Why critical thinking depends on critical reading

Most of us spend an inordinate amount of time at work writing. We might forget that that’s what we’re doing as we tap out yet another message in Teams. Even if we’re only too painfully aware of the task when the monthly board report is due and Copilot is calling.

What’s easy to overlook is that writing can’t happen in a vacuum. No part of genuinely good work can.

Most projects with a final written output require a level of research and scoping. It’s an important part of a three-stage process: reading the background and project parameters, writing the document itself and then reading what you’ve written. Read, write, repeat. It’s a reciprocal process – the elements reinforce each other – and what connects them is the power of clear thinking.

Our main focus tends to be on the writing because it’s the bit the reader will see. But in large part, the writing’s quality and effectiveness will depend on what the reader will never see – our reading. What we read – and crucially, how we read – has a profound effect on the finished product. And on us as well.

Reader beware!

When we read, we’re essentially seeking information. But we may also have to consider the author’s opinions, their views on what they’ve written about. Sometimes we’re forewarned – their reputation and status may be well known, so we’ll be aware of their position before we read them.

Some of their views we may agree with, others we won’t. We think about our own position, and while reading we simultaneously become writers (‘Hang on, I don’t agree with that at all. I think …’). We approach the task of reading with our antennae raised, our senses on alert.

This is critical reading.

In childhood, we start out as passive readers (or we are read to). We absorb more than we question. It’s one of the main ways we learn about the world around us. And it’s how we develop our imagination.

On a technical level, reading also enhances our vocabulary, our grammar and our ability to tell a story, building our sense of style and structure. Throughout life, it remains true that the best way to improve our ability as writers is to read, read, read – both attentively and widely. Critical reading takes this practice to a higher level.

Critical reading in action

The process starts with clear thinking: setting aims and priorities for the background reading.

Let’s put this approach to work. Say you’re employed by a big city council, and an electric bike hire company has applied for an operator licence in your borough. The head of the transport strategy department has asked you to write their presentation for an important public meeting that will consider the application.

Straightaway there’s a key point here that you must keep in mind throughout your research. You are the writer of the presentation, not the final audience for it. Initially, the reader/audience will be the head of the department. And their final ‘readers’ (the actual audience) will be the council members attending the meeting. So everything you read and research must focus on what they need to make an informed decision.

It’s a complex and divisive subject. The council is inclined to give the green light to the application, not least because it will bring in much-needed revenue. But it will also boost the council’s eco credentials – it will be popular with people wanting a convenient, non-polluting way to get around the city.

But there are many in the borough who feel threatened by rider behaviour and irritated by dockless bikes left haphazardly on pavements. The application has been hotly debated in the letters page of the local newspaper, and the council can’t afford to alienate this vocal part of the electorate.

Ideally, you’ve had a meeting with the strategy executive. You know they want this meeting to approve the application, but they expect some heated opposition. They’ve given you a basic outline. And, as well as taking notes, you’ve recorded the meeting on your phone (having first asked their permission).

For the presentation writer, that recording is gold dust. Your notes are useful for the key points, but if you take the time to transcribe that conversation, you’ve captured much more – you’ve also got the executive’s tone of voice and the language they’re comfortable with. Reading critically in this sense will allow you to tailor what you write to fit them.

Don’t accept, challenge

Taking account of competing points of view is where critical reading is especially important. When you go back to the original application, for example, the electric bike company will have an obvious bias – they want to present themselves in the best possible light to win the business.

Your job is not to simply absorb this information. Your reading must become an active process: analysing, questioning and evaluating the text, rather than accepting it at face value. Vacant scrolling has no place here.

Anticipate counterarguments by assessing the application’s main claims and its supporting evidence. Where did the company source their data and how does it compare with alternative reliable sources? Are their claims evidence based or simply assumptions and opinions? Does the logic in the application stand up to close scrutiny?

It’s entirely up to you whether you read on a screen or hard copy, but what you must do at this stage is annotate. Highlight words, sentences, perhaps even whole paragraphs if the logic is questionable. Jot down your queries in Track Changes or in the text’s margins. Critical notes underpin critical reading.

Reading in an AI world

We’ve all seen those tell-tale little words ‘Sponsored’ and ‘AI responses may include mistakes’ as we navigate online. Critical reading warns us to beware of bias and AI’s potential to hallucinate, to make things up.

