Close Reading of Scholarly Literature

1. Close Reading of Scholarly Literature

2. Who is the Writer? Begin your reading session by knowing the author. Sometimes a brief biography will be provided; if not, then google the author to learn his/her area of expertise.

3. Preview the text

4. Be an Active Reader √Take Notes: keep a written record of important ideas, concepts, definitions. Don’t write in library or borrowed books Don’t write down everything √Underline or highlight important ideas. Read paragraph first to decide what is really important √Make notes or ask questing in the margin—annotation √Engage the writer in a mental conversation by asking questions and giving voice to your own thoughts and responses to the author’s ideas

5. Understanding the Text √Use a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words, foreign words, or words that you don’t know how they are used. √Look for literary devices: metaphor/simile: comparisons parallel structurerepetition of key language or grammatical sturctureuse of logic and reasoning: logical fallacies

6. Purpose of the Essay √Argumentative: seeks to advance/defend/support a position or take stand on an issue √Persuasive: seeks to move the reader to action √Informative: presents information in a no-biased fashion √Explanation/definition √Combination √Author’s mood and tone √Audience (you may not be part of the intended audience)

7. Scrutinize How the Ideas are Developed √Offers adequate evidence Good examples, statistics, expert testimony (keep in mind that scholarly articles are often written by the expert) √Sound reasoning and logic √Essay is well organized √Uses good transitions to connect ideas

8. Thesis Look for the thesis: some writers will have a clearly stated thesis some place in the essay: introduction, middle, conclusion. Always read the conclusion in the preview stage. Often writers will have concluding statement that acts as a thesis. Implied thesis: not a clearly stated statement that the reader can pick out as the main ideas. See if you can write a statement for the essay.

9. Good Writing √Ideas are clearly stated √Grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, word choice—all that you have learned as a writer √Look for literary devices

10. Example • President Obama wants to “fundamentally transform” America. We want to restore America to the founding principles that made this country great. • He wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society.  We want to ensure that we remain a free and prosperous land of opportunity. • This President takes his inspiration from the capitals of Europe; we look to the cities and small towns of America. • This President puts his faith in government.  We put our faith in the American people. • He is making the federal government bigger, burdensome, and bloated.  I will make it simpler, smaller, and smarter. • He raised the national debt.  I will cut, cap, and balance the budget. • He enacted job-killing regulations; I’ll eliminate them. • He lost our AAA credit rating; I’ll restore it. • He passed Obamacare; I’ll repeal it.

11. Hard Work √Time consuming: must read more than once, must take notes, must be able to mentally summarize the article after you have read it. Must be able to write a short summary. √Thought provoking: as a reader, in order to understand the work, you must take time to read every word, understand the main idea, be able to make connections from idea to the next, recognize writer signals for understanding the work at both the sentence level and as a whole. √Comprehend/remember what you have read