2.) ANNOTATE your text. Please give yourselves time to read the books in order to take thorough notes.
Please take notes on major
literary devices and major points used IN the novels themselves. (See Mrs. Teague’s Annotation Guide for help)
Annotation Assignment: Write your name on the inside cover of the book if you own the book (if not, write your name on a
sticky note and place one inside the front cover and one on inside of the back of the book.) You will need six highlighters OR
six different colored post it notes (if you do not own your book) to complete the annotations: yellow, pink, orange, green,
blue & purple. Make sure to write your initials and specific chapter number on each sticky note in the event one is
removed, lost, or out of place.
I. In-text annotation requirement:
• Characters—highlight /write information about the characters in purple. Write notes or questions about the characters.
On the first page of each chapter, make a list of the characters introduced in that chapter.
• Setting—highlight /write information about the setting in purple. Also, highlight archetypes—seasons, locations—desert,
water, light/dark images, etc.—in orange. Write notes or questions about the setting or archetypes.
• Tone—highlight/write words that create tone in orange. At the top of at least one page per chapter, choose words that
create tone and write the tone word at the top of that page. Indicate if the tone is positive, negative, or neutral.
• Central Idea/ Theme—highlight /write phrases that convey a central idea/theme for each chapter in green. Write the
central idea as a universal statement about the world or human life.
• Vocabulary—highlight /write vocabulary words in blue. Look for words that you are unsure of the meaning. Also include
words that are considered collegiate. Place the sticky note(s) on the same page the words are on in the book. Then define
the words on a sheet of paper. You need to find vocabulary words for each chapter.
II. In-text notation requirement:
• Questions/Thoughts/Comments (Yellow Sticky Notes)—as you read, write questions, thoughts, and comments that come
to mind on yellow sticky notes. There should be questions/thoughts/comments for every chapter in the book.
Literary and rhetorical devices: (Pink Sticky Notes)-As you read, look for literary devices. Underline the example in the
book and name the device on pink sticky notes. It is important that students are familiar with rhetorical devices which
will be useful when reading literature, analyzing literature, and writing analysis essays. When you are asked to do a
rhetorical analysis of a text, you are being asked to apply your critical reading skills to break down the "whole" of the
text into the sum of its parts. You try to determine what the writer is trying to achieve, and what writing strategies he/she
is using to try to achieve it.
o Keep in mind that you don't need to apply all of the questions below to every chapter, but you should apply 1-2
questions per chapter. This rather exhaustive list is simply one method for getting you started on reading
/analyzing (and then writing) more critically. By the end of the semester, you will be asking these questions
naturally, as you read without guides or prompting from me. For now, here are some guided questions to ask
while reading your summer assignment critically.
o ** You do not need to write the question, simply indicate the letter (a-o) beside the question on your sticky note
and provide the answer/analysis. Also, you are not required to answer all of these questions. This is a tool to
help you with the Pink and Yellow Sticky Note Section.
a. What is the general subject? Does the subject mean anything to you? Does it bring up any personal
associations? Is the subject a controversial one?
b. What is the claim (the overall main point)? How does the claim interpret/comment on the subject?
c. What is the tone of the text? Do you react at an emotional level to the text? Does this reaction change at all
throughout the text?
d. What is the writers' purpose? To explain? To inform? To anger? Persuade? Amuse? Motivate? Sadden?
Ridicule? Anger? Is there more than one purpose? Does the purpose shift at all throughout the text?
e. How does the writer develop his/her ideas? Narration? Description? Definition? Comparison? Analogy? Cause
and Effect? Example? Why does the writer use these methods of development?
f. How does the writer arrange his/her ideas? What are the patterns of arrangement? Particular to general? Broad
to specific? Spatial? Chronological? Alternating? Block?
g. Is the text unified and coherent? Are there adequate transitions? How do the transitions work?
h. What is the sentence structure like in the text? Does the writer use fragments or run-ons? Declarative?
Imperative? Interrogative? Exclamatory? Are they simple? Compound? Complex? Compound-complex?
Short? Long? Loose? Periodic? Balanced? Parallel? Are there any patterns in the sentence structure? Can you
make any connections between the patterns and the writers' purpose?
i. Does the writer use dialogue? Quotations? To what effect?
