Understand how to Annotate an Article through this tutorial. Learn efficient strategies for effective annotation using online tools, etc:
Whether you are a student or a professional, knowing how to annotate will surely be a valuable tool in your repertoire. Annotation is an active learning strategy that will help you get the most out of any text in terms of both comprehension and retention.
Learning how to annotate will give you a way to better engage with various types of complex reading material, such as articles, essays, literary texts, research papers. But what does ‘annotate’ mean, and how do you do it?
Read this tutorial to find out what annotation is, why it is useful, and how to annotate an article or a bibliography. We’ve also added some useful strategies for effective annotation.
Table of Contents:
How To Annotate An Article
What Does ‘Annotate’ Mean
To ‘annotate’ is, simply, to ‘add notes’. These could be comments, explanations, criticisms, or questions pertaining to whatever text you’re reading.
To annotate a text, you generally highlight or underline important pieces of information and make notes in the margin. You can annotate different texts.
As a student, you can annotate articles, essays, or even textbooks. Research students who compile and reference a long list of sources for their thesis will find it useful to know how to annotate a bibliography.
As a professional, knowing how to annotate will help you easily comprehend and retain any important information from reports or other official documents that you might have to read in the course of your work.
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Why Is Annotation Useful
A well-annotated text can give you a better understanding of complex information. There are several reasons you should annotate a text.
Few of them are enlisted below:
- Annotating an article lets you become familiar with the location and organization of its content. Thus, it becomes easier and faster to find important information when reviewing.
- When you annotate a text, you clearly identify and distinguish the key points from the supporting details or evidence, which makes it easier to follow the development of ideas and arguments.
- You can also use annotations to build an organized knowledge base, by structuring or categorizing information in an easy-to-access way. Annotating is particularly handy when you need to extract important information, such as relevant quotes or statistics.
- Annotating is an excellent way of actively engaging with a text, by adding your own comments, observations, opinions, questions, associations, or any other reactions you have as you read the text.
- Annotations are especially useful when you need to work on a shared document. You can use annotations to draw your team’s attention towards certain important or interesting information, or even to initiate group discussions on a particular concept, problem, or question.
How Do You Annotate
Annotating a text involves a ‘close reading’ of it. In this section, you will find some examples of annotated texts.
Example of an annotated article: Does ‘‘Science’’ Make You Moral?
Example of an annotated literary text: Annotations on a poem – The Road Not Taken
Follow these key steps when annotating any text:
Step 1: Scan
This is really a pre-reading technique.
- At first glance, make a note of the title of the text, and subheadings, if any, to identify the topic of the text.
- Analyze the source, i.e. the author or the publisher, to evaluate its reliability and usefulness.
- Look for an abstract if there is one, as well as any bold or italicized words and phrases, which might offer further clues about the text’s purpose and intended audience.
Step 2: Skim
Use this first read-through to quickly find the focus of the text, i.e. its main idea or argument. Do this by reading just the first few lines of each paragraph.
- Identify and highlight/underline the main idea.
- Write a summary (only a sentence or two) of the topic in your own words, in the margins, or up top near the title.
Step 3: Read
The second read-through of the text is a slower, more thorough reading. Now that you know what the text is about, as well as what information you can expect to encounter, you can read it more deliberately, and pay attention to details that are important and/or interesting.
- Identify and highlight/underline the supporting points or arguments in the body paragraphs, including relevant evidence or examples.
- Paraphrase and summarize key information in the margins.
- Make a note of any unfamiliar or technical vocabulary.
- Note down questions that come to your mind as you read, any confusion, or your agreement or disagreement with ideas in the text.
- Make personal notes – write your opinion, your thoughts, and reactions to the information in the text.
- Draw connections between different ideas, either within the text itself, or to ideas in other texts, or discussions.
Step 4: Outline
To really solidify your understanding of the content and organization of the text, write an outline tracking the points at which new ideas are introduced, as well as the points where these ideas are developed.
An effective outline will include:
- A summary of the text’s main idea.
- Supporting arguments/evidence.
- Opposing viewpoints (if relevant)
- Conclusion
What Is An Annotated Bibliography
A Bibliography is a list of the books (or other texts) referred to, or cited, in academic texts such as essays, thesis, and research papers, and is usually included at the end of the text. It is also known as a Reference List, or a List of Works Cited, depending on the style of formatting.
The APA (American Psychological Association) and MLA (Modern Language Association) styles of formatting are most commonly used. The format may vary depending on the institution or publication, however, the same basic information is required for each individual reference or citation in a bibliography.
