Annotating a book?

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jabroni76
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Annotating a book?

Post by jabroni76 »

Hey all!

This upcoming year, I am about to start High School as a freshman. Now, I was checking my summer reading list, and it told me to read To Kill a Mockingbird (a great book ;)), and underline important text, make notes, ect. Now, I have never annotated anything, so I was wondering if you all could tell me how I can distinguish something important or someting not. This is my first assignment, and I want to make a great impression.

Thanks for all the help in advance!
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2099net
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Post by 2099net »

Not wanting to sound negative, but that sounds like a vague assignment.

When I was at school we had to read many important books as part of our English Literature classes - but all our home assignments were given a specific brief - discuss the characters, the writing style, the similarity between book 'x' and book 'y'.

General discussions were carried out in the classroom.

Given the nature of your assignment I would say that you should consider the following questions when looking for text to highlight:

(1) Does this describe the character? Does this show how the character is thinking? Does this show that a character has changed his mind from his position at the start of the story? If you have an opinion on a character, does this bit of text confirm or deny your opinion.

Most of the discussions we entered into in classes were based around the characters of a novel and how evolved throughout the story, how they interacted with each other and our own personal opinions of a character (which we then had to back up with examples from the text).

(2) Is this a good turn of phrase? Does this sentence use a particularly good simile, metaphor, oxymoron? Is it humourous? Is it an example of irony or satire?

Conversely, do you find the sentence hard to understand? Is it perhaps badly written or dated making it hard for a modern reader to understand the author?

Other things to look for in writing style is does the style change from chapter to chapter? Are some chapters or passages told from one point of view, while others are told from another point of view. Does the tense of the novel change? Are some passages told in first person while others are told in third person?

(3) If you have seen a film of the book, don't be afraid to note any differences between the book and the film. It shows you have read the book and also that you have seen the film. If there are differences, are they important?

I know that they're a lot in there, and it sounds like you'll be writting a page of notes for every other page of the book. But remember what's most important is what's important to you. Your opinion of the characters, story and writing style is formed while you read it, so note anything that supports or changes your opinion - note it down.

Being as opinions are personal there is no right or wrong answer (one of the reasons I loved English Lit so much at school) as long as you can support your opinons and theories with text from the book

I must say, without a specific brief it does sound like a hard assignment :cry:
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jabroni76
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Post by jabroni76 »

Yes, it is a vauge assignment, but it is just to get us to understand high school. Since this assignment was given to us on a piece of paper, in our report card envelope. Thanks a bunch for your help, and i'll take that into consideration. ALso the link to where the assignment is...

http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/NorcrossH ... eading.pdf

thanks again for your help!
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poco
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Post by poco »

Sounds like they want you to look at the internet and look for some info concerning the time period or author (imagination is limitless here) and bring to class something interesting from the internet that you found that parallels to the book. Annotation concerns something along the lines of how to cite information you found. If you find an interesting website that you take a lot of information you need to write down the website address. Any direct sentences or phrases you use either from the book or website need to be in quotation marks " " so they (teachers and others) know it is not your work and that you are not copying. If you do use direct quotes, afterward you can put soemthing like this (Harper, p. 123) which means the author then the page number where the direct quote comes from.

Is this sort of what you are asking or am i way off here?????
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Choco Bear
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Post by Choco Bear »

there making u do homework during summer vaction :o
jabroni76
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Post by jabroni76 »

<<Is this sort of what you are asking or am i way off here?????>>

You're sorta way off. They first want us to read the book annotate it, then find info afterwards. Basically, two different assignments.

My main question is though, How would I know what's worthy of being highlighted and what isn't. Or, what should I make note of, or what I shouldn't. Do you see what I'm saying?
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MickeyMouseboy
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Post by MickeyMouseboy »

i guess highlight the most important parts of the story you're reading.
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Post by jabroni76 »

^^

yes, but I am asking, how would I distinguish something important and something not important...
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Post by Sulley »

Firstly, nice avatar!

I had an assignment like this back at the beginning of my high school days (or actually during the summer :x ). I know it's vague, but sometimes that's the way it goes. You just sort of make it up as you go along. If you notice something that the teacher might be looking for in the assignment, highlight it. If you see something that you yourself like and can relate to (like a good quote that stands out) highlight it. Highlight all (or most if there's much of the same kind) the literary devices you see used, and key plot points that you think will influence the rest of the book. Just play it by ear and think small, and you should be all right. :wink:
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jabroni76
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Post by jabroni76 »

Firstly, thanks for the icon mention! ;)

Secondly, thanks for the help. That seems just like what everyone else has been saying, but more condensed.

So I comense all of you, and thank you all. Hopefully I can do this now!

And now i have the fear of presenting in front of the class. I've NEVER done a presentation without laughing or crying since the 3rd grade! :(
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MickeyMouseboy
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Post by MickeyMouseboy »

i like giving presentations, i usually stare at the wall and somewhere else keeps you cool and confident :)
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Post by jabroni76 »

^^^

Ugh. I despise presentations. I always force myself to go last because it's sooo bad. I bomb it, and everyone knows it, which makes it worse. I mean, one time, I had a MAJOR language art's project to do. Present a poem. and I am about the best person in the class with literature, and everyone basically knows it. And I took a zero, rather than read 4 lines of a poem, and a paragraph about Maya Angelou! :cry:
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MickeyMouseboy
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Post by MickeyMouseboy »

awwwwwwwwww! that sucks, you shouldnt feel that way. you shouldnt let that ruin your life, go and stand up there and prove you can do it! have courage! :)
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