The Annotation Summary

This page allows you to search your annotations, and the annotations other users have chosen to share.

Result List

The result table shows four columns:

  • The thing that was annotated (a forum post), along with its author. Clicking on the link allows you to view the entire item.
  • The highlighted passage of text.
  • The margin note typed by whoever created the annotation.
  • The name of the person who created the annotation, along with some annotation controls.

If there are many annotations, the results may be split into several pages. To see subsequent result pages click the numbered links below the table of results.

Searching and Filtering

There are essentially three ways to search and filter your results:

  1. The text search field at the top of the page.
  2. Triangles (◀) that pop up next to certain parts of the result when you hover over them. Clicking on one of these filters the results to show only annotations matching whatever the triangle points to (if you hover for long enough, help text will explain what clicking would do).
  3. Links in the search result description. As you filter and search, there is always a description of what you're looking at at the top of the page. Parts of the description are displayed as hyperlinks. If you hover over one of these links, it will be displayed with a line through it. If you wait for a moment, a tip appears describing what you would see if you clicked the link. Generally this broadens the search, cancelling filters applied elsewhere.

You can probably figure these out just by experimenting with them. More detailed explanations follow.

Searching for Text

You can filter your search results in several ways. First, most obviously, you can type search text in the text entry box at the top of the page, then click Find to find matching annotations.

Ordinarily, the search result displays with text containing (you won't see this unless you first do a text search), indicating that the search will look for that text in margin notes, highlighted passages, and the names of the users who created the annotations.

If you want to search for an annotation matching an exact phrase (useful if you use the same margin note repeatedly), you can click on text containing (it's displayed as a link) to search only for notes matching instead (and vice versa).

Filtering by Who Wrote the Annotations

If you wish to show only annotations by a particular user (such as the teacher of a course), hover the mouse over that person's name in the right-hand column. A triangle (◀) appears. If you click on it, the list will be filtered to display only annotations created by that person.

If the annotations are already filtered by a particular user (say they're by Fred), the search description at the top of the page will include a link saying that the annotations are by that user (by Fred). Clicking on the link will remove the filter and include annotations by anyone.

Filtering by Whose Work Is Annotated

You may wish to view only annotations of a particular user's work (you might want to see what people have to say about your forum posts, for example). To do this, hover the mouse over the name of the author of the original item (forum post), in the left column. A triangle (◀) will appear. Click it to run the filter.

If the results are filtered this way (to show only annotations of things Josephine has written, perhaps), the search description at the top will include a link saying this shows annotations of work by Jospehine. Click on the link to remove the filter.

Viewing Recent Annotations

The summary page normally shows annotations in document order - that is, the order of annotations in the summary reflects which highlights occur first in the annotated document. Sometimes it can be used to see recent annotations - for example, in order to keep up with what other users are writing. A link at the bottom of the page gives the option of ordering annotations according to when they were last modified. If you choose this option the result table will also display that time and date (normally it does not in order to prevent clutter).

Broadening and Narrowing the Search

Initially, you will likely see only annotations for a particular area - a specific discussion, perhaps. You may wish to include annotations for all discussions in the same forum, or all annotations in that course, and so on. Say you're viewing annotations of a discussion named "It's Turtles All the Way Down" in the "Metaphysics" forum. You will see a description at the top of the page, including the text in discussion "It's Turtles All the Way Down", with the last part displayed as a hyperlink. If you hover over the link, it will be replaced by the name of the broader category - in this case, it would change to in forum "Metaphysics". To view all annotations in that forum, click on the link to broaden the search.

On the other hand, you may wish to narrow your search to include only a particular discussion, forum, etc. Notice that the result list has section headings. One might look like Discussion: It's Turtles All the Way Down. If you hover over one of these, a triangle (◀) appears. Clicking on it allows you to narrow your search to only annotations in that section.