges the student’s life experiences and includes it in the curriculum. When implementing critical literacy, one can not follow a predetermined curriculum as it is the students’ interests, motivations, and life experiences that create and drive the curriculum. Power is shared between students and teachers. This is what Irwin (1996) refers to as a “power-to/powerwith” relationship and what Shor (1992) refers to as the third idiom: a place where the teacher’s academic culture and the students’ everyday cultures meet to create a new culture specific to their classroom. Understanding Freire’s contribution to critical literacy is important because through his work we come to understand that critical literacy is not simply a method of teaching. It is a philosophy, a way of viewing and interacting with the world.

In the article, “Taking on critical literacy: The journey of newcomers and novices”, Lewison, Flint, and Van Sluys (2002) expand upon this understanding of critical literacy. Based on an extensive review of literature, the authors identify four dimensions of critical literacy: (1) disrupting the commonplace, (2) interrogating multiple viewpoints, (3) focusing on sociopolitical issues, and (4) taking action and promoting social justice.

In disrupting the commonplace, critical literacy provides ways to challenge common assumptions: those aspects of our everyday lives that we traditionally accept without question. Disrupting the common place encourages us to “use language and other sign systems to recognize implicit modes of perception and to consider new frames from which to understand experiences” (Lewison, Flint & Van Sluys, 2002, p. 383). In so doing we problematize all subjects of study and understand existing knowledge as a historical product, we interrogate texts by identifying how we are being positioned by the text, we include “popular culture and media as a regular part of the curriculum for purposes of pleasure and for analyzing how people are positioned and constructed by television, video games, comics, toys, etc,” (p. 383) we develop a language of critique, and we study language to “analyze how it shapes identity, constructs cultural discourses and supports or disrupts the status quo” (Lewison, et al., 2002, p.383).

When interrogating multiple viewpoints we reflect on how the story might be different if told from somebody else’s perspective. In so doing we become aware of whose voice is being included in the text and whose voice is being omitted from the text. We begin to understand that there may be conflicting opinions and points of views surrounding any one issue which is one of the reasons why dialogue is important to critical literacy. Without speaking and dialoguing with one another, we disallow ourselves the opportunity to hear and possibly understand the multiple viewpoints that surround any one topic.

Focusing on sociopolitical issues means acknowledging that education is political as are curricula and textbooks. Teaching, therefore, is not a neutral act “yet often it takes place with no attention given to how sociopolitical systems, power relationships, and language are intertwined and inseparable from our teaching” (Lewison, Flint & Van Sluys, 2002, p. 383). Critical literacy draws attention to the power relationships in society and in education. Critical literacy moves beyond the personal to understand “the sociopolitical systems to which we belong,” (p. 383) it challenges the “unquestioned legitimacy of unequal power relationships by studying the relationship between language and power,” (p. 383) it uses literacy to engage in the politics of daily life, and it redefines literacy as a “form of cultural citizenship and politics that increases opportunities for subordinate groups to participate in society and as an ongoing act of consciousness and resistance” (Lewison et al, 2002, p. 383).

The fourth dimension, taking action and promoting social justice, means engaging in reflection and action to empower oneself and others to become agents of change. As with the other dimensions identified by Lewison, Flint & Van Sluys, using and analyzing language as a part of our everyday lives is important. One needs to be able to use language so as to “exercise power to enhance everyday life and to question practices of privilege and injustice” (p. 384). It also means analyzing language to be able to identify how it is used to maintain domination and legitimize knowledge, power, and culture (Lewison, et al, 2002, p. 384).

In Critical literacy: A way of thinking, a way of life , McDaniel (2006), introduces pre-service teachers to critical literacy. McDaniel’s book is important to the literature on critical literacy because in it she identifies a need for teaching critical literacy at the university level. According to her study, many teacher-education students identify the purpose of education as that of preparing students for “getting along in the world” (p. 147). McDaniel notes, “[f]or the most part, the participants thought education was about functioning or surviving in the world, with a focus on individual development. School should be ‘fun,’ but the focus is on ‘getting along in the world’ and all that term implies – conformity, compliance, and fitting in” (p. 138). Critical literacy challenges the idea that the purpose of education is for “getting along in the world.” Critical literacy teaches for transformation and liberation by encouraging students to question and challenge social constructions, ideologies and “the systems within which we live everyday” (Foss, 2002, p. 394). Although uncomfortable at times, “the road towards equality is neither certain nor easy, but as teachers we must continue to travel it” (Christensen, 2000, p. 98).

Another important aspect of McDaniel’s book is that it demonstrates how literature, without critical examination, can perpetuate the status quo, the dominant culture and legitimate certain ideologies, traditions, assumptions, and power relations. McDaniel argues that there is not a “good or bad” time to introduce children to critical literacy. When people raise concerns about the age appropriateness of controversial topics, McDaniel responds, “ideas that adults deem disturbing or forbidden are often avoided, despite children’s possible desire to learn more about them. Ironically, such taboo topics pervade mainstream media. Rather than examining underlying ideologies and social structures from which these messages arise, we frequently strive to maintain children’s ‘innocence’ by filtering out what we consider to be overly realistic or disturbing texts” (McDaniel, 2006, p. 50).

