Lesson 5: Critical Reading Skills

This set covers Lesson 5: Critical Reading Skills, focusing on strategies to read and analyze texts effectively. It includes techniques for understanding authorial reasoning, navigating hypertext and intertextual connections, identifying types of claims (fact, value, policy), and recognizing common logical fallacies such as ad hominem, straw man, slippery slope, red herring, hasty generalization, and ad populum. The set equips students with tools to critically evaluate texts, interpret arguments, and strengthen reasoning skills.

Previewing

Scanning titles, headings, and introductions to predict content and structure of a text.

Annotating

Writing notes, underlining key ideas, and marking connections within a text.

Questioning

Asking about the purpose, assumptions, and implications of arguments in a text.

Summarizing

Condensing major points into concise restatements to confirm comprehension.

Inferring

Drawing logical conclusions from implied information rather than explicit statements.

Contextualizing

Placing a text within cultural, historical, or authorial background to understand meaning.

Reflecting

Evaluating how a text aligns or conflicts with one’s knowledge or perspective.

Hypertext

Digital or web-based text with links creating a non-linear, interactive reading experience.

Intertext

The relationship between texts, where one references, reflects, or draws from another.

Retelling

The restatement of a story or re-expression of a narrative in one’s own words.

Quotation

Directly lifting the exact statements or set of words from another author’s text.

Allusion

Explicitly or implicitly referring to an idea or passage from another text without quotation.

Pastiche

Developing a text that copies the style or properties of another text without mocking it.

Claim

An assertion or statement presenting an argument, opinion, or stance on an issue.

Claim of Fact

States something true/false, exists/does not exist, or will/will not happen; supported by evidence.

Claim of Value

Judges the worth, quality, or morality of something; uses standards like good/bad or important/unimportant.

Claim of Policy

Proposes a specific action or solution to address a problem, often using “should,” “must,” or “ought to.”

Ad Hominem

Attacking the person instead of addressing the argument.

Straw Man

Misrepresenting an argument to make it easier to attack.

Slippery Slope

Arguing one small step will lead to an extreme outcome without evidence.

Red Herring

Introducing an irrelevant topic to divert attention from the main issue.

Hasty Generalization

Drawing a conclusion from insufficient or unrepresentative evidence.

Ad Populum (Bandwagon)

Assuming something is true or good simply because it is popular.