1. Annotating Literature
A Guide to Active Reading
Annotation is basically like taking notes on what you are reading, as you read. Annotatation requires VERY close reading—it is important that you do not skim here
Just like everything I say is important, everything you have to say about literature is USEFUL!
BUT COACH PLEMONS!!!
Why do we need to know this??
When am I ever going to use this in real life?
Annotating does not only build up your ability to speak figuratively about literature but allows you insights into human nature and can actually teach you a lot about yourself. It also builds critical thinking skills and sharpens the mind (it’s like a big puzzle!!)
No, your boss will never come to you and say “…”
Does anyone want to practice psychology? Even if you don’t, working in just about any field requires you to be able to identify people’s character traits, your surroundings, etc…
YOU DO THIS EVERY DAY!!!

2. What is “Annotating”?
To annotate a piece of literature or text basically means to makes notes on it as you read not when you are finished.

3. ANNOTATING OBJECTIVES…
To identify the author’s most important points.
To recognize how they fit together.
To note how you respond to them.
We all get something different out of what we read, so it would be 100% unfair of me to require your annotations to mirror mine.

4. BEFORE YOU READ… PREVIEW THE TEXT
What do you think the title has to do with the text?
Who is the author?
What time period was the piece written in?
How is the text structured?
Are you given any visuals?

5. WHEN YOU ANNOTATE… Underline and highlight passages.
Make written notes in the margins of texts to identify the most important ideas, the main examples or details, and the things that trigger your own reactions.
Devise a notation system.
You’re not going to know everything yet. You annotate as you go. It would be very easy to read an entire story and then go back, but you’re exploring the text. You and the text should be like BFF, and this is where you’re getting to know one another.
*But Miss McCoun,
-I don’t know WHEN to annotate…
LOOK FOR WHEN YOUR IDEAS, PERCEPTIONS, OR UNDERSTANDING CHANGES!
VISUALIZE THE STORY!!!
-Your first instincts are usually right on. If something tells you, “man, they sure have been talking about this one tree a lot.” THEN HEY…MAYBE THE TREE IS A SYMBOL!
Examine front and back covers
Read the title and any subtitles
Examine any illustrations
Examine the print
Examine the way the text is set up
As you do all this, make predictions…
Write questions and/or comments in the margin.
Mark confusing parts of the piece or sections that warrant a reread
Read a few paragraphs at a time.

6. “WHAT SHOULD I ANNOTATE?

7. What to notice (underline/highlight and comment on) in the reading:
• You see something you didn’t see before.
• A pattern or images start to overlap, gestures or phrases reoccur, details seem associated with each other.
• The story suddenly seems to be about something different from what you thought.
• You discover that you were misreading.

8. Underline/highlight and comment on times when you are surprised or puzzled:
• Something doesn’t seem to fit.
• Something does not make sense—pose explicitly the question or problem that occurs to you

9. Underline/highlight and comment on details that seem important and that make you look again.

10. Underline/highlight and comment on ways in which the story makes you speculate about life or a connection to another text or even another academic discipline.

11. Character Information
Introduction to character (meeting him or her)
Change
Growth
Anything else that strikes your attention

12. Setting
Underline/highlight and comment on elements of the setting that seem to add to the story, mood, or atmosphere.

13. Literary Devices Simile/metaphor— comparisons
Irony (situational, verbal, dramatic)
Theme—life lesson learned
Symbols
Allusions

14. Vocabulary Words that you are not familiar with
Helps with the understanding of the novel
Use the dictionary!!

15. At the end of each story…
Fill out the story card

16. When reading, some helpful markings include the following:
. . …I understand.
? I don’t understand.
! Interesting or surprising
S=symbol

17. KEEP IN MIND…
The more precise your marks are and the more focused your notes and reactions, the easier it will be to draw material from the text into your own writing.

18. Use a pen so you can make circles, brackets, and notes
Use a pen so you can make circles, brackets, and notes. If you like highlighters,use one for key passages, but don’t get carried away and don’t only highlight.

19. SO, BE SELECTIVE…
The unfortunate tendency is to underline (or highlight) too much of a text. DON’T DO THIS! A good reader will mark sparingly, keeping the focus on the truly important elements of a writer’s ideas and his or her own reactions.

21. MOST IMPORTANTLY… Don’t let this scare you!
Everything you say is useful!