Reading Tests

The title of this couse is "Reading and Writing Critically," so it only makes sense that we devote a good portion of our time to reading. More specifically, we'll focus on learning to read critically.

To read critically you will have to devote yourself to the task of reading. Most people can sort-of read something while carrying on a conversation, watching a hockey game or a movie that only mildly interests them, or thinking about what they'll do when they meet their friends for an evening out. Whatever kind of reading we might call that, it does not meet the minimum requirement for critical reading. To read critically you must give all your attention to the task at hand: reading.

When you read critically, you read to critique, which may or may not include criticizing¹ in the sense in which we most often use the word "criticize." But reading critically involves doing much more than, and frequently other than, reading to find fault. You are critiquing a work when you say "it is well written" just as much as when you say it is poorly written. But neither of those judgements will take you far enough to be said to be genuinely reading critically. You must ask yourself, after you decide that something is well or poorly written, why you think that. Are the sentences well-formed, do they vary enough to keep your interest, is new information introduced in the context of familiar information so that you can understand everything you read? If so, you would probably conclude you've just read some good writing.

But even if something satisfies your criteria² for being well written, and you are able to explain³ your reasons⁴ for saying the piece is well written, you are still not done reading critically.

Aside from the stylistic qualities alluded to above, you want to consider what you have read in the context of your life and times. Is this poem, essay, short story, play, novel, newspaper article, journal article, etc. worth the time it takes to get through it? Why or why not? What did you learn? Is it worth knowing? Is it possible that the poem, essay, etc. would be worth someone else's time and effort even if you feel it was not worth yours? If you feel it was NOT worth your time and effort, why do you feel so? What makes the pay-off so insignificant that your time could have been better spent doing something else? Most authors write because they genuinely think they have something worth saying, thata careful reader will benefit from reading their work. It is an act most arrogant to assert that you are right and the author wrong, not because readers are less significant than writers--I don't believe that to be true--but because most of what you read (leaving aside the blogosphere, at least for the moment) has gone through a process wherein numerous professional readers have seen the piece before it was ever published, and have decided it is worth publishing, worth commemorating as an important human expression, and, usually, worth taking a financial risk on. Are you sure your judgement is more valid than the judgement of all those others? Be prepared to explain yourself.

As you can see from the preceding paragraphs, in this course we will take reading critically seriously. Perhaps the primary prerequisite for reading critically is reading, but not far behind that is paying attention while you read. In order to ensure you do so, you will be required to write several reading tests during the course of the term.

If you are not present for a reading test, your grade for that test will be 0. Reading tests will be administered at the start of class, and a set amount of time will be allowed. If you arrive late, you will be permitted to write until the end of that period of time only. You will not be given the same amount of time as those who arrived on time.

The reading tests will not be announced ahead of time. They will be designed first to ensure that you have read the material, and second that you have given it sufficent time and energy to develop some understanding of it.

Nota bene: The reading tests help the professor determine whether or not you are doing and understanding the course readings; they help you develop good reading skills, good study habits, and prepare for the course's final exam.