#Writing good annotations how to

This way, if you have to reference anything in a different source, it will be on hand and avoid interrupting your flow. It is also worthwhile to keep the assignment directions or other resources handy while reading.

If you change up your style or method all the time, you will make it harder to review your notes later on. Regardless of which technique you use to make your annotations, the main goal here is to stay consistent. Reader comments/responses: As the reader reads the text, they write down their thoughts or comments on the side to keep the mind engaged.

Descriptive outlines: An outline of what each paragraph contains and how they flow together.

Annotation Key: Text annotation symbols tell the reader where to find answers or the next step in a logical chain.

Paraphrase/summary: Comments in the margin sum up sections as the reader finishes them.

Highlighting/underlining: Important text stands out from the rest of the paragraphs using a highlighter or colored pen.

Here are some of the overall practices you could do when annotating a text: Still, many of these techniques share some similarities. Many students have their methods for annotating. Annotations should make the point of the text clear while also adding insight for the reader of the annotations later. Given the circumstances students find themselves in right now, annotations can be a great way to study alone or in groups.

Show the original thoughts of the reader and how they may or may not change throughout the document.

Outline the flow of ideas through the text and how everything connects to support the main points.

Condense the main ideas of the text in a digestible way.

Identify important ideas and information inside the text.

Regardless of what format the text you are annotating is in, these are the general goals most readers want to hit with their annotations: What Should Annotation Accomplish?īefore going over some of the general annotation tips out there, the question to answer is: what should your annotations do for you? Creating text annotations is a lot of effort, so putting forth that effort should have a worthwhile result. After all, annotations should help the original reader first. Lots of people come up with their own systems for doing annotations. There are a lot of tips out there to annotate a text. Rather than just lazily glossing over the text, text annotation is a reading strategy that gives students a better chance of remembering what they are reading.

Active readers annotate while reading to get a better understanding of the things they read. The main way text annotation is used today is for education. These annotations save alongside the original text with no extra work for the author or the reader. So, there are more tools available to present annotations and comments with the original text. Whether it’s a business proposal contract, presentation or something else, most text now is handled via software. Nowadays, annotation is making a resurgence. Individuals annotating texts for themselves persisted, but annotations did not make it into books after the printing press rolled out. Annotations, being on the margin, wouldn’t copy over because of this mechanical shortcoming. The printing press, in its original construction, wasn’t able to print text outside of the margins.

Once the printing press came to be, annotation fell off as something included with copies of the text. Their inclusion was as, if not more important than, the original text itself. These marginal notes were considered important for understanding text by these scholars. Copying annotations alongside the original text was a common practice. Also called marginalia, these notes are useful for several purposes.Īnnotation was popular, particularly for Medieval era scholars. It is a process by which somebody who is reading attempts to draw greater meaning from what they read and condense it down into a shorthand format. Text annotation is a form of note-taking that goes back as long as written media itself. But what does “annotate” actually mean? How can annotation help someone study more effectively? By learning about this study practice, you can better improve the time that you spend learning. Whether you are studying or seeking to understand something better, then annotating the text is the best way to aid your learning.

#Writing good annotations how to

Note-taking and knowing how to annotate is critical to understanding the meaning behind what is written.