How to annotate a text

-         Ask questions

o   About anything unclear

o   About anything you’d like to know (ex. social context, setting, author)

-         Look up and define unfamiliar words

-         Record your own emotional reactions and briefly note what caused them

-         Note contradictions, surprises, ironies

-         Identify changes in character, motivation, apparent goals

-         Identify changes in mood

-         Highlight/circle/underline repetition (images, words, ideas)

-         Highlight things that might be symbolic (esp repeated images or vivid images)

-         Highlight notable word choices (words that jump out at you, seem unusual, make you think)

-         Note “direct statements” (statements that sound like they might express a theme)