Topic 6.1 A Close, Personal Reading
A Close, Personal Reading
Close reading is a reader-response technique that involves looking closely at a text, particularly at how words are used, how sentences and ideas are arranged, how images and language are used, and how the whole passage is structured. Close reading can involve looking at a particular passage in a text or it can address the text as a whole. As you close read, you look for features in the text that help you interpret the text. When you embark upon a close reading, you first observe facts and details about the text. You go about reading like a data collector. Your second step is to go about interpreting the data you have collected.
It's not enough to read something for information only (as you discovered in Module 5). Regardless of your course of study, close reading is a technique that works in any discipline. You can analyze lab reports, historical documents, prose essays, fiction, and many more texts by using close reading as a way of understanding and interpreting the text. You can also use it as a way of conversing with a text, something you will be doing with your Reader-Response Essay in this module.
Below is a small example of a close reading of just a few sentences in "Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid Links to an external site." by Virginia Woolf (your reading for this module). Mouse over and click the highlighted words to find out more about how a close reading works.
It's your turn now. Practice leveraging close reading and reader-response skills by reading "Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid Links to an external site.." This essay was composed during WWII, but you will notice that some of the issues regarding war, peace, gender, national identity (to name a few) are relevant today. Read this piece with a personal eye; that is, consider how you respond to it with your own thoughts and reflections, as these inform your reading.
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