Annotating a text means that you talk with the text by
working through strategies to help to understand it
better.
You make notes on the article and work through
unknown words and questions, as well as make
comments.
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* Circle unfamiliar words (then define them)
* Acknowledge the confusion
* Talk with text
* Comments
* Predictions
* Observations
* Connections
* Reactions
* Capture the main idea
* Highlight important details
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Purpose: What is the author’s argument/claim? What is the
focus? Is the author writing to entertain you? Inform you of
about something? Persuade you to action? Convince you to
feel to think or feel a certain way? Does he/she wish to
contrast ideas? Be specific, and point to concrete examples
(use evidence/quotes from the text).
Audience: Explain the author’s projected audience. Are they
friendly or hostile? Are they associated with a particular
interest group? Of a particular age? Gender? Social class?
Support your choices with examples and/or explanations.
Speaker: Describe who is speaking in the text. For
informational texts, the speaker is usually the author. For
nonfiction, the speaker is a character. Who is the speaker
here? What do you know about him/her? Use textual
evidence/quotes to support your claim.
Tone: What words does the author use to show the speaker’s
attitude? What tone does the author take towards the
subject? Toward the audience? How does the author deliver
the message?
Organization: What organization method does the author
use, and how does this organization enhance the
development of the author’s claim?
Rhetoric: How does the author construct his/her sentences?
How can you classify the author’s word choice? How do
these elements affect the author’s claim?
Imagery: What are the primary images in the text? What
about figurative language (metaphors, similes, repetition,
allusion, alliteration, personification, vivid descriptions)?
What ideas do they tend to represent? How do these images
enhance the author’s purpose and claim?
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FATT sentence
(Focus, Author, Title, text type)
In the ____________________, “__________________________” by
(text type)
(Title)
_____________________________, he/she ______________________
(Author)
(Focus)
____________________________________________________________.
**Strong verbs: expresses, discusses, states, disputes, persuades,
suggests, advocates, challenges, focuses, supports, presents,
emphasizes, provides, argues, claims, attacks, reflects, comments,
describes, distinguishes, reveals, implies, refers, displays