Close Reading

1. Close Reading An Introduction

2. Why “Close Reading”? • Astep toward determining if a text is worth reading in the first place • A way to take ownership of important or worthwhile ideas or elements within the text

3. Purpose of “Close Reading” • Figure out what the author has to say • Author: ideas and experiences translated into words • Reader: translates words back into ideas and experiences • Much can be lost, distorted and even added during the translation process.

4. Motives for Reading • Pleasure: no particular skills required beyond decoding • Figure Out Simple Idea: may require skimming skills • Learn Specific Technical Info: skimming skills required • Enter, Understand or Appreciate New World View: Close Reading skills required • Learn a New Subject: Close Reading along with ability to internalize and take ownership of organizational systems of meaning needed

5. How to Read Closely • Consider author’s purpose • Politician • Advertiser • Novelist/poet/playwright • Chemist and lab report • Editorial writer

6. Work with Knowledge Map • Knowledge exists in systems of meaning with interrelated primary, secondary, tertiary and peripheral ideas/concepts/concerns. • Start with reading for primary concerns and work way out to other levels and look for relationships among levels and among and across disciplines • Sonnet as a system of thought • From structure we can follow thinking and read for purpose, goals, concepts theories, etc.

7. Close Reading Redux • Understand your purpose in reading • Understand (as best you can) the author’s purpose in writing • See ideas in a text as being interconnected • Look for and do what you can to understand systems of meaning