For this exercise, instructors should first select five key passages from their exhibit sources and type them up on a single sheet. Students will independently read and annotate the passages, and then, in small groups of 3-4 students, complete the exercise below. Assign each group one of the passages, and ask each group to introduce their assigned passage and review what they talked about and how they answered the questions. Leave time at the end of the discussion for students to further reflect on the exhibits and to generate some potential research questions for possible papers.

For a greater focus on reading for research, see this exercise. You may also want to read this essay by a Writing Program instructor on teaching students how to read closely. 

Objective

To slow down the reading process; to demonstrate different strategies for close reading; to connect close reading to the generation of a research question

Key Terms

reading; analysis; exhibit source; research questions

Part 1: Annotate

Read and comment on the exhibits. Along with making simple editorial or check mark responses on the exhibit text, be sure that you have written at least an average of two comments per passage. These comments might point out particular lines or passages you like or find problematic. Do your best to articulate why you responded positively or negatively. Write down what’s in your mind, what questions you are asking yourself as you read, what expectations are being set up that you are waiting to be fulfilled or taken up as you continue to read. You might be noticing motifs, patterns of language, or themes developing. See the group response questions below to give you ideas of what to look for.

Part 2: Group Responses

Respond to the following aspects of the exhibit text, on this sheet. You might have more to say about one or another aspect, but make sure you consider each at some point, on this page, or within your page-by-page comments.

  1. Describe and discuss/critique the language/voice. What’s the tone of the piece, the atmosphere? What does it feel like to read?
  2. Describe and discuss/critique the piece’s content. What’s the story about? What are the characters like? What’s going on with them? What’s the point of the story? What’s it making you think about? What themes or issues are brought up? What does the piece seem to be saying? What’s at stake?
  3. Describe and discuss/critique the story’s structure, form, or shape. Think about the way the story unfolds, the choices made with regard to tense, point of view, chronology. Maybe make a diagram.