How to Annotate A Text

Click on the following link to see the entire how to annotate lesson:How to Annotate a Text

 Annotation is a key component of close reading. Since we will annotate texts ( for the books you own only)  all year, you need to develop a system that works for you (within the following guidelines). Effective annotating is both economical and consistent. The techniques are almost limitless. Use any combination of the following:

• Make brief comments in the margins. Use any white space available – inside cover, random blank pages, etc.
• Make brief comments between or within lines of the text. Do not be afraid to mark within the test itself. In fact, you must.

•  Circle or put boxes, triangles, or clouds around words or phrases.
•  Use abbreviations or symbols – brackets, stars, exclamation points, question marks, numbers, etc.
• Connect words, phrases, ideas, circles, boxes, etc. with lines or arrows.
• Underline – CAUTION : Use this method sparingly. Underline only a few words. Always combine with another method such as comment. Never underline an entire passage. Doing so takes too much time and loses effectiveness. If you wish to mark an entire paragraph or passage, draw a line down the margin or use brackets.
• Highlight – use CAUTION – don’t highlight everything!
•  Create your own code.
• Use post-it notes ONLY if you have exhausted all available space (unlikely).

Close Reading. What should you annotate? Again, the possibilities are limitless. Keep in mind the reasons we annotate. Your annotations

must include comments. I want to see evidence of thinking.

• Have a conversation with the text. Talk back to it.
• Ask questions (essential to active reading).
• Comment on the actions or development of a character. Does the character change? Why? How? The result?
• Comment on lines / quotations you think are especially significant, powerful, or meaningful.
•  Express agreement or disagreement.
• Summarize key events. Make predictions.
• Connect ideas to each other or to other texts.
• Note if you experience an epiphany( aha I get it moment of understanding)
• Note anything you would like to discuss or do not understand.

Note how the author uses language. Note the significance if you can:

• effects of word choice (diction) or sentence structure or type (syntax)
•  point of view / effect
• repetition of words, phrases, actions, events, patterns
•  narrative pace / time / order of sequence of events
• irony
• contrasts / contradictions / juxtapositions / shifts
• allusions
• any other figure of speech or literary device
• reliability of narrator
• motifs or cluster ideas
• tone / mood
• imagery
• themes
• setting / historical period
• symbols

The most common complaint about annotating is that it slows down your reading. Yes, it does. That’s the point. If annotating as you read

annoys you, read a chapter, then go back and annotate. Reading a text a second time is preferable/essential anyway.

Draft Senior Project Schedule 2011-12 (subject to revision)

Draft Senior Project Schedule 2011-12 (subject to revision)

Friday except ***	Deliverable/Submission due date Please remember if you need help with Word, PowerPoint, Keynote, Imovie start attending LACER in Room 123
9/16	If you did a Junior Project, please submit 10 new facts on your topic with 3 different CREDIBLE citations in MLA Format. If you are a “newbie” please submit 10 facts and at least 5 different credible citations.   Submit to Turnitin.com Submit 3 possible experts to interview:  Draw on family, faculty,
9/23	Submit your edited or new Introduction to the Problem/Topic/Issue should be at least 2 pages double spaced 12 pt. font to Turnitin.com
9/30	Submit your revised or new interview questions for your expert/ expert witness. There should be 10 thoughtful questions that are not simply answerable by a Yes or No. Resources: Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Interviewing Guide http://www.folklife.si.edu/education_exhibits/resources/guide/introduction.aspx If you like GRUNGE: Mark Yarm’s new book “Grunge,” by Mark Yarm YOU MUST HAVE YOUR EXPERT by 9/30. Remember you are looking for information to support or challenge your thesis!
10/7	1.     Submit your survey questions and schedule for completing your survey and data analysis by 11/11 2.     Submit citations list to date in MLA format.
10/14	Topic/Subject/Issue #1 draft submitted, edited and spell checked by you, Word, and Turnitin.com. I should be checking content and ideas not typos and spelling errors.
10/21	Topic /Subject/Issue #2
10/28	Topic/subject/Issue  #3
11/4	Interview   Submitted.  Re-edited Topics 1,2, and 3 with expert information incorporated.
11/11	Data Analysis and Draft of Conclusion Due
11/18	Draft of Call to Action Due
***11/23	Sketch of Infographic Due
12/2	Complete Paper Due  with MLA Formatted Citations submitted to Turnitin.com
12/9	PowerPoint Due with storyboard of movie
12/16	Edited PowerPoint Due with movie
***1/9	Edited Infographic Due
* ** 1/6-13	Dress Rehearsals with Guests
1/24	SENIOR PROJECT DAY and author’s reception

