As a SUNY Empire student, you do most of your work independently. While you communicate with and learn from your instructors you also acquire knowledge by doing the required reading, writing, and research on your own. Critical reading is necessary to comprehend the content of a course as well as being able to understand what questions to ask to better understand that content.  

Critical reading is active reading. It requires effort to achieve an understanding. You may be able to read every word in a paragraph correctly and not be able to make sense of the text. In order to better comprehend the ideas within a text, you must be an active participant before, during, and after you read.   

Follow these steps to develop successful critical reading skills: 

First, read in a place where you can concentrate. You may prefer a quiet place such as a library or a private room to read, and you may find you can concentrate while listening to music. The first act of successful critical reading is to choose an environment that is conducive to focusing.    

Second, has the instructor assigned questions on the reading?  If so, read those questions before you start the reading so that you will know what to focus on, and keep the questions within view on your screen while you read (or print them out).  

Third, pre-read the text. Skim the reading assignment by reading chapter titles, subheadings, highlighted sections and any text that accompanies illustrations or charts. You can also read the topic sentence of each paragraph to help identify what supporting details to look for. 

Then, begin reading the text with an annotation tool handy, either a digital tool (see below) or a Word document where you can write notes or a pen or pencil if you are using print.   While reading, underline the key points and assertions of each paragraph.  If there are assigned questions, keep looking back at them and use them as a guide. Mark confusing parts that require re-reading and unpacking sentences.  Connect important words, phrases or ideas with arrows.  Using your annotation tool, write notes - your own associations or questions related to the text. Keep a dictionary (online or print) handy to look up any unfamiliar words and write brief definitions in your notes.   
 

If you are reading online material, you can make annotations and highlight using these tools:  
https://www.makeuseof.com/highlighter-apps-to-annotate-online-text-videos-or-podcasts/  

https://web.hypothes.is/ 

https://www.diigo.com/ 

 
Finally, reread your annotations.  Consolidate and integrate what you have read. Try to summarize the author’s purpose, main ideas and/or arguments.  Paraphrase the meaning of the text in your own words.  (To paraphrase, you can use many of the key words in the text if you produce your own sentences.)   Once you have a better understanding of the text, re-read it to clarify what you have learned and what you need to further analyze.   

Taking the time to read your assignments with a critical eye will make writing assignments a thoughtful, and even enjoyable process.