reader response essay outline

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Education and Communications

How to Write a Reader Response

Last Updated: March 19, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Diane Stubbs . Diane Stubbs is a Secondary English Teacher with over 22 years of experience teaching all high school grade levels and AP courses. She specializes in secondary education, classroom management, and educational technology. Diane earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delaware and a Master of Education from Wesley College. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 443,809 times.

A reader response assignment asks you to explain and defend your personal reaction to an assigned text. Reader response papers can be difficult because they force you, the reader, to take responsibility for giving meaning to the text. Often these assignments feel open-ended and vague, but don't worry, a good reader response paper will follow a standard essay format that you can easily master. This guide will walk you through the creation of a well-crafted reader response paper that's sure to wow your instructor and earn you an awesome grade.

Writing the Reader Response

It is often helpful to use the first body paragraph to include more information about the text, the plotline, major themes, etc., and then use the rest of the paragraphs to provide an analysis of how you felt about the text.

Step 3 Remember to explain how, why, and what.

Remember that a reader response is meant to be personal, so it's OK to incorporate personal anecdotes and opinions into your analysis.
Example: "Forcing Hester Prynne to wear the scarlet "A" reminded me of a time when I was cyber-bullied in eighth grade, and my "friends" spread rumors about me online where the whole school could see."

Step 4 Incorporate specific examples into your analysis.

Example: "At the end of The Old Man and the Sea, Manolin promises to once again fish with Santiago, so the old man no longer has to be alone. This was Santiago's greatest wish, but it was a different kind of success than he initially set out to achieve."

Example: "'My big fish must be somewhere,' said Santiago. This is exactly how I felt after I received my third rejection letter, but like Santiago, I kept trying, and eventually I was accepted."
Make sure and cite your examples per class directions. You will usually be required to note the page numbers of any quotations or specific examples in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

A great way to think of your conclusion is that it's one last chance to explain to your reader how you see all of your points fitting together.

Step 7 Proofread, proofread, proofread!!

Sometimes it's hard to see our own mistakes, so it can really help to exchange papers with a friend, and proofread each other's work.

Drafting the Reader Response

Step 1 Identify an angle you can take when talking about the text.

"Even though I found The Scarlett Letter hard to follow at times, Hester Prynne's story is still relatable, and made me think a lot about the effects of publicly shaming people online."
"Some people believe the Old Man and the Sea is a book about failure, but it is really a story of perseverance that teaches us that success may not always come in the form we expect, and even disasters can lead to positive outcomes."

Introduction: 1 paragraph.
Analysis/Body Paragraphs: 3-4 paragraphs. How you organize these paragraphs will depend on the parameters of the assignment.
Conclusion: 1 paragraph.

Step 3 Choose example passages to use in your analysis.

Reading the Text

Step 1 Go over the assignment directions before you begin.

Do you like or dislike the text?
Can you identify the author's purpose?
Do you agree or disagree with the author?
Does the text relate to you and your life? If so, how? If not, why not?
Does the text agree with, or go against your personal world view?
What, if anything, did you learn from the text?

Taking a bit of extra time during this phase will save you a lot of time in the writing process. [9] X Research source

I think that...
I feel that...
I see that...
I have learned that...

Sample Reader Response

Community Q&A

↑ https://penandthepad.com/rules-writing-reading-response-essay-3968.html
↑ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-jefferson-english102/chapter/reader-response-criticism-american-literature-i/
↑ https://writingstudio.gsu.edu/files/2021/02/Reading-Response.pdf
↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/steps_for_revising.html
↑ https://faculty.washington.edu/momara/Reader%20Response.pdf
↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/essay-outline/
↑ http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/rwc/handouts/the-writing-process-1/invention/Writing-a-Response-or-Reaction-Paper
↑ http://education-portal.com/articles/Step-by-Step_Guide_to_Writing_a_Great_Reading_Response_Paper.html
↑ https://www.hunter.cuny.edu/rwc/handouts/the-writing-process-1/invention/Writing-a-Response-or-Reaction-Paper

About This Article

To write a reader response, develop a clear thesis statement and choose example passages from the text that support your thesis. Next, write an introduction paragraph that specifies the name of the text, the author, the subject matter, and your thesis. Then, include 3-4 paragraphs that discuss and analyze the text. Finish up with a conclusion paragraph that summarizes your arguments and brings the reader back to your thesis or main point! For tips on analyzing the text before writing your assignment, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Home » Education » How to Write a Reading Response

How to Write a Reading Response

What is a reading response.

A reading response is a task that asks you to examine, explain, and defend your personal response to a given work of literature. Many students find writing reading responses difficult because the responsibility of assigning meaning to a text lies with the writer of the response. Although reading response tasks may feel a bit vague or open ended, you can write a successful response by following a standard essay format. Here are some tips to write a reading response, a good reading response.

Read the Text Carefully

It is important to read the text fully and carefully before start to write a reading response. Take time to think what the text makes you feel; make notes so that you won’t forget this response later. Highlight or bookmark important parts of the text or write down their page numbers.

Think Carefully

Don’t start to write a reading response just after you’ve finished reading. Take the time to think carefully about the whole text and what it made you feel. Take down notes.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Do you like or dislike the text?
Do you agree or disagree with the writer?
Does the text clash with your personal views?
How does the text relate to you personally?
To what extent did the text challenge or change your opinions or beliefs?
Did you learn anything from the text? If so, what did you learn?

Make a Draft

Decide your stance.

A good essay always has a clear main argument or a thesis statement. If your teacher has given a specific central question, the thesis statement may be related to this question; if not, your main argument should be on the overall impression of the text.

Make an Outline

If you have been given a word limit or a page count, you may have to be especially careful about the structure of your essay. The reader response generally takes the format of an essay,

Format / Structure of Reader Response

Introduction.

Start your introduction with the name of the author and the full title of the work. Give a brief description of the text and explain what it is about. But, don’t try to summarise the story. Then, explain your main argument.

Divide your content into different points and address each point in different paragraphs. The number of body paragraphs in the essay can actually depend on the content of your reader response. You can use the questions you explored earlier to separate these paragraphs.

When you are writing about your reading, don’t just explain how you felt about the text – analyse why you felt it. Give examples from the text and from your real life. You can also use quotes from the text to make your answers more relevant.

In this section, summarise the argument you have made so far, and connect it to your thesis statement or main argument. The conclusion can be just one short paragraph.

Read your answer several times and make sure that there are no spelling or grammar errors.

About the Author: Hasa

Hasanthi is a seasoned content writer and editor with over 8 years of experience. Armed with a BA degree in English and a knack for digital marketing, she explores her passions for literature, history, culture, and food through her engaging and informative writing.

Essay Papers Writing Online

A comprehensive guide to writing a response essay that will help you ace your academic assignments.

Writing a response essay can be a challenging task, as it requires you to analyze a piece of literature, a movie, an article, or any other work and provide your personal reaction to it. This type of essay allows you to express your thoughts and feelings about the content you’re responding to, and it can help you develop critical thinking and analytical skills.

In order to craft a compelling response essay, you need to carefully read and understand the work you’re responding to, identify key themes and arguments, and formulate a clear and coherent response. This guide will provide you with tips and strategies to help you write an effective response essay that engages your readers and communicates your ideas effectively.

Key Elements of a Response Essay

A response essay typically includes the following key elements:

Introduction: Begin with a brief summary of the text you are responding to and your main thesis statement.
Summary: Provide a concise summary of the text, focusing on the key points and arguments.
Analysis: Analyze and evaluate the text, discussing its strengths, weaknesses, and the effectiveness of its arguments.
Evidence: Support your analysis with evidence from the text, including quotes and examples.
Personal Reaction: Share your personal reaction to the text, including your thoughts, feelings, and opinions.
Conclusion: Sum up your response and reiterate your thesis statement, emphasizing the significance of your analysis.

By incorporating these key elements into your response essay, you can effectively engage with the text and provide a thoughtful and well-supported response.

Understanding the Assignment

Before you start writing your response essay, it is crucial to thoroughly understand the assignment requirements. Read the prompt carefully and identify the main objectives of the assignment. Make sure you understand what the instructor expects from your response, whether it is a critical analysis of a text, a personal reflection, or a synthesis of different sources.

Pay attention to key elements such as:

The topic or subject matter
The purpose of the response
The audience you are addressing
The specific guidelines or formatting requirements

Clarifying any doubts about the assignment will help you focus your response and ensure that you meet all the necessary criteria for a successful essay.

