Reading Critically in Decision-Making Processes - Essay Example

Introduction. Information, by definition, is raw data that can be subjected to verification of truth such that its validity is unquestionable. This thus means whenever new things, events happen or new ideas that have been verified are learned, their qualification into information camp is obvious. In this sense information is everywhere and the ubiquity of information depends on existence of human beings and comprehendible modes of communication. Thus it can categorically be stated that information is in all places provided that there is a presence of human interactions and this is an indication that information is not only found in institutions of learning, which are commonly known to be the harbours of information because of the reliability of the information contained therein, but also it is present everywhere. Human-information interaction is a day in day out activity unrestricted of place and time and therefore regardless of the time and place, the need for information is inevitable. Information is very important for decision making at homes, businesses and other institutions and very importantly for consumers. However, there is no guarantee that each time information arises there is absolute validity in it and consequently it becomes important to put under consideration the source of information from which it has been drawn (Janice, p. 427). Information is of different types and is usually contained in various sources which include books, journals, newspapers, magazines the internet among others. Some of these sources are reliable and some don’t conform to reliability. It thus becomes vital to critically evaluate the source of information before trusting it with the piece of information it presents because some of the sources do not have proof mechanisms and thus fail in compliance to consistency. Reading critically. Reading is the interpretation of information presented in any of the above mentioned sources but reading critically is different in the sense that one ought to understand the material in accuracy. All the time, reading depends on the critical thinking skills of an individual and in this sense some people take reading as an art simply because they have artistic minds for reading and interpreting sources of information. For many other people, reading starts as a puzzle, which gets complex along the way when trying to make identification of the right source for use in the in the reading process. This thus calls for a pre-research into the kind of reliable sources that might be useful in the field under the spotlight. This thus leads to a new reading for that directs a reader into the useful and reliable material to read. But reading and understanding greatly differs across the divides and according to levels of educations. For instance, despite the importance and necessity of reading by consumers, a high school level graduate might read and understand the reading differently from a university graduate. This might not however be uniformly true but in most cases there is justification of this statement because there are also “struggling readers” (Rice, pp. 92). As a result, the understanding of both customer reviews and product descriptions but either of these also needs reliability evaluation. This is an example that reading critically is very important for the consumer market for better understanding of various industrial products and selection of the most suitable products for use by these same consumers. Some education helps to “forge relationships” in our environments (Rice, pp. 93) One of the critical thinking and reading strategies includes source evaluation and selection (Wiley Jet al, pp 1062). There are diverse sources of information within and out of reach of people, which include books, journals, newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations and the internet among others but the sources which contain reliable information are minimal. But mostly information provided in books and academic journals is widely considered to be the most reliable information. This does not however mean that all information contained in all the other sources is unreliable. Therefore when selecting a source, one has to take into consideration factor such as relevance and the eligibility of the source presenting this information. For instance, the internet which is the easily accessible source, “provides some reliable” (Wiley Jet al, pp 1064).) information to millions of people but because this age has come to be referred to as information age simply because in every field there is need for information, many people have used this opportunity to present some incredible and unreliable pieces of information on the internet. For credibility and reliability, the source giving information has to undergo a thorough evaluation to ensure that the information provided therein is accurate and source evaluation is usually pegged on the relevance of the field. For instance, a source purporting to medical information on a certain medical topic must be evaluated in conformity to the accepted standards of information presentation in that field. For instance, a patient may wish to find out the likely disease they are suffering from at home but unreliable sources might provide incorrect symptoms. Another aspect of critical reading is the use of material or source comparisons. This strategy is of paramount importance in validity determination of the different materials (Cioffi, pp. 4). Reading by comparison increases the reading skills of an individual and thus makes one a better reader. By reading different materials of the same category, one gets a wider scope of accurate understanding through reader response to the information therein. This shows that critical reading for understanding of information is not only based in institutions of learning but in business whereby consumers or business involved people can read to compare and find inconsistencies. This can be helpful when some material is affective to some business processes. Unlike writing, reading is more important in academic and business success in the whole because reading is the intake of new information or situations that would determine or facilitate accurate and favourable decision making (Bosley, pp. 2). Just like in the universities and colleges where reading is highly emphasized for academic exemplarity, the same applies in the business sector where reading is equally inevitable for acquisition of decision making premises. This is because reading is interrogative and thus the dimension of understanding of the material under the spotlight might be understood with intense clarity and hence one discovers how dear it is to understand reading (Mc Caw, p. 6). Businesses, in a larger proportion, support economies of many countries in the world and thus good information is very vital for interactions within the business environments. This is ensured freely in the world by the training of graduates who end up in business sections; an indication that reading skills are vital in the business world as much as they are important in the institutions of learning (Janice, pp.423). In conclusion, it suffices to state that reading critically is very essential in decision making processes and therefore the business world would embrace critical reading for the sake of accuracy in decision making. But in order for one to think and read critically, one must employ reading strategies. These include source selection and evaluation, a factor that determines the validity of the source used and its reliability. Secondly, there should be source comparison a factor that would enable the consumer to pick non- exaggerated review and get a better understanding of a specific product. Reading thus affects both students in learning institutions; business managers and even consumers in the sense that misinterpretations in some texts have a negative influence. Therefore critical reading does not only affect universities and colleges but also businessmen and consumers in this information age. Works cited. Bosley, Lisa. I_don_t_teach_reading, Routledge: Kentucky. 2008. Cioffi, Grant. Perspectives and experience: Developing critical reading. Academic research Library, 1992. Janice, Lewis. Redefining Critical Reading for College Critical Thinking Courses: Journal of Reading; Academic Research Library.1991; 34, 6; Mc Caw, N. How to read texts: A study guide to critical approaches and skills. London: Continuum. 2008. Rice, Mary. Using Customer Reviews to Build Critical Reading Skills English Journal; Sep 2007; 97, 1; Academic Research Library Wiley, Jet al. Source Evaluation, Comprehension, and Learning in Internet Science Inquiry Tasks. American Educational Research Journal. Dec 2009; 46, 4. Read More