When it comes to annotating I have developed my own style over the past couple over years. When I first receive a reading, I read the whole thing without marking up anything in order to understand the content better. Next I will read the paper again this time highlighting words I don’t know, identifying the main idea or thesis of each paragraph, and highlighting important facts. Early in the year we were asked to annotate the Dalai Lama essay. While annotating this essay I looked for places where there was text-to world connections. I also asked questions throughout reading this essay in places where I didn’t understand what the author was trying to say. Another thing that I looked for while annotating this essay was examples of logos, pathos, and ethos. Within any reading, this is one of the most important things to look for to be able to understand why the author is writing a paper. Annotating is one of the most important parts of English. To be able to understand an authors intention when writing, we have to learn how to draw conclusions of our own from the reading. Not only does the practice of annotating benefit us in English but also in other classes as well. After having this English class, I have used many of the things I’ve learned about annotating in many of my science courses at UNE. Specifically in my introduction to psychology class where taking notes and understanding what the reader is talking about or means in the book is an important part of understanding the content, I have annotated the text many times to benefit my learning. Before this class I knew what annotating was but I did not fully understand the great importance that it held. Now that we have had this practice I will be able to utilize this skill for the rest of my life in whatever situation I may encounter.
