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ELA
Close Reading and Annotation
Close Reading and Annotation
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Close reading is a careful way of studying a text so you can understand not only what it says, but how and why it says it. Instead of reading quickly for the main idea only, you slow down to notice word choice, structure, tone, patterns, and evidence. Annotation helps make your thinking visible by marking the text with questions, reactions, symbols, and notes. These habits matter because strong readers support their ideas with specific details from the text.
Key Facts
- Close reading means reading a text more than once with a specific purpose each time.
- Annotate important words, repeated ideas, confusing lines, strong images, and shifts in tone or argument.
- Use a consistent code, such as ? = question, ! = important idea, C = connection, E = evidence, and T = tone.
- Good margin notes explain your thinking, not just label a sentence as important.
- Text evidence should be quoted or paraphrased accurately and connected to your claim.
- A strong annotation often follows Notice + Think = Insight.
Vocabulary
- Close reading
- Close reading is the careful rereading of a text to analyze meaning, craft, structure, and evidence.
- Annotation
- Annotation is the act of marking a text with notes, symbols, questions, and comments to show your thinking.
- Text evidence
- Text evidence is a specific word, phrase, sentence, or detail from a text used to support an idea.
- Inference
- An inference is a reasonable conclusion based on evidence from the text and your own background knowledge.
- Tone
- Tone is the author's attitude toward the subject, characters, or audience, shown through word choice and style.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Highlighting everything, because it makes the most important ideas harder to find. Choose only key words, repeated ideas, confusing parts, and strong evidence.
- Writing vague notes like important or good quote, because they do not explain your thinking. Add why the detail matters or what it reveals.
- Ignoring confusing parts, because confusion often points to a place that needs deeper reading. Mark questions and return to them after rereading.
- Using evidence without explanation, because a quote cannot prove your point by itself. Always connect the evidence back to your claim in your own words.
Practice Questions
- 1 A passage has 12 paragraphs. If you annotate 3 details in each paragraph, how many total annotations will you make?
- 2 You plan to reread a 6 page story 3 times for close reading. If each page takes 4 minutes to read carefully, how many minutes will the full process take?
- 3 A student underlines a sentence but writes no note beside it. Explain what the student should add to turn the underline into a useful annotation.