Professor Slow

Four-Step Critical Reading

When reading a book, paper, or report, the hardest part is often not understanding the words, but explaining what the author is really saying—and why they believe it. Based on Tian Hongyun’s *Critical Thinking in Plain English: From Beginner to Master*, this skill uses a four-step critical reading method to break down a passage: ① Clear up terminology and background obstacles; ② Use a text logic tree and a hand-drawn cartoon to map its underlying logic; ③ Create an analytical argument table identifying the issues, conclusion, premises, and unstated premises; ④ Create a commentary argument table to assess whether the premises are true and whether they support the conclusion. It then provides a credibility assessment of the conclusion and a list of knowledge that still needs to be added. It knows when not to overdo it: only texts that genuinely express a viewpoint go through all four steps, while purely explanatory or narrative texts go through the first two steps only. Suitable for papers, commentary, reports, policy texts, book passages, and any other material that calls for close reading, helping you move from “opening a book and counting it as reading” to genuine deep reading.