This includes:
- Author’s name
- Title of the text
- Date of publication
- Source of publication i.e. the journal, magazine, or website where the text is published
An Annotated Bibliography contains, in addition to the basic information above, a descriptive summary, as well as and an evaluation of each individual entry. The purpose of this is to inform the reader about the relevance, accuracy, and reliability of each reference or citation.
An annotated bibliography is titled ‘Annotated Reference List’ or ‘Annotated List of Works Cited’, which can be listed alphabetically by author, title, date of publication, or even by subject.
Let us see an example of an entry in an annotated bibliography, formatted in both the APA and MLA styles.
Example of an APA-style annotated bibliography:
Example of an MLA-style annotated bibliography:
Strategies For Annotation
Depending on whether you are reading printed or online text, you can either annotate by hand, using stationery and/or symbols or by using document programs.
The following strategies will help you annotate as you read:
#1) Using A Key/Legend
Create a key or legend for annotating your text with different types of markings and specify what kind of information each marking indicates. This will help to easily identify and access relevant pieces of content.
For example, you can underline key points, highlight quotes or statistics, and circle unfamiliar words/phrases. You can also use punctuation – question marks for things that spark your curiosity as you read; exclamation points for something that catches your attention, or maybe surprises you; arrows that link the content to other points or ideas within the text, or outside of it.
#2) Using Stationery
Pens and markers are most commonly used to highlight or underline key points in the text. These are, however, the least active ways of engaging with any text, and you might end up highlighting or underlining more of the text than is necessary.
It also isn’t always possible to use pens and markers on printed text. You might have to return the book or magazine to the library. For example, you can always use post-its in such cases.
If you are using markers and/or post-its, use different colors for different types of annotations in the text. For example, use green for definitions and explanations, yellow for questions, and pink for personal notes.
#3) Using Online Tools
Once you know how to annotate a text, you can do this online too! There are different mobile apps and online softwares that can help you annotate digital documents such as PDFs, online articles, and web pages.
Digital annotation tools allow you to mark up online text by adding notes and comments, highlighting key information, and capturing screenshots. They also let you perform various other tasks, including draw on, bookmark, and share webpages. They are particularly useful when you need to work on shared documents with a team.
Here is a list of the most commonly used digital annotation tools:
Some of these digital annotation tools are free, such as Diigo and A.nnotate, while others like Filestage and Cronycle are paid tools. You can also download extensions that will allow you to annotate webpages, such as hypothes.is, which is a free browser extension, or Grackle, an add-on tool for Google Docs.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q #1) How do you annotate step by step?
Answer: Here is how to annotate an article in three simple steps:
- First, before reading the article in full, look for some basic important information such as the title and author, subheadings if relevant. This will give you an idea as to the topic and intended audience of the article.
- Second, skim through the article to identify the main idea, along with supporting arguments or evidence.
- Third, read the article thoroughly while noting down more details such as comments, questions, and your personal responses to the article.
Q #2) What are the benefits of annotation?
Answer:
- If you know how to annotate a text, you can actively engage with, and make sense of, the information presented in any text.
- Annotation familiarizes you with the organization of information, so you can follow the development of ideas in the text.
- Knowing how to annotate an article of text is helpful when you review, as you can access relevant pieces of information more easily and quickly.
- Annotating also makes it easier and more efficient to work with others on shared documents.
Q #3) What are 5 different ways to annotate?
Answer: There are many ways to annotate a text or article. Such as:
- Highlight and/or underline important information.
- Paraphrase and/or summarize key points.
- Make notes in the margin.
- Write an outline of the text.
- Use online tools to annotate web pages, online articles, and PDFs.
Q #4) What are some annotation strategies?
Answer: You can get the most out of annotating a text by adding a key or legend, which uses different markings for different types of information. You can also use pens, markers, and post-its effectively by assigning different colors to different purposes.
If you are working with online documents, you can use digital annotation softwares such as Diigo and A.nnotate, or free extensions/add-ons like hypothes.is or Grackle.
Q #5) What should you look for while annotating?
Answer: When annotating any text, look for and make note of the following:
- Key points i.e. the main or important ideas.
- Questions that occur to you as you read.
- Recurring themes or symbols.
- Quotes or statistics.
- Unfamiliar and technical concepts or terminology.
- Links to ideas in texts or related to experiences.
Conclusion
There are several benefits to learning how to annotate an article as you read. The more you practice, the more effective you will become at annotation, which will improve how easily and quickly you can make sense of texts that you read.
To sum up, in order to annotate a text:
- Read the text once to gain an insight into the topic of the article, marking only essential information, such as the focus of the text and the main idea, based on the title and subheadings.
- Read the text again, highlighting or underlining as you read, to identify and summarize relevant information, such as supporting arguments or evidence.
- Make notes, add comments and questions, including personal responses to the text.