nadira berman

how to annotate readings successfully

unsure how to properly annotate your lengthy textbook readings? i’m here to help.

cat reading a book -magoosh

photo by smuff wiki

one of the most important functions of annotation is that it allows you to review readings later on by simply skimming. if you’ve taken proper notes, you’ll just need to look at certain sections in order to understand the main points.

highlight crucial sentences

highlight the information that best helps to summarize the reading. in order to accomplish this task, it may help to read all of the information first, then skim over it again and highlight the most important parts. since you will have already seen the whole reading, you’ll know for sure what the most important parts are.

write notes to clarify

write notes that help clarify a certain concept. when you review the reading later, you’ll be able to quickly understand what these groups of sentences mean. you can also write notes that make a connection between one concept and another, which will help you out in the final exam.

use a dictionary

look up words you don’t know and write what they mean on the page. this way, you won’t have to look them up over and over again. it’s also a great way to build your vocabulary.

author

  • nadira berman

    as a summer marketing intern, nadira is excited to help high schoolers prepare for the sat and act. as a freshman at the university of pennsylvania, she is considering studying economics. in her free time, she reports for the school newspaper and styles photo shoots for the school’s fashion magazine. besides fashion and journalism, her passions include bagels, smoothies and netflix.

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