From Assignment to Engagement: How to make every reading count with Social Annotation

By Joe Ferraro | 1 August, 2025

Introduction: Rethinking What (and Why) We Assign

What makes a reading “worth it” for your syllabus?

Every reading you’re assigning is shaping the learning experience in your classroom. But how do you know if a text is truly worth the time?

Educator Nicole Donawho asks this exact question in a new JSTOR Daily article, offering five essential questions to help instructors select the most meaningful texts for their classrooms.

At Hypothesis, we believe those questions are just the beginning. Social annotation makes reading more visible, interactive and reflective: this turns every assigned text into a space for collaboration, critical thinking and skill-building.

Donawho’s five questions connect to opportunities for deeper learning with Hypothesis.

1. What’s the Purpose of Reading?

Donawho encourages instructors to evaluate why a reading is in the syllabus: Does it set up a key concept? Provide needed background? Reinforce an idea with an example?

With Hypothesis, instructors can make that purpose explicit—right in the margins.
Annotation prompts and faculty comments help guide students toward what matters most in the reading. Instructors can even model how the text will be used in future assignments, encouraging students to read with a goal in mind.

“If a reading is essential to your lesson, make that visible—annotation lets you do that.” — Hypothesis Faculty Partner

Uses annotation to show students why this reading matters, and how it connects to future learning.

2. How Many Times Will Students Need to Read It?

Some readings are meant to be skimmed once. Others require re-reading, reflection, and discussion. In today’s classroom, many students are ‘reading’ using AI like ChatGPT and only reading highlights and reflections.

Hypothesis gives students space to process complex texts at their own pace. They can return to tricky passages, respond to peer insights, and build understanding over time.

By annotating together, students engage in iterative reading—and instructors can track where they pause, question, or reflect.

For example, students can revisit their peer comments, tag them and add their own
thoughts, creating a second layer response.

Bonus: If you’re using JSTOR, pair difficult texts with annotated versions from JSTOR Daily or create your own annotation layer to scaffold understanding.

Support rereading and deeper understanding – without adding more tools or steps, all while bringing the conversation back to the reading, not an AI generated summary.

3. Who Are Your Students?

Donawho reminds us: Every class (and every student) is different. Whether you’re teaching first-year students, working parents, or adult learners returning to school, text selection should reflect the time, accessibility, and background knowledge of your learners.

With Hypothesis, you can adapt how you support different students:

Add annotations to clarify context.
Embed reflection prompts for asynchronous learners.
Highlight key sections to focus on limited reading time.

“My community college students often balance work and family. Annotation lets them engage meaningfully even if they’re short on time.” — Faculty in the Hypothesis Academy

The ability to engage asynchronously, reflect and respond with peers builds the kind of communication and self-management skills that students need beyond the classroom.

Support every learner with flexible, inclusive annotation strategies.

4. What Happens When They Don’t Read It?

Students don’t always finish the reading. We’ve all been there.
But with social annotation, the conversation can still happen. Students who missed the first round of reading can catch up through peer comments and summaries. Instructors can highlight key insights or revisit confusing sections together in class.

Annotation also helps identify why students didn’t read—too complex? Too long? Not clearly tied to a learning outcome? That feedback is invaluable for improving future syllabi.

Turn reading into insight and make engagement visible.

5. What Happens If You Cut the Reading?

Sometimes, life happens—a server goes down, a class gets canceled, a reading proves less valuable than expected.
When you’ve built a course around purpose and visible engagement, it’s easier to pivot. With Hypothesis, you can annotate a replacement article, link a video transcript, or engage students with a brief prompt on a new source.

Tools like JSTOR’s Syllabus Series and Hypothesis make quick swaps possible without losing momentum or learning value.

Easily pivot without losing momentum- annotations meet students wherever learning happens.

Conclusion: The Text Is Just the Beginning

Donawho’s five questions help instructors assign with intention. Hypothesis brings that intention to life by making reading social, visible and reflective.

With Hypothesis, you’re not just assigning texts. You’re increasing student engagement, building resistance to AI shortcutting and helping students develop the collaborative and critical thinking skills they’ll need in the workforce.

Want to create more meaningful reading experiences for your students?
📖 Read the full JSTOR article by Nicole Donawho
📝 Explore how Hypothesis supports reflective reading