Week Two

Week 2	Class work	Homework
Monday (Print out syllabus and bring to class Monday P3 for extra credit)	Annotation Review Activity 11 and 12 Senior Project meetings continue with new students	Activity 13 and 14
Tuesday	Activity 15	Activity 16
Wednesday	Activity 17	Activity 18
Thursday	Activity 19	Activity 20 Submit essay to Turnitin.com and run Grammar Check, Print out your essay and bring to class on Friday or you will not get any credit!!!! Go to LACER Room 123 if you need help.
Friday	Activity 21 (Revising the Draft) Senior project schedule of deliverables posted.	Activity 22 Submit revised Draft to Turnitin.com

Cornell Notes

Homework 9/7

Read Senior project Survival Guide
Do Activity 1 and 2 Text
Develop or edit your rhetorical precis

Senior Project Survival Guide

1. Read the Senior Project Survival Guide
 Senior Project Survival Guide
2. Set up your surveymonkey free scount
SurveyMonkey Basic Plan
3. Write or edit your Rhetorical Precis for your Senior Project

 Rhetorical Precis

A Rhetorical Précis, pronounced (pray-see), is a summary or abstract of a work. The Rhetorical Précis has a rigidly specific format as outlined below. It is important that you follow the format carefully. This is not an easy task. But it is a crucial step towards building critical reading ability in philosophy.

---

The Rhetorical Précis Format a) In a single coherent sentence give the following:           -name of the author, title of the work, date in parenthesis;           -a rhetorically accurate verb (such as "assert," "argue," "deny," "prove," disprove," "insist," etc.);           -a that clause containing the major claim (thesis statement) of the work. b) In a single coherent sentence give an explanation of how the author develops and supports the major claim (thesis statement). c) In a single coherent sentence give a statement of the author's purpose, followed by an "in order" phrase. d) In a single coherent sentence give a description of the intended audience and/or the relationship the author establishes with the audience.

Below are links to resources about the Rhetorical Précis method of writing. Each of these is short and has at least one example. Spend some time taking the examples apart to see how the element of the Rhetorical Précis form fit into it. Your time spent understanding how this form works will pay off when you face the task of writing your own Rhetorical Précis.  -  courtesy of Oregon State University

Sample

4. Data Analysis and Infographics " “A great infographic tells a meaningful story in an instant.”

 tips-for-designing-infographics/

Project Based Learning Rationale

"Universities are places where facts are made. Research is a collaborative process, so scientists need lab assistants, humanities researchers need library aides and graduate students need all the help they can get. A curious, competent undergraduate can always find work assisting a researcher.

Regardless of the field and the specific project, helping them helps you. The obvious benefits are new skills and invaluable experience. But there is also something powerful in seeing how the right experimental or analytical approach can sort through a mess of observations and opinion to identify real associations between phenomena, like a gene variant and a disease, or a financial tool and the availability of credit. With a window into the world of research, you will find yourself thinking more critically, accepting fewer assertions at face value and perhaps developing an emboldened sense of what you can accomplish.

Most important: research experience shows you how knowledge is produced. There are worse ways to prepare for life in an information age."

— AMAN SINGH GILL, Ph.D. student in the ecology and evolution department at Stony Brook University