The Complete Guide to Marginalia: How to Write in Your Books Like a Scholar | Chapterly Blog
Quick Answer: Marginalia is the practice of writing notes, questions, and reactions in the margins of your books, and it turns passive reading into an active dialogue with the author. To do it like a scholar, start with a small, fast set of marks: underline key passages, star essential points, use question marks for confusion, and write short notes that summarize, connect ideas to other books, or record your honest reactions. Reserve the front cover for a personal index and the back cover for a summary. The notes you leave become an external record of your thinking you can return to for years. The Complete Guide to Marginalia: How to Write in Your Books Like a Scholar Open any book that belonged to a serious reader, a professor, a writer, or a scholar, and you will find the margins filled with notes, questions, arrows, and reactions. This practice of writing in the margins of books is called marginalia, and it has been practiced for as long as books have existed. Marginalia is not vandalism. It is a conversation with the text. When you write in the margins, you transform reading from a passive activity into an active dialogue between you...