My Experience With Annotations
My annotation process has always been pretty simple: use a pen to underline and then make a little note for why I underlined. I found that working in the book always felt the most natural to me. I would often also keep track of characters in the front cover on a blank page with a quick note on their relation to the main character. This always worked well for me but was very time consuming. I am a slow reader and I have awful handwriting, so slowing down even more to stop and write something legible makes reading an even slower process for me.
This quarter I am trying something a little new with my annotations. I will continue to use a pen in the book to underline and makes notes. However, when it came time to write a report or paper on any given book, my thoughts are always so spread out that looking for the right quote or idea in my book can be tedious. That is why this year I am using a google doc to organize my ideas as I read in order to make my later analysis less strenuous. I have a table of every character, the page they are introduced and some notes about them, a section for themes and page numbers connected to evidence of those themes, and finally just general notes or things that I am thinking. It feels like extra work now but I know that it will help me in the long run.
Overall, I think that reading is going to be really hard for me. It normally takes a long time for me anyway but with the amount of books we are reading, the annotations, and the added google doc for notes I'm going to really be pushing myself this quarter. English has never been my strongest class which is why I will have to work even harder to keep up.
Hey Griffin! I am a really slow reader as well and annotations have always seemed super tedious to me too. However, I really like your idea of a google doc to help organize ideas. That will definitely help you out in the run during essays and book reflections. I think it's really helpful you know English isn't your strong suit and are previously aware it's going to be a lot more work. This way you can go in with the right mindset and devote more time to the class.
ReplyDeleteHey Griffin, I'm also a pretty slow reader and don't have the best handwriting. It's never been natural for me to annotate a book either. It can be frustrating how much time annotating adds on, especially if you're a slow reader too. I think your idea is smart to create a google doc to organize all of your thoughts. One thing I've struggled with in the past is finding one of my important annotations in a book. With your idea, all your work will be in one place and all you need to do is click ctrl+F to find something.
ReplyDeleteI also really like the google doc idea--I think it's helpful to have a "scratch" space to work out what your annotations are helping you to see or think about.
ReplyDeleteHi Griffin, I completely get where you are coming from with all of your thoughts on this. I do the same thing with the google doc, and I really like the way you organized yours. One tip I have for the process of finding quotes--if you can get an online version of the text (often times you could even find a PDF for free), then command+F is a great way to search for a quote or even to browse potential quotes for a theme. As James pointed out, it is also a useful tool when returning to the google doc.
ReplyDelete