Critical Reading

English for academic purposes. 

Critical Reading provides a systematic introduction to the process of analyzing and evaluating a written text. Students develop critical reading skills through the analysis of texts taken from authentic sources (journals, newspapers, magazines and websites) and a variety of academic disciplines. Students are encouraged to develop their comprehension and vocabulary skills, while at the same time forming a reasoned assessment of the effectiveness and validity of the text. There are opportunities for the further research, as well as writing tasks designed to allow students to synthesize the materials they have read and reach an individual conclusion. 

The book includes the following features:

• The material goes beyond the standard "reading-comprehension-plus-vocabulary" approach that many reading textbooks follow.
• Each chapter introduces a fundamental skill for developing critical awareness, including : considering place and date of publication ; identifying author bias and purpose ; evaluating scope of research ; distinguishing fact from opinion ; comparing the author's argument to other points of view and to the reader's own experiences ; and ultimately, evaluating the strength of argument and validity of the text with the goal of writing a critical review of an article.
• Students read and analyze authentic texts from diverse academic and general-interest sources and a variety of academic disciplines.
• Chapters follow a similar pattern with pre-reading discussion, comprehension and text analysis and a follow-up