Close Reading #2 Workshop

Submit Close Reading #2 via email to e314bannedbooks[at]gmail.com by midnight on Sun 2/23.

Assignment Sheet                 Rubric for CR#2                     Sample Close Reading 

The written assignment itself must be at least 500 words long and should reference the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) at least twice (2x).

You are not required (though you are welcome to) to include a transcription of your passage. Be sure to indicate the pages you close read both in a full initial citation and parenthetical in-text citation within the close reading.  

• In my experience, close readings are easier to approach if you isolate and annotate your passage. I strongly recommend copying your passage from this full online text, pasting it in a word processor, printing it out (use the FAC 10 printer if in class) and marking it up or otherwise commenting on it. 

Citation Guide

You are welcome to use any citation style as long as you are consistent and use parenthetical in-text citation. 

General Citation: 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2005. Page(s). Print. 

For example:

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2005. 96-97. Print. 

In-text (parenthetical) 

Use parenthetical citation. Here's a general guide from Purdue's Online Writing Center (OWL).  

• Include the author's last name and the page number in the first parenthetical citation in your paper AND following a citation from another source (like the Oxford English Dictionary): (Stowe 61).  
• Subsequent citations from the same page of the same source do not require parenthetical citation. You may re-cite a page number once your start a new paragraph if you like.
• Cite again when you change pages or if you cite from another source. To re-establish your main source, use the authors' last name and page number. See above. 
• Give detailed information for OED citations: 

• (OED, evangelical, adj.1.b) = ([OED], [term defined], [part of speech: n. = noun, adj = adjective, adv = adverb, etc], [definition number(s) and/or letter(s) if available])
• If you have citations from the OED that immediately follow each other, you can simply identify changing definition letters or numbers. For instance: 1st citation: (OED, fatal, adj. 1)....2nd (fatal, adj. 4.a)

•  Do not include the words or characters page/pg/pp in parenthetical citations.  

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

• Introduce abbreviations (like OED) by writing them out before using the acronym.
• Access the OED from http://lib.utexas.edu/ -> click on the 'Databases' tab in the main search box -> 'O' -> 'OED (Oxford English Dictionary)'
• Consider what definitions add to your analysis -- don't just define unfamiliar words.
• Include details in parenthetical citations -- see above. For example: (OED, fatal