Close Reading
Steps for an Effective Close Reading
The more you practice close reading, the less likely it is that you will consciously think through each of these steps. But I think these general guidelines will help you get started, especially when analyzing passages you find difficult.
Step 1: Choose your passage.
Sometimes your passage will be assigned to you, but sometimes you'll be tasked with choosing what portion of a text you want to focus on. You'll want to choose a section that you understand well, with words that stand out to you and literary/stylistic elements you can identify. You'll also want to pick a section that you think is important to understanding the text as a whole so that you can explain how your close reading illuminates the entire text, not just the small portion you have focused on.
Step 2: Read and summarize.
Before you can look beyond the surface of the text, it's important to make sure you understand what's happening in the text on a literal level. Read the passage, then summarize it in one or two sentences. It's a smart idea to include this very brief summary in the paragraph or essay you produce to help your reader to contextualize your close reading.
Step 3: Re-read and annotate.
Close reading means re-reading more than once. When you're getting started, it's a good idea to get all your ideas down on paper
– you can prioritize once you've thought everything through. Here are some things you can do when you annotate a literary passage:
- Highlight, circle, or underline word choices that stand out.
- Identify the mood of the passage. How does it make you feel?
- Write any questions that come to mind about the author's choices in the margins. (If something seems weird to you but then you can unravel how this weirdness works, you've got a great start for a close reading.)
- Identify any literary elements (similes, personification, rhyme, etc.) that you notice in the passage. (See the Glossary of Literary Terms if you need a refresher!)
- Identify the author's tone: Should you be reading this passage as serious and straightforward? Satirical? Angry? Answering this question is really important for avoiding misinterpretation.
- Note any patterns that you see, in punctuation, word choice, sentence structure, etc.
By the time you finish annotating your passage, you'll probably have marked up lots of interesting details. But an effective close reading isn't simply a long list of details accompanied by brief interpretations. In a close reading, your goal is to say more about less-- you're more likely to arrive at significant insights by spending a lot of time and attention on a few details than by giving a cursory look at many. Once you've chosen which details you think are most significant, spend some time unpacking them, thinking about how they contribute meaning to the passage. Every detail you discuss will need more than one sentence of unpacking. No hard and fast rules apply, but generally if I don't see at least three or four sentences spent on a detail, I find myself looking for more analysis.
Step 5: Put it all together.
It's smart to start your close reading paragraph or essay with a claim that sums up the results of your analysis. (If you are answering a specific question or responding to a prompt, your claim should address the demands of the assignment.) After that, discuss and unpack your details, being sure to connect them to one another and to your claim with transitions. At the end of your analysis, make clear how your close reading illuminates issues you see as central to understanding the text as a whole.