CLOSE READING WORKSHOP 1

Close Reading of Informational/

Literary Nonfiction Texts
Learning Targets
• Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text
says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining LEARNING STRATEGIES:
where the text leaves matters uncertain. Diffusing, Close Reading,
• Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over Marking the Text,
the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to Rereading, Summarizing,
provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text. Paraphrasing, SMELL,
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including OPTIC
figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and
refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text.
• Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is
particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power,
persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.
• Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century foundational U.S.
documents of historical and literary significance for their themes, purposes, and
rhetorical features.
• Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and
phrases based on grades 11–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a
range of strategies.
• Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one,
in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and
issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Close Reading for Meaning

What does learning to read closely mean? As readers, we must consider the
author’s relationship to an audience and the author’s use of language and rhetorical ACADEMIC VOCABULARY
strategies, including emotional and logical appeals, to convey a message. Pathos is a rhetorical
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appeal to the readers’

For example, the author may use emotional strategies, or pathos, to appeal to or or listeners’ senses or
manipulate an audience’s emotions. The author also may use logical strategies, emotions. Logos is a
or logos, to appeal to reason. When you read political texts, look for evidence of rhetorical appeal that
language and rhetorical strategies targeted at a particular audience. uses logic to appeal to the
In this workshop, you will read three different texts and will practice close reading sense of reason.
using strategies that will help you make meaning of the text. Your teacher will guide
you through the first activity. In Activity 2, you will work in a collaborative group to
read and respond to the text. For the third activity, you will work independently to
apply close reading strategies to determine meaning in a new text.

Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 1

 Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

ACTIVITY 1
Guided Practice
You will read the text in this activity at least three times, focusing on a different
purpose for each reading.

First Reading: First Impressions

Read the following passage silently. Your focus for this first reading is on
understanding the meaning of the passage. As you read, practice diffusing
the words you may not know by replacing unfamiliar words with synonyms or
definitions for the underlined words. Use the definitions and synonyms beside
the paragraphs to help your understanding. In addition, stop after each paragraph
to underline the most important sentence and circle the most important word in the
sentence that you underlined.

Essay
From Of the Origin and Design of
He will be talking about how governments are
Government in General,
created, and how they work in general. He will
with Concise Remarks on the
also mention the English Constitution. English Constitution
by Thomas Paine
Many people think that society and government
are the same thing, but they are very different.
1 Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or
Society is created naturally, because people
no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different
need to live in communities. Governments are

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

wants: needs origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the
created for the wrong reasons: to control
former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively
people. interactions differences Society brings us together,
intercourse: dealings or by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions.
but the government divides
communications between
The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
individuals, groups, us/creates differences
countries, etc. 2 Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a
necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed
to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without
calamity: great misfortune government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by
or disaster
which we suffer! Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces
If all people just followed their conscience
of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of
and always did the right thing, we would
conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver;
not need the government or laws to control
but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property
us. Unfortunately, that is not the case,
which means that the government is "the
necessary evil."

2 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11

 to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same

The main point and prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. prudence: cautious with
regard to practical matters;
purpose of the Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably
discreet
follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least
government is to protect
its citizens and provideexpense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.
security. 3 In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of government, let us

suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, sequestered: isolated;
separated from others
unconnected with the rest; they will then represent the first peopling of any country, or
of the world. In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A thousand

People need each motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, and

other. They rely on his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance perpetual: never ending
or changing
each other for and relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would be
comfort, company, able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but one man might labor
but also for out the common period of life without accomplishing anything; when he had felled his
security and basic timber he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the meantime
needs. That is why would urge him from his work, and every different want would call him a different way.
they naturally form Disease, nay even misfortune, would be death, for though neither might be mortal, yet
societies.
either would disable him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather
be said to perish than to die. A good example would be the Pilgrims who came to
AT first, newcomers 4 Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly arrived America and had to figure out a way to survive
mutual
will stick together and emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which would supersede, and render reciprocal: returned in equal
work together because fair measure
the obligations of law and government unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to
their survival in the only heaven is perfect and free of flaws/faults
each other; but as nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen impregnable: not likely
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new land depends on to be weakened by;

