Developing Critical Reading Skills

by Deanne Milan Spears

Although the world has changed a lot since the first edition, the underlying premise of Developing Critical Reading Skills has not. The premise of the text is that good reading and clear thinking go hand in hand. For this reason, it emphasizes practice in sustained, analytical reading. Students first work with high-quality short passages before moving on to more substantive pieces of greater complexity. The readings explore diverse anthropology, sports, human behavior, politics, social policy, education, ethics, autobiography, personal reminiscence, the minority and immigrant experience, humor, satire, and so forth. The passages also reflect diverse writing styles, thereby giving students the experience of reading high-level prose by its best practitioners.

This book succeeds when students become more self-assured about their reading and when they recognize that reading well—with confidence, fluency, and enjoyment—is a significant part of their emotional and academic lives. As the book’s epigram by Tobias Wolff “A true piece of writing is a dangerous thing. It can change your life.” Students will feel genuine excitement when they encounter a writer who shows them a new way of looking at their lives and at the world. It is this feeling—this inspiration—that Deanne Spears imparts.

Genres: Reference

640 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2002

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Developing Critical Reading Skills does exactly what the title suggests, and more. Make no mistake: it is a textbook. But it is a very readable textbook. It is also so comprehensive that it is likely to be the only book on this subject you will need to read. Even if this is not new ground for the reader, it will provide an excellent review and, more importantly perhaps, it is the perfect reference book to have at ones immediate disposal.

Deanne Spears thoroughly covers the fundamental principles and the details: identifying the authors purpose, argument and proofs; annotating, paraphrasing and summarizing the essay or book; identifying inferences and challenging assumptions. She covers paragraph development and organization and talks about the importance and type of language, tone (including wit, irony, sarcasm, cynicism, satire), point of view, and allusion.

The author discusses argument analysis and evaluation, fallacies and bias; how to analyze the structure of arguments; how to test a good argument; how to spot emotional appeals and logical fallacies. And so much more.

She also concedes that inductive and deductive reasoning are "limited, and it is difficult to apply them to the real-world argument that may rest on layers of assumptions." The Toulmin Method is then introduced and expounded, as a more useful way to analyze and evaluate arguments.

Highly recommended.

[Lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my text book in the class I'm taking -- really good so far. Lots of smaller essays and making me want to read things like Granat, New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly etc.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

My undergrad wrapped in one.