When I go to annotate a reading that is assigned, I use a pen and a highlighter. As I read, I do different things to help me annotate. Susan Gilroy mentions in her article “Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard,” it is a good technique to write in the margins with things that you didn’t understand, things you thought were important, text to text connections, and ideas you have about the reading. I try to do all of these things when annotating. One thing I have tried to focus on the most is text to text and text to self connections. This is a new skill I developed in this class and I have found it to be very helpful. When I am searching for a connection, I find that I understand the content more because I’m really focusing on what the author is saying. I also write in the margins things that I don’t understand or think make sense. When I find something like this, I ask a question in the margins. This helps me because I often find that if I question something in the reading, I find the answer to it later in the text. Questions also help me develop an opinion on the piece. This is far beyond what I originally did in one of my first annotations of “In Praise of the F Word.” In that, I had a few things underlined and a couple things highlighted with little to no comments. My informal writing evidence comes from a post I made before I started this project. After learning a bit about the subject, I made an opinion about the topic. After reading the source that I annotated, I ended up changing my view.
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