Close reading is the careful study of a text with a specific purpose in mind. Usually, the purpose for close reading when engaged in historical inquiry is to gather evidence to answer a historical question. When engaging in close reading it is important to read the source and the context of a document (if it is provided) as well as the document itself. Here are some things a reader might do to improve their close reading:
- Read slowly
- Pause after each sentence or two to summarize, explain, ask questions about, or analyze what they have read
- Read the text two or three times, thinking about something different each time
- What is the person saying (summarize)
- Why is the person saying this (analyze)
- How does this help them (the student) answer the inquiry question (use)
- Read with another person, talking about what they are reading
- Annotate the text by taking notes in the margin
- Highlight, underline, or circle important ideas in the text
- Gather important information from the text onto a graphic organizer
- Stop and reread if something doesn’t make sense
- Ask others about vocabulary words that they don’t understand
Close viewing and close listening are similar to close reading and can happen when a student is working with a photograph, political cartoon, painting, artifact, song, or some other non-written piece of evidence. The basic strategies are similar. Close study of these alternative types of evidence can also be improved by:
- Taking enough time to carefully look over or listen carefully to the evidence
- Focusing on one part of the item at a time (like viewing one quadrant of a photograph, pausing a motion picture to analyze a still image, or considering music and lyrics separately)
- Focusing on the whole item and thinking about how the parts are interconnected
- Working together with another person and talking to them about what they see or hear
- Annotate the item by taking notes on it
- Using closed captioning
- Pausing a video or audio recording to summarize, explain, ask questions about, or analyze what they have heard and seen
- Gather important information from the artifact onto a graphic organizer
- Ask others about things they see or hear that they don’t understand
Close Reading Example
If a student was analyzing the newspaper article found here, that is part of the Spanish Flu inquiry found here, they might read it once underlining the basic facts that it reports, such as: scores of university football games were canceled, reasons for cancelations, and which games were cancelled. Students might then read it a second time circling clues about the way the author felt about the cancellations. For instance, players being “slightly indisposed with colds” is an example of the author downplaying the severity of the illness. The phrase “it is feared that crowds cause a spread of the disease, despite the fresh air” is an indication that the author is skeptical about crowds causing the spread of the disease. Reading the article twice, with different purposes for each read, is an example of close reading.