How to Annotate: Tips from Readers
Here’s the great thing about being an adult reader, reading for your own personal pleasure and enrichment, rather than because you’ve been assigned a book for school and you’ll have to write a paper or take a test on it when you’re done.
You get to choose if annotating is something you want to do!
I get asked pretty frequently “how do you annotate?” and the answer is . . . I almost never do!
(P.S. If you’re wondering what annotating is, it is adding notes and markings as you read!)
In fact, the only time I consistently do any annotating in my reading is when I’m reading a book for Everyday Reading Book Club and need to come up with discussion questions and topics for my weekly Instagram discussions!
Other than that, I find that annotating takes me OUT of my reading experience more than it adds to it.
(I DO tend to highlight more on my Kindle because it is built in and I don’t need anything extra. But I NEVER take notes on my Kindle!).
And when I DO annotate for book club, I don’t use anything fancy – just a Sharpie highlighter and one of my favorite pens!
My guess would be that MOST people don’t annotate when they read. One person on Instagram when I asked about annotating said, “I’m curious; what’s the point? I hardly ever read a book multiple times, even my favorites.”
And I think that’s probably how MOST people feel.
But here’s what people from my Instagram community who DO annotate responded back!
One said, “It’s like a conversation with a book. Thoughts, feelings and beautiful language.”
And another said, “You only read it for the first time once and annotating let’s you relive that.”
And annotating can look any way you want it to – it might be highlighting or underlining passages. It might be making notes in the margins. It might be writing something at the end of each chapter or in the blank pages at the beginning or end of the book.
You can even annotate in a separate notebook or book journal or in your planner if you’d rather not write directly in the book.
Here are some of the products for annotating other readers said they like most:
- Clear Sticky Notes. These are so fun since you can lay them right over the text and take notes while still seeing the original printed text!
- Erasable colored pens. I LOVE these pens because it is so nice to be able to erase.
- Arrow shaped sticky notes. These are great – they take up less space on the page and you can direct them to exactly the section you want to annotate.
- Book Darts. These are are terrific for non-permanent annotating because you can have them point directly to the line you want to mark.
I’d love to know – do you annotate as you read? And if you do, what are your favorite annotating tools and strategies?
In the beginning of a book, I notate the year and a list of the characters and a little about them. That makes it easier for me to keep up with them though the book.