always_diligent

I have to read "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" for AP LIT., and I have to annotate it. I was not taught the proper way, so i was wondering if anyone knows. Please help summer's almost over

p.s. I'm new to this, so i apologize if i posted this in the wrong section.

what.cd

Google is your friend.

KidNovelist

I wasn't taught either but from the meaning of the word annotate and I've read some annotated books. I suppose you just have to make notes or comments on some topics that are referred in that book.

I've never read that book but I suppose one can annotate if there's a line "Symbolism is a key element in literature. It suggests to the readers an obscure meaning that may reveal ideas or important issues to the author." Underline or Highlight that and add Ie. In the Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne wear a letter "A" standing for Adulteress and the first letter of illegitimate child's father, Arthur Dimmesdale. OR some another book you've read that included that piece of information.

LOL. I googled it and I found this www.palmyra.k12.nj.us - /summer09read/Professorassessment.pdf

always_diligent

thanks for your help.

what.cd

Yeah, it's from NJ anyway.

bicycle

You don't necessarily have to do what KidNovelist said. There isn't any outside "research" involved in annotating. All you really need to to is, as you read through the book, underline words/phrases/passages that strike you as important. If what you read reminds you of something (from earlier in the book or otherwise), write that down too. Since "How to Read Literature..." is non-fiction, this doesn't really apply, but generally you want to make note of themes etc.

The basic idea behind annotating is making it easy for you to go back later and easily find important parts or quotes/themes you might want to use in an essay. There's no formal way to do it, at least that I know of.

GammaGrozza

Your teacher wants you to annotate while reading a book probably discussing, among other things, how to annotate? lol.

Anyways, in this text, there will presumably be more important sections/lines than others (think quotable quotes that, alltogether, gives an ignorant a good idea of what the book is about). At these moments, you can star, highlight, take notes, bend the corner, etc.

What I do for fiction and nonfiction is underline kinda important stuff. I star what I think is important stuff (generally once every couple pages, with occasional high frequency starring in like hugely important sections). If a page has multiple stars, or if the star is uber important, I'll consider bending the page corner. Generally this happens every 15-20 pages or so. If I plan on reading a text twice, I'll reserve the second time for annotations, as that way I will not only have a better understanding of the general text (and thus what is more important) by my second read, but I will recognize finer details and also my first read will be cleanlier due to a lack of annotations.

arabrab

At our H.S. students are usually given a purpose for annotations. So, you might annotate for:
- characterization
- symbols
- motifs
- themes
- language (as in how the writer uses language)
- foreshadowing
- structure

In the case of a non-fiction book that is not a memoir, you might try annotating for themes.

Some teachers also look to see whether you've annotated vocabulary that you aren't likely to know, though sometimes they do that via a quiz.

You might also try sending the teacher a quick note by email to ask for what you should be annotating in the case of this particular book.

Lima

In fiction, annotating is when you make note of symbolism, alliteration, synecdoche, and other rhetorical devices in the text. The purpose of this is generally so you can make specific references during a formal critical discussion. Same goes for written rhetorical argument; you make note of the "tools" the author uses to prove his/her point. (This can be done in a number of ways--senior year I devised a complicated code system that involved ripping certain pages and writing letters in the corners of pages.)

But I'm not sure how you'd annotate a book that's neither fiction nor rhetoric...

comiclover

I can't believe people are googling for other people who need to do the googling. =/

GammaGrozza

@Lima: To jump in regarding your use of ellipses, I can't think of any semi-reputable nonfiction text where rhetoric isn't considered (at the least subliminally).

Like a book solely containing compiled google-image pictures? On first glance, one may think that the author of this uses no rhetorical tools. But, is there a theme (intentional or not) behind the pictures. Does the author have a bias towards selection? What is the author trying to accomplish overall with these specific pictures? Even if the pictures are selected at random, why does the author want this to be so?

Everything is an argument (which is also the name of the "textbook" for my AP language class).

Even here, I'm using rhetorical questions, a textual reference and AP class reference for ethos, and a logos appeal (hopefully) with my example. There is also probably some finer rhetoric I use that I'm not getting at.

I could be wrong here. But this "range of argument types" idea is what I was taught a couple years back (now I'm debasing my ethos so I don't sound like a know-it-all; a surprisingly common method in some nonfiction stuff I've read).

And why you would use a code for annotating? Annotating is complex and annoying enough already .

ds1018

One of the best guides to annotating: :: Resources for Writers ::

Also, read Francine Prose's Book, Reading Like A Writer Amazon.com: Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them (P.S.) (9780060777050): Francine Prose: Books

and finally,for examples, here are annotations of novels and short story collections Annotation Nation

srunni

I think this is what you're looking for…

bdmet2491

No I do not, but thank you for asking