1. Using your pencil and highlighters to improve reading comprehension
Annotating Texts
Using your pencil and highlighters to improve reading comprehension

2. What is annotating? Highlighting Underlining Circling
Making notes in the margin of the text

3. Why should I annotate texts?
Studies show that even though annotating texts makes reading a longer process, students retain 70% more information.
Annotating helps you do the following:
Identify important ideas
Understand key vocabulary
Connect ideas
Review new concepts
Explore ideas that are unclear or difficult to understand
Summarize main ideas

4. How do I begin? Select a text. Get your supplies.
You may use the article “Test Anxiety.”
Get your supplies.
Pencil & Highlighters
Post-it notes, pens, paper (optional)

5. Page 1
Example

6. Page 2
Practice

7. How do I begin? Start with some pre-reading strategies.
Identify the titles, subheadings, and important text features
Skim the text
Predict what it is about
Try to identify some key vocabulary words

9. Strategies Create some questions about the text
Examples:
Who is ____ ?
What is ____ ?
When did ____ ?
Why do ____?
How does ____?
Write these in the margin of your text, on a separate paper, or post-it.
Your goal while reading is to find the answers to your questions.

10. Strategies Highlighting
The biggest mistake students make when annotating is highlighting too much.
Focus on only topic sentences and really important ideas.

11. Highlighting
You may want to use different colors for different purposes.
Examples:
Green– Main ideas
Yellow– Important details

12. Example

13. Page 2
Practice

14. Strategies Underlining
This strategy can be a way to remind yourself of things you still need to review or look up.
As your read, when you come across something that you still don’t understand, underline the sentence.

15. Example

16. Page 2
Practice

17. Strategies
As you read, try circling words you know are important and word you need to look up or study.
This can help you do a quick review later on by quizzing yourself on the circled words.

18. Example

19. Page 2
Practice

20. Strategies Making notes in the margins
Use the space around the edge of the page to keep notes for yourself, point out connections between ideas, and ask or answer questions.
If your text does not have enough room, use paper or a post-it note.

21. Example

22. Page 2
Practice

23. Review
Now review everything you highlighted by reading it aloud to yourself.

24. Review
Look at all the underlined sections and circled words. Can you figure them out by rereading the paragraph?
Use additional resources such as your glossary, index, dictionaries, or the internet to figure out these difficult words and phrases.

25. Review Reread your notes in the margins aloud to yourself.
Reread the questions you wrote about the text before you began.
Are they relevant questions?
If so, can you answer them?
Reread the text as needed.

26. Conclusion
Now select one of your textbooks or a reading for one of your classes.
Complete these strategies you learned on your own. Discuss what you are doing with classmates or your tutor as you complete the strategies.