Implementation of critical literacy

When examining literature focusing on the implementation of critical literacy, certain commonalities emerge: (1) in all cases the lessons build on the students’ lives and relate the learning to the students’ lives, (2) the lessons incorporate some or all of the four dimensions of critical literacy as identified by Lewison, Flint and Van Sluys, (3) the lessons introduce students to a variety of texts ranging from picture books to cartoons and from novels to websites, and (4) as students and teachers became more familiar with critical literacy the questions raised and the discussions that follow become more in-depth underscoring the fact that critical literacy is a process that needs time to develop.

Building from the students lives:

Because students ought to be personally invested in their learning, it is crudal that the curriculum not be predetermined (Christensen, 2000; Chafel, Flint, Hammel & Pommeral et al. 2007; Shor, 1992; Vasquez, 2004). When teaching for critical literacy, teachers and students come together to create the curriculum. A critical literacy curriculum “is one that cannot be prepackaged or preplanned. It is the kind of curriculum that deliberately ‘makes significant’ diverse children’s cultural and social questions about everyday life. It arises as teacher and children tune in to issues of social justice and equity that unfold through classroom discussion and begin to pose critical questions” (Vasquez, 2004, p. xv). This allows for students to become more invested in their learning and for a more equal sharing of power between students and teacher: In order to do this and still meet the demands of mandated curricula and standardized tests, Vasquez suggests becoming very familiar with what is required and then “negotiate spaces to engage in critical literacy practices” (p. 31).

In Young children. social issues. and critical literacy: Stories of teachers and researchers , Chafel, Flint, Hammel, and Pomeroy (2007) provide examples of how they successfully negotiate their curricula to focus on the theme of poverty. The theme of poverty became a focus because many conversations, initiated by students, dealt with issues of poverty and because “one in five children in the United States under the age of six lives in Poverty” (p. 73). Activities such as writing thank-you notes to a local bakery for donating food to their shelter, creating short films to convey information about advertising strategies, and growing a class vegetable garden to contribute food to a local “community kitchen” emerged from students’ interests and lives. Read alouds of Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen , Sister Annes’ Hands and Tomas and the Library Lady were also incorporated into lessons to enrich and extend class discussions relating to the theme of poverty.

Similarly in Teaching for critical literacy: An ongoing necessity to look deeper and beyond , Michael Michell (2006), developed the unit “Alternative press and need for alternatives” (p. 43) following a series of conversations with faculty and students which, “revealed how hungry students were for something other than the readily available sources, predominantly Fox, CNN International, BBC International, and a variety of Brazilian television news programs”. It is important to note that negotiating the curriculum with our students and creating spaces to integrate critical literacy into our lessons “does not mean giving up teaching the core ideals and skills of the class; it means using the energy of their connection to drive us through the content” (Christensen, 2000, p. 5). When negotiating the curriculum, “the point is not to teach a certain novel or a set of facts about literature, but to engage students in a dialogue, to teach them to find connections between their lives, literature, and society” (Christensen, 1999, p. 182).

Four dimensions of critical literacy:

As previously discussed, Lewison, Flint and Van Sluys (2002) have identified four dimensions important to critical literacy: (1) disrupting the commonplace, (2) interrogating multiple viewpoints, (3) focusing on sociopolitical issues, and (4) taking action and promoting social justice. In the literature on the implementation of critical literacy several, or all, of the dimensions are evident in the lessons. For example, in the book Critical literacy: Enhancing students’ comprehension of text by McLaughlin and Devoogd (2004) the teaching of critical literacy is organized around these four dimensions. The authors provide numerous examples of how texts can be introduced to elementary and middle school students in a way that engages the reader in problem posing, challenging social constructs, examining alternative perspectives, and looking for the bias in the texts. The four dimensions of critical literacy are also clearly evident throughout Linda Christensen’s book Reading. writing and rising up, and in the edited book Education is politics: Critical teaching across differences. K-12 .

In her article, “Peeling the onion: Teaching critical literacy with students of privilege,” Foss (2002) engages the students in problematizing systems, challenging commonplace, realizing multiple viewpoints and raising awareness of privilege. To do this Foss organized the teaching of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee around the following:

• examination of the institution of school and how it functions in our lives;
• identification of individuals’ multiple subject positions and development of an understanding that experiences, such as reading, are socially constructed;
• recognition and problematization of the privilege that permeates our lives. (p. 395)

By engaging students in a privilege walk and an intersection of identity activity and by reading and responding to a series of texts, Foss’s students were “identifying and problematizing the systems within which we five everyday” (Foss, 2002, p. 394). Michell in his article also allows students to problematize the systems in which they operate explaining, “[t]eaching for critical literacy must be an ongoing and proactive project, one that cultivates a global citizenry that reads the world, problematizes it, and takes action to make it a better place for the ‘decent survival of all'” (Michell, 2006, p. 42). He and his students do this by engaging in a unit that examines the need for alternative press, and by grappling with questions such as, “Does war challenge us to be tully human?” (p. 43).

