Want To Read Great?.... Annotate!!!!

When Assigned to Read a Book for Class Do You.....

Struggle to find the main idea in the story?

Have trouble identifying vocabulary?

Often have trouble organizing the important information from the details of a text?

Have trouble identifying the genre or main themes of the novel

Struggle to write an essay on that specific text for class?

Struggle with connecting passages of the text to your real life?


If you answered yes to any of the following questions above then annotating maybe an excellent tool for you to use when reading any piece of literature.

Growing up with a learning disability I always struggled with reading comprehension particularly finding the main idea of a story and also writing papers on particular texts. If it wasn't for my 8th grade teacher who introduced me to annotating I probably would still struggle with reading comprehension today.

Everyone has different ways that they like to annotate. Over the years I have come up with my own process which I have listed below.


Cheryl's Annotating Guide

Materials: Post-it notes (small square kind, 3-4 different colors maximum), a highlighter, a pen or pencil

1. Annotate (write) characters, setting, plot, throughout the text - first post-it color

2. Annotate (write) themes that the author uses throughout the text-  second color post-it

3. Annotate (write) passages that seem to connect to your life- third  color post-it

4. annotate (write) questions that come to mind while reading the story/ also annotate (write) new vocabulary that you are unfamiliar with - fourth post-it color

* in total you should have four different colors of post-it notes throughout your text that you are reading. The highlighter is optional, but remember you need to write down information on the post-it and then bookmark that page of the text.

After reading my annotating method above, I'm sure you think this is probably time consuming, but if you follow all of these steps annotating is really useful. This will make you a better critical reader and responder to any piece of literature.

So, feel free if you are a person that struggles with reading like myself to try this approach out. In addition, below I have also added a few  articles that I found online about annotating.

CollegeBoard: Annotating Vs. Note-Taking

Colorado State article about annotating

Buck's County Community College Guide To Annotating

Happy Reading!