Annotating in ENG 15

Annotating “teaching thinking”

Juliet Ferro

When I am annotating, I make sure that I read it all first and look for the most important things in the paragraphs. Once I am done highlighting and reading through the whole paper, I go back to the highlights and I write little side notes that maybe I agreed with it or I have a question about it, or maybe I stated why I thought it was important. I usually star things when I find it really interesting so that I can go back to it. I put question marks next to statements that may confuse me or I have more questions about it. I also am not the type of person to just read something one time and understand it fully. I always read the paper once slowly , trying to understand the full concept, and then I read it again kind of “skimmingly” just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

Other people often highlight key words, and not the whole sentence. I feel as if that may not help me understand the full concept, so I would just rather highlight the important parts of the sentence. Another thing someone else may do, is focus on the quotes and write them down. I know quotes are important in papers so I can see how that would help someone, but I like, after the fact, when they break down the quote and explain it more.