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Text Annotations

  • Page ID
    184090
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    As we have worked in class, you have been asked to annotate some of the texts without even probably knowing it. As we progress this quarter though, I wanted to fill you in on what annotating a text was. You will be required to annotate a couple texts this week, specifically looking for the impact of word choice on a text as you annotate.

    Annotating a Text

    Annotating a text, or marking the pages with notes, is an excellent, if not essential, way to make the most out of the reading you do. Annotations make it easy to find important information quickly when you look back and review a text. They help you familiarize yourself with both the content and organization of what you read. They provide a way to begin engaging ideas and issues directly through comments, questions, associations, or other reactions that occur to you as you read. In all these ways, annotating a text makes the reading process an active one, not just background for writing assignments, but an integral first step in the writing process.

    A well-annotated text will help you with all of the following:

    •clearly identify where in the text important ideas and information are located
    •express the main ideas of a text
    •trace the development of ideas/arguments throughout a text
    •introduce and document a few of your thoughts and reactions to the text


    Ideally, you should read a text through once before making major annotations. You may just want to circle unfamiliar vocabulary or concepts. This way, you will have a clearer idea about where major ideas and important information are in the text, and your annotating will be more efficient.

    Watch the video to better understand how to annotate a text. 

     

    Works Cited:

    Hunter College. "Invention: Annotating a Text". 2014.


    Text Annotations is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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