{"id":708,"date":"2021-07-16T13:07:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T13:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/?page_id=708"},"modified":"2025-07-26T13:20:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T13:20:47","slug":"close-reading-reflections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/close-reading-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Close Reading Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Due Monday July 21 by 7pm<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Second Essay due by Friday, August 8 at 5pm (posted at 2025 project site)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>During the campus experience, all students will have one close reading assignment, due in draft form to Grad TAs by Sunday afternoon, July 21 and in final form to Prof. Pinsker by Tuesday, July 21, posted at <a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/2025teagle\/\">2025 project site<\/a> by 7pm.\u00a0 Reflections should analyze one of the course texts in close reading style, about 500 to 1,000 words or 2 to 3 pages (single spaced), with 2-3 images (properly credited and captioned) and with one short video or podcast reading (link included in post) that attempts to bring to life a short snippet (20 to 60 seconds) from the assigned text. Students may select ANY document from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/texts\/\">course texts list<\/a> \u2013from 2025 or from previous years. These assignments will be evaluated for analysis, prose and multi-media effort.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Here is <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/files\/2010\/09\/HANDOUT-How-to-READ-Like-a-Historian-1.pdf\">a handout on some best practices<\/a> for historical close reading reflections<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>And don&#8217;t forget to rely on the <a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/methods-center\/\">Methods Center<\/a> for additional guidance about research, writing, citing, and editing<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>There are models for student close readings scattered throughout the web pages on our assigned texts, and there&#8217;s an entire section devoted to them in Prof. Pinsker&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/student-hall-of-fame\/\">Student Hall of Fame<\/a>, but here&#8217;s two useful models from previous\u00a0 seminars:<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Etsub Taye on <a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle-taye\/close-reading\/\">Declaration of Sentiments (1848)<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Jake Sokolofsky on <a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/close-reading-of-mlk-letter\/\">Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963)<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li>Also the 2025 Dickinson tutors have each produced model essays with videos on the Project site.\u00a0 Check them out:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/2025teagle\/2025\/06\/30\/the-fifteenth-amendment-the-first-step-in-the-fight-for-equal-voting-rights-1870\/\">Andrew Culbertson, Fifteenth Amendment (1870)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/2025teagle\/2025\/06\/08\/abraham-lincolns-letter-to-george-robertson-1855\/\">Sarah Ruschak, Lincoln&#8217;s letter to Robertson (1855)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/2025teagle\/2025\/06\/18\/poetry-of-progress-examining-amanda-gormans-message-to-america\/\">Olivia Whittaker, Gorman&#8217;s inaugural poem (2021)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><em>Generally, the best way to approach organizing these essays is to remember Prof. Pinsker&#8217;s close reading mantra:\u00a0 text, context, subtext.\u00a0 Consider opening your essay with a snippet of text, briefly explain its context and then offer a <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2011\/08\/HANDOUT-How-to-Write-a-Thesis-Statement1.pdf\">thesis statement<\/a> that explains and assesses subtext (or the author&#8217;s intended strategy).\u00a0 Then your body paragraphs can follow that structure as well.\u00a0 Take a paragraph or two to summarize the text, including defining key words and describing format.\u00a0 Offer another paragraph or two on context (including both period context from the introductions and further readings and also perhaps some document context, where relevant, connecting to other earlier documents on the syllabus).\u00a0 Then provide an analytical paragraph or two assessing subtext or the author&#8217;s strategy and whether or not he or she achieved his or her goals.\u00a0 Close with a final paragraph, perhaps one that looks toward the future.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/files\/2011\/08\/HANDOUT-How-to-Use-Footnotes2.pdf\">Chicago-style footnotes<\/a> are recommended for this assignment but not required (they will be required for those pursuing online credit later, however).\u00a0 But regardless of what citation format you employ, please always make sure that your sources are clear and that you have not committed <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/files\/2010\/09\/Handout-Plagiarism-2.pdf\">plagiarism<\/a> in your reflection.\u00a0 Secondary source research is not required for this first assignment but it is a good idea to try to connect the primary source text under study to other primary source texts from the syllabus where you can.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/we-video-instructions\/\">Video companions<\/a> for these reflections should be produced in WeVideo and feature strong reading voices paired with relevant images and an effective music track.\u00a0 All videos must include a properly formatted credits slide.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Students will have a series of required workshop and check in sessions to help guide their process.\u00a0 The workshop are generally scheduled in the afternoons from 130pm to 245pm, in Denny 112.\u00a0 The check in sessions occur at High Street:\u00a0 <\/em>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Wednesday (Week 1) (7pm to 9pm) OPTIONAL brainstorming\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Thursday (Week 1) (7pm to 9pm) REQUIRED brainstorming\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Sunday (Week 2) (10am to noon), optional video review with undergrad tutors<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All reflections should be posted at the <a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/2025teagle\/\">2025 project WordPress site<\/a> with a selection of 2-3 images (properly credited and captioned) and with one link to a short video that attempts to bring to life a snippet (20 to 60 seconds) from the assigned text.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/2023-wordpress-instructions\/\"><em><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Here are detailed guidelines for using WordPress to post your close reading reflections<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/we-video-instructions\/\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Here are detailed guidelines for building a short video or a more advanced podcast-style audio file (using the WeVideo platform or another alternative)<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Model video:<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wevideo.com\/embed\/#2253158457\" width=\"452\" height=\"279\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>These assignments will be graded on the basis of prose quality, analysis, and multi-media effort.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Finally, try to remember some general best writing practices, such as relying on PAST TENSE to describe both the historical figures and the statements from the texts to help situate them in their context.\u00a0 Also, remember not to turn these close reading reflections into mini-research papers, but rely instead on your own reasoning, connections to other texts from our curriculum,\u00a0 and,\u00a0 where relevant, some of the further reading material.\u00a0 When you use other texts or further reading materials, make sure to cite them and link to them where possible.\u00a0 Also, somewhere up front, please make sure to link the main text under consideration.\u00a0 You do not need footnotes for these initial close readings but you may use them where needed.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Late reflections will be penalized up to 5 points each day.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Due Monday July 21 by 7pm Second Essay due by Friday, August 8 at 5pm (posted at 2025 project site) During the campus experience, all students will have one close reading assignment, due in draft form to Grad TAs by Sunday afternoon, July 21 and in final form to Prof. Pinsker by Tuesday, July 21, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/close-reading-reflections\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Close Reading Reflections&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-708","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3275,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/708\/revisions\/3275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/teagle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}