📚 how to read an academic article

Part 1 of 4: literary criticism is a conversation + 3 elements every essay has

☕️ reading (and enjoying) an academic article

I don’t remember the first academic article I read, but I do remember the feelings I had while reading:

• Baffled: these sentences are enormous and weird.

• Intrigued: these ideas are massive and strange to me.

• Confused: am I supposed to have to read every paragraph 90 times before I get it?

• Determined: there is no world where I walk away from the jigsaw puzzle of reading I have just opened for myself…

I wanted to become a close reader, so I did. And then I made a hat about it.

I remember thinking: I want to be someone who reads this type of stuff all the time.

Years later, after reading hundreds (maybe thousands???) of academic essays, I am that person who reads this stuff all the time.

And on my long journey through graduate school and life post-PhD, I’ve gathered a solid bank of tips and tricks to help you be that kinda person, too.

This 4-part series will teach you how to apply your “closely reading” skills to literary criticism

You’ll learn what literary scholarship really is, how to read it without feeling overwhelmed, and how it can make your own reading life deeper, more deliberate, and full of rich experiences in learning and growing that start to influence how you read novels.

Library essentials: laptop, textbook, popcorn.

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what is literary criticism, anyway?

Novels are worlds; literary criticism are investigations of the world: how does it work? who lives there? what does it mean to exist in that world?

And one of the biggest misconceptions about literary criticism is that it exists to prove anything. But that’s not really the point.

The point is conversation.

When a scholar writes a piece of literary criticism, they enter an ongoing dialogue with the scholars who’ve come before them, who have asked similar questions or worked to understand a novel’s world (and myriad implications of that world existing in fiction).

And so, when people talk about literary criticism as pontification or pretentiousness, I get a little defensive. Because that’s not why the language is dense; and good scholarship isn’t about placing yourself above others.

Instead: it’s about respecting the depth of thinking and understanding that has come before you, and making a conscious choice about how you’ll meaningfully add to the conversation in a way that both speaks to those who are already part of it and to those who are new to the party.

As scholar Kenneth Burke puts it:

“Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally’s assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.”

Great scholarly work seeks not to close the conversation, but to keep it going — in new directions, with fresh verve, toward new connections, or by paying attention to some element yet overlooked.

This is the Graff and Birkenstein model of literary criticism, called They Say, I Say, and it remains my favorite writing guidance for scholarly writing. They employ the Burkean parlor metaphor to help us understand that joining an academic conversation is a lot like showing up to a party, overhearing conversation that interests you, listening first, and then deciding to contribute.

You can imagine the community and warmth this is capable of creating; far from a vernacular of exclusivity, scholarly analysis and literary criticism emerge from a deep bedrock of respect for the foundations — and respect for those who’ll continue building the conversation.

(“Hey! Wait!” you say, “That’s exactly the model we employ around here on Closely Reading.” Yes it is!)

And one of the coolest things that happens in this model is when a new scholar brings fresh perspective that shows how the foundations are no longer adequate, or missing a critical perspective, or in need of a revamp. This is where “deconstructionist” thinking comes in, in ultra powerful ways. It’s also why deconstructing is only one kind of analysis; there are so many ways to engage in conversation.

Behind every dense article is a close reader who found something in a novel that made them want to step back and listen, and then step up and add to the conversation.

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three things every academic article does

When you’re reading an academic article, watch for three key things. Every scholar who writes about literature will “join the conversation” in three key ways:

1. Asking a new question about a specific novel.

2. Responding to prior academic and literary analysis of that novel.

3. Proposing a new reading of the novel, by exploring how the novel works.

That’s it.

Every literary analysis — no matter how theoretical, or how embedded in a subfield of inquiry or specific research methodology — contains those three things.

Your goal, as a close reader of academic work, is to find those three things.

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an exercise for you

Start small.

Choose a favorite author or novel and look up one academic article about it on JSTOR. Don’t commit to reading the whole thing. Just read the title, abstract, and first few paragraphs of the article.

What’s an abstract?
Great question! “Abstract” basically means “summary” in literary criticism. It’s essentially a tight, short overview of the stakes of the article and the key questions the article asks.

After reading these elements, ask yourself:

• What question is the author asking?

• What kind of reader are they assuming I am?

• How does their language make me feel — curious, alienated, energized?

These questions are all about self awareness.

You’re not trying to expertly analyze anything right now; you’re closely reading for the elements we’ve identified.

Now, skim the rest of the article and look for:

• Cues in the writing that suggest the author is “responding to prior academic analysis on the novel.” Can you see a clear section or paragraphs where the author is doing this? Where they’re acknowledging past critical work in this field?

• Cues in the tone or focus of the article that tell you how this author is “joining the conversation”?

  • This usually happens within three paragraphs.

  • This often happens at the end of the first “section” of the article. If there are section breaks, watch for how the author closes each section. (It’s usually by stating, or restating, their new approach or new question!)

Over time, you’ll start to recognize patterns — recurring phrases like “problematizes,” “interrogates,” “situates.” You’ll learn to skim with purpose, slow down where it matters, and trust your own interpretive instincts.

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scholarly work matters (more than ever!)

Academic articles slow us down. They teach us to notice not just what a story says, but how it says it. They make the invisible machinery of meaning visible.

When you read an article on George Eliot’s narrative empathy or bell hooks on love and resistance, you begin to sense that reading itself is a political and moral act — one that involves care, curiosity, and discernment.

These things — care, curiosity, and discernment — deserve your time and attention. And you, dear reader, deserve the myriad gifts that come from devoting your time in these ways.

Patience. Compassion. The recognition that you are smart enough to read even the densest of ideas. An invitation to the best kind of party.

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you can do it!

Literary criticism is basically a giant party, with thousands of conversations happening across time periods, authors, topics, research methodologies, histories, cultures, and areas of curiosity.

As you start to read literary criticism, imagine yourself a free agent at the party. Roam the room; eavesdrop on ideas that intrigue you and remember you’re not required to join every conversation. Being an active and intentional listener is an exercise all its own.

When you treat literary criticism this way — as an invitations to think differently or in a new way about stories, characters, authors, and time periods you love…magic can happen. You start to see your favorite authors — and yourself as a reader — in new ways.

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📚 ‘til next time, happy reading

In the next installment, we’ll explore how to approach an article without panicking: what to skim, what to read closely, and how to find the three elements every article has without getting lost.

🖋️ one-pagers to keep in your reading journal

At the end of this series, I’ll be emailing printable, one-page versions of all the exercises (plus a few extras!) to paid subscribers. These will be designed to live in your reading journal or to be folded up and tucked into your current read.

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