A variety of texts

Because critical literacy is concerned with the analysis of all kinds of texts, a variety of materials and resources can be used when teaching for critical literacy. Text is not limited to a traditional understanding of reading, but instead includes all things that can be read. McDaniel (2004) explains,

Critical literacy transcends conventional notions of reading and writing to incorporate critical thinking, questioning, and transformation of self or one’s world. Additional~. definitions of critical literacy usually consider “text” to be anything that can be “read” which leads to infinite possibilities. Some would argue that a T-shirt, graffiti, a cereal box, or a rock all can be “read” as texts. Essentially, a person can “read,” interpret, question, and “rewrite” almost any aspect of his or her world. (p. 474)

lessons discussed in this review of the literature use picture books, novels, plays, videos, cartoons, and the internet when teaching for critical literacy. Harste, 2003, uses a UNICEF poster to convey the way in which critical literacy can be used to read a text. If we are to read the world as well as the word, then we need to include all sorts of texts in our classroom instruction. Christensen points out,” [w]e must teach students how to ‘read’ not only novels and science texts, but cartoons, politicians, schools, workplaces, welfare offices, and Jenny Craig ads. We need to get students to ‘read’ where and how public money is spent. We need to get students to ‘read’ the inequitable distribution of funds for schools” (Christensen, 2000, p. vii).

Critical Literacy as a process

As is evident in the article by Chatel, Flint, Hammel and Pomeroy (2007) the more we engage in the teaching of critical literacy the more comfortable we become with it. While observing Jane Hammel’s classroom, Amy Flint noticed a significant change in Jane’s teaching between the spring of 2000 and the fall of 2003. Following a reading of Tomas and the Library Lady , the conversation in the fan of 2003 was more dynamic and enriching than the conversation that followed a reading of the same text in the spring of 2000. Flint explains, “Jane was more cognizant of bringing the children’s lives and experiences into the discussion.” Furthermore, Jane “did not steer away from the more difficult issues related to migrant farming and poverty. In so doing, the children’s talk became more complex and substantive” (Chatel et al. 2007, p. 78). Flint also noticed that the discussions surrounding the book were broader and moved beyond the text.

This account suggests that the comfort level one has with the teaching of critical literacy evolves over time. As with many educational philosophies, theories, and strategies they need time to develop. When asked by others how to teach for critical literacy, Michell (2007) advises “begin with one unit a semester, or even a year and over time their teaching and curriculum would transform and maintain a constant state of renewal” (p. 45). Coming to understand critical literacy is a process and the teaching of critical literacy consists of “fluid ideas that require continual reflection so that they might become more meaningful for learners” (Foss, 2002, p. 401).

Who benefits from critical literacy?

Everyone benefits from critical literacy and critical literacy is appropriate for students of all ages. By opening up the curriculum to address social issues students in elementary school “can grapple with new understanding of the world and their place in it” (Chafel, Flint, Hammel & Pomeroy, 2007, p. 73). Students in middle and secondary school benefit from critical literacy as they are experiencing a transformation that ‘unleashes kids’ inner strengths as they struggle to identify the unique gifts they bring to the world” (Foss, 2002, p. 394}. Similarly, undergraduate students and graduate students in teacher education programs need to be exposed to critical literacy (McDaniel, 2006).

Critical literacy not only benefits students in inner city schools, it benefits all students regardless of location. Students from all socioeconomic groups, races, ethnicities and religions need critical literacy. To teach critical literacy to only a select group of students does a disservice to everyone as it denies students a complete education and it leaves students “miseducated to the extent that they receive only a partial and biased education” (Nieto, 1996, p. 312). Therefore it is important that, “{e]very teacher in every classroom of every child of every age everywhere in the world should ask what he or she can do to cultivate students who will make the world a more positive place for all its inhabitants” (Michell, 2006, p. 45).

Chatel, J. A., Rint, A. S., Hammel, J. & Pomeroy K. H. (2007). Young children. social issues, and critical literacy: Stories of teachers and researchers. Young Children, 62 (1), 73-81.

Christensen, L ( 1999 ). Tales from an untracked class. In I. Shor & C. Pari (Eds.), Education is politics: Critical teaching across differences, K-12 (pp. 178-191). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Christensen, L (2000). Reading. writing and rising up: Teaching about social justice and the power of the written word. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.

Foss, A. (2002}. Peeling the onion: Teaching critical literacy with students of privilege. Language Arts, 79 (5), 393-403.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. NY: Herder & Herder.

Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (1987) Literacy: Reading the word and the world. South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey Publishers.

Harste, J.C. (2003). What do we mean by literacy now? Voices from the Middle 10 (3), 8-12.

