Annotating Essays and Texts
Comp 2/ Seaber
Annotation simply means commentary. In other words, when you annotate a text, you
comment on it.
To do so, you respond to the text. For instance, say you read a passage about justice that
speaks to you in a particular way. You might write your response like this:
Paragraph 2, page 137: I totally identify with Smith's concept of the hazards of dualistic
thinking. How many times have I heard someone reduce a complex issue to a simplistic
matter of black and white when, in fact, there are many shades of grey? Why don't
people see the grey? How would they feel if they were so harshly judged? I'm reminded
of the story of "Les Miserables," in which a man is hunted and imprisoned his entire life
because he stole a loaf of bread for his hungry, impoverished family. Yes, stealing is
wrong. But, was this man a thief in the truest sense of the word? Who wouldn't steal a
loaf of bread rather than watch his family starve? Stories like this one demonstrate that
the world cannot be reduced to right and wrong. It's just not always that simple.
Note that this response is a reaction. It's not a detailed analysis. It's not necessarily exact
or correct. Rather, it's a form of free writing that allows one to place his/her initial
reactions on paper and allows one to examine ideas and develop insights. These ideas
and insights may not come immediately. But, the seed has been planted. The mind will
continue to work on the concepts of the text because the text has been reflected upon.
Next thing you know, you're having an "ah-ha" experience, as in, "Ah-ha! Now I know
what he was talking about!" or "Ah-ha, now I know his argument was wrong, and here's
why . . ."
You can annotate to respond, as in the example above. However, you can also annotate in
order to discern a writer's methods or logic. For example, you're reading a cause/effect
essay and you read that the events of 9/11 are no more horrible than any other act of war,
specifically from those of the war in Afghanistan. Here's what your annotation might
look like:
Paragraph 1, Page 243: The author uses compare/contrast to support his position that
terrorists are soldiers carrying out a tactic of war.
As you can see, annotating is a simple project, and it helps you learn more about a text
than merely reading it would. Annotating forces you to dig in and reflect about what the
author is saying.
***********(SEE THE NEXT PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS)**************
INSTRUCTIONS: You may respond, discern methods or logic, or both. Open a file
in Word, list the paragraph1 and page number of the portion of the text you are
annotating, and write your reflections after the page number. That's it!
1
Be consistent with the manner in which you label paragraphs. If, for example, the paragraph is the 1st
paragraph on a page after a half paragraph at the top of the page, be sure each 1st paragraph you annotate is
marked "1st full paragraph." IF, however, you choose to count paragraphs as they appear on the page,
complete or not, list the half paragraph at the top as "paragraph 1" and do so likewise throughout the
annotation process.