Analyzing the Prompt

Before you start writing your response essay, it is crucial to thoroughly analyze the prompt provided. Understanding the prompt is essential for crafting a coherent and well-structured response that addresses the key points effectively. Here are some key steps to consider when analyzing the prompt:

Carefully read the prompt multiple times to fully grasp the main question or topic that needs to be addressed.
Identify the key words and phrases in the prompt that will guide your response and help you stay focused on the main theme.
Consider any specific instructions or requirements outlined in the prompt, such as the length of the essay, the format to be used, or the sources to be referenced.
Break down the prompt into smaller parts or components to ensure that you cover all aspects of the question in your response.
Clarify any terms or concepts in the prompt that are unclear to you, and make sure you have a solid understanding of what is being asked of you.

By analyzing the prompt carefully and methodically, you can ensure that your response essay is well-structured, focused, and directly addresses the main question or topic at hand.

Developing a Thesis Statement

One of the most critical aspects of writing a response essay is developing a clear and strong thesis statement. A thesis statement is a concise summary of the main point or claim of your essay. It sets the tone for your entire response and helps guide your reader through your arguments.

When developing your thesis statement, consider the following tips:

Remember, your thesis statement should be specific, focused, and debatable. It should also be located at the end of your introduction paragraph to ensure it captures the reader’s attention and sets the stage for the rest of your essay.

Structuring Your Response

When structuring your response essay, it’s essential to follow a clear and logical format. Start with an introduction that provides background information on the topic and presents your thesis statement. Then, organize your body paragraphs around key points or arguments that support your thesis. Make sure each paragraph focuses on a single idea and provides evidence to back it up.

After presenting your arguments, include a conclusion that summarizes your main points and reinforces your thesis. Remember to use transitions between paragraphs to ensure a smooth flow of ideas. Additionally, consider the overall coherence and cohesion of your response to make it engaging and easy to follow for the reader.

Main Body Paragraphs

When writing the main body paragraphs of your response essay, it’s essential to present your arguments clearly and logically. Each paragraph should focus on a separate point or idea related to the topic. Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the main idea, and then provide supporting evidence or examples to reinforce your argument.

Make sure to organize your paragraphs in a coherent and sequential manner, so that your essay flows smoothly and is easy for the reader to follow.
Use transition words and phrases, such as “furthermore,” “in addition,” or “on the other hand,” to connect your ideas and create a cohesive structure.
Cite sources and provide proper references to strengthen your arguments and demonstrate the credibility of your analysis.

Remember to analyze and evaluate the information you present in each paragraph, rather than simply summarizing it. Engage critically with the texts, articles, or sources you are referencing, and develop your own perspective or interpretation based on the evidence provided.

How to master the art of writing expository essays and captivate your audience, convenient and reliable source to purchase college essays online, step-by-step guide to crafting a powerful literary analysis essay, tips and techniques for crafting compelling narrative essays.

Writing a Reading Response

why you like or dislike the reading,
explain whether you agree or disagree with the author,
identify the reading’s purpose, and
critique the text.

Write as an Educated Adult

Criticize with examples, mention the title, author, main thesis, connect to the text.

What does the text have to do with you, personally, and with your life (past, present or future)? It is not acceptable to write that the text has NOTHING to do with you, since just about everything humans can write has to do in some way with every other human.
How much does the text agree or clash with your view of the world, and what you consider right and wrong? Use several quotes as examples of how it agrees with and supports what you think about the world, about right and wrong, and about what you think it is to be human. Use quotes and examples to discuss how the text disagrees with what you think about the world and about right and wrong.
What did you learn, and how much were your views and opinions challenged or changed by this text, if at all? Did the text communicate with you? Why or why not? Give examples of how your views might have changed or been strengthened (or perhaps, of why the text failed to convince you, the way it is). Please do not write “I agree with everything the author wrote,” since everybody disagrees about something, even if it is a tiny point. Use quotes to illustrate your points of challenge, or where you were persuaded, or where it left you cold.
How well does the text address things that you, personally, care about and consider important to the world? How does it address things that are important to your family, your community, your ethnic group, to people of your economic or social class or background, or your faith tradition? If not, who does or did the text serve? Did it pass the “Who cares?” test? Use quotes to illustrate.
What can you praise about the text? What problems did you have with it? Reading and writing “critically” does not mean the same thing as “criticizing,” in everyday language (complaining or griping, fault-finding, nit-picking). Your “critique” can and should be positive and praise the text if possible,as well as pointing out problems, disagreements and shortcomings.
How well did you enjoy the text (or not) as entertainment or as a work of art? Use quotes or examples to illustrate the quality of the text as art or entertainment. Of course, be aware that some texts are not meant to be entertainment or art: a news report or textbook, for instance, may be neither entertaining or artistic, but may still be important and successful.
To sum up, what is your overall reaction to the text? Would you read something else like this, or by this author, in the future or not? Why or why not? To whom would you recommend this text?
Writing a Reading Response. Authored by : Elisabeth Ellington and Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer. Provided by : Chadron State College. Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

24 How do I Write a Response Essay?

Pre-writing steps:

Read the essay prompt carefully.
Activate schema

Actively read the assigned article.

Analyze the article to determine the rhetorical situation.

Consider your own thoughts about the article.
Decide how you want to respond.

Conference #1

Structure your essay.

Outline the essay you want to write.

Draft a working thesis.

Drafting the essay:

Write a summary of the article as your introduction.

Write 3 or more body paragraphs in response to the article.

Review your draft so far.

Write the conclusion to summarize your thoughts.

Revising steps:

Peer review

Conference #2

Revise your essay.
Proofread your essay.

—————————————–

Read the essay prompt carefully

Highlight or note the important points
Ask questions for any part that isn’t clear to you.
Retrieve your assigned article.

Activate schema.

Skim and scan the article to identify the topic and the author(s). Look for subtitles and boldly printed words. Read the author’s bio which is often located at the beginning or at the end of the article. Identify the publication. Read the first sentence of each paragraph. Ask yourself, “Am I familiar with this topic?” This will help you to activate your schema.
identify the key points and ideas
make note of where you agree or disagree
highlight impactful sentences to quote the author later
paraphrase the author’s words
summarize the article
What is the message?
What is the context?
Who is the author?
What is the author’s purpose?
What is the structure of the text?
Who is the audience?

Consider your own thoughts about the author and their message.

What do I think about this topic?
Is this author trustworthy?
Is the article written to inform or persuade me?
If it is written to persuade, on which points do I agree or disagree?
Is the author biased?
Does the article have an objective or subjective tone?
What did I like or dislike about what the author has written in this article?
What made the most sense to me? What was confusing about this article?

Decide how to respond.

There are several ways in which to respond to an article. You may choose a type of response from the following list:

Before/After- Discuss your thoughts about this topic before you read the article, then explain what you learned from the article using evidence from the text.
Persuasion- Discuss which parts of the articles you found convincing and/or which parts of the article you did not find convincing.
Agreement or Disagreement- Discuss an idea that the author presented to which you agree or disagree. If there were two points of view that were presented, explain which one you agree with and explain why.
Affect- Explain the emotional effect that the article had on you. Explain why you responded that way including your own background and your own thoughts/ experiences.
Association- Share something from the article that is similar to your own experience. Or relate the information to a different article that you have read before this article.
Most students wait until they have a draft, but seriously, this is the best time to talk to a writing tutor about your project.
HCC has several options for free tutoring. Best choice: after class, drop in at the Composition and Learning Center (CLC) in Duncan Hall 210. This is staffed by current HCC English professors, and you can talk to one for 10-20 minutes about your assignment and your ideas for your topic, and what to include in your essay.
There are also drop-in tutors at the Learning Assistance Center (LAC) in RCF 340.
an introduction- a summary paragraph of the article
a response- 3 or more body paragraphs responding to the author
a conclusion- a concluding paragraph summing up your thoughts.

Outline the essay your want to write.

Use the structure of the response essay to determine the order of each paragraph. Gather your notes. Review the way you chose to respond. Write a main idea statement for each paragraph of your essay. Then, list (using bullet points) the details that you want to include under each main idea statement. You can also list relevant quotes from the article that support your ideas.
A thesis includes your topic and what you are going to say about this topic.
A thesis always has two parts: a topic AND something important about this topic that your essay is going to discuss.
A thesis is NEVER a question.
Use your notes and the rhetorical situation of the article to write a summary. Begin with an introductory sentence that introduces the publisher, author, topic, purpose, and the main idea of the article.
Next, write a few sentences to describe the key points the author made to support the main idea.
End your summary with your thesis.
During your pre-writing, you decided how you might want to respond to the article. Use your outline to draft your body paragraphs. Use your synthesis skills to corporate relevant quotes from the article into paragraphs to support your ideas.
Is your summary of the article concise, objective, and accurate?
Do your body paragraphs respond to the article?
Do you have a main idea for each of the body paragraphs?
Do the sentences in each paragraph support each main idea?
This question is extremely important. If you find that you did not respond to the article in the way you had originally planned, revise your thesis.
End your essay by summarizing the main points you shared in your body paragraphs.
A classmate; a friend; a relative: ask someone to read over your work. Note their questions as they read.
At the very least, read your essay aloud to yourself, stopping when you get tripped up in words or sentences. Consider how to make these rough spots easier to read.
Schedule a conference with your instructor, or drop in on their student/office hours, or send them a Zoom request to talk about any questions you have about your draft.
You can also drop in at the CLC in DH210 or LAC in RCF 340 to have a conference with a tutor.

