pmla-textual-evidence-and-close-reading
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.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill pmla-textual-evidence-and-close-reading --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# 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 ## How PMLA wants the text read 1. **Read the language, not just the content.** Attend to diction, syntax, figure, rhythm, genre, form, and structure — how the text means, not only what it says. The reading should be impossible to paraphrase away. 2. **Quote precisely and minimally.** Use the exact words you analyze; quote enough to ground the claim and no more. Every quotation should be *worked* — analyzed, not just dis
- When to trigger
- How PMLA wants the text read
- Evidence beyond the single passage
- Translation and non-English sources
- Worked micro-rewrite (assertion → reading)
- What PMLA's readers test the evidence against
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the pmla-textual-evidence-and-close-reading skill do?
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.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill pmla-textual-evidence-and-close-reading --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.