A close reading assignment is a task that asks students to closely analyze and interpret a specific passage or text. This type of assignment requires students to pay attention to the details of the text and to think critically about its meaning and significance.
An example of a close reading assignment might be to ask students to analyze a poem by William Shakespeare. In this case, the students would be asked to carefully read the poem and consider its language, structure, and imagery. They might be asked to consider the speaker's perspective and to think about the themes and ideas that the poem explores.
To complete this assignment, students might begin by breaking the poem down into smaller chunks or sections and analyzing each one individually. They might look for patterns or repetition in the language, or consider the way that the poem's structure contributes to its meaning. They might also pay attention to specific words or phrases that seem particularly significant or symbolic.
As they work through the poem, students should also consider the historical and cultural context in which it was written. This might include considering the values and beliefs of the time period in which the poem was written, as well as the social and political issues that were important at the time.
Once students have completed their close reading of the poem, they should be able to write an essay that summarizes their findings and interpretations. In this essay, they might discuss the themes and ideas that they believe the poem explores, and provide evidence from the text to support their analysis. They might also consider the poem's relevance to contemporary readers and reflect on its lasting significance.
Overall, a close reading assignment is an excellent way for students to develop their critical thinking skills and to gain a deeper understanding of a specific text. By closely analyzing and interpreting a text, students can gain new insights and perspectives, and develop a greater appreciation for the complexity and nuance of literature.
How to write a close reading essay + examples
Curious, I took a pencil from my pocket and touched a strand of the web. This webpage from a college writing course offers another brief explanation of close reading in relation to New Criticism. As I proceeded on my way along the gully, like a vast impossible shadow, I realized that in the world of spider I did not exist. Adding a little fun never hurt anyone! Both the speaker and the reader are made dizzy by a sickening of the senses and the continual oscillation of imagery. . Does the sample close reading paper follow the close reading paper outline? When your tutor gives you this assignment, treat it as the best opportunity for you to show your teacher that apart from having the ability to identify minutes in a poem, passage or short storytelling, you can say something significant about your identification. And though the spider can't explain, or even apprehend, Eiseley's pencil point, that pencil point is explainableârational after all.
Close Reading: Definition, Examples & Steps
At the end, all Storyboard presentations will be shared with the class, and it will count as a test grade. The reader is shown Huck's ability to rightfully distinguish between real and unreal, true and false when it comes to appearances. . . The articles, guides, and videos in this section will expose you to various methods of close reading, as well as practice exercises. Step 2: Note Patterns and Techniques After reading the text for the first time, the reader should reflect on what patterns and techniques they observe. Your explanation of how you see the text creating effects or making arguments When you are choosing your evidence, consider the tone of the passage and the specific words used to describe a character or event.
What is Close Reading? 5 Step Strategy with Examples
Below are 22 activities to try: 1. Now that my students all have access to Google Drive, I create a special folder with a Google Doc for each student and place their topic inside. However, close reading is a useful technique in any kind of analytical writing and these strategies can be applied to other disciplines. We are told to question our intuition and trust. And if we start seeing this passage in human terms, seeing the spider's situation in "her universe" as analogous to our situation in our universe which we think of as the universe , then we may decide that Eiseley is suggesting that our universe the universe is also finite, that our ideas are circumscribed, and that beyond the limits of our universe there might be phenomena as fully beyond our ken as Eiseley himselfâthat "vast impossible shadow"âwas beyond the understanding of the spider. They have hedges, walls, and gates that are surrounded by other several little houses for workers.
Close Reading
Pap hallucinates Huck as an "angel of death," and in a sense his retrospective narrator self is a spiritual presence in the scene between his younger self and Pap. This is MUCH harder than it seems and is a good challenge. We make a note of it. Your aim may be to notice all striking features of the text, including rhetorical features, structural elements, cultural references; or, your aim may be to notice only selected features of the textâfor instance, oppositions and correspondences, or particular historical references. This article provides a condensed discussion of what close reading is, how it works, and how it is different from other ways of reading a literary text.
