For our final essay assignment, we’ll practice the valuable skill of “close reading.” That is, zooming in our analysis on a small portion of a text, and attempting to unpack as much of what it has to say as possible.
For perspective, entire books have been written about single lines of poetry. We certainly won’t be going that far – but we will attempt to look closely at 1-3 paragraphs of a text from our course, and produce several pages of analysis in response.
The underlying goal of a close reading is to take the extra step in our analysis, to push our ideas a bit further than we might when we’re dealing with a larger text. It is an exercise in focus, as well as critical thinking. Your focus in this essay should be analyzing how the author conveys information in the portion of text you’ve selected – and you should be able to articulate your own position on how they do it.
A close reading isolates a portion of a text to focus on, but it requires a coherent, working understanding of the full text. Keep this in mind as you’re selecting a text to work with for this assignment, as you should pick a reading that you feel you have a comfortable, and complete, grasp of.
For the first draft of this assignment, no additional sources are required. (Rejoice!) You are welcome to incorporate additional sources into your draft as you see fit, especially in the context of helping to shape your perspective on the text you’re close reading.
Your essay’s introduction should include a strong thesis statement – that is, your explanation to the reader of your position on the text. The rest of your essay will proceed through the portion of text you’ve selected step-by-step, explaining and analyzing it.
Your essay should meet a minimum word requirement of 1000 words. It may seem like a lot – but if you are analyzing your selected text in appropriate detail, those pages should fill up quicker than you think. (If you are struggling to achieve that next level of detail, or find yourself stuck – that is a good indicator that you should reach out to me to discuss your ideas. Together we can hopefully get you unstuck!)
Your essay should, as always, follow proper MLA submission formatting. Your essay should employ the third-person perspective – that is, it shouldn’t use “I” statements. As always, please prioritize clarity, and consider writing for an audience beyond just your professor – write as though your reader is someone who is unfamiliar with the text, but wants to know about it in detail. The reading I will be using is San Francisco Year Zero: Political Upheaval, Punk Rock and a Third-Place Baseball Team
Book by Lincoln A. Mitchell