Revise your essay

Look at your outline: have you forgotten anything?
Do a paragraph outline of just main idea sentences for each paragraph: you’ll have a 5-7 sentence summary of your whole essay.

Proofread your essay

take on an objective tone?
introduce the article properly?
capture the main point of the article?
respond to the article?
capture your thoughts and opinions?
begin with a main idea statement followed by detail?
include quotes from the article?
concisely review your thoughts about the article?
Major grammar errors include run-on sentences, comma splices, and sentence fragments.
You are responsible for running Grammarly or another grammar/spellcheck before your essay is submitted.
Your instructors want to focus on improving your WRITING—not technical errors that machines can catch easily.
Use Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines for formatting your academic essay and for any in-text citations or a Works Cited page.

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How to Write a Response Paper

Writing Essays
Writing Research Papers
English Grammar
M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
B.A., History, Armstrong State University

Most of the time when you are tasked with an essay about a book or article you've read for a class, you will be expected to write in a professional and impersonal voice. But the regular rules change a bit when you write a response paper.

A response (or reaction) paper differs from the formal review primarily in that it is written in the first person . Unlike in more formal writing, the use of phrases like "I thought" and "I believe" is encouraged in a response paper.

You'll still have a thesis and will need to back up your opinion with evidence from the work, but this type of paper spotlights your individual reaction as a reader or viewer.

Read and Respond

Grace Fleming

For a response paper, you still need to write a formal assessment of the work you're observing (this could be anything created, such as a film, a work of art, a piece of music, a speech, a marketing campaign, or a written work), but you will also add your own personal reaction and impressions to the report.

The steps for completing a reaction or response paper are:

Observe or read the piece for an initial understanding.
Mark interesting pages with a sticky flag or take notes on the piece to capture your first impressions.
Reread the marked pieces and your notes and stop to reflect often.
Record your thoughts.
Develop a thesis.
Write an outline.
Construct your essay.

It may be helpful to imagine yourself watching a movie review as you're preparing your outline. You will use the same framework for your response paper: a summary of the work with several of your own thoughts and assessments mixed in.

The First Paragraph

After you have established an outline for your paper, you need to craft the first draft of the essay using all the basic elements found in any strong paper, including a strong introductory sentence .

In the case of a reaction essay, the first sentence should contain both the title of the work to which you are responding and the name of the author.

The last sentence of your introductory paragraph should contain a thesis statement . That statement will make your overall opinion very clear.

Stating Your Opinion

There's no need to feel shy about expressing your own opinion in a position paper, even though it may seem strange to write "I feel" or "I believe" in an essay.

In the sample here, the writer analyzes and compares the plays but also manages to express personal reactions. There's a balance struck between discussing and critiquing the work (and its successful or unsuccessful execution) and expressing a reaction to it.

Sample Statements

When writing a response essay, you can include statements like the following:

I felt that
In my opinion
The reader can conclude that
The author seems to
I did not like
This aspect didn't work for me because
The images seemed to
The author was [was not] successful in making me feel
I was especially moved by
I didn't understand the connection between
It was clear that the artist was trying to
The soundtrack seemed too
My favorite part was...because

Tip : A common mistake in personal essays it to resort to insulting comments with no clear explanation or analysis. It's OK to critique the work you are responding to, but you still need to back up your feelings, thoughts, opinions, and reactions with concrete evidence and examples from the work. What prompted the reaction in you, how, and why? What didn't reach you and why?

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How to Write a Response Paper: Outline, Steps & Examples

Table of contents

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Response essays are a frequent assignment in many academic courses. Professors often ask students to share their thoughts and feelings about a variety of materials, such as books, articles, films, songs, or poems. To write an effective response paper, you should follow a specific structure to ensure that your ideas are well-organized and presented in a logical manner.

In this blog post, we will explore how to write a good outline and how it is used to develop a quality reaction essay. You will also come across a response paper example to help you better understand steps involved in writing a response essay. Continue reading to explore writing tips from professional paper writers that you can use to improve your skills.

What Is a Response Paper?

It is vital to understand the meaning of a response essay before you start writing. Often, learners confuse this type of academic work with reviews of books, articles, events, or movies, which is not correct, although they seem similar. A response paper gives you a platform to express your point of view, feelings, and understanding of a given subject or idea through writing. Unlike other review works, you are also required to give your idea, vision, and values contained in literal materials. In other words, while a response paper is written in a subjective way, a review paper is written in a more objective manner. A good reaction paper links the idea in discussion with your personal opinion or experience. Response essays are written to express your deep reflections on materials, what you have understood, and how the author's work has impacted you.

Purpose of a Response Essay

Understanding reasons for writing a reaction paper will help you prepare better work. The purpose of a response essay will be:

To summarize author's primary ideas and opinions: you need to give a summary of materials and messages the author wants you to understand.
Providing a reflection on the subject: as a writer, you also need to express how you relate to authors' ideas and positions.
To express how the subject affects your personal life: when writing a response paper, you are also required to provide your personal outcome and lesson learned from interacting with the material.

Response Essay Outline

You should adhere to a specific response paper outline when working on an essay. Following a recommended format ensures that you have a smooth flow of ideas. A good response paper template will make it easier for a reader to separate your point of view from author's opinion. The essay is often divided into these sections: introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs. Below is an example of a response essay outline template:

Briefly introduce the topic of the response paper
State your thesis statement or main argument
Provide a brief summary of the source material you are responding to
Include key details or arguments from the source
Analyze the source material and identify strengths and weaknesses
Evaluate the author's arguments and evidence
Provide your own perspective on the source material
Respond to the source material and critique its arguments
Offer your own ideas and counterarguments
Support your response with evidence and examples
Summarize your main points and restate your thesis
Provide final thoughts on the source material and its implications
Offer suggestions for further research or inquiry

Example of an outline for a response paper on the movie

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Response Paper Introduction

The success of response papers is partly dependent on how well you write the introductory paragraph. As with any academic paper, the introduction paragraph welcomes targeted readers and states the primary idea. Below is a guideline on how to start a response essay:

Provide a compelling hook to capture the attention of your target audience.
Provide background information about the material, including the name and author of the work.
Provide a brief summary of main points to bring readers who are unfamiliar with the work up to task and enable them to follow up on your subsequent analysis.
Write a thesis statement at the end of your introductory paragraph to inform readers about the purpose and argument you are trying to relay.

Response Essay Thesis Statement

A thesis statement summarizes a paper's content within a sentence or two. A response essay thesis statement is not any different! The final sentence of the introductory paragraph of a reaction paper should give readers an idea of the message that will be discussed in your paper. Do you know how to write a thesis statement for a response essay? If you follow the steps below, you should be able to write one:

Review the material you are responding to, and pinpoint main points expressed by authors.
Determine points of view or opinions you are going to discuss in the essay.
Develop your thesis statement. It should express a summary of what will be covered in your reaction. The sentence should also consider logical flow of ideas in your writing.
Thesis statement should be easy to spot. You should preferably place it at the end of your introductory paragraph.

Response Paper Body Paragraph

In most instances, the body section has between 1 and 3 paragraphs or more. You should first provide a summary of the article, book, or any other literature work you are responding to. To write a response essay body paragraph that will capture the attention of readers, you must begin by providing key ideas presented in the story from the authors' point of view. In the subsequent paragraph, you should tell your audience whether you agree or disagree with these ideas as presented in the text. In the final section, you should provide an in-depth explanation of your stand and discuss various impacts of the material.

Response Paper Conclusion

In this section of a response paper, you should provide a summary of your ideas. You may provide key takeaways from your thoughts and pinpoint meaningful parts of the response. Like any other academic work, you wind up your response essay writing by giving a summary of what was discussed throughout the paper. You should avoid introducing new evidence, ideas, or repeat contents that are included in body paragraphs in the conclusion section. After stating your final points, lessons learned, and how the work inspires you, you can wrap it up with your thesis statement.

How to Write a Response Paper?

In this section, we will provide you with tips on how to write a good response paper. To prepare a powerful reaction essay, you need to consider a two-step approach. First, you must read and analyze original sources properly. Subsequently, you also need to organize and plan the essay writing part effectively to be able to produce good reaction work. Various steps are outlined and discussed below to help you better understand how to write a response essay.