Irwin, J. (1996). Empowering ourselves and transforming schools: Educators making a difference. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Lewison, M., Flint, A. S. & Van Sluys, K. (2002). Taking on critical literacy: The journey of newcomers and novices. Language Arts, 79 (5), 382-392.

McDaniel, C. (2004). Critical literacy: A questioning stance and the possibility for change. The Reading Teacher, 57 (5), 472-481.

McDaniel, C. A. (2006). Critical literacy: A way of thinking, a way of life. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

McLaughlin, M.& Devoogd, G. L. (2004) Critical Literacy: Enhancing students comprehension of text. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Michelle, M. J. (2006). Teaching for critical literacy: An ongoing necessity to look deeper and beyond. English Journal, 96 (2), 41-46.

Nieto, S. {2004). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Shor, I. ( 1992). Empowering education: Critical teaching for social change. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Shor, I. & Pari, C. ( 1999 ). Education is politics: Critical teaching across differences, K-12 . Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Vasquez, V. M. {2004). Negotiating critical literacies with young children. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Henry Adams

Introduction, general overviews.

• Reference Works
• Biographies
• Collections
• The Education of Henry Adams
• Mont Saint Michel and Chartres
• History of the United States during the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison
• Other Writings
• Political Thought
• Adams and Science
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• Marian Hooper (Clover) Adams

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Henry Adams by Philip Eppard LAST REVIEWED: 21 March 2022 LAST MODIFIED: 25 February 2014 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199827251-0103

Henry Adams (b. 1838–d. 1918) was born in Boston into the most prominent political family in the United States. Grandson and great-grandson of presidents, he seemed destined to carry on his family’s tradition of public service. After graduation from Harvard in 1858, he studied in Europe, returning home to be secretary to his father, Charles Francis Adams, a congressman and subsequently American foreign minister to Great Britain during the Civil War. Henry Adams began his literary career sending anonymous dispatches to newspapers from Washington and London. Upon his return to America in 1868, he worked as a reform journalist in Washington, still thinking of a political career. Appalled by corruption in the Grant administration, he saw he had no place in the government and in 1870 accepted a position teaching history at Harvard. He pioneered the scientific approach to the teaching and writing of history. In 1872 he married Marian “Clover” Hooper, daughter of a prominent Boston physician. She was a good match for Henry both intellectually and socially. In 1877 Adams left Harvard and moved to Washington to devote himself to writing. The Adamses’ home became a center for writers, artists, and the few politicians who met their high standards. Adams wrote biographies of Albert Gallatin and John Randolph and worked on a history of the United States during the Jefferson and Madison administrations, which was published in nine volumes in 1889–1891. He secretly published two novels. Democracy (1880), a satirical portrait of American politics, was published anonymously and created a great sensation. Esther (1884), which treated the conflict between science and religion, was published without fanfare under the pseudonym Frances Snow Compton. A tragic break in Adams’s life occurred in 1885 when Clover committed suicide in a fit of depression. He sought solace in travel, visiting Japan in 1886 and later making an extended trip to the South Seas. Adams pondered the forces of science and technology radically altering the world and studied medieval culture as a counterpoint to modernity. His two greatest books, Mont Saint Michel and Chartres (1904), his study of medieval culture, and The Education of Henry Adams (1907) which used his own life as a case study of the impact of modernity, were both privately printed. Initially issued in a private edition, The Education was not published until after his death. Adams seemed to view his life as a failure, but his work, especially The Education , had great resonance in the 20th century as his pessimism about the course of history seemed justified by current events. Increasingly, more attention has been paid to Adams as a literary artist skilled in several different genres than as a cultural commentator.

Because of the varied aspects of his career and the complexity of his thought, Henry Adams presents a challenge to anyone trying to present a general overview. Hochfield 1962 and Contosta 1980 are good, systematic, and easily accessible studies, while Levenson 1957 gives a more detailed and interpretive analysis. Hume 1951 is interesting as an early appreciation of his artistry. Murray 1974 and Bishop 1979 offer general accounts with specific perspectives. Blackmur 1980 represents the thinking of one of the great critics from the heyday of the new criticism.

Bishop, Ferman. Henry Adams . Boston: Twayne, 1979.

A concise close reading of Adams’s major and minor works that stresses the role of satire in his writings.

Blackmur, R. P. Henry Adams . Edited by Veronica A. Makowsky. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980.

A posthumously published version of the book on Henry Adams that Blackmur never managed to complete. Includes his famous 1936 essay “The Expense of Greatness: Three Emphases on Henry Adams” (reprinted in Harbert 1981 , cited under Collections ) and a longer study of The Education of Henry Adams and Mont Saint Michel and Chartres that stresses symbolism and Adams’s search for unity.

Contosta, David R. Henry Adams and the American Experiment . Boston: Little, Brown, 1980.

A compact introduction to Adam’s life and thought, easily accessible for undergraduates.

Hochfield, George. Henry Adams: An Introduction and Interpretation . New York: Barnes & Noble, 1962.

