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Critical Thinking Skills
Critical Thinking Skills
Why it’s useful Understanding implication and inference can help you to more fully
comprehend an author’s intentions, purpose, and point of view. It can also help you to think
critically about what you have read.
A written text may have ideas that are implied, meaning they are not stated directly by the
author. As a reader, you can understand the implied meaning, or implications, in a text by
making inferences. An inference is a logical conclusion that you reach based on your
background knowledge and evidence that is presented in the text.
To make inferences, you should consider what you already know, have experienced, or
believed about a topic, as these will influence how you perceive the ideas presented in a text. If
you already know something about a topic, this knowledge can help you to comprehend a text
more easily. However, your background knowledge and opinions about a topic can also mislead
you, causing you to make false conclusions about an author’s intended meaning. By being
aware of your own biases, or tendency to favor or believe certain ideas, you can engage more
freely with the ideas presented in a text and focus on what the author intends to communicate.
By considering your background knowledge and by looking for evidence in the text-clues that
indicate the author’s intended meaning--you can use your reasoning skills to make strong, well-
supported inferences. The stronger the evidence you gather, and the more carefully you reason,
the more likely you are to make logical inferences that reflect the author’s intent.
C. Read the passage again. Then match each term with its meaning.
Supporting Skill 1
Making Predictive Inferences
Why It’s Useful Making inferences about upcoming content before and during readings
helps you to engage actively with a text, assess your background knowledge, and check
your expectations against the information presented and implied in the text. This can
help you to gain a deeper understanding as you read.
Making predictive inferences, or educated guesses about what you will read, will help you to
engage actively with a text and use your background knowledge to help you to improve your
comprehension. This can be done both before and while you read a text.
Before Reading
When previewing a text, you can make predictions by asking yourself questions such as these:
● What type or genre of text is this? How will this affect the style of writing or kind of
information in the text?
● What is the purpose of the text? Is it meant to inform or teach the topic? Persuade?
Entertain?
● Who is the author? What is the author’s background? How might this influence the ideas
in the text?
● What do the title and visuals tell me about the topic? How can this help me to predict the
content?
● What do I already know about this topic? What new information can I expect to learn? Is
there anything I expect to find confusing?
● How do I feel about this topic? Do I expect to agree or disagree with the author’s
opinions about anything?
While Reading
As you read you can check your predictions and make new ones by asking questions such as:
● Were the predictions I made before reading correct? If not, what is different? What
evidence in the text supports or discounts my predictions?
● Do I agree with the ideas or opinions of the author? If not, why might my perspective be
different?
● Based on what I have read so far, what information do I expect will come next?
Vocabulary Preview
The following vocabulary items appear in the reading. Circle the ones you know. Put a
question mark next to the ones you don’t know.
C. Read the passage again. Complete each statement. Use the words and phrases in the
box. Then compare answers with a partner.
competitive Scandinavian
dominance stereotypes
modesty tough-tender