The Art of Close Reading (Part One)

Introduction

• Developing one's thinking about reading is essential to engaging in close reading.
• Students must learn to determine the worth of a text and take ownership of its important ideas.
• Close reading involves the active use of intellectual skills and guided practice based on theory.

Reading for a Purpose

• Skilled readers read with a purpose, which varies based on the situation and text.
• Reading aims to understand what the author conveys on a subject.
• Accurate translation of an author's words into intended meanings requires analytic, evaluative, and creative acts.
• Many people project their meanings into texts, distorting the original message.

Purposes for Reading

1. Sheer pleasure: Requires no particular skill level.
2. To figure out a simple idea: May involve skimming the text.
3. To gain specific technical information: Skimming skills are required.
4. To enter, understand, and appreciate a new worldview: Requires close reading skills.
5. To learn a new subject: Involves internalizing and taking ownership of an organized system of meanings.

Reading Strategies

• Reflective readers adjust their reading strategies based on the text type and purpose.
• Core reading tools and skills are necessary for reading any substantive text.

Considering the Author’s Purpose

• Readers must be clear about their own purpose and the author's purpose in writing.
• Adjust reading strategies based on the writer's intent (e.g., political campaign literature, newspaper stories, advertisements, scientific reports, novels, poems, research reports).

Developing a “Map” of Knowledge

• Knowledge exists in systems of meanings with primary, secondary, and peripheral ideas.
• Primary ideas explain secondary and peripheral ideas.
• Understanding primary ideas helps in thinking within the system as a whole.
• Relating core ideas across disciplines enhances understanding (e.g., botany and biology, psychology and sociology).

Reading to Understand Systems of Thought

• Reading with discipline involves understanding systems of thought.
• Systems of thought include purposes, questions, information, concepts, interpretations, assumptions, implications, and points of view.
• Effective reading constructs systems of thought.

Reading Within Disciplines

• Academic subjects should be approached as systems of thought.
• Some disciplines are systems of supporting systems (e.g., science), while others contain conflicting systems (e.g., philosophy, psychology, economics).
• Identifying whether a subject is a system of supporting or conflicting systems guides effective reading strategies.

Conclusion

• Reading well requires intellectual skills and an active dialog with the writer.
• Good readers seek the author's purpose and look for systems of meaning in the text.
• Adapted from "How to Read a Paragraph: The Art of Close Reading" by Richard Paul and Linda Elder.