V.I.S.I.B.L.E.

Voice
Listen to the voice behind the words: point of view, audience, topic, reliability, style, and TONE.
Voice indicators: diction, imagery, detail, language, syntax

Ideas
Look for abstracts. What themes/ideas are explored? Are any of the ideas in tension? Are the ideas presented in satire? Are the ideas presented in irony? Are the ideas presented in paradox?

Structure/Development
Look for sections and sequence. Look for logical steps (argument). Look for plot arc and character development along that arc. Consider the movement of time, pace, transition, flashback, foreshadowing, juxtaposition, character groupings, reversal.

Images/Symbols/Motifs
Look for concrete elements: controlling images, motifs, symbols, archetypes, setting, anything visual.

(The previous points are applicable to a close reading. The remaining points require a larger context of research.)

Background
Find out about the author, the era of publication, the setting. Let this information inform the meaning of the work historically.

Lens of Criticism
Look for nontraditional critical perspectives, perhaps feminist, Marxist, psychological, deconstructive, reader response, etc.

Evangelize the Text
This means applying a biblical lens of criticism over the text, looking for issues of man's sin, God's goodness, and the path to redemption. "Evangelizing the text" is not an exercise in condemning the morality of the story or the beliefs of the author. It says that all truth is God's truth, and you are looking for biblical truth. Really good literature should always reflect something true.