A systematic discussion of each of Adams’s works, showing the relationship between them and analyzing them as works of art.

Hume, Robert A. Runaway Star: An Appreciation of Henry Adams . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1951.

A pioneering effort to present Henry Adams as a major writer and thinker, perhaps overly exuberant and adulatory in its treatment.

Levenson, J. C. The Mind and Art of Henry Adams . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957.

A comprehensive survey of Adams’s thought and writings, long regarded as one of the best general scholarly treatments of his literary methods.

Murray, James G. Henry Adams . New York: Twayne, 1974.

A short survey of Adams’s thought, suggesting that he shifted from a transcendentalist to an existentialist position.

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Chapter 4: Critical Reading

Elizabeth Browning; Karen Kyger; and Cate Bombick

Reading as a Conversation

What would happen if you walked by the tables in front of St David’s on your first day at Otago, approached a group of strangers quietly chatting, and proceeded to announce to the group exactly what you were thinking at the moment? Most likely, the group would stop talking, look at you, laugh, and slowly move away. Let’s try another approach.

This time, you walk up and quietly join the group. You listen for a few minutes to figure out the topic being discussed and to understand the group members’ different perspectives before adding your own voice to the conversation. You have probably used this method many times throughout your life and have found it to work well, especially when joining a group of people you do not know very well. This method is the very same way to approach reading in your college courses.

To be a successful reader in college, you will need to move beyond simply understanding what the author is trying to say and think about the conversation in which the author is participating.

By thinking about reading and writing as a conversation, you will want to consider:

• Who else has written about this topic?
• Who are they?
• What is their perspective or argument on this topic?
• What type of evidence do they use to support their point of view?

In this chapter, we will introduce expectations for college reading, identify key strategies of skilled readers, and review the active reading process. Throughout the chapter, you will find links to samples, examples, and materials you may use.

We will also be introducing the concept of critical reading. Critical reading is moving beyond just understanding the author’s meaning of a text to consider the choices the author makes to communicate their message.

By learning to read critically, you will not only improve your comprehension of college-level texts, but also improve your writing by learning about the choices other writers have make to communicate their ideas. Honing your writing, reading, and critical thinking skills will give you a more solid foundation for success, both academically and professionally.

Understanding and using the strategies outlined in this chapter is an important part of your success in your ENGL 126 Essentials of Communication course. You will need strong reading skills in order to understand assignments, write papers and participate in class discussion.

1. Expectations for Reading in College

How does reading in college differ from reading in high school.

In college, academic expectations change from what you may have experienced in high school. As the quantity of work expected of you increases, the quality of the work also changes. You must do more than just understand course material and summarize it on an exam. You will be expected to engage seriously with new ideas by reflecting on them, analyzing them, critiquing them, making connections, drawing conclusions, or finding new ways of thinking about them. Educationally, you are moving into deeper waters. Learning how to read and write strategically and critically will help you swim.

2. What is critical reading?

Reading critically does not simply mean being moved, affected, informed, influenced, and persuaded by a piece of writing. It refers to analyzing and understanding the overall composition of the writing as well as how the writing has achieved its effect on the audience.

This level of understanding begins with thinking critically about the texts you are reading. In this case, “critically” does not mean that you are looking for what is wrong with a work (although during your critical process, you may well do that). Instead, thinking critically means approaching a work as if you were a critic or commentator whose job it is to analyze a text beyond its surface.

These rhetorical strategies are covered in the next chapter . If you disagree with a text, what is the point of contention? If you agree with it, how do you think you can expand or build upon the argument put forth?

Consider the example below. Which of the following tweets below are critical and which are uncritical?

3. Why do we read critically?

Critical reading has many uses. If applied to a work of literature, for example, it can become the foundation for a detailed textual analysis. With scholarly articles, critical reading can help you evaluate their potential reliability as future sources.

Finding an error in someone else’s argument can be the point of destabilization you need to make a worthy argument of your own, illustrated in the final tweet from the previous image, for example. Critical reading can help you hone your own argumentation skills because it requires you to think carefully about which strategies are effective for making arguments, and in this age of social media and instant publication, thinking carefully about what we say is a necessity.

4. How to read critically

Reading does not come naturally. It is not an instinct that you were born with — rather, it is a cultural development that began 6,000 years ago when humans began to use symbols to represent ideas. The process of reading is learned through instruction and recruits brain mechanisms that evolved for other purposes.

In other words, you weren’t born to read. Reading is a learned skill that relies on interaction nature, nurture, and culture. It is a cognitive tool that is developed through learning and practice. So what reading strategies are already in your toolbox?  What strategies can you add to your toolbox to become a more efficient and effective college reader?

 4.1 Start with Questions

Questions to ask a text.

Inquiry-based learning methods, or question-based investigations, are often the basis for writing and research at the university level. Specific questions generated about the text can guide your critical reading process and help you when writing a formal analysis.

