This study examined the influence of critical reading orientation on use of external strategies such as note-taking and underlining while reading an expository text. In two experiments, undergraduate students were asked either to review an article on a linguistic policy (critical reading) or to summarise it (less-critical reading). Experiment 1 indicated that, when permitted to do so, the majority of students used note-taking and/or underlining strategies for critical reading as well as for less-critical reading. In Experiment 2, an analysis of think-aloud protocols, notes, and underlines revealed that critical readers produced more critical notes/underlines and fewer summary notes than did less-critical readers. Also, critical readers substantially increased their production of critical notes/underlines over the course of reading and decreased highlightings, whereas less-critical readers increased summary notes and decreased highlightings. (Contains 3 tables.)