lish (U.S.)
Project description
Close Reading Redux
Word Count: 1200-1500 words
Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, double-spaced

For your assignment, you will be doing a close reading of a text. As you know, a close reading means that you do not discuss the text in its entirety, but rather isolate a passage or group of passages to be analyzed. There’s no room for plot summary in this paper: you are only concerned with the deeper meaning(s) of the passage you select.

Things to avoid:

• The writer’s biography
• Plot summary
• Overview of themes in the text
• Generalizations
• Extra-textual references (“In 1943, certain things were going on…”)

Things I’ll be looking for in your paper:

• How well you stay focused
• Evidence of close reading
• How well you relate the passage to the rest of the text (this should comprise no more than 1 page of your essay).
• How convincing your reading is (do you really have something to say or are you just making things up? It’s pretty easy to tell)

Please note the following:

• You must write on the text below. If you submit a paper on any other topic or text, you will automatically receive an F.
• Do not include the passage you read closely in your final word count! I only count words that YOU write!

General rules of thumb:

You should include a thesis statement in your opening paragraph (it’s typically the last sentence). A good thesis tells us exactly how you are reading and interpreting a text. For instance, a thesis might read: “Despite the Swede’s lengthy self-examination, American Pastoral demonstrates that terrible events often have no discernible causes.”

Your intro should be short—no more than ½ page—then cut to the chase with your thesis. After that, select several points to develop as independent paragraphs. Don’t forget a conclusion. Expect your paper to have something like 7-9 paragraphs, including intro and conclusion. A well-crafted paragraph typically has 7-8 sentences.