Critical reading is of paramount importance to any student. I would incorporate "reading again," and "connecting the content to the application" into my reading. These two strategies come with valuable benefits that enhance the comprehension of the material. The first round of reading may not give a clear picture of the entire work. Besides, one may find it difficult to understand portions of the material. It follows that one needs to repeat reading the work to differentiate the components such as the thesis, methods, evidence, previews and counter arguments, among others. Since these parts connect directly with each other despite being inherently different, the first round of reading may not create explicit links among them. They also present different challenges such as difficult words that one can only understand after making a perfect connection between the components of the articles. Highly technical writing requires that one rereads the work, and allows time for the brain to process the concepts (“Reading tough material,” n.d).
Application contextualizes the text by linking it to the purpose the author intended (Center for Writing University of Minnesota, 2014). Therefore, the application enables one to grasp the ideas quickly from the perspective of the author, the reader, and the user. In the process, one can remember the contents quickly and be in a position to recall them for a long time. Moreover, the academic jargon used to write the article may be complicated. However, thinking about the applications demystifies the vocabulary. The application also helps in the connection of the content to prior knowledge. Fundamentally, most works relate to other articles that one could have had read previously. They may be giving a different perspectives or solutions to a problem. Therefore, when one seeks to contextualize the article, the reader can quickly create a link to the other articles. I believe that rereading and "thinking about the application" are the most critical aspects of understanding and comprehending difficult texts.
References
Center for Writing University of Minnesota. (2014). CRITICAL READING STRATEGIES. Retrieved on February 8, 2016 from http://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/criticalread.pdf
Reading tough material. (n.d). Retrieved on February 8, 2016 from http://www.utc.edu/center- advisement-student-success/pdfs/readingtoughmaterial.pdf