that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of emigration, which bound
it. They can't afford unconquerable
them together in a common cause, they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment vice: wicked behavior
conflict. Once they
to each other; and this remissness will point out the necessity of establishing some form remissness: carelessness or
figure out how to
neglectfulness
of government to supply the defect of moral virtue. Governments need to be formed when people stop getting along and working together.
survive and settle,
conflict will start. 5 Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the branches of which, Governments start when people within a
community start gathering to discuss
That's the beginning the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. It is more than probable
public matters. People gather to come up
of governments. that their first laws will have the title only of Regulations, and be enforced by no other
with rules.
penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament, every man by natural right will disesteem: low regard
have a seat. These are informal gatherings of people - the beginning of governments

6 But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase likewise, and the

distance at which the members may be separated, will render it too inconvenient for
all of them to meet on every occasion as at first, when their number was small, their
Over time, the colony (community) will increase in size, have more members, build more and more houses, villages, towns etc. This will make it
impossible for everyone to always attend these public meetings. That is why people will at some point start appointing/electing their officials to
represent them and their interests at those public meetings.
Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 3
 Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

trifling: having little value or habitations near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the
importance law-making
the bigger the community, the more
convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a select

public issues to discuss- that is why number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the same concerns at

community members elect their stake which those have who appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as
representatives the whole body would act were they present. If the colony continue increasing, it will
augment: raise or increase become necessary to augment the number of the representatives, and that the interest of
The bigger the colony, the more representatives
every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into
it will have. To make sure that representatives
convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and that the elected might never
always serve those who elected them, elections
form to themselves an interest separate from the electors, prudence will point out the
will be held regularly.
propriety: appropriateness propriety of having elections often; because as the elected might by that means return
or correctness
and mix again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their fidelity to
fidelity: faithfulness
the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod for themselves.
If the representatives can be elected or voted
And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the
out of office every couple of years, they will
try as hard as they can to best serve their people
community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on the

so they can get elected again (unlike kings who unmeaning name of king) depends the strength of government, and the happiness of
don't have to try at all) the governed.
7 Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary

The main purpose and by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of
viz: namely, more
design of the government government, viz., freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with
specifically
is to provide freedom snow, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest
and security. darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right.

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

4 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11

 Check Your Understanding
Choose one paragraph of the excerpt. Explain the relationship between the
sentence that you underlined and the main idea of the paragraph. Also, explain
how your understanding of the word that you circled is important in terms of the
meaning of the paragraph as a whole.

Second Reading: Vocabulary in Context

Now that you have read the passage silently, listen and follow along as the passage
is read aloud. As you read along, circle the key term government along with words
and/or phrases that define or describe this term. Diffuse these words/phrases for
comprehension.

Check Your Understanding Complete this on Google Classroom as "Wednesday Work"

1. Pair with another student and annotate each paragraph of the text by
paraphrasing one statement that Paine makes about “government” in each
paragraph in which it is mentioned.
Make sure your annotations are completed for
every single paragraph of the text. Highlight the
most important idea in every paragraph. After you
are done, type "Annotations completed" as your
answer to #1.
2. As part of an objective summary, explain how the meaning of the term government
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develops over the course of the text and contributes to one or more of the central
ideas of the passage.
Explain how Paine develops the idea and clarifies the meaning of the term
"government" - what does government mean in the context of this passage? What
is its purpose and design? How are governments created? Do we need them?

Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 5

Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

Third Reading: Text-Dependent Questioning

Read the passage a third time and respond to the text-dependent questions. As your
class discusses the essay, annotate the text with your responses to each question
and highlight or underline the textual evidence that supports your answer. During
discussions, you may also want to annotate the text to record a new or different
meaning of the text.
Background Information: This text is an excerpt from Thomas Paine’s Common
Sense, a pamphlet written five months before the Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Paine was a political activist and author whose anonymously published
pamphlets inspired American colonists to fight for independence from Great Britain.
Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as “the most incendiary and
popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era.”

