Start with a claim the text can bear
Close reading begins with a question: What, exactly, am I claiming? A broad statement such as “Mara is dishonest” may be plausible, but it leaves too much to prove. A narrower claim—“Mara conceals the letter from her brother”—points you toward particular actions and words. Before looking for a striking phrase to quote, put your interpretation into a sentence. Then ask what a reader would need to see in order to accept it.
Consider this original practice passage: “Mara folded the letter twice, slid it beneath the sugar jar, and told her brother that nothing had arrived. When he reached for the sugar, she moved the jar to the far end of the table.” Her statement that nothing had arrived, alongside the hidden letter, supports the claim that she conceals it. The passage does not establish why she does so. Fear, protectiveness and self-interest are all possible readings, but none is yet certain.
Choose evidence for the job it must do
Good evidence is not necessarily the most vivid wording in a passage. The letter folded “twice” might catch your attention, but that number alone does little to show concealment. Sliding the letter beneath the jar and denying its arrival do that work more directly. If your claim concerns Mara’s continued effort to keep the letter hidden, her movement of the jar becomes useful too. Which detail matters depends on the claim you are making.
Try a simple test: cover your interpretation and read only the evidence you plan to present. Could a thoughtful reader see the connection, or would they have to guess at several missing steps? If the connection is weak, revise the claim or select a better detail. Sometimes two short pieces of evidence work better than one long excerpt: an action may establish what a character does, while a later reaction suggests how deliberately they do it.
Keep the surrounding context in view
A sentence can change meaning when separated from what comes before or after it. “Nothing had arrived,” taken alone, might be a mistaken report. In the practice passage, Mara has already handled and hidden a letter. That sequence makes her statement look like a deliberate denial. When choosing evidence, reread the surrounding lines for timing, speaker, audience and any information the character may not have. Those details can strengthen an interpretation—or show that it needs to change.
Context also helps you avoid quoting too much. You do not need to reproduce every sentence near a useful detail, but you should give readers enough orientation to understand it fairly. In your own analysis, you might explain that Mara speaks after hiding the letter, then quote her denial. The explanation preserves the sequence without making the quoted words carry a meaning they cannot carry on their own.
Explain the link instead of repeating the quote
Evidence does not interpret itself. After presenting a detail, name the feature that matters and show how it supports your claim. For example: Mara’s denial conflicts with her earlier handling of the letter, so her words help establish concealment rather than simple ignorance. That sentence does more than repeat what happened; it identifies the contradiction on which the reading depends.
Be careful with the size of your conclusion. The same evidence supports “Mara conceals the letter” more securely than “Mara wants to hurt her brother.” Moving the jar when he reaches for it may suggest she is guarding the hiding place, but it still does not reveal her motive. Words such as “suggests” or “may” can mark a reasonable inference without treating it as a fact. Precise qualification makes your reading more persuasive, not less.
Make revision a test of your evidence
Once you have drafted a paragraph, read its claim, evidence and explanation in that order. Does each quoted word earn its place? Does the explanation address the claim you actually made? Look for gaps concealed by phrases such as “this shows” or “clearly.” Replace them with the specific action, contrast or pattern you want readers to notice. If you cannot explain the link in a sentence or two, the evidence may be too indirect—or your claim may need narrowing.
For practice, return to the Mara passage and write two claims: one strongly supported and one only tentatively suggested. Select a detail for each, then write a sentence explaining what that detail can and cannot establish. This small exercise develops a useful habit: treating textual evidence not as decoration for an opinion, but as a way to test and refine a reading.
