As an NMBU student, you will be required to read texts for courses and your thesis. Learning to read critically is important for you to engage with course material and scientific knowledge. Being able to critically read, engage and evaluate texts is necessary for effective research and writing.

Identify what you are reading for
Understand why you are reading a text to help you organize and prioritize your reading and to understand how you can use the information that you have read. Before reading a text, ask yourself if you are reading:

To understand the general content?
For data?
For specific information or general thematic concerns?
For information or arguments to support or contest your stance in an assignment or thesis?
To collect the information you require for an assignment?
To get you thinking about what you need to understand for an assignment?

Develop a critical eye
Critical and effective reading requires that you develop a critical eye when reading. This means that you can evaluate texts for more than what it says, but also for how and why it says it. You may find it helpful to ask yourself questions about what you read, such as:

Why is the author writing about this?
What is the main point(s) or idea(s) the author wants me to know?
How is the author presenting their argument or stating their facts?

Make time to read
Critical reading is not a quick process. It takes time and many students do not set aside enough time for proper critical reading. You will find it difficult to read and think critically if you read too fast or skim over information because you did not leave enough time to thoroughly read. Knowing why you are reading a text will better inform you if skimming or in-depth reading is required.

Some texts may be difficult to understand, but you should not give up. Think about what is confusing or hard to understand by asking questions about the text. You may find things are explained in more detail, or become more understandable as you continue to read. If the text remains confusing to you, think about how the text relates to what you are studying. Try placing the reading in context with what you already know about the topic. Read the text again and think about its context, relation, relevance and how the author's ideas connect to a broader, more general theme that you are studying.

Difficult texts are not always clearly written
As a student, you will likely have to read many difficult articles or books. It is okay if you do not always understand what the author is trying to say. Many times, a difficult, confusing or complex idea is written poorly and the author has not made a strong effort to be clearly and easily understood. Academics, scholars, and scientists often try to sound smarter and more intelligent by writing long and complex sentences. Authors may not always make their meanings clear, and this is a sign of poor writing and communication on their behalf.

If you find a text confusing, try using an Internet search to clarify what you have read and discovered the true meaning. There may be a book review, another author who more clearly explains the same idea, a revised version of the text, or a summary of the text. These sources may help you understand what you have read, and maybe better written and easier to understand.

Engage with the text
Write notes as you read. Highlight key statements, ideas or facts as you read. Look up words that you do not understand. Write down questions that you have about what you are reading. Doing all of these while reading a text will make you think critically about what you are reading, and will help you to evaluate the text. These notes, highlights, and questions can also help you build a constructive outline for any writing about the text that you are expected to produce.

Asking questions about what you do not understand, about new ideas or connections that emerge, or whether you agree or disagree with segments of the text will make you think more critically about what you have read. This helps to demonstrate your insights, understandings, and viewpoints on the matter.

Summarize what you have read
While asking questions and writing your ideas down as you read is useful, providing a summary of the text can be helpful as well. A summary can more clearly show you the purpose of the text. Write down the key ideas and claims of the text, but also try to answer a few questions.

Can you explain what the text says?
Can you explain what the text means?
Can you explain what the text does? (report facts, argue an idea, persuade the audience, present new theories, etc.)

Written documents filter reality and can distort, persuade or present different conclusions. Remember, texts are trying to change your viewpoint on a topic in some way.

Re-read the text
After you have read a document, written down some ideas and questions, you may want to re-read the text to help you summarize it. You may better understand the content and context of the document after a second reading. On a second reading, you can begin to separate parts of the text and examine it for specific information, such as:

The purpose or reason for writing
Evidence or facts
Arguments and counter-arguments
Key ideas presented
How the author arrived at their conclusion

Examine these parts in more detail. You may find a deeper, more fully developed understanding of the text. Use re-reading to think critically about the author's authority and agenda. Who are they? What is their purpose? What does the text aim to do? What credibility does the author have? Try to determine and understand the author's context, purpose and intended audience by re-reading the text.

Understand your own strategies and improve them
Everyone reads differently. Think about how you read and understand information. Do you read too quickly or too slowly? Do you easily lose focus when reading? Can you skim or scan the document for key ideas?

Think about the strategies presented in this resource and try applying them. Critical reading is a skill that develops and improves with constant practice and effort.

Adapted from the Center for Writing, University of Minnesota's Student Writing Support Quicktips. Retrieved from http://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/criticalread.pdf