"I don't know what to write."

If you find yourself unsure how to annotate a text, try pretending your teacher read the sentence aloud and asked you to discuss it. Whatever you'd say in response to the teacher is what you could write as an annotation. 

Take a look at this list for more ideas on what to write in response to the text.

• define or explain difficult words or allusions in the text
• summarize or paraphrase important ideas
• mark words or passages that are confusing or write new questions inspired by the text
• make connections to self, other texts, and the world 
• close reading to identify formal elements (literary devices, etc.) and broader significance
• analyze for rhetorical strategies (development of text, author's purpose, etc.)
• share personal opinions about the text
• multimedia; link to images and videos
• to create an annotated bibliography (click here to see a lesson on MLA 8 formatted annotated bibliographies)