Purpose
I recommend using this process of Three Close Reads for all readings in the course for a few reasons:
- The methodology helps engage you in historical inquiry.
- It teaches you how to analyze historical accounts and interpretations by using a variety of reading strategies.
- Instead of simply learning about historical concepts, you learn to evaluate different perspectives on historical issues, so you can take an active role in constructing and deconstructing history, rather than taking everything they read at face value.
In other words, you will use the provided questions to help you along with the reading (tertiary information):
- What’s the gist? What info is in here? Why does it matter?
Instead of simply learning about historical concepts and taking everything they read at face value, you learn to evaluate different perspectives and take an active role in constructing and deconstructing history. Get to know and love this journal—you’ll be using it a lot.
Process
Reading 1: Preview – Skimming for Gist
The first close read is really meant to be a skim of the article. It should be very quick and give you the gist (the general idea) of what the article is about. You should be looking at the title, author, headings, pictures, and opening sentences of paragraphs.
Reading 2: Key Ideas – Understanding Content
This read is probably closest to the kind of reading you usually do. Here, you’re trying to get a better understanding of the concepts and arguments that are presented in the article. In this part of the reading, there will be “Key Ideas – Understanding Content Questions” that you will have to answer. These questions are the type of things you should think about when reading the article, in addition to making sure you will understand the content. .
Reading 3: Evaluating and Corroborating
Now, it’s time for the third and final read. The questions in this part will help you understand why this article matters, how it connects to other content you’ve studied in the class, and how it connects to the course themes.
