Bunn, Mike. “How to Read Like a Writer.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2, 2011.  https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/writingspaces2/bunn–how-to-read.pdf

This week or weekend, read Mike Bunn’s article linked above and try your hand at “annotating” the text. Annotation is an important element of college reading and writing skills that you will continue to develop throughout your college career.Annotation basically means taking notes or making comments on the text that you can come back to when you are reading it again. In other words, you are interacting with the text. As a college student, you should get into the habit of reading assigned texts more than once.

Why annotate or take notes on a text? When you annotate an article or a textbook chapter (many of you will have textbooks), annotation skills serve to help you read more closely, analyze what the text is saying, and importantly, put the information you are absorbing into a manageable form that you will remember.

Here is some more guidance for the skill of annotation:

As you annotate, focus on some or all of the following:

  • Look up and write down definitions of unfamiliar words.
  • Underline what you think are the most important, interesting, or difficult concepts.
  • Note the writer’s tone–sarcastic, sincere, witty, shrill.
  • Look out for the writer’s biases and unstated assumptions (and your own).
  • Ask questions and note your own reactions and insights.
  • Make connections with other texts you have read or your own experiences.

You can see an example of an annotated text here. The annotations in this model reflect a range of ways of responding to and engaging with a text: noting questions, arguing, agreeing, reflecting, speculating, and making connections.

Because annotating is a deeply personal experience, your own annotations to any text will likely differ.

Source:https://bacwritingfellows.commons.gc.cuny.edu/for-students/critical-reading-exercise-annotating-a-text/

As you read for this class, we will focus on the basic elements of text. Here is one way to try to annotate a pdf, using colored highlighting. This will vary, based on what software and computer you have.

  • Who is the author?
  • What is the title of the work? What is your response to the title?
  • What is his/her/their thesis? What is the author trying to say? (I also use this color for supporting ideas)
  • As you go on, you will look at how the author expresses the thesis? This relates to the tone of the article and the use of examples.
  • What concepts or definitions are presented? Do you need to look them up or become familiar with specific words?
  • What is your response to what the author is saying? What connections do you have with this article?

Bunn’s article will be discussed in Tuesday’s video lecture! Take notes for this session, but you are not turning in your notes.