It was quite new to me that in order to better understand a text and in this case with my ENG 122 and 123 class, I had to show this by underlining and annotating. This is referred to as active reading, in which I would make annotations and notes on the text and underline certain things. I also made sure to include statements and words near these underlined sentences so that when I revisited the text, I was able to extract the most important pieces that would be most beneficial in my essay. I found it easier to develop ideas and understand an article if I annotated it. Taking the time to find the meaning and points of an essay helped me in writing my own. I believe that as a writer, I have only improved since the beginning of the year and I find that annotating and using active reading skills will only help me later in life as well, when completing other classes. Attached below are examples of active reading that I participated in.