"Reading Critically" Summary

The intro of the passage educates the reader on how to get the most out of the piece. It advises the readers to eliminate all distractions and read in a quiet place. The first part of "Reading an Essay" is to examine the preliminaries. These can be simple like Title and Author. However, they can also include where and when the work was published. The passage then guides readers to "The Broken Chain" by M.F.K. Fisher. Readers are advised not to start off examining the piece, but to read "what Fisher has to say". The essay itself dealed with the subject of punishment on children by their parents. Fisher recalls her childhood when she was spanked, and said she was never actually beaten, however. After the selection, the passage advises readers to write while reading and gives tips on summarizing. The passage then switiches to the topic of critical thinking methods. These included Analysis, Inference, Synthesis, and Evaluation. It goes on to talk about Meaning, Writing Strategy, Language, and Visual Images.The passage advises readers to: get the big picture, Analyze, Infer, Synthesize, and Evaluate when reading.