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Still not sure about this whole annotating thing? Here’s a brief guide:Annotating is simply thinking about and interacting with what you are reading. Good readers have multiple lines of thought going at once – a line of thought that is reading and enjoying the language and the plot, and a line that is thinking about and analyzing what he or she is reading. Just write some of that stuff down: fill the margins with what you are thinking, stars, questions, disagreements, underline quotes that seem important or thought provoking or simply sound good, etc.1. Create a purpose. It’s easier to find stuff when you have something to look for. You might have multiple purposes and they may change as you read, for example, You might notice something about the author’s style and mark every time you see an example of certain usage, sentence structure, motifs, allusions or other style elements. You might have a hypothesis on a symbol or metaphor, so you underline and comment anywhere you see the symbol mentioned or areas that would support your argument. You might track a certain theme and its development throughout the piece of writing. You might think about prevalent literary elements you might analyze and find words and passages that create these elements. You might think about the historical context of the novel and the social critique it seems to be purporting.You might do several or all of these by the time you reach the end of the book.2. Mark it! – underline, write in the margins, etc.Circle, underline, or use a sticky note for important ideas and quotes.Discerning what’s important can be hard at first, so start with quotes that sound cool or memorable and structural elements like plot, setting, and characterization. As you go, start marking quotes that follow the patterns you’ve identified from the previous step.Mark repetitions. (Writers choose words for a living, if they choose the same word, phrase, imagery, description, etc. twice, it’s for a reason)Circle confusing words or phrases. Define from context or dictionary if possible.Note passages that generate a strong response, positive or negative.Write summaries of important or difficult passages or key events.Make connections – to things you’ve learned in other courses, to personal experience, to other works of literature, history, current society, etc.Confused? Write questions. Why does he keep talking about eyes? #motif Why does he keep calling the elevator a metal box? #context Why such a preoccupation with people’s socks? #OCD Why is Bob so concerned about an injured bird? #projection Why is Suzie never in the room as the same time as Bob? . . . as you read, you may even find answers to some of these questionsTake notes from class discussion in your marginsStart out paying attention to details like setting imagery, syntax, plot, etc. and transition to analysis as you go. Your annotations should not be solely summary, solely value judgements, or solely device identifications, but a combination of these things moving towards analysis. Think about what you could write about or discuss with the novel. Think about decoding symbols, allusions, characters’ motivations, social commentary, etc. And when in doubt, apply those patterns from Foster!You don’t have to fill every inch of white space or comment on every single page. You might hit a page or section in which you have several underlines and comments, then hit a dozen pages with nothing, and that’s fine. When I grade annotations I just want to see that you read and interacted with the text. Quality is better than quantity, but as far as quantity, try to average something -- a combination of underling and commentary -- at least every couple pages.Sample Rubric:A: Quantity is frequent. A variety of literary device identification, analysis, quote underlining, connections and judgments are present. Annotations evince a clear interaction with the text and deep thinking. Foster would be proud B: Quantity is sufficient with a combination of underlining and commentary about every other page. Some deep thought, analysis, and interaction is obvious. A combination of device and pattern identification, quote underlining, connections, and analysis is present, but a category or two may be sparse in sections.C: Sufficient and average: a comment or underline on every other page. Some analysis, literary devices, quote underlining, and connections are present. Some thought and interaction is present. Annotations may be too heavy in one category such as personal connections or device identification while others are sparse.D: Sparse enough to call into question if some sections were read or whether the reading was really understood by the student. Annotations may depend on personal connections or device identification at the expense of analytical thought. Annotations may depend too heavily on underlining with little commentary or vice versa.F: Incomplete or questionable: If you annotate 100 out of 200 pages, well, that’s 50%. It might look like you underlined random lines (and crooked, no less) or copied commentary directly from Sparknotes. When I ask you about said comment or underline, you don’t have an answer. Maybe you just wrote a summary at the end of each chapter without actually reading the chapter. Even worse, maybe you just cut-and-pasted (literally, like, with paper and glue stick) from Schmoop. Maybe the vast majority is emojis and acronyms like OMG and LOL. Yes, these have all happened ................
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