I used various methods of annotating this semester, and here are some samples of the methods I ended up settling on. Overall, they made my reading experience a whole lot easier – I kept better track of the characters, plots, and themes of the book than I would have without said annotations.
I started of by check marking each chapter in the table of contents as I finished – not as a way of tracking my reading, necessarily, but as a way of encouragement, so that I could see my progress through the story. I also marked what needed to be read for each class, so that way I could stay focused on physical paper rather than constantly checking my computer. It allowed me to focus on the book itself when I had said questions about how much I had to read.
I also wrote brief 1-2 sentence summaries at the end of each chapter. In the past, when reading large books, I noticed that parts of the plot get forgotten, or it’s hard for me to keep track of all the different characters in plot threads. Thus, the solutions – chapter summaries. Sometimes they were bare bones, like this one, or they were more expansive, and sometimes humorous – it was one of many ways I found myself expressing my boredom throughout the book.
Lastly I used multiple methods of marking up the text itself. Initially I used both brackets and underlining interchangeably, but towards around the half way point I started using underlining for words or phrases that stood out to me, and brackets for longer pieces of texts – anywhere from a couple of sentences to a paragraph or so. I also wrote notes for, as in this example, I noticed references to other works, religion, or even literary techniques such as metaphors or imagery.
Overall, I would say that annotating greatly enhanced my understanding of the book. As a typically fast reader, it forced my to slow down and look at the details. This helped a ton when close reading, both in blog posts and within in class discussions.
I plan on using the methods I developed reading Moby Dick in other classes where I read an entire novel.
Hey Caitlyn, I truly loved the way that you annotated your novel and it reminded me a lot of my methods as well! I mostly wanted to comment on your idea of checking off the chapters in the table of contents as you finished them. This is not ever something I thought of doing, but I love it! I can definitely see this being a good motivation and encouragement to continue on a great way to be proud of what you accomplished. I will definitely start doing this and maybe even add the dates next to it, that way when you re read you can look back at it. This is great!