These documents take a bit of time to introduce, but quickly become a staple for the English classroom. Based on research and various resources, I have put together a strategy to get students thinking and connecting with what they read. The guide helps to get students started with the concept of close reading, and the dialogue journal is to be used for longer works and/or works that cannot be written on. I recommend taking time to teach the subject-specific vocabulary and doing a guided practice of annotating. For the annotations, you can give a minimum number for the annotations themselves and/or the number of categories. To prepare for an essay, I have also directed students to have a certain number of annotations that can be used as evidence in their writing.