1. Pick a Topic for Your Response Essay

Picking a topic for response essay topics can be affected either by the scope of your assignment as provided by your college professor or by your preference. Irrespective of your reason, the guideline below should help you brainstorm topic ideas for your reaction:

Start from your paper's end goal: consider what outcomes you wish to attain from writing your reaction.
Prepare a list of all potential ideas that can help you attain your preferred result.
Sort out topics that interest you from your list.
Critique your final list and settle on a topic that will be comfortable to work on.

Below are some examples of good topics for response essay to get you started:

Analyzing ideas in an article about effects of body shaming on mental health .
Reaction paper on new theories in today's business environment.
Movies I can watch again and again.
A response essay on a documentary.
Did the 9/11 terror attacks contribute to issues of religious intolerance?

2. Plan Your Thoughts and Reactions

To better plan your thoughts and reactions, you need to read the original material thoroughly to understand messages contained therein. You must understand author's line of thinking, beliefs, and values to be able to react to their content. Next, note down ideas and aspects that are important and draw any strong reactions. Think through these ideas and record potential sequences they will take in your response paper. You should also support your opinions and reactions with quotes and texts from credible sources. This will help you write a response essay for the college level that will stand out.

3. Write a Detailed Response Paper Outline

Preparing a detailed response paper outline will exponentially improve the outcome of your writing. An essay outline will act as a benchmark that will guide you when working on each section of the paper. Sorting your ideas into sections will not only help you attain a better flow of communication in your responsive essay but also simplify your writing process. You are encouraged to adopt the standard response essay outline provided in the sample above. By splitting your paper into introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs, you will be able to effectively introduce your readers to ideas that will be discussed and separate your thoughts from authors' messages.

4. Write a Material Summary

For your audience to understand your reaction to certain materials, you should at first provide a brief summary of authors' points of view. This short overview should include author's name and work title. When writing a response essay, you should dedicate a section to give an informative summary that clearly details primary points and vital supporting arguments. You must thoroughly understand the literature to be able to complete this section. For important ideas, you can add direct quotes from the original sources in question. Writers may sometimes make a mistake of summarizing general ideas by providing detailed information about every single aspect of the material. Instead of addressing all ideas in detail, focus on key aspects. Although you rely on your personal opinion and experience to write a response paper, you must remain objective and factual in this section. Your subjective opinion will take center stage in the personal reaction part of the essay.

Example of a Response Summary

Below is a sample summary response essays example to help you better understand how to write one. A Summary of The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

5. Share Your Reaction

After summarizing the original material, the second part of a response paper involves writing your opinion about author’s point of view. After a thorough review of the material, you should be able to express your perspective on the subject. In this section, you are expected to detail how the material made you feel and how it relates to your personal life, experience, and values. Within the short response essay, you may also be required to state whether you agree or disagree with author's line of thinking. How does the material relate to current issues, or in what way does it impact your understanding of a given subject? Does it change your opinion on the subject in any way? Your reaction should answer these questions. In addition, you may also be required to outline potential advantages and shortcomings of the material in your reaction. Finally, you should also indicate whether or not you would endorse the literal work to others.

Reaction in Response Body Paragraph Example

Below is a reaction in a response essay body paragraph sample to help you improve your skills in writing the response body paragraph: Reaction Paragraph Example

6. Conclude Your Response Essay

Do you know how to write a response paper conclusion? It should be the icing on the cake. Irrespective of how good previous sections were, your reaction essay will not be considered to be exceptional if you fail to provide a sum up of your reaction, ideas, and arguments in the right manner. When writing a response essay conclusion , you should strive to summarize the outcome of your thoughts. After stating your final point, tell readers what you have learned and how that material inspired or impacted you. You can also explain how your perspective and the author's point of view intertwine with each other. Never introduce new ideas in the conclusion paragraph. Presenting new points will not only disrupt the flow of ideas in the paper but also confuse your readers because you may be unable to explain them comprehensively. You are also expected to link up your discussions with the thesis statement. In other words, concluding comments and observations need to incorporate the reaffirmation of the thesis statement.

Example of Response Paper Conclusion

You can use the responsive essay conclusion sample below as a benchmark to guide you in writing your concluding remarks: Conclusion Example

Proofread Your Response Paper

It is important to proofread your response paper before submitting it for examination. Has your essay met all instructional requirements? Have you corrected every grammatical error in your paper? These are common questions you should be asking yourself. Proofreading your work will ensure that you have eliminated mistakes made when working on your academic work. Besides, you also get the opportunity to improve your logical flow of ideas in your paper by proofreading. If you review your work thoroughly before submitting it for marking, you are more likely to score more marks! Use our Paper Rater , it is a tool that can help you pinpoint errors, which makes going through your work even simpler.

Response Essay Examples

If you have never written this type of academic paper before, responsive essay examples should help you grasp the primary concepts better. These response paper samples not only help you to familiarize yourself with paper's features but also help you to get an idea of how you should tackle such an assignment. Review at least one written response essay example from the compilation below to give you the confidence to tackle a reaction paper. Response essay example: Book

Response paper example: Poem

Response paper sample: Movie

Example of a response paper: Article

Sample response essay: Issue

Response Paper Format

It is important to follow a recommended response essay format in order to adhere to academic writing standards needed for your assignment. Formats depend on your institution or the discipline. A reaction paper can be written in many different academic writing styles, including APA, MLA, and Chicago, with each demanding a slightly different format. The outlook of the paper and referencing varies from one writing style to another. Despite the format for a response paper, you must include introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs.

Response Essay Writing Tips

Below are some of the best tips you can use to improve your response papers writing skills:

Review your assignment instructions and clarify any inquiries before you start a response paper.
Once you have selected topics for response essay, reviewed your original materials, and came up with your thesis statement, use topic sentences to facilitate logical flow in your paper.
Always ensure that you format your work as per the standard structure to ensure that you adhere to set academic requirements. Depending on the academic writing style you will be using, ensure that you have done your in-text citation as per the paper format.
If you have never worked on this kind of academic paper, you should review examples and samples to help you familiarize yourself with this type of work. You should, however, never plagiarize your work.
You can use a first-person perspective to better stress your opinion or feelings about a subject. This tip is particularly crucial for reaction part of your work.
Finally, before submitting your work, proofread your work.

Bottom Line on Response Paper Writing

As discussed in this blog post, preparing a response paper follows a two-step approach. To successfully work on these sections, you need to plan properly to ensure a smooth transition from the reading and analyzing the original material to writing your reaction. In addition, you can review previous works to improve your writing skills. So, what is a response essay that will immediately capture the attention of your instructor? Well, it should have a captivating introduction, evidence backed reaction, and a powerful conclusion. If you follow various tips outlined above and sum up your work with thorough proofreading, there is no chance that you can fail this type of assignment.

Order a response essay from our academic writing platform! Send us a ‘ write my college paper ’ message and our experienced writers will provide you with a top-notch essay according to your instructions.

FAQ About Response Paper

1. how long is a short response essay.

The length of a short response essay varies depending on topic and your familiarity with the subject. Depending on how long original sources are and how many responsive points you have, your reaction paper can range from a single paragraph of 150-400 words to multiple paragraphs of 250-500 words.

2. How to start a response body paragraph?

Use an argumentative topic sentence to start your responsive paper paragraph. Failing to begin a paragraph with an elaborate topic sentence will confuse your readers. Topic sentences give readers an idea of what is being discussed in the section. Write a responsive body paragraph for every new idea you add.

3. Is reaction paper similar to a response paper?

Yes. Reaction papers and response essays are used interchangeably. Responsive essays analyze author's point of view and compare them with your personal perspective. This type of academic writing gives you freedom to share your feelings and opinion about an idea. People also discuss how ideas, concepts, and literature material influence them in a response paper.

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

12 What Is Reader Response?

Reader response criticism is a literary theory that focuses on the individual reader’s experience and interpretation of a text. It asserts that the meaning of a text is not fixed and objective but rather subjective and dependent on the reader’s interpretation and response to it.

According to this theory, readers bring their own experiences, values, and beliefs to the text, which shape their understanding and response to it. This means that each reader’s interpretation of a text is unique and can vary depending on factors such as their cultural background, personal experiences, and emotional state. We call this subjective reader response.

Reader response theory originated in the 1960s and 1970s as a reaction to the dominant New Criticism approach, which focused on the text itself rather than the reader’s response to it. Proponents of reader response theory argue that by emphasizing the role of the reader in shaping meaning, this approach offers a more democratic and inclusive view of literature.