But as long as we remain in control, AI can be an extremely useful research tool. Just be aware that it can also be a people pleaser. It’s programmed to be one. And in aiming to be always ‘useful’, it will produce reams of convincing-looking text. Only human critical reading will reveal the presence or lack of real substance. People plus AI can certainly be a successful combination, but – as ever – don’t just accept, challenge.

Most of us have felt our spirits wane when opening a link or document leaves us confronted with a seemingly endless scroll through mind-numbingly boring text. Then only to have them lift again when we click on that magic little button and up pops ‘Hi, what can I help you with today?’

The temptation is as understandable as it can be irresistible: get AI to do the heavy lifting and precis the text. And the result: ‘Great, a perfect two-page summary! Let’s plonk it in the presentation right here!’

Please don’t. As well as checking the summary’s content and what may have been omitted, remember we all have a distinct style and tone. Unless you upload examples of your writing – or give the AI specific instructions – you’ll end up with a patchwork quilt of styles jostling for the reader’s attention.

Help AI to help you

Targeted, critical reading starts and ends with clear thinking. Do you even need to summarise that massive piece of research in the first place?

Go to the contents page and direct AI to the parts of the text you decide will be most useful. And rather than writing vague, generic prompts (‘Precis’, ‘Edit’), make them clear and specific: ‘Precis pages [ … ] of this article and present the main findings. Check and verify the sources the writer cites. Highlight any findings that are vague, potentially misleading and unsubstantiated. Follow my company’s writing style guide and these examples of my own writing style’.

Of course, you can break the prompts down into a series of steps – you’ll likely get better results if you do. And if you want more guidance on the most effective ways to interact with AI, you can download our in-depth, freshly updated guide here.

There’s another important layer to add in terms of research reading. As well as interrogating what you read and the author’s intentions, remember that we bring our own knowledge, experience and – quite possibly – our own bias to the party. Interrogate here too. Is it valid? Is it relevant? Is it getting in the way? Know yourself as well as what you’re reading.

Stop reading, start writing

There must come a time when the research reading stops and you write that first sentence, paragraph, page (as the flow of your writing kicks in).

For many writers, deadlines are a godsend. They bring focus, discipline and defined timelines to our work. When we’re planning a project, many of us will work backwards from the submission date and plan the project ‘sandwich’: ‘This time is for reading and research. This is the writing. This is for the critical reading of my own writing – the editing and proofreading.’

Again, the driving force behind each section is clear thinking, and nowhere is this more important than in the writing itself. Think clearly and you’ll write clearly. Think vaguely and it will always be reflected in the writing – it will have no clear purpose, the writing will wander and your reader will be none the wiser. In fact, they will probably be very annoyed that they’ve completely wasted their time.

Critical reading of your own work

The aim here is to put yourself in the reader’s shoes and make an honest appraisal of the good, the bad and the ‘… what was I thinking?!’

As I’ve said, the processes are symbiotic and sometimes run in parallel. We essentially write as we read when we are disputing an author’s opinions along the way. And we read as we write when we’re putting the document together, checking against our notes, changing words and phrases, improving the flow.

But the full editing and proofreading steps are a separate stage in the writing process. This is where we must root out anything that compromises clear thinking.

Tips to support critical rereading:

• • Writing is hard work and you’ll need to take breaks. When you come back to your document, don’t start work where you broke off. If you do, rereading later will highlight the slight changes in tone and the places where the logic doesn’t quite follow. Go back to the beginning and read and edit again, or at the very least go back a couple of pages. You need to get ‘inside’ that flow again, picking up the rhythm and pitch you’ve already established.
  • If time allows, take a break between writing and rereading. You might also take your laptop or text to a different room or simply change your seat. Clear your head to approach this last stage refreshed and in a more objective, reader-centred frame of mind.
  • Be ruthless.

To me, that last bullet is critical reading reduced to two words, and they’re especially valuable when you’re reading your own work. Never, ever let yourself be seduced by your own writing. That section that took you so long, that you worked so hard on and that reads so beautifully – be honest, is it adding or padding? If it’s the latter, be ruthless – it has to go.

Don’t accept, challenge. Critical reading has no room for sentiment.

Image credit: PeopleImages / Shutterstock