Gavin's Close Reading PowerPoint Presentation for Approaches to Text Week Four, 2015.

1. Close Reading
ATT—ASSESSMENT ONE

2. An Assessment with no Question?!
 Sort of…
 Your job is to frame your close reading, telling us what you are going
to be looking at closely.
 It’s not as scary as it seems.

3. Framing your Close Reading
 A lot of the work of framing occurs in your introduction.
 It’s where you tell us what themes or literary devices you are going
to focus on in your close reading.
 It’s also where you contextualise your excerpt.
 So: framing and contextualising is the work of your first paragraph.

4. For Instance…
 Why not start by telling us what the book as a whole is about?
 Example: “Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s novel The Tribe is
about…”
 And further: “The narrator in this novel is… who…. And through the
novel, he [the narrator] explores (the themes or whatever)…”

5. Imagine an Upside-Down Pyramid
Start broadly
Narrow it down
Get
specific

6. As you Narrow it Down…
 …You refer to the excerpt.
 Tell us what’s going on—briefly!
 Tell us how the excerpt fits into the novel—chronologically?
Thematically? Whateverly.

7. Then…
 What are some of the specific things going on in the excerpt?
 Do they reflect a larger pattern in the novel?
 Do they contribute to the purpose of the excerpt within the context
of the novel?

8. However,…
 You can’t cover everything!
 So you have to frame your response very carefully.
 Don’t give me: “I will discuss various themes and devices in this
excerpt.”
 BE SPECIFIC!

9. Start Broadly:
 The novel is about…
 The narrator is…
 The novel explores themes like…
 The novel employs literary devices like…

10. Narrow it Down:
 The excerpt is about…
 It explores the themes X through the actions/thoughts of the
characters/narrator…
 It fits into the novel because…

11. Get Specific:
 The excerpt explores the theme X in this way…
 It uses the literary device Y in this way…
 These mechanics help the excerpt to demonstrate Z about/within
the novel…

12. The Upside-Down Pyramid
Start broadly
Narrow it down
Get
specific