Reader response theory can be applied to any genre of literature, from poetry to novels to plays. It is often used in conjunction with other approaches to literary analysis, such as feminist or psychological criticism, to explore the ways in which a text can be interpreted and experienced by different readers. When we consider how the implied reader might read a text, we are thinking about reader responses that might be different from our own. Steven Lynn notes in Texts and Contexts: “For people who rejoice in the diversity of experiences and responses and opinions, reader-response criticism will be especially interesting, not only because of our different orientations and abilities, but also because of the different ways that we partition and perceive our experiences” (p. 86).

Prominent practitioners of reader response criticism include Louise Rosenblatt, David Bleich, Stanley Fish, and Wolfgang Iser .

Learning Objectives

Become familiar with a variety of approaches to texts, in the form of literary theories (CLO 1.1)
Use a variety of approaches to texts to support interpretations (CLO 1.2)
Understand how formal elements in literary texts create meaning within the context of culture and literary discourse. (CLO 2.1)
Understand how context impacts the reading of a text, and how different contexts can bring about different readings (CLO 4.3)
Demonstrate through discussion and/or writing how textual interpretation can change given the context from which one reads (CLO 6.2)
Discuss the significance and impact of multiple perspectives on a given text (CLO 7.3)

An Excerpt from Reader Response Scholarship

Read the following excerpt from Louise Rosenblatt’s 1978 book, The Reader, the Text, and the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work. before proceeding with this chapter. (The entire book can be read at the Internet Archive )

Critics and literary theorists, who have traditionally lavished attention on authors and texts, have only recently begun to consider the reader. A few have reacted to the point of insisting on the predominance of the reader’s personality. Others focus on the readers response—but to the literary work of art still assumed to exist “out there” in the text. What, in fact does the reader respond to? What does he interpret? Such questions lead me in the following pages to discriminate between the reader’s activities in “efferent” and in “aesthetic reading.” This cardinal distinction generates new light on the multidimensional process of evoking a poem and on the dynamic “mode of existence” of the literary work of art. Analysis of both the openness, and the constraint offered by the text clarifies its complex role in the transaction with the reader. The theoretical foundation is thus laid for dealing with such persistent and controversial problems as validity in interpretation, criteria of evaluation, and the relation between literary criticism and other disciplines…. As early as 1938, I wrote: “There is no such thing as a generic reader or a generic literary work…. The reading of any work of literature is, of necessity, an individual and unique occurrence involving the mind and emotions of a particular reader….” The transactional approach is listed the challenges and has incorporated the sustenance brought by the intervening years. During World War II, for example, when I found myself associate chief of the Western European Section of the Bureau of Overseas Intelligence (OWI), the problem of eliciting meaning from texts took the form of propaganda analysis and the derivation of economic, social, and political information from the Nazi-dominated media. As a result, I became keenly aware of the differences between “intuitive reading” and such techniques as content analysis; this contrast had repercussions in my later thinking about critical method and critical theory….Ironically, since I was not caught in the pendulum swing disillusionment with the New Critics, the transactional theory expounded here repudiates recent efforts to make the reader all important…. (Rosenblatt ix-xiii) The long history of the theory of literature, from Plato to the present, records certain well-known shifts of emphasis. In surveying these changes, I find it helpful to visualize a little scene: on a darkened stage I see the figures of the author and the reader, with the book—the text of the poem or play or novel—between them. The spotlight focusses on one of them so brightly that the others fade into practical invisibility. Throughout the centuries, it has become apparent, usually either the book or the author has received major illumination. The reader has tended to remain in shadow, taken for granted, to all intents and purposes invisible. Like Ralph Ellison’s hero, the reader might say, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” Here or there a theoretician may start to take him seriously, and the spotlight may seem from time to time to hover over him, but actually he has never for long held the center of attention…. As we survey the field of literary theory, then, the reader is often mentioned, but is not given the center of the stage. The reason is simple; the reader is usually cast as a passive recipient, whether for good or ill, of the impact of the work. He is still, in a sense, invisible, even when he is treated as a member of something referred to under such collective rubrics as “the audience” or “the reading public.” Thus readers are viewed mainly en masse, as in studies of Shakespeare’s audience or accounts of the emergence of the middle-class reading public in the eighteenth century, or analysis of categories of fiction, and their respective types of readers in the twentieth century. The individual reader has seldom been acknowledged as carrying on his own special and peculiar activities. There is a great difference between the concept of the reader as a passive “audience” and the kind of visibility that I claim for the reader. Within the past few years, the spotlight has started to move in the direction of the reader. Sometimes the reaction has been more against the socio-political implications of the New Criticism than against its aesthetic theory. Sometimes the rehabilitation of the reader takes the form of a rather extreme subjectivism or Freudianism. Thus, some preoccupied with the author’s text, have seen the reader as a tabula rasa, receiving the imprint of “the poem.” Others, in reaction, see the text is empty, awaiting the content brought by the reader. Rejecting both of these extremes, the discussion that follows begins with readers encountering a text and proceeds to meet the basic questions that flow from this event. The purpose will be to admit into the limelight the whole scene— author, text, and reader. We shall be especially concerned with the member of the cast his hitherto been neglected—the reader. (Rosenblatt 1-5).

Subjective Reader Response: A Tool to Use with Many Types of Analysis

Subjective reader response puts you—the reader—in the spotlight. This critical approach emphasizes the role of the reader in creating meaning, arguing that meaning is not inherent in the text but is rather constructed by the reader through their own experiences, beliefs, and emotions. In subjective reader response, the reader’s personal interpretation and reaction to a text is just as important as the author’s intention or the formal qualities of the text itself. Subjective reader response is a process of engaging with a literary text in a personal and individual way, allowing your own experiences, emotions, and beliefs to shape your interpretation of the text.

To engage in subjective reader response, you can follow these steps:

Read the text: Begin by reading the text closely, paying attention to the language, structure, and themes. This should feel familiar from your experiences with New Criticism.
Reflect on your own experiences: Think about how your own experiences and emotions relate to the themes and characters in the text. Consider how the text makes you feel and what thoughts or memories it evokes.
Respond to the text: Write down your thoughts and reactions to the text, either in a journal or as annotations in the margins of the text itself. Consider how your interpretation differs from or aligns with traditional interpretations of the text.
Consider how your response might differ from others’ responses. Share your responses with others and engage in discussion and debate about the different interpretations and perspectives that the text can generate.
Reflect on the process : Reflect on how your personal experiences and emotions influenced your interpretation of the text and consider how this approach differs from other approaches to literary analysis.

Overall, subjective reader response is a highly personal and subjective approach to literary analysis that emphasizes the importance of individual experience and perspective in the process of interpreting and analyzing literature. We will continue to use this tool as we interact with texts throughout the semester. From now on, as you read a text, consider your own response to that text. What role do you as a reader play in the creation of the text’s meaning?

Receptive Reader Response: The Implied Reader

The implied reader is a term used in reader response criticism to refer to the hypothetical reader that a literary text addresses and assumes. This implied reader is not an actual person, but rather a constructed persona created by the text itself. The implied reader is the reader that the text expects and anticipates, and this reader is shaped by the text’s style, tone, language, and themes. The implied reader is not necessarily the same as the actual reader who reads the text, but instead represents the ideal reader who will respond to the text in the way that the author intended. The concept of the implied reader emphasizes the importance of the reader in the process of literary interpretation and analysis, and it highlights the ways in which texts shape and influence the expectations and responses of their readers.

When practicing receptive reader response, the reader tries to put aside their preconceptions and expectations and to enter into a state of empathetic engagement with the text. The receptive reader is attuned to the language, tone, and style of the text and tries to understand the text on its own terms, rather than imposing their own perspective or interpretation onto it. Receptive reader response emphasizes the importance of the reader’s emotional and affective response to the text, as well as their cognitive and intellectual engagement. This approach to reading acknowledges the complexity and diversity of responses that a single text can generate and emphasizes the importance of individual subjectivity and interpretation in the process of literary analysis.

Some forms of receptive response to texts consider the responses of individual demographic groups. For example, see Catherine Broadwell’s poem “Dear Phantom Children” in “Practicing Reader Response. ” How might Millennials read this poem differently than Boomers or Generation Z? Would women read this poem differently from men? What about a religious person compared with a nonreligious person? Each of these are examples of specific receptive readers. A scholar might consider how a particular group would respond to the text and also examine whether that group’s response would be different from the text’s implied reader response.

