Critical Literacy : Integrating Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing

Critical Literacy: Integrating Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing is designed to help students develop the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills that will support their academic and professional careers. The text emphasizes the interdependency of critical thinking, reading, and writing, and introduces readers to multi-modal writing. 

The text begins by introducing students to the concept of critical literacy, the idea of metacognition, and the three key subsets of critical literacy: critical thinking, reading, and writing. Ensuing chapters discuss the components of an academic essay, the usefulness of prewriting and discovery drafting, and the important practices of revising, editing, and proofreading. 

Dedicated chapters introduce students to different types of writing, including reflective, analytical, position, informative, and research. The text concludes with a handbook that covers common mistakes in grammar and mechanics, as well as a collection of readings that challenges students to apply what they’ve learned, encouraging them to critically think about, read, and write about the selections. 

Critical Literacy is an ideal textbook for foundational courses in reading and writing, as well as freshman seminar or college success programs or courses.

Susan Sommers Thurman is an adjunct faculty member at Henderson Community College, where she teaches courses in developmental writing and integrated reading and writing. She is the coauthor of Ticket to Write: Writing Paragraphs and Essays and Ticket to Write: Writing College Essays, and the author of Expanding Horizons: Short Readings and Images from Unusual Topics.

William L. Gary, Jr. is a professor of English and the director of the Writing Center at Henderson Community College, where he teaches courses in composition, literature, creative writing, and business writing. He is the coauthor of Ticket to Write: Writing Paragraphs and Essays and Ticket to Write: Writing College Essays. He earned his master’s degree in English from Florida State University.