CLEAR the way to reading critically

Stumbled across this post from my Twitter friends about reading critically.  Roland Paris, a professor at the University of Ottawa, helps his students with an acronym for critically reading text in the course:

C-L-E-A-R

1.       Claims:  What are the main claims or arguments in the text?  What is the author’s main point?

2.      Logic:  How does the author reach these conclusions?  What are the steps in the author’s reasoning or logic?  Is this logic sound?

3.      Evidence:  What evidence does the author present to support the argument(s)?  Does the author offer enough evidence?  Is this evidence convincing?  Can you think of any counter-evidence that would challenge the author’s claims? 

4.      Assumptions:  Does the author rely on hidden assumptions?  If so, are these assumptions correct? 

5.      alternative arguments:  Can you think of alternative arguments that the author has not considered?

 It has me thinking about peer review (a topic of much discussion since I am at my annual Communities for Learning retreat!) and wondering if we might be able to use this for students to give each other some helpful feedback on expository writing.