Questions to Ask While Reading
Critical reading questions for an article, essay, report or assigned chapter: what is being claimed, what the evidence can actually support, what has been left out, and what you would need to check before repeating it. Written for students and anyone reading to decide what to believe.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What is the author claiming, in one sentence, and where on the page do they say it?
Why ask it
If you cannot point at a sentence, the claim may be implied rather than argued, which changes how you should treat it. Writers frequently bury the actual thesis several paragraphs in, or leave it out entirely.
What would have to be true for that claim to hold?
Why ask it
This surfaces the unstated premises the argument rests on. Most weak arguments are not wrong in their conclusion but resting on an assumption the author never puts up for inspection.
What evidence is offered, and is it the kind that could support this claim?
Why ask it
A survey cannot establish cause, one interview cannot establish frequency, and a trend cannot establish a mechanism. Mismatch between claim type and evidence type is the most common flaw in otherwise careful writing.
What is actually being counted here, and how was it measured?
Why ask it
Definitions do the quiet work: what counts as unemployed, as a user, as an incident. When the definition is missing, the number cannot be compared with anything, including the number in the next paragraph.
Which figures are relative and which are absolute?
Why ask it
A doubling of a rare risk sounds alarming and may be trivial in absolute terms, while a small percentage of a huge base can be enormous. Writers choose whichever framing supports the point, so convert it yourself.
Where is the strongest example, and what is it standing in for?
Why ask it
Vivid cases persuade more than data and are chosen for that reason. Ask whether the example is typical or extreme, since an argument built on the most striking case usually cannot carry the general claim.
Who disagrees with this, and are they represented fairly?
Why ask it
Look for whether the opposing view is quoted or paraphrased, and whether the version presented is one its holders would recognize. An argument that only defeats a weak version of the other side has not done any work.
Which words are carrying more weight than they can bear?
Why ask it
Terms like natural, radical, reform, elite and common sense arrive with the conclusion built in. Substituting a neutral word and rereading the sentence shows you how much of the persuasion was vocabulary.
Where does the author move from evidence to interpretation without marking the shift?
Why ask it
The join is often a single word: therefore, clearly, which shows. Finding it tells you exactly where you are being asked to take something on trust.
What is missing that you would expect to be here?
Why ask it
Absences are hard to notice and highly informative: no counter-evidence, no sample size, no mention of cost, no date. Ask what a fair-minded critic would have included.
Who published this, who funded it, and would it read differently elsewhere?
Why ask it
Funding and venue do not make an argument wrong, but they predict what will be emphasized and what will be omitted. The useful move is to ask which specific claim the sponsor benefits from.
When was this written, and what did the author not yet know?
Why ask it
Older texts are frequently right about the analysis and wrong about the facts, or the reverse. Dating the piece stops you criticizing someone for missing evidence that did not exist yet.
What is this text arguing against that it never names?
Why ask it
Most writing is a reply to something: a prevailing view, a rival, an earlier version of the author. Identifying the unnamed opponent explains the tone and the choice of emphasis.
What would change your mind if it appeared on the next page?
Why ask it
Deciding in advance what would count as a refutation is the only reliable defense against reading to confirm. If nothing would change your mind, you are not reading, you are collecting ammunition.
Which paragraph did you skim, and why?
Why ask it
Attention drops at the technical parts, and those are often where the argument is either made or fudged. The place you skipped is the place to go back to.
Can you say the last section back in your own words without looking?
Why ask it
Recognizing prose feels like understanding it and is not. Attempting the summary from memory finds the gap immediately, and it is the single most effective study habit available.
Where did you agree too easily?
Why ask it
The passages that felt obviously right got the least scrutiny, which is precisely why an error there survives. Go back to the sentence you nodded at and ask what it actually asserts.
What does the author want you to feel or do by the end?
Why ask it
Naming the intended effect separates the argument from the persuasion. Once you can see the mechanism, you can decide whether you agree with the case rather than the momentum.
What would you need to verify before repeating any of this?
Why ask it
Usually two or three specific things: a statistic, an attributed quote, a causal claim. Writing them down turns vague skepticism into a short list you can actually check.
What one idea from this will you still have in a month, and why that one?
Why ask it
Most of a text is gone within days, and the part that stays is often a phrase rather than the argument. Choosing deliberately, and writing it in your own words, is what makes reading accumulate.
Reading closely without slowing to a crawl
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Match the effort to the text
Survey before you read
Read the title, the opening, the headings, the first line of each section and the conclusion. Five minutes of this tells you the shape of the argument and lets you read the body as confirmation or surprise.
Decide what you are reading for
Reading to be persuaded, to extract facts, to pass an exam and to write a response all call for different attention. Choosing before you start prevents the slow, unfocused reading that produces no notes and no memory.
Not every text deserves the full treatment
Reserve close reading for the pieces you will rely on or argue with. For the rest, a summary in your own words and a note of the one useful figure is enough.
How to mark a text
- Bracket the thesis when you find it, and write the page number on the first page so you can get back to it.
- Put a question mark next to any claim you would need to check, and keep those in one list.
- Circle every number, then note beside it what was measured and over what period.
- Mark the transitions where reasoning turns into conclusion, since that is where you will want to argue.
- Write one short line at the end of each section in your own words, without looking back at it.
- Note where you disagreed and whether it was the evidence or the values you disagreed with.
- Keep your reactions in a different color or margin from your summaries, so you can tell them apart later.
Remembering what you read
Summarize from memory, then check
Close the text and write three sentences: the claim, the main support, and your objection. Comparing that against the page is where the actual learning happens, and it takes about two minutes.
Store the idea, not the highlight
Highlighted passages are almost never revisited. A single paragraph in your own words, filed where you will meet it again, does far more than a marked-up copy on a shelf.
Read the disagreement too
For anything important, find one credible critic of the text and read them next. Nothing clarifies an argument faster than watching someone competent attack it.