from “Of the Origin and Design of Government in General,

with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution”
by Thomas Paine

1 Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or

no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different
origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the
former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively
by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions.
The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
2 Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a
necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed
to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without
government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

which we suffer! Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces
of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of

KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver;
Thomas Paine suggests but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property
that society promotes our
happiness positively while to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same
government promotes our prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least.
happiness negatively. In
what ways does he support Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably
this claim, and how does
follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least
it serve to frame his
overall argument? expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

Thomas Paine draws a big contrast between society and government. Society brings us together because we are naturally
wired to collaborate and form social connections with people. Therefore, society promotes our happiness positively "by
uniting our affections" and "encourages intercourse," or interaction, among people. By contrast, Paine believes that
government is produced "by our wickedness" and that its main purpose is "restraining our vices." He also claims that
government "creates distinctions" among people by dividing them.

6 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11

 3 In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of government, let us

suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth,
unconnected with the rest; they will then represent the first peopling of any country, or
Paraphrase: What is the connection
of the world. In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A thousand
between the fact that people need each
motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, and
other and the idea of a government?
his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance
and relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would be KEY IDEAS AND DETAILS
Explain how Thomas Paine
able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but one man might labor connects the need for
out the common period of life without accomplishing anything; when he had felled his people to combine their
efforts in a newly settled
timber he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the meantime sequestered part of the
earth with the “just idea
would urge him from his work, and every different want would call him a different way.
of the design and end of
Disease, nay even misfortune, would be death, for though neither might be mortal, yet government.”
either would disable him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather Thomas Paine connects the idea of people
be said to perish than to die. working together in a newly settled
4 Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly arrived sequestered part of the earth with the idea of
emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which would supersede, and render creating a government by pointing out that at
the obligations of law and government unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to first people need to focus on survival, so
each other; but as nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen collaboration is necessary. That is when they

that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of emigration, which bound get along, and there is no need for a

them together in a common cause, they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment government. Once conflict sets in, they need
to establish a government and rules/laws "to
to each other; and this remissness will point out the necessity of establishing some form
supply the defect of moral virtue."
of government to supply the defect of moral virtue.
5 Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the branches of which, the CRAFT AND STRUCTURE
© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

Thomas Paine suggests that

whole colony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. It is more than probable that
government is what he calls
their first laws will have the title only of Regulations, and be enforced by no other penalty a “necessary evil.” What
does this phrase mean,
than public disesteem. In this first parliament, every man by natural right will have a seat. and how does he refine its
6 But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase likewise, and the distance at meaning over the course of
the passage?
which the members may be separated, will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet
on every occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the
public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience of their consenting to
KEY IDEAS AND DETAILS
leave the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who Paine’s example progresses
are supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those have who appointed them, and from a small group of people
to a full-grown colony.
who will act in the same manner as the whole body would act were they present. If the colony How does Paine connect
this growth in population
continue increasing, it will become necessary to augment the number of the representatives,
to a need to form a
and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to representative government?

Paine claims that government is a "necessary evil" because people need laws to control their behavior.
Government's purpose is to provide security. However, it is also "evil" because it creates differences among
people and works by "restraining our vices." Paine refines the idea of government as a "necessary evil"
Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 7
throughout the text when he provides examples of how society contrasts with governments.
Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and that the
elected might never form to themselves an interest separate from the electors, prudence will
point out the propriety of having elections often; because as the elected might by that means
return and mix again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their fidelity to the
public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod for themselves. And as
this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community,
they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on the unmeaning name
of king) depends the strength of government, and the happiness of the governed.
CRAFT AND STRUCTURE 7 Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary
What purpose does the final
by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of
paragraph play in the overall
structure of the passage? government, viz., freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with
How does it affect the clarity
snow, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest
and persuasiveness of the
argument Paine makes? darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right.

Check Your Understanding

Now that you have read closely and worked to understand this text, discuss Thomas
Paine’s argument considering the necessity of government. What is his argument,
and do you find it convincing? Do you think that his argument relies more on logical
appeals (logos) or emotional appeals (pathos)?

