Critical Reading

e.g. The researcher was only looking at male students from privileged US universities; therefore, generalisations cannot be made about female students, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, or students from universities in other countries.

e.g. The researcher asserts that the finding that people eat more ice-cream in the summer is surprising. This interpretation seems misguided, as several studies (e.g. Swales et al 1989, Johnson & Torin, 2003) have suggested a strong correlation between hot weather and desire for ice-cream.

e.g. In a survey, most students said that they like the University of Sheffield and the researcher concludes that all students believe that University of Sheffield is the best university in the world. However, the results do not fully confirm that this interpretation is true as three participants preferred Manchester University.