Annotating text encourages me to read critically and enhances my understanding. It makes me think about my response to the text. I first read the text and then reread it and highlight the main essential ideas. The second time I read I formulate answers to certain things and question other things, and I write my thoughts down to the corresponding text. As Susan Gilroy states, “Annotating puts you actively and immediately in the ‘dialogue’ with an author and the issues and ideas you encounter in the written text.” She is explaining how you cannot annotate without critically thinking and actively reading because to interpret you’re engaged with the text. You’re having a conversation with the text by writing your thoughts down, so annotating. When we were assigned to annotate our first article at the beginning of the semester, I tried to wing it and not work. However, I couldn’t because I had to read the article critically. Sometimes annotating is just writing down how you understand a particular paragraph or complex sentences and if it did not make sense, I would write down questions.
When I was annotating, I am asking questions about the more significant concept and ideas, not just wondering what a particular word means. Annotating allows me to find the deeper meaning within the text because I am critically thinking about how the text relates to other ideas and not just soaking the information up, but prodding at it and “experimenting” with it. This can be shown when I was annotating “The End of Food” by Lizzie Widdicombe. I first read it over once then re-read it and underlined the main ideas or important pieces of evidence that strengthened the writing. For example, on the first page, I put a box around a passage that compared Soylent to a dystopian movie where cannibalism is involved. That set the tone for me, and underneath I wrote “comparing to a movie; giving a bad impression.” I also mentioned on the bottom that it was ironic that they made Soylent have more time/money for their software business but did not end up doing it and invested in the market of Soylent instead. Both are examples of my way of understanding the text.
