earning skills for reading

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People make judgments, knowingly or unknowingly, in their life all the time. For example, they will do it when they decide on the type of shoes to buy, or when they have to face big issues such as choosing a good college to enter. But not all the judgments people make are sound ones. To form a sound judgment calls for an effort to give one’s opinion objectively as well as correctly on the basis of facts. In reading activity, an adequate judgment must be based strictly on the information given by the reading material. Therefore, in learning how to make sound judgments about what you read, the most important thing that you should bear in mind is to examine facts closely and then make your judgments carefully. Making sound judgments requires critical reading on your part. Generally speaking, authors, no matter what their medium of communication, aim to convince you that what they say is true and should be accepted as truth. They try to get you to share, at least momentarily, their attitude towards people and events. But everyone has biases; so do authors. To be a critical reader, therefore, you should be fully aware of the author’s biases. It is important for you to approach the reading material with a questioning mind. Instead of accepting passively or blindly, you should evaluate what the author says. You should demand evidence, insist on facts, and test whatever the author says against what you know by experience or what you have read from other sources. Only after this can sound judgments be formed.