MINI PROJECT IIII (for Paper II)
DON'T FORGET TO LOG YOUR HOURS
Required labor: 205 minutes to 220 minutes
If you find that you are going way over 205 minutes, please email me so we can make adjustments. Be prepared to give me a detailed run through of how you've spent your time.
Required labor: 205 minutes to 220 minutes
If you find that you are going way over 205 minutes, please email me so we can make adjustments. Be prepared to give me a detailed run through of how you've spent your time.
YOUR 48 HOUR EXTENSION IS ONLY AVAILABLE IF YOU EMAIL ME 24 HOURS BEFORE THE DUE DATE
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 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
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 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
- (5 minutes): Read the instructions.
- (30 minutes): Pick a passage you will want to incorporate into your next paper. I leave the length up to you. It should be a passage long enough for you to produce a close reading essay; if you're a strong close reader, you can write paragraphs on a short exchange between two characters.
- (10 minutes): Read the passage three times: once to yourself, once out loud, and another time out loud and very slowly.
- (30 minutes-45 minutes): Write answers to the following questions:
- Who is speaking?
- Who is the narrator?
- Who is the audience?
- What is going on in this passage? Write a brief summary.
- Give context for the passage: What was happening to the character(s)/plot just before this moment? What happens after this moment/passage?
- What kinds of images are present in the passage? Does the passage employ metaphors or
similes?Are any images, metaphors, or similes surprising to you, and, if so, why? - What kinds of verbs are employed in the passage? Do you notice an overall theme in these verbs?
- What kinds of adjectives are employed in the passage?
- What kinds of nouns are employed in the passage? (place nouns, objects, etc.)
- How would you describe the language that the passage employs? Does it seem to borrow
from a certain kind of discourse (i.e., scientific, religious, philosophical)? - Are you startled by the presence of certain words? Are you confused by any syntactical or
grammatical structure? Are sentences choppy or fluid, or some combination? - Does the passage use active or passive verbs? What occupies the subject position of each
sentence? - What else stands out to you about this passage that you did not have an opportunity to think about in these questions?
- (10 minutes): Use your descriptions to identify questions or tensions that the passage introduces. For example, "Why does Malcolm X's Islam origin story move so far geographically from region to region? What effect does that have? Why are there so many images related to X in this passage that is actually on Y? What role does power play in Malcolm X's experience of school? What is the relationship between race and religion in The Homecoming King? How does Hasan Minhaj identify as Muslim in his comedy special? What kind of religious community does Ms. Marvel have?"
- (5 minutes): Put your primary passage, the answer to your questions, and your own question in front of you. Open a new document. Put the question you aim to answer at the top of your document.
- (15 minutes): Set a timer and for fifteen minutes JUST WRITE your thoughts about the book, your passage, your question, and the details you notice. Just don't stop writing for fifteen minutes, even if you have sentences like, "I really have no idea what else to say about this passage? My question sucks." If you get stuck, ask questions like, "So what does that say about Jim? Erica?" This is your time to just write freely. Write badly! Go on tangents!
- (60 minutes): You should have something to say about the passage, even if it's not fully formulated yet. Put your free write aside. Don't look at it anymore! You're not revising the free write. The only objective of that was to get your mind warmed up.For one hour, put together a 600-700 word answer to the question you're interested in by using the passage(s) you've spent so much time thinking about.
- Look at the Malcolm X close reading and model your close reading off of that if you want to.
- Incorporate passages in your close reading.
- Tell us the story of your mind working through this question. Unpack the details of the text. Make meaning of them. Make what's implicit in the text explicit to us. Show us what kind of reader you are. This is similar to the work we were doing at the end of class on Monday when we looked at the introductory pages of the book. You are thinking about an issue and using the finest details in the text to discuss the issue. You are showing us what a careful reader you are!
- (10 minutes): Compilation
- Print answers to your questions, your free write, and your final close reading.
- Staple them together
- Put your name on the document(s).
- Hand in the packet with everything!