The worst decision a student can make is to read without annotating.

I always tell my own children as well as my students that annotating ensures they NEVER have to read the book again if you don't want to, but NOT ANNOTATING will make them either fail or go back to reread more times than they'd like.

The bottom line is, they don't remember anything.

Their mind begins to drift. Annotating keeps them engaged, it keeps them involved.

It will help them remember the plot line, and they will know exactly where to look when they need to go back and look for text evidence.