Applying Subjective and Receptive Reader Response Techniques to Literature

As Louise Rosenblatt noted above, putting the spotlight on the reader does not necessarily mean that anything goes in terms of our approach to texts. As with New Criticism, we still need evidence from the text to support our argument, but with subjective reader response, we will also use evidence from how the text affects us to consider its meaning. With receptive reader response, we’ll keep our own reactions in mind, but we will also consider ways that our personal reading of the text might differ from the text’s expected reader. This requires you to come up with some sort of implied reader. For whom was this text written? What would that person expect or anticipate from the text? Start with a close reading of the text, just like we practiced in our previous section. But this time, in addition to looking at the poem’s formal elements, pay attention to your reaction to the text.

What an Indian Thought When He Saw a Comet

By Tso-le-oh-woh

Flaming wonderer! that dost leave vaunting, proud Ambition boasting its lightning fringed Immensity—cleaving wings, gaudy dipp’d In sunset’s blossoming splendors bright and Tinsel fire, with puny flight fluttering Far behind! Thou that art cloth’d in mistery More startling and more glorious than thine own Encircling fires—profound as the oceans Of shoreless space through which now thou flyest! Art thou some erring world now deep engulph’d In hellish, Judgement fires, with phrenzied ire And fury hot, like some dread sky rocket Of Eternity, flaming, vast, plunging Thro’ immensity, scatt’ring in thy track The wrathful fires of thine own damnation Or wingest thou with direful speed, the ear Of some flaming god of far off systems Within these skies unheard of and unknown? Ye Gods! How proud the thought to mount this orb Of fire—boom thro’ the breathless oceans vast Of big immensity—quickly leaving Far behind all that for long ages gone Dull, gray headed dames have prated of— Travel far off mystic eternities— Then proudly, on this little twisting ball Returning once more set foot, glowing with The splendors of a vast intelligence— Frizzling little, puny humanity Into icy horrors—bursting the big Wide-spread eyeball of dismay—to recount Direful regions travers’d and wonders seen! Why I’d be as great a man as Fremont Who cross’d the Rocky Mountains, didn’t freeze And’s got a gold mine!

Cherokee poet Tso-Le-Oh-Woh, also spelled Tsoo-le-oh-wah published this poem in The Cherokee Advocate shortly after the Klinkerfues comet passed through the skies in 1853. We know little of his life beyond this poem.

Here are some questions to consider as you analyze the poem using subjective reader response:

How does the poem’s vivid and imaginative language impact your emotional response to the comet described in the poem? Do the descriptions evoke feelings of awe, wonder, or fear? How does your emotional response influence your interpretation of the poem’s themes?
The poem seems to explore the idea of perspective and the contrast between the vastness of the universe and the insignificance of humanity. How does the speaker’s perspective on the comet change throughout the poem? How does your own perspective as a reader affect your understanding of the poem’s message about the relationship between humanity and the cosmos?
The poem mentions the concept of “vast intelligence” and the idea of experiencing “wonders seen.” How do these notions of intelligence and wonder connect with your personal beliefs or experiences? Do they resonate with your own sense of curiosity and exploration, or do they challenge your perspective in any way?
The poem references historical figures like Fremont and alludes to exploration and discovery. How do these references to real-world events and individuals influence your interpretation of the poem’s themes? Do they make the poem more relatable or provide a historical context for the speaker’s thoughts?
The poem combines elements of both admiration and potential dread regarding the comet’s significance. How does this duality in the speaker’s attitude toward the comet resonate with your own complex emotions when encountering the unknown or the extraordinary? How does your personal background and cultural context shape your response to the poem’s portrayal of this celestial event?

Note: Make sure to support your analysis with specific textual evidence from the poem to support your response. Use line numbers to refer to specific parts of the text.

After completing your subjective reader response, you’ll want to come up with a thesis statement that you can support with the evidence you’ve found.

Example of subjective reader response thesis statement: Reading “What an Indian Thought When He Saw a Comet” by Tso-le-oh-woh, I feel connected to our nation’s past through a common experience of celestial wonder as I recall how the 2017 total solar eclipse influenced me. This common experience of wonder can serve to unite us in our humanity.

With receptive reader response, we will want to think about the audience for this poem when it was published in 1853. Would they have expected a poem like this from a Native American poet? How would the audience have thought about the comet of 1853? Consider how two different audiences–Cherokee Nation members and American settlers of European descent–might read this poem in different ways. Do both audiences have the same expected response to the poem?

Here are some receptive reader response questions to consider:

How might the poem have been received by Indigenous communities or individuals who were familiar with the cultural and spiritual significance of celestial events in their own traditions? How would their prior beliefs and experiences have influenced their reading of the poem?
Considering the historical context of the poem’s publication (late 19th or early 20th century), how might readers from various backgrounds have perceived the poem’s references to exploration and figures like Fremont? Would readers with an interest in or firsthand experience of westward expansion and frontier exploration have a different perspective on these references?
Given the poem’s references to intelligence and wonders seen, how might readers from diverse intellectual and educational backgrounds of that era have responded to the poem? Would scholars, scientists, and those with a more formal education have engaged with it differently than individuals with limited access to formal education?
How might religious communities and clergy members from the time period have interpreted the poem’s references to religious imagery and the potential connection between the comet and divine forces? Would different religious denominations have varying interpretations or responses to the poem?
Considering the historical and sociopolitical context of the poem’s era, how might readers who were influenced by ideas of American exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny have perceived the poem’s exploration themes? Would they have viewed it as a celebration of American exploration and expansion or as a critique of these ideas?

Example of receptive reader response thesis statement: In the poem “What an Indian Thought When He Saw a Comet” by Tso-le-oh-woh, the celestial event serves as a prism through which Indigenous communities of the late 19th and early 20th centuries would have interpreted themes of cosmic interconnectedness, the clash of cultural worldviews, and the implications of encountering the unknown, offering insights into their unique perspectives rooted in spiritual beliefs and historical experiences.

Limitations of Reader Response Criticism

The most obvious criticism leveled at reader response criticism is its complete opposition to the goals of New Criticism. If we center the reader, does this mean that any interpretation of a text is a correct one? Literary scholars such as Rosenblatt and Iser strive to overcome this criticism by emphasizing that rigor is still required in analyzing texts. We don’t completely abandon the tools of New Criticism when we do reader response. Instead, we augment these interpretations by understanding that a text’s meaning is shared, a joint creation of both the author and the reader.

In some cases, the reader’s interpretation may overshadow other aspects of a literary work, such as its formal qualities, language, structure, and historical significance. This may result in a narrow analysis that neglects important aspects of the text. When you do your own reader response, start with a close reading, and continue to notice the formal elements that support your reading. It’s also important to identify and consider the role of personal bias when approaching a text.

In general, while reader response theory offers valuable insights into the role of the reader in interpreting literature, its subjectivity and emphasis on individual responses can limit its applicability and objectivity in certain analytical contexts. Researchers and critics often combine reader response insights with other critical approaches to provide a more comprehensive understanding of literary texts. We tend to see more receptive than subjective reader response publications from scholars.

Reader Response Scholars

These are some influential practitioners of reader response theory.

Bleich, David. Readings and Feelings: An Introduction to Subjective Criticism . (1975).
Fish, Stanley. Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretative Communities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP (1980).
Iser, Wolfgang. The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett. (1978).
Rosenblatt, Louise. The Reader, the Text, and the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1978.

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How to Write a Reaction Paper or Reader Response. (A Quick Introduction to Reading and Writing Critically) Analyze the text as an individual reader. This process is as much about YOU as it is about the text you are responding to. As a scholar you stand in judgment over the text. Critical reading: [from the ENGL 0310 Syllabus] "A reader response asks the reader [you] to examine, explain and defend her/his personal reaction to a reading. You will be asked to explore why you like or dislike the reading, explain whether you agree or disagree with the author, identify the reading's purpose, and critique the text. There is no right or wrong answer to a reader response. Nonetheless, it is important that you demonstrate an understanding of the reading and clearly explain and support your reactions. " DO NOT use the standard high school-level approach of just writing: "I liked this book (or article or document or movie) because it is so cool and the ending made me feel happy," or "I hated it because it was stupid, and had nothing at all to do with my life, and was too negative and boring." In writing a response you may assume the reader has already read the text. Thus, do NOT summarize the contents of the text at length . Instead, take a systematic, analytical approach to the text. ---First of all, be sure to mention the title of the work to which you are responding, the author , and the main thesis of the text, using correct English for the first sentence of your paper! Then, try to answer ALL of the questions below. a. What does the text have to do with you, personally , and with your life (past, present or future)? It is not acceptable to write that the text has NOTHING to do with you, since just about everything humans can write has to do in some way with every other human. b. How much does the text agree or clash with your view of the world, and what you consider right and wrong? Use several quotes as examples of how it agrees with and supports what you think about the world, about right and wrong, and about what you think it is to be human. Use quotes and examples to discuss how the text disagrees with what you think about the world and about right and wrong. c How did you learn, and how much were your views and opinions challenged or changed by this text, if at all? Did the text communicate with you? Why or why not? Give examples of how your views might have changed or been strengthened (or perhaps, of why the text failed to convince you, the way it is). Please do not write "I agree with everything the author wrote," since everybody disagrees about something, even if it is a tiny point. Use quotes to illustrate your points of challenge, or where you were persuaded, or where it left you cold. d. How well does it address things that you, personally, care about and consider important to the world? How does it address things that are important to your family, your community, your ethnic group, to people of your economic or social class or background, or your faith tradition? If not, who does or did the text serve? Did it pass the "Who cares?" test? Use quotes to illustrate. e. Critique the text. Reading and writing "critically" does not mean the same thing as "criticizing," in everyday language (complaining or griping, fault-finding, nit-picking). Your "critique" can and should be positive and praise the text if possible, as well as pointing out problems, disagreements and shortcomings. f. How well did you enjoy the text (or not) as entertainment or as a work of art? Use quotes or examples to illustrate the quality of the text as art or entertainment. Of course, be aware that some texts are not meant to be entertainment or art--a news report or textbook, for instance, may be neither entertaining or artistic, but may still be important and successful. g. To sum up, what is your overall reaction to the text? Would you read something else like this, or by this author, in the future or not? Why or why not? To whom would you recommend this text? An important tip from the UTEP History Tutoring Center: Your first draft is just that, and you should expect to re-write your work several times before you consider it completed. This means you should start your writing project in advance of the due date, in order to allow yourself enough time to revise your work. Ask someone else to read your draft(s) and write their comments and suggestions on how you might improve the work directly on your drafts.

