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pmla-textual-evidence-and-close-reading

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Use when marshalling textual evidence and close reading as the evidence base of a PMLA (Publications of the Modern Language Association) essay. In literary studies the text is the data — claims are earned through careful reading of language, form, and context, quoted accurately and cited in MLA style. Strengthens the reading; it does not run analyses or invent passages.

PMLA-Skills/skills/pmla-textual-evidence-and-close-reading/SKILL.md

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# Textual Evidence & Close Reading (pmla-textual-evidence-and-close-reading)

In literary and language studies the **text is the evidence**. A PMLA essay earns its argument by
reading closely — attending to language, form, structure, and context — and by quoting accurately from
a reliable edition. There is no dataset and no statistics here: rigor means the reading is precise,
the quotations are exact, and the interpretation is answerable to the passage on the page.

## When to trigger

- Selecting and analyzing the passages that carry the argument
- A reader said the reading is "assertive," "thin," or "doesn't show its work"
- Deciding which edition/source to quote and how to handle translation
- Presenting an archival document (Little-known Documents) with commentary
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