Annotating Nonfiction Texts
What is annotating?
Annotating is taking notes and making comments on the text to deepen your understanding and
comprehension of the piece. It helps the reader to examine how the text is written and what the text is
saying,
WHAT TO ANNOTATE:
MARK:
Central idea: How do the central ideas of the paragraphs develop
a larger, implied central idea? What does the author want me to
take away from the entire text?
Main idea of each paragraph: What topic is discussed in each
specific paragraph? What is the paragraph about?
Unknown word(s) or phrase(s): What content-specific vocabulary
appears in the text? What words do I not know?
Statements that challenged, changed, or confirmed what I
already know:
Supporting details: What information does the author give us to
support the central idea?
Text-to-self connection: What happened in the text that made me
think of a personal experience?
Text-to-world connection: What happened in the text that made
me think of a current event that’s occurring in the world?
New learning: What is something that I learned that I haven’t
heard of or didn’t know before completing the text?
Comments and thoughts: Pushing your thinking and answering
the questions from above.
When should I use this strategy?
When you are reading a piece of nonfiction, annotations are helpful to make sure that you are staying
engaged with the text and that you are thinking deeply about what you have read.
What are examples of non-fiction writing that this type of annotating can be used for?
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