Annotating literary texts is a demanding task and there are many pitfalls. We want others (especially student annotators) to benefit from our long experience and share our tips with them.
If you have any questions or want us to write tips about a certain topic, don’t hesitate to ask: annotating-literature [at] es.uni-tuebingen.de
Here is a list of our tips:
- Is what I am writing relevant for the understanding of the text?
- Do I refer back to the text? (i.e. not what a word can mean, but what it means in this specific context)
- Do I not mix categories?
- Do I mark interpretation as interpretation?
- Is this the right level for what I am writing? i.e. is the information I am providing somehow linked to the one I have already provided on a preceding level?
- If you encounter problems (e.g. sources that contradict each other), address this problem in the annotation (e.g. in the “Questions” category).