Mrs. Best
Biology 1:
How to Annotate Scientific Readings
Information literacy topic: “Taking notes”
Follow links to find this activity guide online at:
Amity website→High School→AHS Library Information Center
Find Online Stuff→By Subject→Science→Class Projects A-L→Best
1. Objective: To practice a strategy for taking notes when reading an article that will help you understand, retain, and communicate what the article is about.
What do you think annotation is? Why do we annotate articles?
2. “What is the main idea of the whole article? How do I find it?”
3. Read all the titles and sub-titles of the article. Then read the introduction of the article. Skim a little further down if you need to.
Now write a “Tweet” SUMMARY (in your own words) of less than 20 words explaining what the whole article is about. Post it in this Google form.
4. Read the 1st main paragraph (“Self-Generation”).
Underline key words as you read.
5. Go back to the paragraph, and do the following:
Connect main sentences/summaries when needed with arrows (write note on arrow about how they are related).
Circle sentences or ideas you don’t understand to find out what they mean.
Draw a box around unknown vocabulary. Look up in this online dictionary and write the meaning.
5. Read the main paragraph of the second section (“Self-Maintenance”).
Underline key words as you read.
7. Use the method we discussed to write a summary sentence of the EVERY paragraph of the article. Follow each step, in order:
1. Identify main idea of whole article, write it down (look at titles, 1st/2nd paragraphs). (We already did this today.)
2.Underline/highlight key words, summarize each paragraph (only highlight/underline a few words)
3. Connect main sentences/summaries when needed with arrows (write note on arrow about how they are related).
4.Circle sentences or ideas you don’t understand to find out what they mean.
5. Draw a box around unknown vocabulary. Look up in this online dictionary and write the meaning.
6. Add your personal analysis/judgement to summaries when needed (not your “feelings”)
Moving on:
Write a SUMMARY of the ENTIRE article. Include each part below.
a. Name of article/publication date/source.
b. 1-2 sentence “summary” of what the article is about (purpose of work/study/argument: what is it about and why was it done or written?)
c. Discussion of whole article:
Authors purpose (rephrase why was the project was done or the article written)
Method or broad, general details of work/study/argument (how did they do it/what do they say about it?)
Significance (why is it important to the field?)
Personal observations and your own analysis about the information (NOT superficial statements, like “it was interesting”). Try to connect to other important issues you have heard about.
Materials you may need:
Article: “The Purpose of Life” (see attachments)
Annotation instructions (print)
Article of the week instructions
Framing Guide for writing a summary
More complete information on how to write a journal article summary.