When reading assigned papers or articles for this class I tried to place an emphasis on reading to understand rather than reading just to read. To do this, I would read each piece at least twice. The first reading was just to take in the information. No annotations, just reading and absorbing what the authors were saying. But in my second reading, I would read with pen in hand and stop every few sentences to annotate and transcribe what was being said and how/where I could incorporate this into my paper. As seen in photo #1, my annotations were composed of underlining, boxing off, and question marks. These are tools that I felt identified important aspects of the article and highlighted my initial feelings to that specific sentence or passage. For me, underlining a sentence identified either the topic sentence of the paragraph or a sentence that the paragraph heavily leans on. Focusing on my only marked annotation on the left margin, I wrote “argue against”. This marking was specifically for a journal assignment where we were assigned to locate three passages where we agreed, disagreed, and were complicated on the authors claims. This marking did not make it into my journal assignment as the true central claim of Anderson’s article was later uncovered, but I feel as though such marking indicates engagement with the reading. Looking at photo #2, the annotations are similar to photo #1, this page being dotted with stars which I used to indicated aspects of the article that I felt compelling. The third paragraph of this page was heavily marked and labeled “agree with?”. This is the passage that I had included in my agreed, disagreed, and complicated journal. As seen in screenshot #1, I formulated a response to that specific paragraph, connecting it to my personal experiences, expanded on what Anderson was saying, and touched on how I could incorporate it into my later projects. The annotations seen in photo #3 showcase the point in the paper where I had formulated my complicated stance in my journal. This paper was covered in underlining, boxing, and marginal comments as I felt Anderson was making serious claims that needed to be emphasized to be included in my paper. As seen in screenshot #2, I found the claims that Anderson made to be complicated. This response was largely me disagreeing with what Anderson had concluded. Using my annotations I was able to locate the aspects of this passage that I had agreed with while also using them to locate the aspects that I had disagreed with. These annotations allowed me to quickly refer to the page and understand the overall claim of each paragraph and where I align myself with the claims. These journal responses along with my annotations highlight my active reading skills and my ability to locate the relationships between my opinions and the author’s opinions.

Photo #1

Photo #2

Photo #3

Screenshot #1

Screenshot #2