Research

One cannot take people or arguments at face value, even if an idea feels or sounds right. When reading, always take into account the credibility of the author’s sources, the context in which the author is working, and the author’s motives. For example, if you read about a space ship that has been captured by farmers in Iowa and that the government is holding the crew, you consider the source and question the credibility of the reporter and the context. Otherwise the reader may assume you're just rehashing Steven Spielberg's popular television series, Taken. Yet if it is reported in the Wall Street Journal—and if the date isn’t April 1—that the president of the United States has confirmed that aliens are being held captive, you might want to rush to the store to buy some film for your VCR.

Passive vs. Critical Reading

Passive reading involves reading merely for information. In contrast, careful, critical reading involves analyzing how a document is shaped and argued. Can you see an alternative and perhaps better way to construct the text?

General Reading Strategies

You can engage the questions presented in this section by employing the following five strategies:

1. Preview the document.  Scan ahead, noting headings, tables, figures.  Read the abstract, introduction, and conclusion several times before reading the body of the document. 
   
   
2. Write on the document, summarize paragraphs in the margins, or use double-entry responses.
   
   
3. Use highlighters to color code parts of the document that seem interesting, important, or questionable to you. 
    
4. Analyze the author's use of metalanguage.  How does the author connect ideas or reveal ambiguities?  What theories or concepts are used?
   
   
5. Consider drawing a concept map of the document, visually representing the argument or organization of the argument presented in the document.
   

Evaluation Questions

By definition, critical readers are skeptical. They do not take the results of research as the final word on the subject, but instead look for flaws in the reasoning; if it is an empirical study, critical readers look for flaws in the research design. Critical readers focus on relevance, accuracy, authority, context, timeliness, and coverage.

Relevance:  

1. Does the text relate to your purpose/research? 

Accuracy:

1. How accurate is the material?
2. Does the writer provide evidence for claims?
3. Does the writer follow recognized methodologies--methodologies that are acceptable for the topic?
4. Are sources provided for controversial claims, facts and research results?
5. Does the document cite sources?
6. Is the source a first-hand or second-hand account? That is, are the authors reporting results of their own research or reviewing someone else’s work?

7. Is the source of publication credible? (For example, an essay in the New England Journal of Medicine would influence most physicians’ opinions about a surgical procedure far more easily than an essay in a biweekly community newspaper.)

Authority:

Depending on your audience and your purpose, you may want to distinguish between scholarly journals and popular magazines. For example, your instructor may ask you to write a research paper using only scholarly journals as sources. Other times it may be acceptable to use magazines to make your point. How can you tell the difference between a scholarly journal and a magazine?

Scholarly journals present new research. You will find scholarly apparatus such as abstracts (or summaries) of the articles. Articles will include footnotes and bibliographies. The articles are likely to contain reviews of early literature on the same topic. The articles may be peer-reviewed which means that a group of researchers in the same field have looked at the article to decide whether it should be published. The articles are written with other scholars in mind rather than a general audience.

Magazines are written for a more general audience. The language used is suitable for a broad audience or hobbyists rather than scholars in a particular field. You won't find footnotes or bibliographies to back up the reporting in a popular magazines.

1. Who produced the information at the site?
2. Is it endorsed by a professional association or publisher?  Is the publisher a vanity press or a well regarded publishing house? 
3. If the document is published on the Web, note the URL.  Is this a corporate website?
4. What are the qualifications of the author(s)?  Is this document cited by other established researchers?
5. Are biographical statements attached to each article so you know who wrote it?
6. Can you detect any biases that might affect how the information is presented?
7. What research methods were used by the author(s)? Are these accepted methods? Are they replicable?
8. Who wrote the document?  How will the authors benefit? Do the authors work for research institutes, publications, private companies, or universities? Are they well-known authorities? Do the authors seem himself or can you identify any hidden agendas?

Context:

1. For whom is the document intended?  What conversation is this document a part of?
2. How does the document reflect the expectations or assumptions of a particular cultural or historical context?

Timeliness:

1. Is the content up-to-date?  Are cited sources and facts from recent research?
2. If the document was published on the web, when was the site last updated?
3. What is the copyright date?

Coverage

1. What topics are presented? 
2. Are all topics explored in depth?  
3. What important texts, ideas, or authors are ignored?
4. Should you consult?