Annotation ended up helping me way more than I expected, especially during Project 3 when I was reading Technophiliaby Kevin Kelly. The reading was packed with a lot of big ideas, and honestly, I wasn’t totally sure what Kevin Kelly was even trying to get across or how I was supposed to respond to it in a meaningful way. It felt like I was just reading words without fully taking anything in. But once I started slowing down and actually jotting notes on the side, underlining parts that hit me or made me stop and think, it started to feel different. I wasn’t just reading to finish it anymore I was actually engaging with it, like having a conversation in my head with the author.

That shift made a huge difference when I sat down to write my essay for Project 3. Instead of feeling stuck and staring at a blank screen with no idea where to begin, I already had a bunch of my own reactions and quotes right there to build from. I wasn’t scrambling to remember what I read or trying to force a point I didn’t really believe I had real stuff to work with because I’d already done the thinking while I read. Annotating made the whole thing way less stressful and helped me get a clearer idea of what I wanted to say. Looking back, I never really liked annotating but as the work and articles got more complex I tended to use it more and it really helped so I would say this is something very helpful I picked up in this class.