Which statement best explains the purpose of highlighting key ideas during annotation?

• A. Highlighting helps you quickly locate important information for later review.
• B. Highlighting every sentence to memorize.
• C. Highlighting is unnecessary in close reading.
• D. Highlighting replaces note-taking.

Answer: (A)

Highlighting key ideas during annotation helps you quickly locate important information for later review. By marking the main ideas, essential terms, and supporting evidence, you create a focused map inside the text. This lets you skim and revisit the most important parts without rereading every sentence, which makes studying, writing, and discussion more efficient. It also keeps you anchored to the central concepts as you think through how evidence supports arguments and how ideas connect.

This approach isn’t about marking every sentence or memorizing everything word for word, which would clutter your notes and reduce usefulness. Highlighting isn’t a replacement for note-taking, either—it works best when you pair selective highlighting with brief notes that capture your interpretations, questions, and insights.