This article describes a reading/writing strategy known as the "T Analysis" that encourages students to engage literary texts intensely without having to demonstrate that engagement with a formal paper. The "T Analysis" is named for a large "T" configuration that will appear on a student's paper when the exercise is completed. The "T" helps students in three ways: (1) it focuses attention on textual evidence that students may use to defend their own interpretations; (2) it encourages students to clarify how that textual evidence works; and (3) as the byproduct of careful probing, it provides an outline for a formal paper should one be required. An example of a "T Analysis" is provided in the appendix. (Contains 1 figure.)