Reading, Highlighting, Annotating,
and Responding:
Everything you need to complete the Article
of the Week/BiWeekly Article assignments.
Strategies for higher understanding of fiction
and non-fiction texts.
Mrs. Barbara Tollison
WSI, E9 College Prep
San Marcos High School
Overviewing
– When
you read nonfiction, use overviewing, a
form of skimming and scanning the text before
reading. Focus on the following to overview
the text:





Activating prior knowledge
Noting characteristics of text length and structure
Noting important headings and subheadings
Determining what to read and in what order
Determining what to pay careful attention to
Class Activity: Overviewing
• Take two or three minutes to overview the
article I have given you. Check off the
overviewing techniques as you look it over,
thinking about what is important. Write
your top three at the top of your page.
• When I say to, turn to your partner and tell
him or her the three most important things
about this article. Then listen to and write
down your partner’s three if they are
different from your own.
Highlighting
To effectively highlight text, readers need to:
 read the text,
 think about it
 make conscious decisions about what you need to
remember and learn.
You can’t possibly remember everything. You need to sort
important information from less important details. You need
to pick out the main ideas and notice supporting details, and
you need to let go of unimportant information.
Highlighting
• The following guidelines can be used for highlighting:
 Look carefully at the first and last line of each paragraph.
Important information is often contained there.
 Highlight only necessary words and phrases, not entire
sentences.
 Don’t get thrown off by interesting details. Although they
are fascinating, they often obscure important
information.
 Make notes in the margin to emphasize a pertinent
highlighted word or phrase.
Highlighting
 Note cue words. They are almost always followed by
important information.
 Pay attention to the vast array of nonfiction features that
signal importance.
 Pay attention to surprising information. It might mean you
are learning something new.
 When finished, check to see that no more than half the
paragraph is highlighted. As readers become more adept,
one-third of the paragraph is a good measure for
highlighting.
Clues to tell you what is important:
 When a word is italicized, a paragraph begins with a
boldface heading, or the text says “Most important, …”
readers need to stop and take notice.
 Titles headings, framed text, and captions help focus
readers as they sort important information from less
important details.
 A photograph and caption sometimes synthesize the most
important information on the page, rendering a complete
reading of the text unnecessary.
Clues to tell you what is important:
 Illustrations and photographs Illustrations play a
prominent role in nonfiction to enhance reading
comprehension. Nonfiction trade books and magazines
brim with colorful photographs that capture readers and
carry them deeper into meaning.
 Graphics Diagrams, cut-aways, cross-sections, overlays,
distribution maps, word bubbles, tables, graphs, and charts
graphically inform nonfiction readers of important
information.
 Text organizers like the index, preface, table of contents,
glossary, and appendix.
Clues to tell you what is important:
Nonfiction features are user-friendly. The following
features are just some to pay close attention to:
 Fonts and effects such as titles, headings, boldface print,
color print, italics, bullets, captions, and labels, signal
importance in text.
 Cue words and phrases Nonfiction writing often includes
text cues that signal importance. Signal words, like stop
signs, warn readers to halt and pay attention Writers choose
phrases such as for examples, for instance, in fact, in
conclusion, most important, but, therefore, on the other
hand, and such as so that readers will take note.
Class Activity: Highlighting
• On your own: carefully read the entire
article that I have given you. As you read,
think about text clues that tell you what
parts of the article are important. Highlight
some of the most important ideas in each
paragraph.
Class Activity: Highlighting
1. With a partner: trade your highlighter
with a person sitting near you who has
a highlighter of a different color.
2. Talking to your partner, have him or
her tell you what he or she highlighted.
3. In his or her marker, highlight what he
or she highlighted on your paper in the
new color (unless you already had that
highlighted).
Metacognitive Markers
MI
IV
??
Main Idea—What is the
essential argument of the
piece? What is it the
writer/speaker is saying? There
should only be one MI. At the
end of the text, summarize the
MI in your own words.
Important Vocab—These are
words that are pertinent to the
topic. You might also label
words of which you do not
previously know the meaning.
Define these words in the
margins.
I have a question—Are you
confused by something? Does
the text leave you questioning?
Do you need more explanation?
Label the parts of the text that
you need to discuss further.
KD
RW
!!
Key Details—These are pieces of
evidence given in the text that
support the main idea. Facts,
statistics, quotes from an
authority on the subject, etc. In
the margins, discuss how this KD
supports the MI.
Repeated Words/Ideas—These
are ideas/words that show up
over and over. In the margins,
discuss why these repeated
words are important to this
piece.
I am intrigued—Did something
strike you as interesting? Did you
have an “ah-ha” moment? Did
something surprise you? Label
parts of the text that you found
intriguing.
Annotation: Taking Notes on What
You Read
 You should know that highlighting and underlining alone is
not annotation! Knowing that a passage is important is not
the same as knowing WHY it is important
 Annotating takes a long time. This will make you a slower
reader, but a more conscientious one, and ultimately, a
more sophisticated one. Ideally, you should evolve to the
point that it is actually a little awkward for you to read
without annotating!
Annotation: Taking Notes on What
You Read
 A question I’m often asked by students is, “How much
annotating is enough?” This, to an English teacher, is like
asking how long an essay needs to be. My answer is going
to be the same, and sadly, just as vague and irritating: as
much/as long as it needs to be. Admittedly, I’m most
impressed by copious annotations in a text. But I am also
interested in the quality, thought, and sophistication behind
your annotations.
