An intensive reading of a research report is a three-step process. The first is an analytic reading, in which the aim is to separate the paper into parts that can be understood. The second is an interpretive reading, in which understanding is derived by building the author's sentences into propositions and arguments. The third reading is critical, in which strengths and weaknesses of the paper are identified. Thinking, more than word-for-word perusal, marks the second and third readings.