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

8 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11

 Synthesizing Your Understanding
Now that you have read the passage three times and studied its vocabulary,
language, and ideas, synthesize your understanding by thinking about the author’s
use of language and rhetorical appeals to communicate his message to a particular
audience. Apply the SMELL strategy by responding to the following questions.

Introducing the Strategy: SMELL

SMELL is a strategy for analysis of a persuasive text. Using this strategy, the
reader answers five essential questions about the sender-receiver relationship,
the message, the emotional strategies, the logical strategies, and the language
of the text.

S–Sender-Receiver Relationship: How might Thomas Paine’s being a political

activist influence the response to his ideas? Who is his primary audience (receivers);
in other words, to whom do the images and language appeal?

the sender in this passage was no other than Thomas Paine, and the receivers where mostly the citizens because his trying
to let them know how is it that the government and society relate to each other and how they are so different at the same
time

M–Message: What is the message or main idea? Taking into account your
understanding of each paragraph, state Thomas Paine’s purpose.

The main idea is that government is something that will come over time once a group of people begins to expand that the
government would come into place and it mostly likely to happen because is something that happens everywhere.
© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

E–Emotional Strategies (Pathos): In what ways does Thomas Paine appeal to the
emotions of his audience? What specific examples in the text appeal to emotion?

Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 9

Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

L–Logical Strategies (Logos): In what ways does Thomas Paine appeal to the logic
of his audience? What specific examples in the text appeal to logic or reason?

When He said that the government was "an evil that is needed" because that's the part of every nation that has
control over everything that can and can't be done and they hold the most power, and they are the once that give
us security and freedom.

L–Language Strategies: What figurative or connotative language does Paine use to

achieve his purpose? What specific rhetorical strategies does he employ, and what
is their effect?

He uses words like "evil" to show that the government is one of the worst part of having large group of people
being looked a small percent of out the many and also uses words as "freedom and security" which is once of
the most known benefits of a government.

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

Writing Prompt: Based on your current understanding of the passage, summarize
two or more central ideas and explain how they were developed over the course of
the text. Include your analysis of how Paine used language and rhetorical strategies
to communicate his message to a particular audience. Be sure to:
• Identify two or more central ideas in a topic sentence.
• Provide several pieces of textual evidence that support your statement.
• Include commentary about the author’s language and rhetorical appeals.

10 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11

 ACTIVITY 2
Collaborative Practice
The Boston Massacre involved the killing of five colonists by British soldiers
on March 5, 1770, six years before the Declaration of Independence. It was the
culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal
troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax
burden imposed by the British king. Accounts of many of the details of the Boston
Massacre are varied.
Three weeks after the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere created this iconic engraving, ACADEMIC VOCABULARY
depicting his version of the events. According to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American Propaganda is a term
History, the engraving “was probably the most effective piece of war propaganda in that describes materials
American history.” Look carefully at the image below. Examine the overall effect of this created to shape
artwork and the details by applying the OPTIC strategy to your study. individual opinion about
a particular subject by
presenting information
Introducing the Strategy: OPTIC in a biased or misleading
manner. Its purpose is to
OPTIC is a strategy for systematically analyzing visual texts—including paintings, promote a particular point
photographs, advertisements, maps, charts, or graphs—and developing an of view or cause.
interpretation regarding the meaning or theme(s) of the text. The acronym stands
for Overview, Parts, Title, Interrelationships, and Conclusion.

The Bloody Massacre in King-Street

by Paul Revere
© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 11

Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

Applying OPTIC
The OPTIC strategy allows you to analyze a visual image in a systematic way in order
to understand how all aspects of the artwork combine to create an overall impression.
Work collaboratively to respond to the following prompts that are part of the OPTIC
strategy. To do a close reading of a visual image, you should view and review the
artwork each time you respond to the questions.
O—Overview
Write a brief overview of the content of the engraving. What specifically do you see?

P—Parts
Look at each part of the image and note details that seem important. These details
can be anything: color, figures, textures, scenery, or any other feature that you notice.

T—Title
Use the title to clarify the subject of the engraving.

I—Interrelationships
Specify the interrelationships in the artwork. In other words, how are the parts
related both to one another and to the artwork as a whole?

