Close Reading and Reader Response

               I have learned many things about close reading over the past week. You observe facts and details about the text. You may focus on a particular passage, or on the text as a whole. As a college student, I have noticed a significant difference on what I notice when I am reading compared to freshmen year in high school. Back then I just skimmed through many books and literature. We dissected the text a bit, especially during junior and senior year. Now in college, we are noticing all striking features of the text, including rhetorical features, and structural elements. We are diving deeper into the text than I ever have before. I look for patterns in the things I have noticed about the text; such as repetitions, contradictions, similarities.  I ask questions about the patterns I have noticed; especially how and why. But I can’t lie, understanding everything from a certain text is hard for me. I am more of a math person, so fully understanding oppositions and correspondences, or particular historical references in texts is difficult for me. Now that I have learned how to correctly close-read, my understanding of texts have improved so much. It makes me ask more questions than ever before. This skill will take me far in my college career and also my job. Some benefits that will come from being able to understand close-reading are appreciating how a particular perspective on the events and a particular selection of facts can lead to particular understanding. I can now recognize the various ways in which each and every text is the unique creation of a unique author. Close reading puts emphasis on the particular over the general, paying close attention to individual words, syntax, and the order in which sentences and ideas unfold as they are read. This ability will take me far in life, I just know it.

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