Here I present seven critical reading strategies that I have shamelessly stolen from someone else. These are strategies that you can learn readily and then apply not only to the reading selections in this class, but also to your other college reading. Although mastering these strategies will not make the critical reading process an easy one, it can make reading much more satisfying and productive and thus help you handle difficult material well and with confidence.
Most readers annotate in layers, adding further annotations on second and third readings.
Annotations can be light or heavy, depending on the reader's purpose and the difficulty of the material. Learning about a text before really reading it. Previewing enables readers to get a sense of what the text is about and how it is organized before reading it closely. This simple strategy includes seeing what you can learn from the headnotes or other introductory material, skimming to get an overview of the content and organization, and identifying the rhetorical situation. Placing a text in its historical, biographical, and cultural contexts.