Follow
each of the bulleted steps below, showing your work as you go in a single,
word processing
document.
Choose
one of the questions below, rereading the passage and briefly freewriting
on your immediate answers to the question.
Using an
online dictionary for assistance, decide on and define what you think
are the key words in the passage.
Try answering the questions in
complete sentences.
Compose
a paragraph or two in which you perform a close reading of this passage,
showing its relation to the larger purpose
of the work
as a whole (look at
our close-reading page for more help). Practice good topic
sentences, quote sandwiches, and all the fun rules of writing
we’ve
been looking at.
Look at the first paragraph (and some of the second for clarification)--perform
a close reading of the passage. Keep these questions in mind: Why did Wilson
choose these phrases? What is he hoping to accomplish with the first sentence?
The next? How does this passage relate to the overall purpose of the essay?
Look at the second and third paragraph--perform a close reading of this
passage with these questions in mind: What is Wilson hoping to accomplish
in this passage in relation to his argument? How is he defining and qualifying
his language?
Look at the fourth paragraph--perform a close reading of the passage. Keep
these questions in mind: What does the phrasing, or word choice here reveal
about his assumptions? What is hoping to accomplish by his use of language?