How do students annotate? Can students highlight and add notes or annotations to an assignment?

Yes! Students can use the CommonLit Annotation Tool to highlight or add notes in the margin of any assignment.

Opening the Annotation Tool

Have a student go to an assignment and select any portion of the text with their cursor. It will pull up the annotation options. If your student is using a touchscreen device, have them go to an assignment and use their finger to press and drag the cursor to select the text.

Highlighting

To highlight the selected text, hover over the highlighter icon and click on one of the six colors. If using a touchscreen device, simply tap on one of the six colors on the annotation tool.

To remove a highlight, select the highlighted text again and click Remove Highlight at the bottom of the list.

Adding a Note

To add a note, select any portion of the text and click Annotate. Type your note into the text box and when finished, click or tap on Done. All annotations are automatically saved for the student and teachers can access their students' annotations from their Student Annotations page.

To edit or delete a note, click or tap on the three stacked dots on the right corner of the note. If using a touchscreen device, tap the box with the T and then click the three stacked dots.

To view your student's annotations, check out the following FAQ article: How can I view my student's annotations on their assignments?