Annotating! It sounds like fun, but it isn’t!

What is annotating? Annotating is marking up a document for more effective and efficient understanding. While taking notes is on a separate sheet of paper, annotations go directly ON the reading. You should annotate every document I give you, even if it’s just the directions.

How do I annotate? Although there is not just one “perfect” way to annotate a document, I will give you suggestions for annotating techniques that will be thorough and effective. You should utilize these techniques while in this class and in others. Although these are five suggestions, you are not limited to these five! Annotating is for YOUR understanding, so if you’d like to expand upon these five because it’s helpful to you, please do!

How do I annotate? 1) Highlight only the most important content. (Highlighting everything doesn’t help at all, because then you’re just rereading the entire article! Only highlight the main ideas, so that when you review the article, you obtain a good understanding by just rereading what you’ve highlighted. It saves time!) NO BIG YELLOW SUNS!

How do I annotate? 2) Circle and define vocabulary of which you’re unsure. Write the definition in the margins. (Circling it doesn’t do any good if you don’t go and find the definition as well!)

How do I annotate? 3) Summarize paragraphs in the margins using words, phrases, or sentences. (This will prevent you from having the reread the entire thing! Just rereading your summaries will give you a good idea of the gist of each paragraph, again saving time. It will also help your comprehension since you have to understand what you’ve read in order to summarize it.)

How do I annotate? Example : Rickover Naval Academy is a Chicago Public college preparatory high school. It is located on the North Side of Chicago in the Edgewater neighborhood and shares a building with historic Senn High School. Operating under a Navy-inspired organizational structure, Rickover is a top ten CPS school with a reputably high ACT average of over 19. How could I summarize this in brief words or phrases within the margins?

How do I annotate? Example summary: “RNA, Navy high-achieving HS” “North CPS top Navy HS” “Navy college-prep HS” “Effective Navy HS”

How do I annotate? 4) Write insights and reflections in the margins. (This can be a connection to yourself, a unique way to help you remember the content, an analytical note such as literary device, an emotional reaction to the text such as criticism or praise, a picture you connect to the text, a connection to something outside of the text, or a connection to something else you’ve read.)

How do I annotate? Example insights/reflections: “This reminds me of my sister.” “Unique metaphor used here.” “I completely disagree with this.” “The character of Dan is self-centered and cruel without realizing it.” “Didn’t cite this statistic.” “Similar to the seatbelt law that was just revised.” “Romeo and Juliet has the same ending!”

How do I annotate? 5) Write questions in the margins of things about which you’re confused. (Writing questions in the margins will help remind you to ask them in class so that you have a clear understanding of the reading. You might forget if you don’t note them.)

How do I annotate? Sample questions: “What does Shakespeare mean here?” “Why does Hughes compare a dream deferred to a sore? Why not a broken bone?” “Why didn’t the author discuss private school statistics?” “Was this study trustworthy?”

Why should I annotate? Annotating is a great way to process what you’re reading as you’re reading it. It forces you to really think about what you’re reading instead of just skimming over it. It makes reading an ACTIVE process. In college, you have so much reading, you’ll never be able to reread it all before a test. Annotating is a great tool that allows you to reread only the important parts and gain a good understanding of the reading in much less time.

The End! …or is it?