1. Annotations by
Katherine Schuster

2. Annotating a Text Step away from that highlighter!
Have a conversation with your book.
Ask questions
Add information you already know
Clarify ideas in your own words
Summarize ideas in your own words
Note important items to remember

3. Why Annotate? Encourages active instead of passive reading.
Helps you put thoughts in your own words.
Prevents highlighter “bleeding” all over the page.
Restating the information through noting it down helps galvanize the learning.
Turns a large amount of information into a manageable amount to study.

4. How to Annotate?
Write in your book – have the conversation with your reading in the margins.
You may annotate on paper or on the computer, but you need to note down on which page the annotation should appear – this can be cumbersome when studying but does work for some.
If you really don’t want to write in your book – use post-its.
Read a section first, think back about it, then annotate.
Be sure to use your own words.

5. What to Annotate? Definitions Examples Predicted test questions
People, dates, places, events
Numbered lists of information
Relationships between concepts
Graphs, charts, diagrams
Your thoughts, ideas, comments

6. Annotation Pitfalls “Medieval Monk” syndrome “Nothin’ Here” syndrome
Copying word for word
“Nothin’ Here” syndrome
Too few annotations or just copy headings
Focusing on random details as opposed to the main points
“Rest of the Story” syndrome
Include too little information for the annotation to stand on its own later for study purposes