By examining the intersection between student reading and writing thought the use of markup languages, we can gain an understanding of the meaning-making processes of student readers while also obtaining and awareness of their application of content-area vocabulary. Frequently, disciplinary study rests on student acquisition of and application of appropriate terminology; the XML template provides a simple, effective way to both measure that acquisition and capture the products of its application for review. Finally, by making student reading and writing the focal point for study, we can imagine other ways of promulgating literary study in the academy.

We expect our students to know how to read, but do not consider that their ways, means, and modes of reading are unlikely to be as developed as their senior counterparts. Instead, we offer them our own readings through lectures, academic papers, conference presentations, and books; we are disappointed when their own readings do not measure up to the standards we place before them. By acknowledging student developmental needs, and by coupling that knowledge with appropriate classroom tools—including technology—we can both learn more about and make better efforts to improve student learning and skills.

Chapter One:

The "Introduction" establishes the need for greater attention to reading skills in the education of undergraduate students. The chapter moves from an overview of reading in the discipline of literature studies to a discussion of close reading, ending with the incorporation of Jeanne Chall’s model of reading development and Louise Rosenblatt’s transactional approach.

Chapter Two:

“Reading with the Machine and Markup” develops a reading model that simultaneously scaffolds student reading and records the reading for later examination. The chapter explores connections between cognition and technology use and ends with a description of the project’s design and data collection.

Chapter Three:

In “Results,” student readings are examined for markup usage, student reading comments, and prompt response. Students were asked to read, mark, comment on, and respond to five short lyric poems; students used all elements of the markup environment to varying degrees. Student markup was most likely to cluster around rhyme and rhythmic elements.

Chapter Four:

“8 Readers Reading” presents a close reading of eight student readers who participated in the study. The chapter examines each individual reader to identify trends and to query the connection between the marked/commented text and the prompt response.

Chapter Five:

“Conclusions and Next Steps” identifies the overall lessons from the project, particularly the use of narrative rephrasing as initial student tool in understanding the poems. The chapter also identifies future research questions and directions, the most prevalent being the effect of both computing and physical environment on data collection and quality and the use of narrative as starting point in poetry reading.