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Techniques of Close Reading
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Techniques of Close Reading

Second Edition
May 2018 | 152 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
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Techniques of Close Reading, Second Edition helps students gain a deeper understanding of what texts may be saying, whether they are written, oral, visual, or mediated. Renowned scholar and professor Barry Brummett explains and explores the various ways to "read" messages (such as speeches, cartoons, or magazine ads), teaching students how to see deeper levels of meaning and to share those insights with others. Students learn techniques for discovering form, rhetorical tropes, argument, and ideologies within texts.

New to the Second Edition:

  • A new Chapter 6 includes a selection of techniques from each chapter to show students how different techniques may be used together when reading text.
  • A close reading of a group of ads from the insurance company, Liberty Mutual, offers students an opportunity to apply the techniques to recent texts.


 
Preface
 
Chapter 1. On Noticing What You See and Hear
Being a Reader, Being a Critic

 
Summary and Looking Ahead

 
 
Chapter 2. Theories, Methods, Techniques
Exploring New Territories: Thinking Deductively and Inductively

 
Starting From the Top, Deductively: Theories and Their Methods

 
Knowledge, Risk, and Ethics in Theories and Methods

 
Working With Theories and Methods

 
Halfway Down, Deductively: Methods and Techniques

 
Heading Back Up Again, Inductively: From Techniques to Theory

 
Summary and Looking Ahead

 
 
Chapter 3. Using Form for Close Reading
Narrative

 
Genre

 
Persona

 
Form and Politics

 
Summary and Looking Ahead

 
 
Chapter 4. Ideology and Argument
Four Questions to Ask About a Text

 
Putting Our Questions Together: A Brief Example

 
Three Examples for Close Reading

 
Summary and Looking Ahead

 
 
Chapter 5. Transformations in Texts: Seeing Beneath the Surface
Metaphor

 
Metonymy

 
Synecdoche

 
Irony

 
Summary and Looking Ahead

 
 
Chapter 6. Close Readings Using Multiple Techniques
The First Inauguration of Barack Obama in a Cartoon

 
A Group of Ads for Liberty Mutual

 
 
Chapter 7. Conclusion
 
References and Recommended Reading
 
Index
 
About the Author
Key features
NEW TO THIS EDITION:
  • A new Chapter 6 includes a selection of techniques from each chapter to show students how different techniques may be used together when reading text.
  • A close reading of a group of ads from the insurance company, Liberty Mutual, offers students an opportunity to apply the techniques to recent texts.

 KEY FEATURES:

  • A unique focus on the act and techniques of criticism rather than on schools of thought, grand theories, and specific methods, helps students engage in the act of critical close reading in ways that are applicable to a wide range of methods, making the book an ideal companion to texts focused on specific methods.
  • Explanations of the relationships among the theory, methods, and techniques of rhetorical criticism help students learn the process of successfully reading the meaning of texts.
  • The ethics and risks of doing and reading rhetorical criticism is examined using a wide variety of examples, figures, and exercises taken from everyday life.