Reading Strategy: Annotation

Introduction

Learning to annotate a text is useful as it helps a reader to
see the structure of a text better and learn how a text is organised to make meaning.
refer back to the annotations for easy review.
slow down and think critically about the content of a text

How to annotate a text?

When reading an academic text, one way of annotating it is to take note of the main ideas, the supporting ideas or evidences that lead you to a conclusion. You may also identify the relationship between ideas  when you annotate. Sometimes, you may want to put down questions you ask about the text and make text to text connections (connecting what you are reading with a text/texts you read earlier) or text to self connections (connecting what you read with yourself).

Make use of the strategy when you read your discipline related materials. This helps you interact actively with the texts you read, understand them better and remember the key ideas better.

Click here to download a sample of annotated text.