Close Reading Structure

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• A way of interpreting a text’s main meaning/message
• You do not need a conclusion for this, but can include one if you wish

Introduction

• Short introduction(not like an essay)
• What is the text about? Provide a synopsis. 1-3 sentences
• Offer an interpretation, or overarching reading. What is the text about, inferentially?This could discuss:
  • Main themes/ideas constructed or presented in the text, and factors that led you to that understanding
  • Dominant interpretations of the text, e.g. view the text encourages
  • Resistance that you have to the text’s ideas or construction. Make sure to establish the dominant reading as a point of comparison
  • Application of a particular reading practise - that is, a lens you apply to the text (a focus on on a particular concept of ideological presence)
  • This is important, to contextualise the writing and helps adopt a sense of genre. 2-3 sentences. Be clear, concise and thoughtful
• Incorporate an introduction of the writer, title, text type and publication date (form and style, if recognisable)
• Structure example:
  • The (text) can be read as a (interpretation)
  • Through the application of a (type) lens, the text can be read as (interpretation)
• Good Answers Guide (2019) Example: “Set in Los Angeles, the novel can be read as a scathing social commentary of humanity’s incessant pursuit of fame and fortune, conducting an investing into the emptiness of the ever elusive desire for me. Through the employment of a myriad of narrative techniques, including alliteration, symbolism, asyndeton and epizeuxis, Homes explores the cracks in the façade of the American dream, condemns consumerism and warns of humanity’s need to heal the natural world.”

Paragraph

Content

• Should discuss ways in which the text is constructed to gain meaning – Look for:
  • Language features
  • Stylistic features
  • Generic conventions
  • Voice: mixture of tone and themes
  • Tone: sense created by how the text is constructed
  • Themes or ideas:self-explanatory
  • Narrative shifts
  • Variances in tone: changes in tone
  • Soon and so forth, etc
• Dominant, resistant readings or lenses are also encouraged
• Remember, representations may be challenged and/or endorsed by the text through its construction.
• Try to explicitly engage with course concepts – e.g:
  • Representations
  • Context
  • Reader response/positioning

Structure

 - The structure and cohesion of your paragraphs will earn you marks. 

• One point per paragraph, developed in your first sentences. 
• Step in, denote evidence, step out by technically and analytically justifying your initial point.
• Your paragraph points can be completely autonomous to each other, but they MUST legitimise your overarching reading from the introduction.

Length of Response

• Do I plan to write a 3rd or 4th paragraph?
• Remember, it is better that you write less well than more, poorly.
• QUALITY over QUANTITY
• 2 multi-evidenced paragraphs can glean as many marks as three or four more simplistic short paragraphs.

Theory

• A close reading is a demonstration of your critical literacy.

1. Do you know the text?  Showcase evidence from the text.
2. Do you know the positioning power of the text? Demonstrate how your evidence reveals technical devices at play.
3. Your evidence doesn’t ‘clearly show’.  You must then justify how the evidence and its devices create the meaning you have signposted in your paragraph and introduction. $Text+Device=Meaning$

Form

• The structure of this framework is an advised approach
• E.g., you may like to plan and construct an essay style response. 
• In this instance, you will need to formulate a strong thesis and outline your argument points in your introduction.
• You then attempt to cohesively persuade your marker of your argument throughout your paragraphs and structure a concluding paragraph in a powerful and convincing way.
• These essays lend themselves to a reading lens or personal response. 
  • E.g., an in-depth and multifaceted Feminist or Resistant reading.

Expression and Terminology

• Your response will need to employ a formal register – avoid contractions, colloquialisms, and figures of speech
• Essentially, your written expression should be appropriately sophisticated for this level of English (See: Expression in Secondary Criticisms)
• Appropriate critical, linguistic, and analytical terminology is a must
• Overly simplistic or repetitive language will greatly weaken the strength of your analysis/argument
• Ensure that your response uses appropriate metalanguage in its discussion of idea
• Evidence should be contextualised and effectively integrated into sentences
• E.g.: “It is only the author’s Indigenous identity which could imply that lines such as “not being grateful”  (line  21) indicate  a  subversive  reversal  of  the  idea  that  Indigenous  Australians  should  in  some  way  be  grateful  to  the  Australian  government,  or  that  “innocence  lost/to  the  crooked  men”  (lines  31–32)  would  refer  to  colonisation” (Barratt-Peacock 2019).