HOW TO ANNOTATE [for english + literature classes]
below are my own tips and tricks on how to annotate text (fiction, literature, poetry, etc. not textbooks or non-fiction) (all links and resources are at the bottom of this post) enjoy :)
1. If you are given your own personal copy of a poem or novel for your class, it’s easiest to annotate on that copy as you read.
2. If your book is a class copy you’re borrowing, you might be able to get away with lightly annotating in pencil and going back to erase it after you’ve written your annotations on separate notes.
3. You can also write on sticky notes and attach them to the pages where they are relevant.
4. If none of these appeal to you, scribble everything you make note of as you read and write out neater notes after.
Since I usually have to borrow copies of novels for my English class, I have two steps of annotating; I first read and scribble down everything that comes to mind. Then I’ll write out a more structured copy of my annotations.
This doesn’t apply to everyone, but since my teacher likes to have class discussions about the book/poem, I also leave a section in my notes for writing things talked about in these discussions.
My English teacher taught me this trick and I always use it when annotating. TICS stands for the T’s, I’s, C’s and S’s of literary devices:
Tone - looking for clues in the speaker and general mood of the story/poem.
Title - not always necessary, but sometimes chapter titles or the main title of a poem/novel are ambiguous or relate to the theme.
Imagery - metaphors, similes, personification, etc.
Irony - kind of like title, it’s not always necessary but it’s still a good idea to look out for it.
Connotation - a meaning of a word that isn’t a literal definition but is implied or relates to it. for example the word mother implies love, kindness, childhood, etc.
Contrast - this is one of the main things to look out for and it can be applied to characters, setting, symbols, etc.
Character - another huge category to look out for; you can write down anything relating to character development, symbolism, conflict, etc.
Conflict - internal conflicts vs external conflict. usually more relevant in literature but can be applied to poetry.
Symbolism - for most, symbolism is the easiest to pick out and it ties in with theme and imagery.
Setting - another main topic. you can take note of symbolism, contrast, irony and imagery in the setting.
Syntax - the same thing as sentence fluency, usually more relevant in poetry but can be applied to literature.
Structure - how a novel or poem is structured by lines, paragraphs, chapters, beginning middle end, etc.
I like to summarize each chapter of a novel on a large pad of to-do list sticky notes. This way it’s brief, it allows me to focus on the most important events, and I can keep it posted on my notes sheets from each chapter.
I love using a colour system to add to my notes. The T’s, I’s, C’s and S’s in “TICS” are all coded a different colour, but you can decide on any colour scheme you want.
Most poems and novels have a downloadable PDF online. I always keep a PDF copy of the piece I’m annotating on my laptop so I can look up key phrases and words.
If you have a Mac, whenever you open a PDF there’s a little search bar in the top right corner where you can type in key words or phrases and it will give you the pages they are on. I like to do this when I need to expand on a certain symbol or motif and I need some quotes related to it.
You can also email PDF files to your iPhone, iPad, etc. and open it in iBooks. You can actually annotate any text/book in iBooks by highlighting with different colours and writing small notes about the book.
I LOVE this video on how to annotate by @studyign on studytube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muZcJXlfCWs
How to Annotate 3 Ways: http://a-vce-blog.tumblr.com/post/135418517521/3-ways-to-annotate-your-english-text
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