Before this English 110 course, I had honestly never had to annotate any readings. I vaguely knew what annotating was, but had never taken part in doing it. It doesn’t help that in the first place, I am not much of a reader at all. I usually skim over things and if it loses my interest, I start to read chunks of sentences, or start reading too fast and have to stop reading. Now, having had to annotate many essays throughout the course of this class, I enjoy taking the time to annotate and analyze what I am reading. The whole annotation process helps me to better soak in what I am reading, and helps me to better retain information within the readings. In Harvard Professor Susan Gilroy’s, “Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard,” she writes about the annotation process, and how students should go about analyzing written text. Gilroy states, “Take the information apart, look at its parts, and then try to put it back together again in a language that is meaningful to you.” When I read this, I immediately knew this was the exact thing I learned how to do that helped me become a successful reader and annotator. My annotations tend to be very simplified when I’m writing inside the margins, and that really helps me to better understand the complicated themes within the essays we have read this semester. Even just underlining and highlighting important quotes or information is the most effective for me because it makes me stop and think about what I am looking at. When there is something that relates to my particular interests, or when there is something that sparks my interest, I instantly mark it with an underline and a “wow” or an “interesting thought” in the margins. Even something that reminds me of family and experiences, or makes me question the text I will mark it and write my immediate thoughts in the margins. In the back of my mind, I always remember what Professor Emerson taught us, which is to consistently be in conversation with the text and ask the text questions.
If you look at my example annotations, I am constantly arguing with the text, in this case because I did not agree with any of the ideas presented. I tried to act as if I was in conversation with the text, asked questions, and raised concerns about my thoughts on the subject at hand. I also constantly underline important information and quotes I want to potentially use in my own writing. Taking the time to sit down, read, and annotate translates into being able to use the information learned in class. This also shows in my informal reading response where we filled out a sheet in class based off the reading and annotations we had done for an essay. I was able to quickly answer questions about the text because I could flip through my annotations and point out specific and direct information. It was underlined, highlighted, and clear cut so there was no searching or guessing an answer. The work that went into annotating the night before for homework payed off, resulting in effective use of class time later. Learning the skill of effectively annotating has helped me to approach the readings with a better mindset, and has showed me to slow down and critically analyze the readings thoroughly. I am now able to interrogate deeper into the readings, and show the hard work I have done in classroom discussion.
