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Annotations

Published onApr 23, 2021
Annotations
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Annotation is a big word for taking notes on a material. It is almost as old as writing itself.1 You can also annotate video, audio or any information object. For the annotator, the immediate benefit of annotation is better comprehension because it requires active (as compared to passive) consumption of information. The annotator, for example, cannot simply read, but must also think. And it takes more thinking to transform one’s rough thoughts into succinct, useful notes. There are also longer-term benefits to annotation. The annotator has the notes for future reference, of course. The notes are a resource for remembering what was already thought, preventing, or at least limiting, the need to fully re-think an issue. Furthermore, if the annotator shares the notes, other people can benefit. Rather than start from scratch, the path before them is clearer (assuming the notes are good), making their journey to comprehension faster.

For more information on annotation techniques, look at this New York Times article and the chapter, How to Be a Demanding Reader, in How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, by Adler and Doren.

I highly recommend you start reading and working on your Annotation at the beginning of the section.

Your Annotation

You will annotate reports from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) as well as chapters from assigned books. See Course Schedule for which reports and chapters are due when.

You should do the following for “Your Annotation”:

  • Title a Word document with the name of the given report/chapter

  • Summarize every paragraph (not less, not more)…

  • Organized as seen below in “Organization of Annotation”…

  • In your own words (no quotation or plagiarism)…

  • In one sentence (not less, not more).

When you are done annotating, submit your annotation as a single Word document in D2L.

Also, your annotation notes must conform with the instructions in the following section, “Organization of Annotation”

Organization of Annotation

The following is an example of how your annotation should, generally, appear. Before writing your annotation, write the report/chapter number and title at the top of the document, centered, and bolded. Then, write the name of the first header in bold, flush left. Underneath, you should annotate each paragraph with a single sentence, until you get to the next section. For example, if there are five paragraphs in the “Introduction,” there should be five sentences; two paragraphs for “Section 1 Title,” thus two sentences; three paragraphs for “Section 2 Title,” thus three sentences; and so on and so forth. Any bullet pointed material is considered as part of a paragraph (i.e., you do not need to annotate individual bullet points). Your sentences should be listed, not written in paragraph form.

Note: For BJS reports, you do not need to annotate tables or sections labeled “Highlights.”

Report/Chapter Title

Introduction

blah blah blah blah blah …

blah blah blah blah blah …

blah blah blah blah blah …

blah blah blah blah blah …

blah blah blah blah blah …

Section 1 Title

blah blah blah blah blah …

blah blah blah blah blah …

Section 2 Title

blah blah blah blah blah …

blah blah blah blah blah …

blah blah blah blah blah …

Grading & Submission

Submission: After completing your annotation, upload the Word document to the associated assignment folder in D2L. Because TurnItIn Technology is being used to check for plagiarism, make sure you do not put your name or any other identifying information in the document.

Grading: Each annotation will be graded as Pass/Fail. To achieve a pass (100 percent), you must follow all the instructions above and submit a complete annotation. If you are missing any entries and/or do not follow the instructions above, your submission will be viewed as incomplete and given a fail (zero).

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