Hypothesis Student Handout

The first time you’re in a Hypothesis assignment, the sidebar will contain some basic instructions.

Here you will be utilizing this side bar to do most of your work and participate in the document or link that will be using social annotation.

You may be thinking, what are my options and how do I get started in annotating a shared document? How do I participate?

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Annotation Types

Adding annotations adds a collaborative layer over any online content and can make online discussions more meaningful, productive, and engaging. The following are various types of annotation types that can be used with Hypothesis.

1. 1. Highlights: A highlight is the digital equivalent of swiping a yellow marker over a passage of text. Use the 'Highlight' popup to create this type of annotation. As the name implies, it is just a highlight. It anchors to its selection in the document, and quotes the selection, but there are no comments or tags. A highlight is always private (“Only me”), which means only you can see it, and only when you’re logged in.

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2. 2. Annotations: An annotation is the digital equivalent of a marginal note. After making a selection, you can use the 'New Note' popup to create this type of annotation. Like a highlight, it is anchored to the selected text which it also quotes. Unlike a highlight, it includes extra stuff that you add: text and/or tags. In this example, the annotation is not marked “Only me” so it’s visible to everyone. But you can also mark this type of annotation “Only me.”

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2. 3. Page Notes: A page note is like a social bookmark: it associates comments and/or tags with a document without anchoring that information to a passage within the document. A page note isn’t selection-based. You create one using the New Note control on the Hypothesis sidebar’s vertical toolbar. As with an annotation, you add text and/or tags. In this example the annotation is not marked “Only me” so it’s visible to everyone. But you can also mark this type of annotation “Only me.”

1. 4. Replies: Unlike a highlight, an annotation, or a page note, a reply doesn’t refer to an annotated document. Instead, it refers to one of those annotation types, or to a prior reply. You use the Reply link to create a reply. Like other annotation types, the reply can include text and/or tags and must include one or the other.

Adding annotations should be an additive process that allows you to emphasize intriguing or ambiguous passages of a text for analysis. This isn’t for summarizing the information but to add something to the conversation.

Formatting

Writing online is especially visual. Formatting can be used to powerfully emphasize important points. For example:

• Italicizing keywords from the text that you are commenting on.
• Setting aside particularly long quotations in “pull quotes”
• Bulleting points visually identifies ideas for clear presentation.

But it’s also true that one should avoid using these formatting elements to the point of distraction.

Use links and images!

Links can be used in a lot of ways. They can act like bibliographical notes to show where you got your ideas from — they show you did your homework!

Additionally, aside from appeal, though, images can used to bring a text to life or help make an argument. NOTE: Your teacher may want to consider things like the copyright status of images you use and giving attribution to their creators, and indeed this is good web practice.

Using tags

Using a hashtag can be particularly useful as it generates a stream of content related to the tag on the Hypothesis site. Tagging can also be helpful for your own research purposes and students can use it to tag thematic elements that may come up later in the text or other texts that are part of the course.

Other Functions

Use the buttons on the top of the sidebar to search annotations, sort your annotations, and get help with Hypothesis.