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

C—Conclusion
Draw a conclusion about the artwork as a whole. What is the main idea that the
engraving offers? How might it have served as propaganda?

Writing Prompt: You have carefully examined the content of this engraving and come
to conclusions about how it may have been used as revolutionary war propaganda.
In an essay, connect the portrayal of the Boston Massacre in artwork and the excerpt
from Paine’s pamphlet as forms of propaganda. Be sure to:
• Create a thesis that connects the two texts.
• Provide textual support for your assertion(s).
• Include a conclusion that follows from your major points.

12 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11

 ACTIVITY 3
Independent Practice
The following excerpt is from a later section of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.

First Reading: First Impressions

Read the passage silently to yourself. As you read, think about the meanings of the
underlined words and diffuse the vocabulary by replacing the underlined words with
synonyms or definitions. Use the definitions included, your knowledge of words,
and context clues to help you make meaning of the text. In addition, stop after each
paragraph to underline the most important sentence and circle the most important
word in the sentence that you underlined.

Essay
Thoughts of the
Present S tate of
American Affairs
by Thomas Paine

1 In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and

common sense; and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he
will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings prepossession: a prejudice,
especially in favor of a
© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

to determine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the
particular idea or person
true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day.
2 Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between England and
America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy, from different motives,
and with various designs; but all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is ineffectual: not producing
the proper or intended
closed. Arms, as the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice of the
effect
king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge.
3 It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho’ an able minister was not
without his faults) that on his being attacked in the house of commons on the score that
his measures were only of a temporary kind, replied, “they will last my time.” Should a
thought so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, the name of
ancestors will be remembered by future generations with detestation. detestation: hatred
4 The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. ‘Tis not the affair of a city, a

country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent—of at least one-eighth part of the

Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 13

Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

posterity: all future habitable globe. ‘Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually
generations
involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the
proceedings now. Now is the seed-time of continental union, faith and honor. The least
fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of
a young oak; the wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown
characters.
5 By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new area for politics is struck; a
new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth
almanac: a book published of April, i.e., to the commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacs of the last year;
yearly containing
which, though proper then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by
information such as long-
range weather forecasts, full the advocates on either side of the question then, terminated in one and the same point,
moon dates, tide tables, and
viz., a union with Great Britain; the only difference between the parties was the method
sunrise/sunset times; i.e.,
a book that helps predict of effecting it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far happened
recurring events
that the first hath failed, and the second hath withdrawn her influence.
6 As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, like an agreeable

dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but right, that we should examine
the contrary side of the argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries
which these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with, and
dependent on Great Britain. To examine that connection and dependence, on the
principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to trust to, if separated, and
what we are to expect, if dependent.
7 I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former

connection with Great Britain, that the same connection is necessary towards her future

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

fallacious: false and happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this
intentionally misleading
kind of argument. We may as well assert, that because a child has thrived upon milk,
that it is never to have meat; or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a
precedent: an example precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer
or guide
roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had
no European power had anything to do with her. The commerce by which she hath
enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is
the custom of Europe.
engrossed: having all 8 But she has protected us, say some. That she hath engrossed us is true, and defended
one’s attention or interest
the continent at our expense as well as her own is admitted, and she would have
absorbed by someone
or something defended Turkey from the same motive, viz., the sake of trade and dominion.
9 Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices and made large sacrifices to

superstition. We have boasted the protection of Great Britain, without considering, that

14 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11

 her motive was interest not attachment; that she did not protect us from our enemies
on our account, but from her enemies on her own account, from those who had no
quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be our enemies on the same
account. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the continent, or the continent throw off pretensions: claims
the dependence, and we should be at peace with France and Spain were they at war with
Britain. The miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against connections.
10 It hath lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no relation to each
other but through the parent country, i.e., that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on
for the rest, are sister colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very roundabout
way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way of proving enmity (or enmity: mutual hatred or
ill will
enemyship, if I may so call it). France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be our
enemies as Americans, but as our being the subjects of Great Britain.
11 But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct.

Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families;
wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or wherefore: as a result of
which
only partly so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted
reproach: disappointment
by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on jesuitically: craftily or slyly,
as in a dishonest application
the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, is the parent country
of general principles
of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and credulous: naïve; trusting
asylum: a place offering
religious liberty from every Part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender
protection and safety; a
embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of shelter
England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home pursues their
descendants still.
© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 15

Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

Second Reading: Vocabulary in Context

After reading the passage to yourself, listen and follow along as the passage is read
aloud. As you read, note the sentences you underlined and the words you circled as
important. This time, note images Paine uses to reinforce his rhetorical purpose.

After Reading
Pair with another student to share your underlined sentences. Discuss the meanings
and the effect of the sentences on your understanding of Paine’s message and his
use of imagery in his rhetorical appeals. Together, choose one sentence from the
text that you both consider important or effective and be prepared to explain your
reasoning for the selection.

Check Your Understanding

Now that you have defined unfamiliar terms and identified important sentences
and ideas in Paine’s writing, show your understanding of the text by explaining the
significance of one key sentence within the context of the entire excerpt.

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

Third Reading: Text-Dependent Questioning

Read the passage a third time and respond to the text-dependent questions on the
next pages. Annotate the text with your responses to the questions.

16 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11

 from “Thoughts of the Present State of American Affairs”
by Thomas Paine

1 In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and CRAFT AND STRUCTURE
The author opens this
common sense; and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he
excerpt by declaring
will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings that he offers “nothing
more than simple facts,
to determine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the plain arguments, and
true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day. common sense.” What is
the connotation of this
2 Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between England and assertion, and how does it
America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy, from different motives, affect the reader?

and with various designs; but all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is
closed. Arms, as the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice of the
king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge.
3 It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho’ an able minister was not KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS
Paine asserts that his ideas
without his faults) that on his being attacked in the house of commons on the score that
are not the “concern of
his measures were only of a temporary kind, replied, “they will last my time.” Should a a day, a year, or an age”
but are instead ideas that
thought so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, the name of will live until the “end of
ancestors will be remembered by future generations with detestation. time.” How does he take his
arguments out of the context
4 The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. ‘Tis not the affair of a city, a country, of his current time and
a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent—of at least one-eighth part of the habitable expand them to the future
as well?
globe. ‘Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the
contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now.
Now is the seed-time of continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be
© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound
will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters.
5 By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new area for politics is struck; a

new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth
of April, i.e., to the commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacs of the last year;
which, though proper then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by
the advocates on either side of the question then, terminated in one and the same point,
viz., a union with Great Britain; the only difference between the parties was the method
of effecting it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far happened
that the first hath failed, and the second hath withdrawn her influence.

Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 17

Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS 6 As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, like an agreeable
Thomas Paine recognizes
dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but right, that we should examine
that there are those within
the colonies who will argue the contrary side of the argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries
for the value of remaining
dependent on Great Britain, which these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with, and
suggesting that severing ties dependent on Great Britain. To examine that connection and dependence, on the
with England will ultimately
lead to material injuries of principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to trust to, if separated, and
the colonies. How does he what we are to expect, if dependent.
refute this argument?
7 I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former

connection with Great Britain, that the same connection is necessary towards her future
happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this
kind of argument. We may as well assert, that because a child has thrived upon milk,
that it is never to have meat; or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a
precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer
roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had
no European power had anything to do with her. The commerce by which she hath
enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is
the custom of Europe.
KEY IDEAS AND DETAILS 8 But she has protected us, say some. That she hath engrossed us is true, and defended
Paine analyzes the colonies’
the continent at our expense as well as her own is admitted, and she would have
state of dependency on
Great Britain. How does defended Turkey from the same motive, viz., the sake of trade and dominion.
Paine develop the idea of
dependency in the passage, 9 Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices and made large sacrifices to
and what conclusion does superstition. We have boasted the protection of Great Britain, without considering, that
he draw about it?
her motive was interest not attachment; that she did not protect us from our enemies

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

on our account, but from her enemies on her own account, from those who had no
quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be our enemies on the same
account. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the continent, or the continent throw off
the dependence, and we should be at peace with France and Spain were they at war with
Britain. The miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against connections.
10 It hath lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no relation to each
other but through the parent country, i.e., that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on
for the rest, are sister colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very roundabout
way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way of proving enmity (or
enemyship, if I may so call it). France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be our
enemies as Americans, but as our being the subjects of Great Britain.

