Annotation Notes:

Annotating Annotating a text is like having a conversation with a book – it allows active readers to ask questions, comment on meaning, and mark events and passages you want to revisit.

Purpose To help a serious reader to keep track of patterns, contrasts, plot events, and character development. Assist a student in studying for a test or writing a paper that requires quotes to support ideas.

What’s in it for you? Students who learn to highlight and annotate become active readers and recursive thinkers who notice patterns, symbolic elements, and contrast almost effortlessly as they absorb the text.

Elements for Annotating Highlight or underline the chapter for images Sound Sight Touch Taste Scent descriptions Write down thoughts about the highlighted images in the margins of your text.

Elements for Annotating Do the same for details (things that happen or facts revealed by the author that seem to create a definite effect on the reader). Look for unfamiliar or unusual words, mark them, and write down their meanings with the help of a dictionary.

Elements for Annotating Look for repetitive or musical sounds in the text. Mark comparisons (metaphors and similes) and briefly note what effect the use of these comparisons has on the reader. Note important plot events and/or conflicts at the top of each page of the text noting briefly the importance of each.

Elements for Annotating Highlight or underline descriptive passages about the characters and make brief notes about the relationships between the characters and about each character’s personal attributes. Mark interesting sentence structures and briefly note the way the author uses nouns, verbs, modifiers, and marks of punctuation for emphasis.