 Also, you should know that I actually read your annotations,
and your penmanship is quite important. If I can’t read what
you write (and I’m pretty forgiving when it comes to
handwriting) I get cranky.
Summarize/Paraphrase
 This seems basic, but can actually be really helpful when
you are going back through a text to remember and locate
where something happened (like when you are writing an
essay, for example). Jot down in the margins key words
or phrases that simply summarize/paraphrase what just
happened.
 For those of you who are mathematically inclined, this type
of annotation should make up only about 20% of your total
annotating of a text. Summarizing and paraphrasing
should not dominate your notes; rather, they should
function to help you orient yourself as to the basic action of
the plot.
Personal Reactions and Questions
• Don’t underestimate the importance of this type of
engagement with a text. If something you read strikes
you as funny, intense, confusing, enlightening, etc. feel
free to honor those reactions and record them in the
margins! Not only is this perfectly acceptable, but it
indicates that you are paying attention, engaging with the
text, and internalizing what you read.
• If you have a specific question about what you are
reading, write that question down. Research it on your
own or ask your teacher in class the next day.
Personal Reactions and Questions
o If what you read reminds you of something else, whether
that be another text you’ve read, a movie you saw,
something you heard once, a person you know, a personal
situation, a memory, etc. honor that connection and record
your reaction. This is just further evidence of your
internalization of the text.
o Furthermore, connecting, comparing, contrasting texts is
an important skill, and one that will be valuable to you in
college, where your professors expect you to be able to do
this and draw from your previous experience and
knowledge.
Specific Notes on Non-Fiction
– How does the writer present the argument and prove it?
– Think about the writer’s argument and tone and how these
are achieved.
– Analyze the diction (word choice) and syntax (word order)
used to express point of view.
– Look at sentence structure.
– Consider the writer’s purpose: to explain, to persuade, to
describe, to entertain, to editorialize, etc and how he or she
achieves this.
– Define any unknown terms.
– Be aware of rhetorical devices and examine their
effectiveness.
– Also, consider any logical fallacies (bad logic or wrong
thinking) in the author’s arguments. Be aware of and record
your personal reactions and questions.
Preparing to Write the Response
1. Look through at what you highlighted and
annotated. Underline two sentences,
quotations, or ideas that you think are the
most interesting parts of the article.
2. These will be your two quotations from
the article. When you write your
response, you will put these two ideas
into quotation marks and make a
parenthetical citation for each of them.
The writing assignment EVERY
TIME:
• On a sheet of notebook paper or on a
computer, write a three-paragraph
response to the article that includes
correct citations, at least two quotes from
the article, and your opinions on the topic
being discussed. There are excellent
examples of how to do this posted on the
moodle site if you want to see how to do
this.
Your paper should look like:
Barbara Tollison
WSI E9 Period 1
August 24, 2012
Biweekly Article 1
Bibliographical Citation: Golodryga, Bianna, and Meredith Frost. "Bullied
Teen Who Got Facial Plastic Surgery Ready to Forgive Tormentors,
But Won't Forget - ABC News." ABCNews.com - Breaking News,
Latest News & Top Video News - ABC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Aug.
2012. <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/bullied-teen-facial-plasticsurgery-ready-forgivetormentors/story?id=17002192&page=2http://>.
Begin your essay here_____________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_________________________.
_______________________________________________________
_______________________ (Golodryga and Frost).
________________________
____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________.______________
_____________. __________________________________________. ___
________________________ (Golodryga and Frost). ________________
____________________________________________. _______________
____________________________________________________________
The first paragraph includes:
Include in your three-paragraph response:
1. The genre, author and title (usually in
the first or second sentence)
Example: In the ABCNews.com article titled
"Bullied Teen Who Got Facial Plastic
Surgery Ready to Forgive Tormentors, But
Won't Forget” writers Meredith Frost and
Bianna Golodryga report on a teenage girl
who underwent plastic surgery in order to
change her facial features and stop other
students from bullying her.
The first paragraph continues:
• A brief (two or three sentences; this is not
a summary assignment!) explanation of
the main points of the article or column.
Tell the facts that are mentioned and the
writer’s opinions stated about the facts.
• Write two or three sentences about your
initial thoughts and reactions to the
article’s topic.
The Second Paragraph:
• At least two quotations (a quotation is anything written in
the article – it is not always someone being quoted in the
article) from the article that shows a fact or opinion that
you will comment on. For each quotation you use, you
will write two or three sentence discussing what it means
to you and your opinions about it.
• Example: The suffering that Nadia faced daily in school
is especially notable in that she states, "[The bullies] are
the ones who pressured me into getting the
surgery,"(ABCNews.com). It is sad that any person could
be treated so badly that she felt she had to change
herself so much. Surgeries are not always safe, and she
should not have had to make a life-changing decision
based on how others were treating her.
The Third (and final) Paragraph
Some examples from things you have observed in your life, in the
lives of people you know, or in the news that relate to this
topic. Give your opinions about the problems discussed in the
article, solutions that might have been suggested by the
author, or solutions that you think would work.
Example: This story really struck me as unfair. While I am glad
that Nadia was able to make herself look better, I think it is
terrible that she had to make such an important health decision
based on bad treatment by other kids. I have seen girls and
boys who are bullied because of how they look or dress or act,
and I have also been bullied myself. I would probably have
done the same thing as Nadia did if I was in her position, but I
still wish she didn’t have to do it. We should all think more
about the effect of mean words and be more careful of what we
say to others.