Annotation and the Social Sciences

Across social science disciplines, it is common for students to encounter, have to make sense of and discuss primary sources. Annotating primary sources can help students to contextualize information, define unfamiliar terminology, identify discipline-specific techniques, examine bias and evaluate the reliability of a source.

Social annotation is an effective practice for students to learn about a range of topics and texts, from political science to criminal justice. As Jessica Dauterive — a PhD candidate in history at George Mason University — has observed, “Hypothesis provides a user-friendly way for you and your students to have conversations about primary and secondary sources through digital annotation.”

The above is excerpted from our white paper, “The Value of Social Annotation for Teaching and Learning: Promoting Comprehension, Collaboration and Critical Thinking With Hypothesis.”

Hear more from the iAnnotate 2021 keynote with CU Denver’s Frida Silva and Manuel Espinoza: “Annotation & the Social Prize of Educational Dignity.”