When reading critically, you should begin with broad questions and then work towards more specific questions; after all, the ultimate purpose of engaging in critical reading is to turn you into an analyzer who asks questions that work to develop the purpose of the text

In order to develop good questions before reading a text, you will want to think about your purpose for reading.  As a college student,  you’ll want to think about why your professor assigned this particular text?  How does this text connect to topics you have been discussing in class or to other assigned readings?

For example, if you have been assigned to read UMBC President, Freeman Hrabowski’s essay entitled, “Colleges Prepare People for Life,”  ask yourself why your professor assigned that particular text.  Perhaps your professor wants you to read a variety of perspectives on the purpose of college.  In that case, you’ll want to ask a question such as, What is Hrabowski’s view on the purpose of college?   Perhaps, your professor is preparing you to write an argument essay and would like students to see how other authors have crafted their arguments.  In that case, a good question might be, How does Hrabowski introduce other people’s views on this topic and how can that help me in my own writing?

Another effective questioning strategy is to turn the title or a sub-heading into a question by adding what, how, or why to the title or heading. You can turn the title into a question by adding how. The question becomes “How do colleges prepare people for life?” Once you have finished reading the essay, return to that question to see how well you can answer it using the information you learned from the text.

Questions For Further Inquiry

In addition to asking questions of the text and author, you will want to use a text to develop additional questions about the topic.  This is a crucial step in the process of entering into an academic conversation.  To develop questions for further inquiry, you should focus on open-ended questions that cannot be easily answered by a quick Internet search.

For example, if you are reading a text about changing the name of Washington’s NFL team, a question for future inquiry could be “What are the effects of media stereotypes?” A closed-ended question such as “What other NFL teams use Native Americans as a mascot?” would close the door to inquiry.  The answer to the second question can be easily found using a quick search that ends your line of inquiry.  Conversely, the first question can lead to a much deeper level of critical thinking about the topic.

As you read and learn more about the topic, you may want to develop additional questions even if this line of inquiry goes in a completely different direction from where you started. To develop questions for inquiry consider asking these types of questions:

• Where are there holes or gaps in the logic or evidence in this text?
• What else would you like to know about this topic beyond this text?
• How are other authors writing about this topic?
• Where are the disagreements between texts?

More on Starting with a Question

• Asking Questions as a Reading Comprehension Strategy

4.2 Identify the Main Idea and Supporting Details

Your university professors will expect you to be able to read independently to understand all the information you are expected to process in your university texts. Some of your reading assignments will be fairly straightforward. Others will be longer and more complex, so you will need a plan for how to handle them.

For any expository writing—that is, nonfiction, informational writing—your first comprehension goal is to identify the main points and relate any details to those main points. Regardless of what type of expository text you are assigned to read, the primary comprehension goal is to identify the main point: the most important idea that the writer wants to communicate.  This idea is often stated early on in the introduction and re-emphasized in the conclusion.

Finding the main point gives you a framework to organize the details presented in the reading and to relate the reading to concepts you learned in class or through other reading assignments. After identifying the main point, find the supporting points: the details, facts, and explanations that develop and clarify the main point.

More on Identifying the Main Idea and Supporting Details

• Finding the Main Idea
• Implied Main Idea
• Supporting Details and Patterns in Reading

4.3 Decode Vocabulary

Understanding the vocabulary used in your university texts is a critical component of reading comprehension.  Having strategies to use when you come across unfamiliar words will help you build and improve your vocabulary.  You can sometimes determine the meaning of a word by looking within the word (at its root, prefix, or suffix) or around the word (at the clues given in the sentence or paragraph in which the word appears). If you are unable to determine the meaning of word in context, you may look up the definition.

Each academic discipline has its own terminology, and part of your success in all of your university papers will require you to move beyond simple memorization of word meanings to using these terms appropriately within the context of the situation.  This dynamic means being aware that words have different meanings and connotations associated with them, and these meanings and connotations can change depending upon the situation in which they are being used.

Context Determines Meaning

Match the correct meaning of the word synthesis to the context in which it is being used:

Definition #1: the combination of ideas to form a theory or system.

Definition #2: the production of chemical compounds by reaction from simpler materials.

Context: Your English professor would like to see you use more synthesis within the body of your essay.

Answer: You may get a failing grade on your essay if you combine chemicals to form an explosion, so you better go with definition #1!

More on Decoding Vocabulary

• Using Context Clues
• Context Clues and Practice
• Denote or Connote?

4.4 Utilize Metacognitive Strategies

Because university-level texts can be challenging, you will also need to monitor your reading comprehension. That is, you will need to stop periodically and assess how well you understand what you are reading. You can improve comprehension by taking time to determine which strategies work best for you and putting those strategies into practice.

Finding the main idea and paying attention to text features as you read helps you figure out what you should know. Just as important, however, is being able to figure out what you do not know and developing a strategy to deal with it.

Textbooks often include comprehension questions in the margins or at the end of a section or chapter. As you read, stop occasionally to answer these questions on paper or in your head. Use them to identify sections you may need to reread, read more carefully, or ask your instructor about later. Even when a text does not have built-in comprehension features, you can actively monitor your own comprehension.

