Annotating & highlighting
Highlighting and annotating are great active reading techniques, and essential skills for college-level reading. Annotation can be digital or analog. Analog has tactile benefits, in the various ways we physically interact with text objects. Digital benefits include hyperlinking, endless space, and ease of sharing and connection. With group annotation, people can see each others questions, perspectives and insights - things that may not have occurred to them - facilitating peer learning.
Why Annotate?
- Better understanding of the text
- Remember key content
- Visualize the material
- Identify areas of interest
- Make connections
When Annotating Do…Make your annotations meaningful.
- Make connections to other areas of the text, other resources, or to your own work.
- Interpret and analyze content that may need an explanation.
- Summarize by identifying basic concepts and putting them in your own words.
- Ask questions. If there's something in the text you don't understand, make a note of it.
When Annotating Avoid…
- Highlighting without context – Don't just highlight text, write out why you think it is important.
- Highlighting everything – Be selective as you go through the text. You don't want to go back to a document that is just a giant yellow blob.
- One or two-word comments – Expand on the note to identify why you think it's good or confusing, etc.
CC BY-NC-SA by Coates Library at Trinity University
