how to: 5 ways to read like a lit scholar

[A few critical reading tactics I learned during my 3 English degrees]

Oh, hi. It’s been a while! I took an unexpected hiatus from publishing here over the last 2 months, but I’m very excited to be back with some new ideas and formats to try out. Today, I’m sharing 5 ways you can start reading like a literature scholar, based on the reading best practices I learned in my decade as a literature student.

Thank you, as always, for reading!

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The first book I read in college made me feel like I actually did not know how to read. It was Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilization, assigned to our Honors humanities course as a kind of system-shocker. (Assigned intentionally, I think, to weed out the serious students from the ones who were expecting Sparknotes to get them through assigned readings.)

It was a pleasure to find out that I was serious. That I wanted a lot more from my reading experience than I had ever expected before. That I was ready for the rigor of bigger, harder, stranger ideas. The way I learned that I was ready for these changes was because of a few central close reading practices my professor taught me, which have formed the basis of what I now consider to be ways of “reading like a lit scholar.”

I’ve shared a few other tactics before. I hope you’ll find these additions helpful!

1. Look up the words you don’t know as you read. You can’t fully comprehend what you’re reading if you’re not sure what the words mean. I typically read with a dictionary close by, to avoid using my phone while reading, but a quick Google also works every time.

   1. Circle the word you don’t know.

   2. Write down the definition in the margin. (Chances are, you’ll remember the word better once you’ve written it down — especially in the context of whatever you’re reading.)

2. Read every sentence. I met many scholars in graduate school—peers and professors alike—who championed smart skimming abilities and even suggested skimming for general summary, rather than deeply reading everything. (A worthwhile strategy to consider when you’re reading 5-7 books per week as a PhD student.)
   However: while I’m all about a quick skim to familiarize myself with a text before I dive in deep, I’m a firm believer that you have to carefully read every sentence if you’re going to deeply engage with (closely read, deeply contemplate) a story, argument, or essay. Paying attention to the craft of a story—the building blocks of each word and sentence that make up the narrative—is a critical form of respect for its author, one that allows for a deeper level of engagement and exchange.

3. Pick a few themes and decide to consciously notice them. When you’re reading with a theme or detail in mind, it helps you track shifts in tone or mood much better. You might already know which themes you love paying attention to—like romantic tension, how dialogue builds characters, or the role race, sexuality, or gender plays in storytelling—and decide to follow a specific theme based on those preferences. Or maybe you like to be surprised in a text, by seeing what theme emerges most strongly, for you, in the first few pages. Either way, to read more closely and critically, become conscious of what themes you’re tracking. Make note of them in the margins or at the end of each chapter.

Go wild: color-code your themes, when you’re tracking many. Different highlighter colors or hues of post-it notes and/or page tabs can help you see at a glance where different themes or threads appear in the text.

4. Conduct a post-mortem. That is, after you are done reading a book, give yourself a half hour to think about what you just read. How did it make you feel? Are you content or conflicted about the ending? Did the beginning of the text justify, explain, or contradict the ending of the text? I love using the mostly-blank pages at the start or end of a book to capture my immediate thoughts.

   Bonus activity! Capture your thoughts the moment you complete a story. Then, schedule 30 minutes in your phone (with an alarm reminder) to come back a week or two later and see if your impressions or takeaways have changed. If they have: write the changes alongside your original thoughts to mark the changes.

5. Think about revisiting the text. As a literature student, I knew I’d have to revisit every reading for a class discussion, exam, or final paper. So I started making intentional notes about what I wanted to remember and what I’d do differently if and when I read a text again. Would you track a different theme? Watch a different character or narrative thread more closely? Cheer for a different outcome? Why?

   Note: If you love to review or recommend books, this can be a great way to think through how you’d like to structure what you’ll include in your reviews or reflections.

Ready to give these reading strategies a try?! Let me know which one is your favorite.