Textual analysis is a general term for various research methods used to describe, interpret, and understand texts. All sorts of information can be gleaned from a text – from its literal meaning to the subtext, symbolism, assumptions and values it reveals. The methods used to conduct textual analysis depend on the field and objectives of literary analysis, close reading. Students may have encountered past teachers using the term close reading. When teachers use this term, it generally means engaging with a text on a deeper level than when they are reading it for entertainment or information purposes: that is, they are not looking only what is written in the post, also known as a literary analysis essay. A literary analysis essay is an argumentative analysis that closely examines a piece of literature by examining the story's characters, theme, tone, setting as well as the plot and other literary devices used to tell the story . It encourages the reader to think about how and why a novel, poem, or play was created.