Tips from UTEP History Prof. I.V. Montelongo: The goal is to present a coherent essay with a clear argument. ...[Y]ou should state your general argument (your thesis) in an introductory paragraph and then use the rest of the essay to support your position, making sure that you deal carefully with each of the issues the questions raise somewhere in the paper. 1.) You don�t need to use footnotes. When quoting or citing from the documents or your textbook, simply put author and page numbers in parenthesis. Ex. (Gorn, 52) or (Jones, 167). There is absolutely no need to refer to other, outside sources for this assignment�this is a critical essay, not a research paper... 2.) Be very careful to avoid plagiarism. Do not use words or ideas from the internet, from any publication, or from the work of another student without citing the source. Also, if you use more than three words in a row from any source, including the document you�re writing about, those words must be enclosed in quotation marks. 3.) Please just staple your papers in the upper left hand corner. You may use a title page if you like, but please avoid plastic covers. [ However, in English 0310 use no title page, and do not staple! O.W .] 4.) Your essay should be based primarily on evidence drawn from a close, careful reading of the documents. You can also use appropriate background information from the textbook and lectures, but you should use most of your space to discuss the documents. 5.) Writing style counts. You need to revise your paper multiple times to be a successful writer. <http://faculty.utep.edu/Portals/452/Paper%20Assignment%201.doc>

OW 7/06 rev 10/11

Introduction

Goals and Goal Setting

Goals Common to All RST Writers

Other Goals to Consider

Defining My Own Goals

Advice about Assignments

Getting Started: Listing Topics to Write about in the Tutorial

Narrative One: Personal Piece on a Significant Experience

Narrative Two: Academic Piece on a Significant Experience

Summary/Response One

Summary/Response Two

Tutorial Evaluation Postscript

On Using the Resources for Writers

Generating and Developing Ideas

Finding/Expressing Main Ideas

Showing v. Telling Sentences

Focusing Topic Sentences

Thesis Statements

Reading Strategies

Assessing Your Reading Strategies

Summarizing

Writing Effective Summary and Response Essays

Discourse Analysis Worksheet

Trade Magazines

Selecting Readings

A summary is a concise paraphrase of all the main ideas in an essay. It cites the author and the title (usually in the first sentence); it contains the essay's thesis and supporting ideas; it may use direct quotation of forceful or concise statements of the author's ideas; it will NOT usually cite the author's examples or supporting details unless they are central to the main idea. Most summaries present the major points in the order that the author made them and continually refer back to the article being summarized (i.e. "Damon argues that ..." or "Goodman also points out that ... "). The summary should take up no more than one-third the length of the work being summarized.

The Response:

A response is a critique or evaluation of the author's essay. Unlike the summary, it is composed of YOUR opinions in relation to the article being summarized. It examines ideas that you agree or disagree with and identifies the essay's strengths and weaknesses in reasoning and logic, in quality of supporting examples, and in organization and style. A good response is persuasive; therefore, it should cite facts, examples, and personal experience that either refutes or supports the article you're responding to, depending on your stance.

Two Typical Organizational Formats for Summary/Response Essays:

1. Present the summary in a block of paragraphs, followed by the response in a block:

Intro/thesis Summary (two to three paragraphs) Agreement (or disagreement) Disagreement (or agreement) Conclusion

Note: Some essays will incorporate both agreement and disagreement in a response, but this is not mandatory.

2. Introduce the essay with a short paragraph that includes your thesis. Then, each body paragraph summarizes one point and responds to it, and a conclusion wraps the essay up.

Intro/thesis Summary point one; agree/disagree Summary point two; agree/disagree Summary point three; agree/disagree Conclusion

How to Write a Critical Response Essay With Examples and Tips

Icon Calendar 18 May 2024
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A critical response essay is an important type of academic essay, which instructors employ to gauge the students’ ability to read critically and express their opinions. Firstly, this guide begins with a detailed definition of a critical essay and an extensive walkthrough of source analysis. Next, the manual on how to write a critical response essay breaks down the writing process into the pre-writing, writing, and post-writing stages and discusses each stage in extensive detail. Finally, the manual provides practical examples of an outline and a critical response essay, which implement the writing strategies and guidelines of critical response writing. After the examples, there is a brief overview of documentation styles. Hence, students need to learn how to write a perfect critical response essay to follow its criteria.

Definition of a Critical Response Essay

A critical response essay presents a reader’s reaction to the content of an article or any other piece of writing and the author’s strategy for achieving his or her intended purpose. Basically, a critical response to a piece of text demands an analysis, interpretation, and synthesis of a reading. Moreover, these operations allow readers to develop a position concerning the extent to which an author of a text creates a desired effect on the audience that an author establishes implicitly or explicitly at the beginning of a text. Mostly, students assume that a critical response revolves around the identification of flaws, but this aspect only represents one dimension of a critical response. In turn, a critical response essay should identify both the strengths and weaknesses of a text and present them without exaggeration of their significance in a text.

Source Analysis

1. Questions That Guide Source Analysis

Writers engage in textual analysis through critical reading. Hence, students undertake critical reading to answer three primary questions:

What does the author say or show unequivocally?
What does the author not say or show outright but implies intentionally or unintentionally in the text?
What do I think about responses to the previous two questions?

Readers should strive to comprehensively answer these questions with the context and scope of a critical response essay. Basically, the need for objectivity is necessary to ensure that the student’s analysis does not contain any biases through unwarranted or incorrect comparisons. Nonetheless, the author’s pre-existing knowledge concerning the topic of a critical response essay is crucial in facilitating the process of critical reading. In turn, the generation of answers to three guiding questions occurs concurrently throughout the close reading of an assigned text or other essay topics.

2. Techniques of Critical Reading

Previewing, reading, and summarizing are the main methods of critical reading. Basically, previewing a text allows readers to develop some familiarity with the content of a critical response essay, which they gain through exposure to content cues, publication facts, important statements, and authors’ backgrounds. In this case, readers may take notes of questions that emerge in their minds and possible biases related to prior knowledge. Then, reading has two distinct stages: first reading and rereading and annotating. Also, students read an assigned text at an appropriate speed for the first time with minimal notetaking. After that, learners reread a text to identify core and supporting ideas, key terms, and connections or implied links between ideas while making detailed notes. Lastly, writers summarize their readings into the main points by using their own words to extract the meaning and deconstruct critical response essays into meaningful parts.

3. Creating a Critical Response

Up to this point, source analysis is a blanket term that represents the entire process of developing a critical response. Mainly, the creation of a critical response essay involves analysis, interpretation, and synthesis, which occur as distinct activities. In this case, students analyze their readings by breaking down texts into elements with distilled meanings and obvious links to a thesis statement. During analysis, writers may develop minor guiding questions under first and second guiding questions, which are discipline-specific. Then, learners focus on interpretations of elements to determine their significance to an assigned text as a whole, possible meanings, and assumptions under which they may exist. Finally, authors of critical response essays create connections through the lens of relevant pre-existing knowledge, which represents a version of the element’s interconnection that they perceive to be an accurate depiction of a text.

Writing Steps of a Critical Response Essay

Step 1: pre-writing, a. analysis of writing situation.