Try these strategies, adapting them as needed to suit different kinds of texts:

• Summarize. At the end of each section, pause to summarize the main points in a few sentences. If you have trouble doing so, revisit that section.
• Ask and answer questions. When you begin reading a section, try to identify two to three questions you should be able to answer after you finish it. Write down your questions and use them to test yourself on the reading. If you cannot answer a question, try to determine why.
• Don’t read in a vacuum. Look for opportunities to discuss the reading with your classmates. Many instructors set up online discussion forums or blogs specifically for that purpose. Participating in these discussions can help you determine whether your understanding of the main points is the same as that of your peers.

More on Metacognitive Strategies

• What is Metacognition?

4.5 Read Recursively

Reading is a recursive, rather than linear, activity. It is rare that you will read a text in university once, straight through from beginning to end. You may need to read a sentence or paragraph several times to understand it. Your reading will slow down or speed up as you encounter novel or familiar information. You may get “lost” in an example and need to double back or skip ahead to understand the point the author is trying to make.

You should plan on reading a text more than once: first for general understanding, and then to analyze and synthesize the material. Reading actively and recursively is the secret to becoming an effective reader.

• First Reading – Focus on the literal meaning of the text. What is the author “saying”? Annotate the text or take notes to keep track of the thesis and key points. Use strategies for unfamiliar vocabulary.
• Second Reading – Focus on “how” the author is communicating. What literary or rhetorical techniques does the author use? Pretend you are having a conversation with the author. What questions do you have? Are there any gaps in the narrative, evidence, or conclusions?
• What ideas/passages did you find most/least interesting?
• What did you learn from the reading that you did not know before?
• Did the author succeed in changing your view on the topic?  Why or why not?
• What elements of the text did you connect with the most?
• What problems do you have with the text?

More on Reading Recursively

• Active Reading
• Active Reading In Action

5. The Active Reading Process

What strategies do i use when i  read  what strategies do i need to add.

How many times have you read a page in a book, or even just a paragraph, and by the end of it thought to yourself, “I have no idea what I just read; I can’t remember any of it?” Almost everyone has done it, and it’s particularly easy to do when you don’t care about the material, when you are not interested in the material, or if the material is full of difficult or new concepts. If you don’t feel engaged with a text, then you will passively read it, failing to pay attention to substance and structure. Passive reading results in zero gains; you will get nothing from what you have just read.

On the other hand, critical reading is based on active reading because you actively engage with the text, which means thinking about the text before you begin to read it, asking yourself questions as you read it as well as after you have read it, taking notes or annotating the text, summarizing what you have read, and, finally, evaluating the text.

Completing these steps will help you to engage with a text, even if you don’t find it particularly interesting, which may be the case when it comes to assigned readings for some of your classes. In fact, active reading may even help you to develop an interest in the text even when you thought that you initially had none.

By taking an actively critical approach to reading, you will be able to do the following:

• Stay focused while you read the text
• Understand the main idea of the text
• Understand the overall structure or organization of the text
• Retain what you have read
• Pose informed and thoughtful questions about the text
• Evaluate the effectiveness of ideas in the text

5.1 Before you read

Establish your purpose.

Establishing why you read something helps you decide how to read it, which saves time and improves comprehension. Before you start to read, remind yourself what questions you want to keep in mind.   (Review Start with a Question section in this chapter).  Then establish your purpose for reading. 

In university and in your profession, you will read a variety of texts to gain and use information (e.g., scholarly articles, textbooks, reviews). Some purposes for reading might include the following:

• to scan for specific information
• to skim to get an overview of the text
• to relate new content to existing knowledge
• to write something (often depends on a prompt)
• to discuss in class
• to critique an argument
• to learn something
• for general comprehension

Strategies differ from reader to reader. The same reader may use different strategies for different contexts because his, her, or their purpose for reading changes. Ask yourself “why am I reading?” and “what am I reading?” when deciding which strategies work best.

Preview the Text

Once you have established your purpose for reading, the next step is to preview the text. Previewing a text involves skimming over it and noticing what stands out so that you not only get an overall sense of the text, but you also learn the author’s main ideas before reading for details.  Thus, because previewing a text helps you better understand it, you will have better success analyzing it.

Questions to ask when previewing may include the following:

• What is the title of the text?  Does it give a clear indication of the text’s subject?
• Who is the author?  Is the author familiar to you?  Is any biographical information about the author included?
• If previewing a book, is there a summary on the back or inside the front of the book?
• What main idea emerges from the introductory paragraph?  From the concluding paragraph?
• Are there any organizational elements that stand out, such as section headings, numbering, bullet points, or other types of lists?
• Are there any editorial elements that stand out, such as words in italics, bold print, or in a large font size?
• Are there any visual elements that give a sense of the subject, such as photos or illustrations?

