What’s an annotation?

Rather than having me describe them, here are some samples for you to examine, taken from Harper’s magazine:

These clearly are not essays in the usual sense. (Why not?) Try to define this new form. Here are some questions to get you started (you do not need to answer all of these, and you may think of other ways to describe and explain how these pieces seem to “work”):

  • What sort of subjects do the authors take on?
  • Where does the information seem to come from: the author’s personal experience, observation, some sort of research?
  • Describe the structure and organization of the form.
  • What are the “parts” of this form?
  • Can you describe the voice of the author (is it personal or objective or some combination)?
  • What seems to be the author’s purpose?
  • Is the author summarizing facts or making an argument (or some combination)?
  • How does the author establish credibility?

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