How To Annotate a Text

Do you often feel like you have forgotten everything that you've just read? Annotating your books might be for you!

As an English major and book lover, I enjoy marking up texts. As someone with poor memory, annotating the texts that I am reading is a vital step in my comprehension process.

What does it mean to annotate?

Annotating a text is a very personal process, but as a general definition, annotating a text includes marking up a text in order to add insight, explanation, or general comments to what you are reading. Your process of annotation will change based one what, why, and how you are reading.

What do you need to annotate?

The tools you use to annotate can vary from person to person, book to book, or even genre to genre. However, here is a typical list of tools for annotation:

• Page Flags: small tabs that can highlight the importance of a single line or paragraph. Page flags come in all shapes, forms, colors, etc. which means you can really find the right tool for you.

• Sticky Notes: small pieces of paper that you are able to stick into your book. These provide a space to write on, if you are not into writing directly on the pages on your book. You can use them on every page, or even just at the end of every section or chapter. They are very versatile when it comes to annotating a book.

• Writing Utensils: your tool for physically marking up the text!

  • Highlighter: While these are an optional choice, they are great to have handy. If you are not into writing on the pages of your book, you can still use these when writing on your sticky notes. If you do like to write in your actual book, these provide a colorful way to have certain lines, phrases, or words stand out for you. Highlighters also provide a great way to color code!

  • Pens/Pencils: Even if you are not writing directly in your book, these are essential, for obvious reasons!

• (Optional) A Notebook: I like to use a notebook to write down my notes in addition to keeping small notes in the actual book. This way, if I forget my book at home, I still have the notes to be able to reflect on what I read. If you are annotating for school readings, I highly recommend this option! Even though it takes longer, it is really worth your while to do it.

How do you annotate?

As I mentioned previously, annotating is a personal process that involves a few steps before beginning to read your text.

1. Have your supplies at the ready!

   Trust me, you do not want to in the middle of reading when you realize you need to mark something in the text just to realize you do not have the supplies ready. It can disrupt your thinking process. So, be sure to have all your supplies at the ready!

2. Have a color coding chart/key.

   This is a vital part of the annotating process if you are color coding anything. Take an index card, sticky note, or any scrap paper and place the colored page flags you will be using. On the paper, write down what each color coded sticky note represents. An example of this would be:

   - Red = Themes of love and marriage

   - Purple = Themes of jealousy

   - Green = Setting descriptions

   - Blue = Characters descriptions

These are extremely simple categories, but you can tailor your categories to what you need to look out for.

1. Know what you are looking for.

This step goes hand-in-hand with creating the color code key. If you don't know what you are looking for, you will be misguided and end up marking every word on every page, which is not a productive way to annotate your readings.

4. Get reading!

My process of annotating and active reading.

As a student, I annotate every text that I read so I am able to find what I am looking for quicker and easier when it comes time for papers or projects. I read books both digitally and physically, so I will be going through my process for each.

1. Digitally

   To mark my texts digitally, I use Goodnotes. I also have the Notability app, but I have always gravitated toward Goodnotes. Feel free to use whichever application works for you!

   I have my Goodnotes set up with 'favorite' colors for highlighters, which is how I color code, however, the majority of the time I do not color code. Since it is digital, it is easier to switch between the pen tool and the highlighter too, so that is what I usually do. I like to write myself comments or explanations, rather than highlight everything. I find that the notes I leave myself are able to help me refresh my mind when reviewing the text. I have included a few screenshots of some of my actual readings for my courses.

You can in these screenshots that I don't color code, I just highlight and write down my thoughts on the passage. This has always been the best way for me when digitally writing because I can search for keywords I have written as Goodnotes does recognize handwriting (as long as it isn't too messy!).

On top of this simple annotation style, I also keep pages and pages of notes on every reading. I need to make sure I don't forget what I just read, and I can easier flip through these notes rather than scrolling through the whole text.

2. Physically

   I feel as though I mostly annotate digitally as the majority of texts are available for free through Project Gutenberg, there are still some certain instances where I am left to annotate a physical text. When I have a physical text, I resort to similar methods as my digital texts. So far, all of the physical books I have had this semester were rentals which means I cannot write in them. When this is the case, I resort to Post-It Notes in order to write my thoughts down. Below are some examples of notes I left myself.

   
   

   

   

   
   

   In both of these examples, I summarize main points of the paragraphs on the page. Like I mentioned before, I am extremely forgetful, and I want to make sure that I highlight the main points I need to remember.

   
   

Annotating a text is a personal, always changing process. If you are just starting out, know that it may take a few times to get a good system down. If you have been annotating and feel like it is not helping, know that you may need to adjust your system. This is a vital component of reading, especially for those who want to increase their analytical or comprehension skills, or for students.