What involves careful analysis of a text's content and structure?

The focus on close reading emphasizes a detailed and careful examination of a text's content and structure. This method encourages readers to engage deeply with the language, style, and various elements of the text, allowing for a nuanced understanding. Close reading involves considering the choices an author makes and how those choices contribute to the overall meaning and effect of the work. It requires attention to specific details, patterns, and relationships within the text, fostering a critical and interpretive approach to literature and writing.

While options like textual analysis and content evaluation share some similarities with close reading, they often encompass broader or different aspects of textual engagement, such as context or thematic exploration. Critical thinking, while essential in analyzing and interpreting texts, focuses more on reasoning and logic than on the specific techniques of reading a text closely. Thus, close reading stands out as the most accurate description of the careful analysis of a text's content and structure.