Total labor: 6.5 hours to 7.5 hours. PLAN AHEAD.
Close reading is the process of making the implicit explicit.
I’ve designed this assignment so that it teaches you what close reading is and how to do it while you write and produce it. As a result, every step is deliberate and has been thought out.
Please follow all the instructions, and dedicate the time I’ve asked you to to each part of the assignment. Read through the instructions fully before starting step 1. This way, you know what I will be expecting you to hand in. The more time you invest in the process, the easier it will be to write the actual paper in a few weeks. Close reading is as much about the process before you begin writing as it is about what you write.
LABOR INSTRUCTIONS:
Close reading is the process of making the implicit explicit.
I’ve designed this assignment so that it teaches you what close reading is and how to do it while you write and produce it. As a result, every step is deliberate and has been thought out.
Please follow all the instructions, and dedicate the time I’ve asked you to to each part of the assignment. Read through the instructions fully before starting step 1. This way, you know what I will be expecting you to hand in. The more time you invest in the process, the easier it will be to write the actual paper in a few weeks. Close reading is as much about the process before you begin writing as it is about what you write.
LABOR INSTRUCTIONS:
- Pick a passage, either from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville or from Ibn Fadlun’s Land of Darkness. The best advice we (instructors across the department) can give you is this: Choose a passage that perplexes you! Choose a passage you find confusing or weird or strange! I promise you that you will have more to say about a passage you find perplexing than about a passage you find straightforward. If, after doing steps 2 and 3, you realize that you don’t have enough to say about this passage, then expand the passage or choose an alternate passage. Spend time choosing a passage you would like to work with. Invest the time, because it will save you time later. This passage can be the passage you write your first paper on. 30 minutes
- Make a list of everything you notice or observe about the passage. These can be important words, verbs, certain words that repeat, etc. You don’t necessarily have to write the observations out in a list, you can color code them or code them while annotating (i.e. circle key words, underline others, double underline punctuation, swiggly line under adjectives, etc.). Spend 45-60 minutes.
- "BEING IN UNCERTAINTY" PART 1: Begin categorizing these observations into groups that make sense to you and your passage. You must include these three categories: Verbs, Adjectives, Nouns. You must also have two additional categories that you choose based on what you notice about the passage. These can also be subgroups of one of the two groups: Command Verbs/Other Verbs, Color Adjectives/Other Adjectives, Gender References. Or they can be entirely new categories based on the content of your piece: Words that Repeat, Phrases or sentences that suggest Mandeville is Christian, Others in the passage, Numbers, Dialogue, etc. 60 minutes. Don't jump to any conclusions yet. Don't make any claims. Just notice the language.
- "BEING IN UNCERTAINTY" PART II: Now you are going to do a free association exercise. This can take any shape that is most conducive to your learning. You can make lists, or visual brainstorm bubbles, etc. Put one of the words that you’ve found important in your activity above, and start to make a list of all the things that you can associate with it. What are its connotations? Make at least five association lists, trains, bubbles. The list can center on a single word, on a collection of verbs, on a collection of adjectives, etc. 60 minutes. Again, don't jump to any conclusions yet. Don't make any claims. Just spend time with the words.
- Look at your lists and your free associations. Now, start to make sense of what you've come up with. Ask and answer the following questions with a free-write: What stands out to you already? Are there any strange patterns? What kinds of themes do you notice in the passage? What kind of tensions do you notice in the list. For example, is there one free association list that's led you to ideas of leisure and play and another that's led you to ideas of work and discipline. Take time to slowly come out of uncertainty and make sense of the material before you. 30 minutes
- Look back at your free association exercise and your passage and begin to consider what question you can ask of the material. What is an interesting question to ask of the text that this passage will help you answer? If you need some sample questions, go back and look at the list of questions I’ve put up in our Class Discussion tab. Feel free to use one of those questions if it applies to your work. Come see me in office hours if you can’t think of a question.
- You may find that once you do steps 6-7, you realize that you can’t answer this question using the passage you have or using the free associations you’ve come up with. That is OK. That is part of the process. You have two choices— either change your passage to one that allows you to answer the question, or change the question. 30 minutes.
- Put your primary passage and your 3-4 paragraph close reading side-by-side in front of you. Open a new document. Put the question you aim to answer at the top of your document.
- Answer this question in 1,000 words using close reading. This is where you draw on what you have come up with in the steps above. Make sure that you are not just dragging and dropping things into your piece, however. This is where the idea of crafting comes in. Be deliberate about your choices. What is the first thing you need to prove in order to prove the second point in order to prove the third point, etc. Part of the time will be dedicated to moving paragraphs around once you finish, or to rewriting entire paragraphs. 120-180 minutes.
Things to watch out for:
- Make sure that you are close reading and NOT paraphrasing or summarizing.
- Make sure that your claims are substantiated by evidence.
- Make sure that you are not just listing evidence, but that you are using that evidence to answer your question.
I will be collecting five things from you:
1. Annotated passage
2. Category list
3. Free Association Exercise
4. Free Write
5. Final piece of 1,000 words
- Make sure that you are close reading and NOT paraphrasing or summarizing.
- Make sure that your claims are substantiated by evidence.
- Make sure that you are not just listing evidence, but that you are using that evidence to answer your question.
I will be collecting five things from you:
1. Annotated passage
2. Category list
3. Free Association Exercise
4. Free Write
5. Final piece of 1,000 words
Here is the example I showed you in class:
difficulty_paper_project_ibn_fadlan_close_reading_.pdf | |
File Size: | 101 kb |
File Type: |