Using Content Reading Assignments in a Psychology Course to Teach Critical Reading Skills
Liberal arts students are expected to graduate college with fully
developed critical reading and writing skills. However, for a variety of reasons
these skills are not always as well developed as they might be - both during and
upon completion of college. This paper describes a reading assignment that was
designed to increase students’ discipline-specific reading and writing skills. The
assignment was piloted in a mid-level social psychology class. Pre-test/post-test
comparisons indicate substantial improvement in students’ ability to identify
thesis statements, recognize and interpret evidence, and other effective and
critical reading skills. Furthermore, students themselves rate the assignment as
efficacious in helping them with both their reading comprehension and writing
skills.