Chapter 46.

This chapter focuses on academic writing. There are two steps that will help you move ahead, they are 1.) annotating the text and 2.) outlining the key points of the text. Annotating is a simple technique, to which you write any questions or thoughts you may have in the margins of the text, or simply underline words that seem important. After you annotate a text, you should attempt to outline the text. You should focus mainly on the texts thesis and topic sentences, which you should write in your own words. When you summarize the text to demonstrate your understanding you should look for the texts thesis, then break it down into either a few major or minor details. Turning a text into your own argument is known as analyzing. Analyzing will be something you may be asked to do a lot in college writing.


This chapter can be very helpful, but I think it would have been better placed during the first few chapters in Rules for Writers. I never did any annotation in my English classes until last year. Annotating and outlining helps you understand the text more clearer in your own way. This is a technique I will take advantage of.