Hey! I likd annotating books, and was wondering if anyone knew the best way to do so, in such a way that is clear and detailed.
If you could attach any examples of your annotations, that'd be great, too.
Thank you!
I was a massive fan of colour coding...
I did this for every text because it was an immediately obvious way of flagging key concepts or recurring language features. In terms of keeping it clear but detailed for specific text types...
Novels/Non-fiction/Short Stories:- this is kind of tough because you don't have much room on the page. Keeping a separate 'viewing log' can be good where you basically just (preferably digitally so you can make changes easily) list each part/chapter/story and then any relevant quotes or ideas underneath. Pretty time consuming, but if you plan on writing on this genre in the exam, you'll have to know the text inside out.
- colour coding annotations is also good, and maybe a few margin notes if you have small handwriting
but an independent log will let you flesh out these ideas in more depth.
Plays:- usually a lot more room on the page to make notes, so scribble away!
- colour coding also valuable, and can help you make connections across the play (i.e. between different acts - super valuable for Close Analysis)
- don't forget stage directions! Annotating dialogue is great, but make sure you delve into the stage directions and performative elements too.
Poetry:- first, print off each poem on its own A4 sheet (or multiple sheets if it's a super long one). Then go crazy. Make notes on anything and everything. You've not got a lot of language to discuss relative to a whole play or a whole novel, so you need to wring out as much as you can.
- then, map out the connections between poems. One of the hardest things to do with poetry (and short stories too, kinda) is to make links across the author's body of work. It's usually easy enough to analyse a poem in isolation, but integrated analysis is tough, so if you're able to unpack the connections before you start writing essays, you'll give yourself a massive headstart.
- I was a fan of pinning these A4 sheets to a wall and then using string or a highlighter to find these connections. You'll likely end up with a handful of poems that are very central 'nodes' (i.e. heaps of ideas in them, and they link to a tonne of other poems) meaning they're likely to come up in assessment tasks or in Close Analysis as primary passages.
Keen to hear other people's recommendations though - are there any other techniques that have worked well for you?
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