Close Reading
*The majority of this information can be found in Chapter 2 of The Language of Composition.
Definition:
1) Reading something enough times so you can understand it, explain it to someone else, and ask and answer questions about it using evidence from the text.
Definition:
1) Reading something enough times so you can understand it, explain it to someone else, and ask and answer questions about it using evidence from the text.
...but what am I looking for while I read?
In AP Language and Composition, we read nonfiction pieces, so our focus in interpreting through a nonfiction lens. This is also called rhetorical analysis. We are analyzing the rhetoric of the piece. As you read, you are paying attention to how the speaker/writer, audience/reader, and subject/topic all interact (rhetorical triangle). As chapter two in The Language of Composition states, "That is you start with the small details, and as you think about them, you discover how they affect the text's larger meaning"(35). Below you will find the questions you should always think about whenever you are given a text in class.
What is the rhetorical situation?
Questions taken from: http://rhetoric.byu.edu/pedagogy/rhetorical%20analysis%20heuristic.htm |
What is the content of the message?
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Strategies for Close Reading
So, I understand what to look for, but how do I prove I have done all this? Enter some awesome strategies to help prove you get it and also document your reading experience. These strategies will also help you in the writing phase of rhetorical analysis. Please remember that we will build on all this as the year progresses. Your analysis should deepen as you move through the course, so the expectations will increase as well.
1) Annotation or Post it Annotations
2) Mnemonics for analyzing nonfiction texts a) SOAPStonE b) Didls c) Smell |
3) Dialectical Journal (double entry notebook)
a) notetaking/notemaking 4) Graphic Organizer/Chart b) quotation/summary/strategy or device/effect or function |