How to get your student to annotate...

[Pat in MI]

Hi Everyone,

   How do you get your students to annotate?  My dd hates, hates to write in books.  I guess it is after years of  being told "don't write in the books".  I think part of it is she doesn't want to take the time to take notes.   What are some tips you have used to get them doing this.  Have you gone through the book with them  and pointed out things they maybe should have annotated??   I'm having a hard time with this too because I never did  this in school or college.  Any tips welcomed!

Blessings,

Pat 

[regentrude]

I find taking notes on literature a pain, too, and much prefer to work IN the book. It does not have to be laziness.

A few suggestions:

Get old used beat up copies of the books so she does not not have to feel bad about writing in them.

You can get a nice second copy to keep on the shelf if it is a book she might want to keep.

DD prefers used lit books for her college classes because she does not feel guilty annotating in them.

 

Get sticky notes in all sizes and the small colored flags. She may prefer to annotate on the stickies and put them into place, rather than writing in the book directly.

Edited August 2, 2016 by regentrude

[Serenade]

Following this thread with interest.  I have one who hates to annotate as well.

[katilac]

I can't stand to annotate books and never do so, but I do write in a separate notebook. 

 

If she's open to that, I'd call it a day - everyone has different work and study habits. There's nothing magical about annotating, and indeed some people regard it as a negative, because it makes it impossible to return to the text with fresh eyes. 

 

Tell her she can write in a separate notebook and see how that goes. 

[Harriet Vane]

Some of my students use tiny post-its for their annotating.

 

Some feel better about annotating if they know it's a cheap copy of the book. If they love the book and want a pristine copy, they can always get a nicer copy to keep clean. I did this with Lord of the Rings--my marks are in a cheap paperback, and my gorgeously--illustrated version in pristine.

 

I encourage them to use a system of symbols and personal shorthand so that the annotating is so quick it hardly interrupts normal reading. For example, when I mark a book, I use a quick scribbly circle to indicate symbolism. I also use lots of arrows. If money is a theme in the book (like in The Great Gatsby), I draw a quick $. 

 

Writing notes separately is fine, but cumbersome. It just takes longer. 

Edited August 2, 2016 by Harriet Vane

[Pat in MI]

Thank you for the ideas.  I did get relatively cheap books so maybe that will help her feel better about writing in books.  I am going to run your ideas by her the sticky notes, separate notebook, and the small symbols maybe one of them will click with her.  

Blessings,

Pat