Use these tools and suggestions to be more actively engaged in your reading.

1. ANNOTATING
Reading Strategy for
Greater
Comprehension

2. Annotating means adding notes
or comments as you read a text.
By annotating, you are writing
down your ideas immediately,
instead of forgetting your
thoughts when you most need
them.

3. As you are reading the text,
make notes writing them
directly in the margin of the
text.

4. AS YOU READ YOUR TEXT, CONSIDER ALL OF
THE WAYS THAT YOU CAN CONNECT WITH
WHAT YOU ARE READING.
 Text to Self (Example – That happened to me when I was little,
too.)
 Text to World (Example – I heard about that in the news last
night.)
 Text to Text (Examples – * Movies (Ex – That happened in
The Hunger Games, too!); * Comic books/graphic novels;
* Other books, stories, plays, songs, or poems; * Connect to
other parts of the text. (Example – I remember when he said
that in chapter 5, too!)

5. HERE ARE SOME OTHER SUGGESTIONS
THAT WILL HELP YOU WITH YOUR
ANNOTATIONS:
 Questions (Example – How does that work?)
 Comments/opinions (Example – That is a
great idea! I have never thought about that.)
 Concerns/suspicions (Example- I don’t think
that is a logical explanation. OR That is
shocking!)

6. SUGGESTIONS (CONT)
 Vocabulary (Example – What does that word
mean?)
 Predict (Example – I see this becoming a much
larger problem in the future.)
 Figurative Language (Example- That is a great
metaphor, simile, hyperbole, etc.)
 Summarize (Example – Overall, the article
proves that most people believe in ghosts.)