What is Close Reading? Close reading is active reading- reading in which you raise questions, note passages and identify devices, so that the text becomes more amenable to in-depth discussion, understanding, and analysis. With time you will develop your own system of annotating a text that will include some combination of underlining/ highlighting/ circling/ notations/ notes that will help you to raise questions and call attention to passages that seem especially significant. Your notations will serve as a flag to signal the arrival of potentially important information and should always get some kind of mark/notation if not commentary.
The following 7 Questions will guide you in your close reading: 1. What is the text about? Take notes What is the point of the paragraph/ passage What is the topic?
2. How is the text structured? Be able to describe the structure of composition of the essay Read for relationships between sentences and paragraphs How is it organized? Why is it organized this way?
3. How would you describe the language of the text? Examine the syntax, diction, tone, and figures of speech Be able to describe THE EFFECT of each of these elements
4. To whom is the text addressed? How do you know this? Use historical or contextual evidence to speculate about the intended audience Why did the author write this? Who did he / she write it for? Identify the speaker’s tone
5. What effect does the text have on the reader? Examine your emotional and intellectual responses to the text How doe the author get you to feel this way? What rhetorical strategies are used by the author?
6. What is the text arguing? Read for implied meaning Read for relationships between sentences and paragraphs Look at the structure, language, and subject to see how these elements work together to produce and argument
7. Is the text effective at its goal? Why? Identify the point/ argument of the text Was the goal accomplished? Consider the rhetorical devices at work in the text Determine whether the strategies work to supplement the argument
So……… Reading closely means being an active reader- you need to have a pen in your hand when reading! Make notes, underline, circle your observations! For those of you who don’t like to interrupt the flow, you can read sections and then go back and make your markings Read a text with these questions in mind! AP prompts ask you HOW an author achieves a goal/style and these questions help you find the answer!
The following 7 questions will guide you in your close reading: 1.What is the text about? Take notes What is the point of the paragraph/ passage What is the topic?
2. How is the text structured? Be able to describe the structure or composition of the essay Read for relationships between sentences and paragraphs How is it organized? Why is it organized in this way?
3. How would you describe the language of the text? Examine the syntax, diction, tone, and figures of speech Be able to describe THE EFFECT of each of these elements
4. To whom is the text addressed? How do you know this? Use historical or contextual evidence to speculate about the intended audience Why did the author write this? Who did he/she write it for? Identify the speaker’s tone
5. What effect does the text have on the reader? (a.k.a.- you.) Examine your emotional and intellectual responses to the text How does the author get you to feel this way? What rhetorical strategies are used by the author?
6. What is the text arguing? Read for implied meaning Read for relationships between sentences and paragraphs Look at the structure, language, and subject to see how these elements work together to produce an argument
7. Is the text effective at its goal? WHY? Identify the point/ argument of the text Was the goal accomplished? Consider the rhetorical devices at work in the text Determine whether the strategies work to supplement the point or argument
So…. Reading closely means being an active reader- you need to have a pen in your hand when reading! Make notes, underline, circle your observations! For those of you who don’t like to interrupt the flow, you can read through sections and then go back and make your markings. Read a text with these questions in mind. AP writing prompts ask you HOW an author achieves a goal/style and these questions help you find the answer.