A Critical Reading Guide for English 1121

A Critical Reading Guide for English 1121

1.) What are the credentials of the author? How does the writer establish his/her credibility in the essay? What is your impression of the author? What gives you this impression?

2.) What is the writer’s purpose in writing? In other words, why is the writer writing this piece? What “clues” do you have for this?

3.) Who is the writer’s audience? What “clues” do you have for this? What is the writer’s relationship with his/her audience? What “clues” do you have for this?

4.) What type of essay is this? (Narrative, Personal Commentary, Information Essay, Procedures Report, Research Report, Synthesis of Sources, Argument, Editorial, Proposal, Evaluation/Review, etc.)

5.) What is the writer’s thesis? (Thesis = Subject/Topic + Assertion/Point of View/Central Idea) Where is the writer’s thesis? Does the writer provide a “forecast” for the piece?

6.) What are the writer’s main points (a.k.a. sub-topics or supporting ideas)?

7.) How is this piece organized? (Chronologically, Question-Answer, Problem-Solution, By Topic, Order of Importance, Logical or Sequential Order, Spatial Order, etc.) Why is this piece organized this way?

8.) How does the writer develop and support his/her points? What kinds of evidence does this writer use? (Facts, Statistics, Examples, Anecdotes, Hypothetical Scenarios, Case Studies, Authorities or Expert Testimony, Textual Evidence, Personal Experiences, Personal Observations, Personal Conversations, etc.)

9.) Does the writer use any “outside” sources? If so, why does he/she include them? Does the writer document his/her sources of information in any way? How does the writer document his/her sources of information?

10.) Are there any other special features of this piece of writing?

Subtitle
Subheadings
Point of view (I, we, you, them, etc.)
Vocabulary level
Word choices
Sentence lengths
Sentence structures
Style
Tone