Once you have formed a general idea about the text by previewing it, the next preparatory step for critical reading is to speculate about the author’s purpose for writing.

• What do you think the author’s aim might be in writing this text?
• What sort of questions do you think the author might raise?

Activate Your Background Knowledge on the Topic

All of us have a library of life experiences and previous reading knowledge stored in our brains, but this stored knowledge will sit unused unless we consciously take steps to connect to it or “activate” this knowledge.

After previewing a text, ask yourself, “What do I already know about this topic?”  If you realize that you know very little about the topic or have some gaps, you may want to pause and do some quick Internet searches to fill in those gaps.

Although Wikipedia is usually not considered a credible source for an academic essay, it can be a helpful tool to discover what other people are saying about the topic, author, or publisher of a text.  Internet searches, online encyclopedias, and news websites may all be used to help you quickly learn some of the key issues related to the topic.

As you read, you should consider what new information you have learned and how it connects to what you already know.  Making connections between prior knowledge and new information is a critical step in reading, thinking, and learning.

5.2 While you read

Improve comprehension through annotation.

Annotating a text means that you actively engage with it by taking notes as you read, usually by marking the text in some way (underlining, highlighting, using symbols such as asterisks) as well as by writing down brief summaries, thoughts, or questions in the margins of the page.  If you are working with a textbook and prefer not to write in it, annotations can be made on sticky notes or on a separate sheet of paper.

Regardless of what method you choose, annotating not only directs your focus, but it also helps you retain that information.  Furthermore, annotating helps you to recall where important points are in the text if you must return to it for a writing assignment or class discussion.

More on Active Reading Strategies

• Be an Active Reader
• 10 Active Reading Strategies

Consider the Unique Qualities of the Text

The way you approach a text should vary based on the type of text you encounter. Reading a poem is very different from reading a chapter in a textbook. There are unique structures, elements, and purposes to the various texts you will encounter in college.

Below are some examples of active reading strategies employed with a variety of “texts” you might encounter in college including textbooks, scientific research, online media, artwork, and more.  Notice how the readers approach the text differently based on the length, format, subject matter, and the reader’s own purpose for reading.

5.3 After you read

Once you’ve finished reading, take time to review your initial reactions from your first preview of the text.  Were any of your earlier questions answered within the text?  Was the author’s purpose similar to what you had speculated it would be?

The following steps will help you process what you have read so that you can move onto the next step of analyzing the text.

• Summarize the text in your own words (note your impressions, reactions, and what you learned)
• Talk to someone about the author’s ideas to check your comprehension
• Identify and reread difficult parts of the text
• Review your annotations
• Try to answer some of your own questions from your annotations
• Connect the text to others you have read or researched on the topic

Once you understand the text, the next steps will be to analyze and synthesize the information with other sources and with your own knowledge.  You will be ready to add your perspective, especially if you can provide evidence to support your viewpoint.

Just like with any new skill, developing your ability to read critically will require focus and dedication. With practice, you will gain confidence and fluency in your ability to read critically.  You will be ready to join the academic conversations that surround you at Otago and beyond.

6. Now What?

After you have taken the time to read a text critically, the next step, is to analyze the text rhetorically to establish a clear idea of what the author wrote and how the author wrote it, as well as how effectively the author communicated the overall message of the text.

Key Takeaways

• University-level reading and writing assignments differ from high school assignments in quantity, quality, and purpose.
• Managing university reading assignments successfully requires you to plan and manage your time, set a purpose for reading, implement effective comprehension skills, and use active reading strategies to deepen your understanding of the text.
• Finding the main idea and paying attention to textual features as you read helps you figure out what you should know. Just as important, however, is being able to figure out what you do not know and developing a strategy to deal with it.
• Ask and answer questions. When you begin reading a section, try to identify two to three questions you should be able to answer after you finish it. If you cannot answer a question, try to determine why. Active engagement in the inquiry process is critical to success in university.
• University writing assignments place greater emphasis on learning to think critically about a particular discipline and less emphasis on personal and creative writing. Your focus becomes analyzing and synthesizing information to enter into academic conversations.
• Do not read in a vacuum. Simply put, don’t rely solely on your own interpretation. Look for opportunities to discuss the reading in and out of class to help clarify and deepen your understanding.

CC Licensed Content, Shared Previously

English Composition I , Lumen Learning, CC-BY 4.0.

Rhetoric and Composition , John Barrett, et al., CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Writing for Success ,  CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Rhetoric and Composition , Bay College , CC-BY 4.0

Originally Composed by Elizabeth Browning; revised by Karen Kyger and Cate Bombick, Howard Community College Faculty

Media Attributions

• Lean In Tweets is licensed under a All Rights Reserved license
• Example Questions to Ask a Text © Kalyca Schultz (Virginia Western Community College) is licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license
• Figure 4.3 Annotated Article © Karen Kyger (Howard Community College) is licensed under a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license

Chapter 4: Critical Reading Copyright © 2023 by Elizabeth Browning; Karen Kyger; and Cate Bombick is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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