how to: what is close reading?

A few definitions of close reading and why you might want to give it a try.

What is close reading? Are you doing it without knowing what it is?!

Today, we’ll look at the differences between reading as an enjoyable, passive activity and reading with an active, analytical mindset. (Both are completely valid and wonderful ways to engage with a story.)

A few ways I define close reading.

How do you read?

Have you ever asked yourself that question? (If you haven’t, pause here. Go reflect on it. How do you read? What does reading feel like, for you? Why do you read?)

For many people, reading is an enjoyably passive activity. You might use phrases like “I love letting a story wash over me,” or find yourself so lost in reading, almost carried away by the prose, that you’re slapped with a deep sense of loss when you finish a beloved book.

This is a deeply beautiful and experiential way to read. It can also be a way to personally engage with stories on a deep emotional level by strongly relating to certain characters or connecting themes or ideas from a book to your life.

If you read this way, you likely think of it as incredibly natural, even habitual. It’s not something you actively chose to do; it’s something that seems to magically happen when you encounter an amazing story. Perhaps you read this way as a child, getting deeply immersed in fantastical, memorable stories — and you sink back into that way of reading as comfortably as if you’re sinking into your favorite reading chair.

Close reading is a totally different method of reading.

What is close reading?

Close reading is analytical and it is learned. It shifts a reader from comprehending a text — what you’re likely doing very well when you read a book the aforementioned way— into interpreting that text by using a combination of textual evidence and inductive reasoning. Put another way: close reading moves you into a deeper level of understanding a text through a combination of observing things happening in the text (evidence) and then asking questions about why it happened and what it means (reasoning).

“When you close read, you observe facts and details about the text. You may focus on a particular passage, or on the text as a whole. Your aim may be to notice all striking features of the text, including rhetorical features, structural elements, cultural references; or, your aim may be to notice only selected features of the text—for instance, oppositions and correspondences, or particular historical references. Either way, making these observations constitutes the first step in the process of close reading.”

-from Harvard University

Close reading is both active and engaged — and therefore shifts your mind from the passive activity of receiving a story to entering into a conversation with the story you’re reading so you can identify themes, track patterns, and trace ideas with more intention. In fact, this is why close reading often necessitates annotation.

Closely reading certainly involves our personal engagement with a text, but when we are closely reading, “we must constantly be alert to how and where our own prejudices (literally, pre-judging) may be interfering with meaning-making of the text.” That is to say: we must be as willing to closely read our own thoughts and ideas as we are closely reading the text we’re interacting with.

When you finish closely reading a book, you may find that you’re much more equipped to think and write at length about that book and the ideas it introduced and explored. For college and graduate students, closely reading is the first real step in the writing process, because it creates the foundation of notes, insights, and thoughts that lead to the creation of a thesis statement, which is essentially an argument about what a book does and how it does so.

For those of us who are no longer students, closely reading can feel a bit like homework, but in a wonderful way. Close reading wakes up parts of our minds that tend to go dormant in the daily grind. It invites us to deeply engage with ideas in a private and quiet space, where we’re free to remove how we might personally feel about a situation or idea from the process and instead focus on how a piece of writing gives shape to a feeling, an idea, a mystery.

Should you be close reading?

You may want to develop a close reading practice for yourself if:

1. You read a lot, but can’t seem to remember books very well or connect them to other things you’ve read. Close reading forces you to build memory and map patterns, making it a perfect exercise for remembering what you’ve read and exploring connections between ideas.

2. You love to read but have felt uninspired, like you just can’t “get into” any of the books you’re picking up. Close reading can help you unlock even the trickiest texts by encouraging you to ask deeper questions. (For example: If you’re bored with a story, a close reading will invite you to ask “what makes this story boring to me?” and gather textual evidence.)

3. You’re hoping to strengthen your critical thinking skills and your capacity to pay attention. Close reading requires you to bring a critical mind to every syllable in a story, and will therefore train your mind to sustain focus for longer periods of time. What feels tedious at the start will, eventually, feel expansive and inviting.

4. You’re actively working to open your mind or expand your thinking. Close reading requires you to be always open to learning new things and considering new ideas.

What’s your favorite way to read? If you’re a close reader, why do you do it?