Critical Reading Praxis
"Praxis" is "the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realized...[it] may also refer to the act of engaging, applying, exercising, realizing, or practicing ideas". 1 Critical reading praxis provides opportunities to engage in critical reading online, in areas defined by topic and content type; to explore the ways different kinds of online content require different reading strategies; and, to build critical online reading skills, which can be employed in any environment, online or offline. The guided readings in this section are designed to help readers achieve three primary conceptual goals:
- Understand that critical reading online is often nonlinear—that is, a critical reader rarely follows a “straight line” when evaluating a range of sources, each of which may only provide a portion of information on a topic or event. Likewise, a critical reader’s own thought process should be flexible and open to alternative points of view.
- Understand that critical reading will necessarily involve points of disagreement, where debate and dialogue can work to deepen the conversations around knowledge.
- Understand that information has different types of value, depending on its context and source: how information is produced, packaged, and distributed, and by whom. It may be a commodity—designed to appeal to readers as consumers, so that the producer profits or is empowered in some way. It may be a means of educating the public. It may be aimed at influencing the reader’s point of view. It may simply be intended to create social connections. It may be a community’s method of negotiating and understanding the world. In most cases, the information that you encounter online is multidimensional, and exhibits several of these functions at one time.
Guided readings in “Information Literacy” are aimed at helping readers make subtle distinctions between forms of information; exploring the different ways information is packaged and distributed; and developing and practicing the critical reading strategies most useful for each form.
Readings in the “Metaliteracy” section offer a more advanced critical reading experience. This section is designed to help readers further navigate differences between journalism and other sources of information, and within each context distinguish news from opinion, facts from claims, and evidence and inference.
Readers may also explore topics on the web through live Twitter feeds—accessible on the #Information and #Opinion page—as well as several other platforms, accessible in Critical Reading Resources, and search engines. This provides an opportunity to engage in critical reading strategies by exploring topics on the web in real time, using skills developed and practiced in the guided reading sections and tools in the Research and Verification Tools section.
1 Wikipedia,"Praxis." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxis_(process)
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