Developing an efficient and functional system of annotation is an important part of becoming a serious reader. Remember, you are entering into a dialogue with the author, so writing down your thoughts is as important as marking the author’s main points.

• HIGHLIGHTING – forget it! There is really not much difference between a highlighted page and one that isn’t (except that one glows yellow). Highlighting doesn’t do much for your brain. Rather it marks a passage that you think is important enough to return to and mark later.
• SYSTEM – develop one!  IF your marks are random it will be extremely difficult to flip through a text and know what each mark means. The quicker you devise your own system — AND STICK TO IT — the more useful your annotations will be.
• EDIT YOURSELF – don’t sweat the small stuff!   When you’re going through a text you want the main points, great quotations, and relevant information. You DO NOT need to make a note of everything, even of every argument that an author makes.
• YES, WRITE IN YOUR BOOKS – take ownership of your texts! That is, if you own them – if they’re library books or don’t belong to you, don’t write in them. Handwritten annotations are essential to melding your brain with the author’s text. Plus, you get to add your own style and special doodles to the page. When you make partner at 35 and reread your copy of ‘The Prince’, you will get a glimpse of your 18 year old thoughts about Machiavelli.
• CHECK YOURSELF – know what the author wanted you to know. Can you 1) summarize the author’s main argument, 2) confidently explain how she reached her conclusions, and 3)

Your annotations should be attuned to the following:

• INFO
• PERSPECTIVE
• CONTEXT
• TONE
• WORDS USED
• ARGUMENT(s)
• QUESTIONS RAISED