Abstract: Critical reading is an important way to develop critical thinking. This paper describes an action research of critical reading by applying Richard Paul & Linda Elder's critical reading model into teaching the course of English Reading and Writing for Graduates. There are 3 stages of the action, including understanding structures and themes of texts and paraphrasing details, analyzing the 8 elements of authors' thinking and evaluating texts from 9 aspects. After a research of one-term, students' awareness of reading critically has been apparently improved. This action research has offered a practical model on the way of cultivating critical thinking ability in reading texts.