Learning Outcomes #3
This semester we have been asked to read and annotate many texts in order to use them for journals or bigger writing projects. This meant that these annotations were crucial to our success with our writing. This left me with a significant challenge to make sure I was really getting everything out of the text. I also didn’t want to fall into the trap of over-highlighting unnecessary information. I also wanted to make sure that I was doing enough so that I would already have what I needed and not need to go back to the text. In previous English class I have worked with texts but it was a less in-depth effort. We would underline a couple of sentences in the text but I would never annotate in the margins. I would also frequently find myself underlining random words for the sake of finishing it. In listening to my professor I realized proper annotations would make my essays a lot easier to complete. When I annotated Sherry Turkle’s “ The Empathy Diaries” I felt that I did exactly what we learned in class. This made my essay a lot easier to finish and I had stronger evidence. When I was first reading through I tried to look for passages or sentences that I felt were really important and central ideas. I did this because it helped me understand the text better and I can start to find a potential thesis statement. Once I find that I then read through again and try to find potential quotes that I could see myself using. I will look for eight or ten so that I can feel like I have good options and if I decide to change anything about my thesis I have options. When I complete this I feel like I get the most out of the text and understand it more than if I normally read it. I think this shows my ability to draw relationships between quotes and my thesis or in some projects multiple texts.
