72 A 1 -a Reading and writing critically

Annotating a text
Annotating helps you record your responses to a text and answer the
basic question, “What is this text about?” As you annotate, you take
notes — you jot down questions and reactions in the margins of the text
or on electronic or paper sticky notes. You might circle or underline the
author’s main points. Or you might develop your own system of anno-
tating by placing question marks or asterisks by the text’s thesis or
major pieces of evidence. Your annotations will help you frame what
you want to say about the author’s ideas or questions.
The following example shows how one student, Emilia Sanchez,
annotated an article from CQ Researcher, a newsletter about social and
political issues.

ANNOTATED ARTICLE

Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street

BETSY TAYLOR

Opening There is plenty of reason to be concerned about Sentimental —

strategy — the proliferation of Wal-Marts and other so-called what is a
the problem “big box” stores. The question, however, is not community’s
is not x, it’s y.
whether or not these types of stores create jobs soul? I would
think job
(although several studies claim they produce a
security and
net job loss in local communities) or whether they a strong
ultimately save consumers money. The real con- economy are
cern about having a 25-acre slab of concrete with better for a
a 100,000 square foot box of stuff land on a town community’s
is whether it’s good for a community’s soul. “soul” than
Lumps all big The worst thing about “big boxes” is that small stores
boxes together. they have a tendency to produce Ross Perot’s that have to
famous “big sucking sound” — sucking the life lay people off
or close.
out of cities and small towns across the country.
Assumes On the other hand, small businesses are great
all small for a community. They offer more personal ser-
businesses vice; they won’t threaten to pack up and leave
are attentive. town if they don’t get tax breaks, free roads and
other blandishments; and small-business owners
are much more responsive to a customer’s needs.
(Ever try to complain about bad service or poor Logic problem?
quality products to the president of Home Depot?) Why couldn’t
Yet, if big boxes are so bad, why are customer
they so successful? One glaring reason is that complain
True? we’ve become a nation of hyper-consumers, and to store
manager ?
the big-box boys know this. Downtown shopping
districts comprised of small businesses take

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 Reading actively A 1 -a 73

some of the efficiency out of overconsumption.

There’s all that hassle of having to travel from
store to store, and having to pull out your credit
card so many times. Occasionally, we even find Author’s “either/
Taylor wishes ourselves chatting with the shopkeeper, wander- or” thinking isn’t
for a time that ing into a coffee shop to visit with a friend or working. Stores
is long gone or otherwise wasting precious time that could be like Home
never was. spent on acquiring more stuff. Depot try to
encourage a
But let’s face it — bustling, thriving city
community feel.
centers are fun. They breathe life into a com-
munity. They allow cities and towns to stand out
from each other. They provide an atmosphere Community vs.
for people to interact with each other that just economy. What
cannot be found at Target, or Wal-Mart or Home about prices?
Depot.
Ends with
emotional Is it anti-American to be against having
appeal. This a retail giant set up shop in one’s community?
appeal seems Some people would say so. On the other hand, if
too simplistic. you board up Main Street, what’s left of America?

Conversing with a text

Conversing with a text — or talking back to a text and its author — helps
you move beyond your initial notes to draw conclusions about what
you’ve read. Perhaps you ask additional questions, point out something
that doesn’t make sense and why, or explain how the author’s points
suggest wider implications. As you talk back to a text, you look more
closely at how the author works through a topic, and you evaluate the
author’s evidence and conclusions. Conversing takes your notes to the
next level. For example, student writer Emilia Sanchez noticed on a
first reading that her assigned text closed with an emotional appeal to
the reader. On a second reading, she started to question whether that
emotional appeal worked or whether it was really too simplistic a way
to look at the topic. (See A1-e.)
Many writers use a double-entry notebook to converse with
a text and its author and to generate insights and ideas. To create
one, draw a line down the center of a notebook page. On the left side,
record what the author says; include quotations, sentences, and key
terms from the text. On the right side, record your observations and
questions.

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: Put quotation marks around words

you have copied, and keep an accurate record of page numbers for
quotations.

05/15/2019 - RS0000000000000000000000208773 (Brent Griffin)

- A Writer's Reference with Resources for Multilingual Writers and
04_HAC_6676_chA_071-126.indd 73 ESL with 2016 MLA Update 17/07/14 5:25 pm