1. The Pathway to Analytical Reading
The Art of Annotating
The Pathway to Analytical Reading

2. Ask yourself …
Do you write in books? Why or why not? Do you write in some kinds of books but not others? What kinds of things do you write? Have you found annotating books to be useful to you at all?

3. What do we do as readers…
Follow the plot
Visualize
Form opinion's
Make connections
Wonder
Question
Become emotionally invested

4. What are Annotations?
Annotating is the action of interacting with a text - it is like having a conversation with the text and gives you the opportunity to ask questions, make comments on meaning, make predictions, and summarize key ideas.
The purpose of annotating is to further the readers understanding, draw conclusions, and identify areas of confusion for the reader.
Annotating also helps you to develop stronger reading skills and become a successful reader.

5. The Profile of the Good Reader

6. Set a purpose vs
Reading is like shopping. In English class, you aren’t cruising the mall, window shopping with no specific purpose. This isn’t a bad thing; it can be fun just to peruse the mall and wander around a store to see what catches your eye. This is what you do when you read on your own. It doesn’t matter if you notice that sweater or not. Who cares? You don’t have any specific item you need to buy so you’re just wandering in and out and if you miss a store, it doesn’t matter.
On the other hand, sometimes you are shopping for a specific thing, where you think ahead of time what item you need and thinking about the stores that will possibly have this item. While you might get occasionally sidetracked (and buy something that wasn’t on the list), you ultimately have to purchase something. This is the way it is in English class; you should have a mental “list” of what you are seeking to know. This list can change from chapter to chapter. Some things we want to know in English class are: Is this the bad guy? What are his intentions? Will he be rescued? Is this girl important to the storyline? What will he do next? How will he come to terms with this experience? Your purposes for reading should evolve as the narrative progresses.

7. Connect what you are reading to…
How does this relate to something else in my life—family, community, etc?
How does this relate to something else I’ve read?
How does this relate to me?

8. Ask QUESTIONS About the characters About the plot and
how the author will
unfold the narrative
to you
About information
you don’t understand

9. Make Predictions
Sometimes you get a “feeling” about what will happen next.
This is usually because the author provides you with clues.
Write down your predictions. You can come back to your predictions and either confirm or reject them after you have read further.

10. Make an Inference
Writers often give you hints or clues that help you "read between the lines." These clues give you a deeper understanding. When you infer, you go beyond the surface details to see other meanings that the details suggest or imply (not stated). When the meanings of words are not stated clearly in the context of the text, they may be implied - that is, suggested or hinted at. When meanings are implied, you may infer them. This is where you need to take what you know and what the writer is telling you and come to a new understanding.

11. From this
To this
Summarize

12. Evaluate and Judge
What is the author’s thematic purpose? What ideas does the writer present that you agree with? Disagree with? How relevant are these ideas to you? What previous ideas of yours has this work changed or amplified?

13. Annotations
Trace
all of these

14. Annotations also trace
But wait! There’s More!
Annotations also trace
LITERARY ANALYSIS

15. The Levels of a Literary Text:
Moving from the
PLOT
to the THEMATIC
PLOT LEVEL
Things that can be answered with what?
This concerns events, setting, and character descriptions. At plot level you consider things like - character actions, character reactions to events/other characters, and setting details

16. Figurative Level
Things that can be answered with the question “Why?” or “How?”
Things that consider characters in the narrative as both dynamic people and also the result of artistic choices:
People with goals, passions, ambitions, fears and desires.
When we INFER things about the “hidden” life of a character and what motivates him/her
When we consider literary devices and techniques that an author uses to connect certain emotions or ideas with a character, place, or event.

17. And the last and most sophisticated Level:
THEMATIC Level
when we can make thematic evaluations and statements.
when we say that such and such a character/ represents a CONCEPT or an IDEA by his very construction; these take on a greater significance, and become a commentary on a deeper message, or overall point the author is conveying.
When we consider overarching ideas or universal themes that the author has asked us to consider

18. AGAIN: What does “annotate” mean?
Annotation is a method of writing down your ideas of a text:
To develop your understanding of literary analysis
(plot, figurative, thematic)
To trace your reading
(setting purpose, asking questions, connecting, summarizing, inferring)

19. Good annotations will have a balance of written ideas of
Your own thoughts, connections and ideas
With
Your understanding of the author’s ideas and intentions

20. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby—who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is a series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.
Reader Connections
Text to SELF: I’ve met people who seem to be part of a group of people you hate but then turn out to be likable for some reason
Text to World: celebrities often become representative of the rich, spoiled, American Dream even if they do not characterize the rest of the “celebrity world”
The “was” indicates that he is either dead or this was written long after he was gorgeous

21. Gatsby—who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn
Gatsby—who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is a series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away (Fitzgerald 3).
The Figurative Level
This metaphor, comparing your personality to a series of choreographed, physical movements makes it seem like he is graceful
Why does he evoke both “scorn” and “gorgeous” qualities?
How is he more sensitive to the “promises of life”? Does this mean he is more hopeful or more depressed?
Comparing him to a seismograph makes it seem as if he is “in tune” with FATE or “Lady Luck” and that things must always go his way, or that is what he must believe

22. Unproductive Annotations
Gatsby—who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is a series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away (Fitzgerald 3).
Unproductive Annotations
So Gatsby represents what he doesn’t like
He’s good looking
I don’t get what this means

23. Do Don’t Comment on a specific image
Make a general comment about an entire line or whole quotation
Comment on a specific image
Mention literary devices/elements
Just discuss “words” or “images”
Mention authorial intent/ or at least try to speculate authorial intention
Just mention your own opinion about the text