Close Reading:
Outcome: Students will learn the elements of close reading including “understanding” a text, “noticing” key elements in a text, and the exposition of that textthrough definition, example, and practice.
Work CompletedBefore Class:Students should have read the assigned material.
In-Class Sequence:
1(5-10 min) Discuss Jarrell Wright’s definition of close reading (below).
2 (20 min) Provide an example of a close reading of a text (from course material). Students should use the hand out below to explain why the example corresponds to a close reading.
3 (15-20) Working individually, students should attempt their own close reading of a passage or chapter.
4 (10-20 min) Whole class discussion. A few students should volunteer their progress paying attention to “understanding”, “noticing” and “explaining” their text.
Hand-out for students:
There is nothing mystical about what literary critics do when they analyze texts—rather than being issued magic goggles that enable them to see things in a text that are invisible to others, critics actually engage in a process that anyone can learn.A few notes on what close reading is not: Close reading is not speculation. There is a difference between guessing and supporting a claim with evidence from the text.In fact, you may not make a claim, point, or argument about a text unless you have some kind of evidence from the text to back it up. Close reading is neither summary nor paraphrasing. A simple surface level description does not count; close reading is more akin to analysis or “unpacking” the various meanings of a text. Close reading isunderstanding, noticing, and exposition (explaining the meaning of a text):
0)“Understanding” a text: Students must be able to summarize or paraphrase accurately before they can go on to the more penetrating work of close reading and analysis.
1)“Noticing” key elements: Students should examine small-scale details in a text (like word choice, repetition or motif, metaphors, symbols, or even punctuation or use of language) rather than solely focusing on large-scale features like plot points and character profiles (though you can use small-scale details to make claims about larger features of the text).What kinds of details count as things that are worth noticing?It should be noted that there are no wrong answers:anyfeature of a text that you find to be unusual, strange, surprising, or interesting can be a good place to start.In addition, questions and problems can be good places to start a textual analysis—a very good close reading can emerge from an attempt to understand a troubling or confusing portion of a text.
2)Exposition:The final close reading step is to explain the effects of the textual details that you have noticed. Explaining is about moving beyond what isinterestingand on to what issignificant.A point or claim is significant if it helps explain the meaning of a text. Your goal here is to construct an argument about how particular authorial choices affect the meaning of the text as a whole.A final key to expository writing is that a good explanation will show the reader rather than just telling them. This involves using quotations from the text or “evidence” to support a point which demonstrates that your close reading is valid rather than just guessing or summarizing.
Adapted from Jerrell D. Wright’s article, U. Pitt.