My Experience with Annotating
As someone who loves reading, the idea of annotating conjures up mixed feelings of dread, pain, and occasionally pleasantness. What I mean by this is that when I get really invested in a book, I don't want to be interrupted and thus to me, the worst thing in the world is to have to stop and annotate. This is why for the most part, I tend to dislike annotating, especially when it comes to works of literature or fiction where there is a storyline in play. However, I do recognize the importance of annotating in certain cases and am appreciative that I was pushed by my teachers to annotate because I have found a sort of joy in annotating texts that I feel are more complicated (for me that's nonfiction). When I do annotate, I like using sticky notes, especially ones with various colors so that I can color code different sticky notes for different things. I tend to annotate my favorite quotes in a particular section or focus on parts that I don't really understand because reflecting on those lines through annotation often leads me to get a better grasp of what the author is trying to communicate. Ultimately, I am an annotating hater when it comes to my beloved books that I am passionate about but I do find it useful and can appreciate it as a good habit to develop when reading those kinds of texts that drive me crazy with confusion.
Hey Catalina! I can totally relate to the feeling of being pushed into doing annotations only for the assignment. I love seeing people with color-coded notes and annotations. It reminds me of the academia girl I want to be. However, I cannot put in the effort to make my annotations and notes look nice like that. So, I really appreciate how you put the effort in! Maybe you can show off the your aesthetic notes sometime!
ReplyDeleteHey Catalina. I am also someone who likes to read (especially fiction/fantasy books) and I totally understand the feeling of being invested in a story that you don't want to take the time to stop and notice the more analytical and thematical parts of the text. What type of genre do you like to read?
ReplyDeleteI fully understand how annotation can break the flow of reading a text, that it interrupts what the author is saying—but for me reading is seldom passively listening, rather its actively participating. Annotation is your response to the book, i.e, participation in a conversation between you and the author. To me, this conversation deepens my understanding the text and I often get more out of reading this way.
ReplyDeleteI definitely have my grievances with annotating like most students, but I've never considered the annotating taking you out of the reading as if it were a movie. When I have to take notes/answer questions for some kind of assignment about a movie, I get this exact feeling, but getting it for a book is a really interesting perspective!
ReplyDeleteI totally get what you mean about the annotations rudely interrupting your reading. The difficulty level of the reading is one aspect of my relationship with annotating that I did not think about. I totally agree that more challenging and confusing books demand more annotations, and it feels like much less of an interruption when they are actively helping you follow the story and piece together what you have read.
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