18 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11

 11 But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct.

Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families;
wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or
only partly so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS
Paine concludes this excerpt
by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on
with strong accusations of
the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, is the parent country the damage that England
has done to the colonies.
of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and Who does he argue is the
religious liberty from every Part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender real “parent country of
America,” and how does he
embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of support this argument?
England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home pursues their
descendants still.

Check Your Understanding

Now that you have read closely and worked to understand this text, choose one
of the text-dependent questions above and write a complete response to the
questions posed.
© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 19

Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

Synthesizing Your Understanding

Now that you have read the passage three times and studied its vocabulary,
language, and ideas, synthesize your understanding by thinking about the author’s
use of language and rhetorical appeals to communicate his message to a particular
audience. Apply the SMELL strategy by responding to the following questions.

S–Sender-Receiver Relationship: How does Thomas Paine’s being a political

activist influence the response to his ideas? Who is his primary audience (receivers);
in other words, to whom do the images and language appeal? Thomas Paine was
born in England, but now lives in the colonies. How does this fact influence or shape
his message?

M–Message: What is the message or main idea? Taking into account your
understanding of the argument, identify Thomas Paine’s purpose.

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

E–Emotional Strategies (Pathos): In what ways does Thomas Paine appeal to the
emotions of his audience? What specific examples in the text appeal to emotion?

20 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11

 L –Logical Strategies (Logos): In what ways does Thomas Paine appeal to the logic
of his audience? What specific examples in the text appeal to logic or reason?

L–Language Strategies: What figurative or connotative language does Paine use to

achieve his purpose? What specific rhetorical strategies does he employ, and what
is their effect?
© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

Writing Prompt: Based on your current understanding of the passage, identify

Thomas Paine’s purpose and evaluate the effectiveness of his rhetoric. Analyze
how his style and content contribute to the power or persuasiveness of this text.
Be sure to:
• Identify the purpose(s) of the text in a thesis statement.
• Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support your analysis.
• Include commentary that evaluates and draws inferences from the text.

Close Reading Workshop 1 • Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts 21

Close Reading of Informational/Literary Nonfiction Texts (continued)

ACTIVITY 4
Synthesis Questions
Your teacher may choose or ask you to choose one of the following assessments as
a way of showing your understanding of the texts you have read.
Writing Prompt: Review the different ways that Thomas Paine used rhetorical
appeals (pathos and logos) in the texts that you have studied in this workshop.
Revisit the work you have done with both texts, and consider the visual appeals
made by Paul Revere’s engraving. Which appeals do you think would be most
effective in persuading an American colonist to support the cause of independence?
Support your claim with evidence from at least one of the excerpts as well as the
engraving.
Debate/Discussion: Conduct a Socratic Seminar. Now that you have analyzed three
texts supporting the cause of independence for the American colonies, work with
a group to create three or four open-ended questions connected to these texts.
Remember that your text-based questions should not have a “yes” or “no” answer
but should be questions that will encourage a rich discussion. With your questions
and your annotated texts in front of you, engage with your peers in a Socratic
Seminar to share your questions and respond to other students’ questions.
Multimedia Presentation: Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense and Paul
Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre are both primary sources that helped
support the cause of American independence. Find two more primary sources from
the same time period—one visual and one written—and present them along with
your commentary about each text’s purpose and effectiveness. Consider using
presentation software to share your findings.

Reflection
Think about what you have learned from your close reading and analysis of the text
passages you have read in this workshop.
1. How did Thomas Paine and Paul Revere each use pathos and/or logos to

© 2018 College Board. All rights reserved.

contribute to the persuasiveness of their messages?

2. In this workshop, what have you have learned about how to make sense of
complex texts? How can you use what you have learned to help you as you
encounter challenging texts in the future? What strategies helped you as a
learner during this workshop? When and why would you use these strategies
in the future?

22 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11