Purpose. Before a student begins writing a critical response essay, he or she must identify the main reason for communication to the audience by using a formal essay format. Basically, the primary purposes of writing a critical response essay are explanation and persuasion. In this case, it is not uncommon for two purposes to overlap while writing a critical response essay. However, one of the purposes is usually dominant, which implies that it plays a dominant role in the wording, evidence selection, and perspective on a topic. In turn, students should establish their purposes in the early stages of the writing process because the purpose has a significant effect on the essay writing approach.

Audience. Students should establish a good understanding of the audience’s expectations, characteristics, attitudes, and knowledge in anticipation of the writing process. Basically, learning the audience’s expectations enables authors to meet the organizational demands, ‘burden of proof,’ and styling requirements. In college writing, it is the norm for all essays to attain academic writing standards. Then, the interaction between characteristics and attitudes forces authors to identify a suitable voice, which is appreciative of the beliefs and values of the audience. Lastly, writers must consider the level of knowledge of the audience while writing a critical response essay because it has a direct impact on the context, clarity, and readability of a paper. Consequently, a critical response essay for classmates is quite different from a paper that an author presents to a multi-disciplinary audience.

Define a topic. Topic selection is a critical aspect of the prewriting stage. Ideally, assignment instructions play a crucial role in topic selection, especially in higher education institutions. For example, when writing a critical response essay, instructors may choose to provide students with a specific article or general instructions to guide learners in the selection of relevant reading sources. Also, students may not have opportunities for independent topic selection in former circumstances. However, by considering the latter assignment conditions, learners may need to identify a narrow topic to use in article selection. Moreover, students should take adequate time to do preliminary research, which gives them a ‘feel’ of the topic, for example, 19th-century literature. Next, writers narrow down the scope of the topic based on their knowledge and interests, for example, short stories by black female writers from the 19 th century.

B. Research and Documentation

Find sources. Once a student has a topic, he or she can start the process of identifying an appropriate article. Basically, choosing a good source for writing a critical response essay is much easier when aided with search tools on the web or university repository. In this case, learners select keywords or other unique qualities of an article and develop a search filter. Moreover, authors review abstracts or forewords of credible sources to determine their suitability based on their content. Besides content, other factors constrain the article selection process: the word count for a critical response essay and a turnaround time. In turn, if an assignment has a fixed length of 500 words and a turnaround time of one week, it is not practical to select a 200-page source despite content suitability.

Content selection. The process of selecting appropriate content from academic sources relies heavily on the purpose of a critical response essay. Basically, students must select evidence that they will include in a paper to support their claims in each paragraph. However, writers tend to let a source speak through the use of extensive quotations or summaries, which dilutes a synthesis aspect of a critical response essay. Instead, learners should take a significant portion of time to identify evidence from reliable sources, which are relevant to the purpose of an essay. Also, a student who is writing a critical analysis essay to disagree with one or more arguments will select different pieces of evidence as compared to a person who is writing to analyze the overall effectiveness of the work.

Annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography is vital to the development of a critical response essay because it enables authors to document useful information that they encounter during research. During research and documentation stages for a critical response essay, annotated bibliographies contain the main sources for a critical analysis essay and other sources that contribute to the knowledge base of an author, even though these sources will not appear in reference lists. Mostly, a critical response essay has only one source. However, an annotated bibliography contains summaries of other sources, which may inform the author’s critical response through the development of a deep understanding of a topic. In turn, an annotated bibliography is quite useful when an individual is writing a critical response to an article on an unfamiliar topic.

Step 2: Writing a Critical Response Essay

A. organization..

Thesis . A thesis statement sentence is a crucial component of a critical response essay because it presents the student’s purpose, argument, and the conclusion that he or she draws from the textual evidence. Also, the thesis statement is the response to the thesis question, which an author creates from assignment instructions. After completing the research stage, students can develop a tentative thesis statement to act as a starting point for the writing stage. Usually, tentative thesis statements undergo numerous revisions during the writing stage, which is a consequence of the refinement of the main idea during the drafting.

Weigh the evidence. Based on the tentative thesis, an author evaluates the relative importance of collected pieces of textual evidence to the central idea. Basically, students should distinguish between general and specific ideas to ascertain that there exists a logical sequence of presentation, which the audience can readily grasp. Firstly, for writing a critical response essay, learners should identify general ideas and establish specific connections that exist between each general idea and specific details, which support a central claim. Secondly, writers should consider some implications of ideas as they conduct a sorting process and remove evidence that does not fit. Moreover, students fill ‘holes’ that are present due to the lack of adequate supporting evidence to conclude this stage.

Create an outline. An essay outline is a final product of weighing the significance of the evidence in the context of the working thesis statement. In particular, a formal outline is a preferred form of essay structure for a critical response essay because it allows for detailed documentation of ideas while maintaining a clear map of connections. During the formation of an outline, students use a systematic scheme of indentation and labeling all the parts of an outline structure. In turn, this arrangement ensures that elements that play the same role are readily discernible at a glance, for example, primary essay divisions, secondary divisions, principle supporting points, and specific details.

Drafting. The drafting step involves the conversion of the one-sentence ideas in an outline format into complete paragraphs and, eventually, a critical response essay. In this case, there is no fixed approach to writing the first draft. Moreover, students should follow a technique that they find effective in overcoming the challenge of starting to write a critical response essay. Nonetheless, it is good practice to start writing paragraphs that authors believe are more straightforward to include regardless of specific positions that they hold on an outline. In turn, learners should strive to write freely and be open to new ideas despite the use of an outline. During drafting, the conveyance of meaning is much more important than the correctness of the draft.

Step 3: Post-Writing

Individual revision. An individual revision process focuses on the rethinking and rewriting of a critical response essay to improve the meaning and structure of a paper. Essentially, students try to review their papers from a perspective of readers to ensure that the level of detail, relationship and arrangement of paragraphs, and the contribution of the minor ideas to the thesis statement attain the desired effect. In this case, the use of a checklist improves the effectiveness of individual revision. Moreover, a checklist contains 12 main evaluation categories: assignment, purpose, audience and voice, genre, thesis, organization, development, unity, coherence, title, introduction, and conclusion.

Collaborative revision. Collaborative revision is a revision strategy that covers subconscious oversight that occurs during individual revision. During an individual revision of a critical response essay, authors rely on self-criticism, which is rarely 100% effective because writers hold a bias that their works are of high quality. Therefore, subjecting an individual’s work to peer review allows students to collect critique from an actual reader who may notice problems that an author may easily overlook. In turn, learners may provide peer reviewers with a checklist to simplify the revision process.

Editing . The editing step requires authors to examine the style, clarity, and correctness of a critical response essay. In particular, students review their papers to ascertain their conformance with the guidelines of formal essay writing and the English language. Moreover, sentence fragments, subject-verb agreement, dangling modifiers, incorrect use of punctuation, vague pronoun references, and parallelism are common grammar issues that learners eliminate during editing. Then, writers confirm that their critical response essays adhere to referencing style guidelines for citation and formatting, such as the inclusion of a title page, appropriate in-text citation, and proper styling of bibliographic information in the reference list. In turn, students must proofread a critical response essay repeatedly until they find all errors because such mistakes may divert the audience’s attention from the content of a paper.

Sample Outline Template for a Critical Response Essay

I. Introduction

A. Summary of an article. B. Thesis statement.

A. First body paragraph

The idea for the first paragraph.
Evidence for the first point from an article.
Interpretation of the evidence.

B. Second body paragraph

The idea for the second paragraph.
Evidence for the second point from an article.

C. Third body paragraph

The idea for the third paragraph.
Evidence for the third point from an article.

III. Conclusion

A. Summary of three points that form a body section. B. Closing remarks.

Uniqueness of a Critical Response Essay Outline

The presence of a summary in the introduction and an interpretation for each piece of evidence are defining features of a critical response essay. Typically, the introduction, being one of 5 parts of an essay, does not contain a succinct summary of a source that an author uses in body paragraphs. In this case, the incorporation of a summary in the introduction paragraph provides the audience with specific information concerning the target article of a critical response. Specifically, a critical response essay differs from other response papers because it emphasizes the provision of reasonable judgments of a text rather than the testing and defense of one’s judgments. In turn, authors of a critical response essay do not provide evaluation for their judgments, which implies that critical responses may be different but correct if a specific interpretation is reasonable to the audience.

Expanding an Outline Format Into a Critical Response Essay

1. introduction.

The introductory paragraph in a critical response essay consists of two primary sections: a summary of an article and a thesis statement. Firstly, a summary of an article consists of the text’s central argument and the purpose of the presentation of the argument. Basically, students should strive to distill the main idea and purpose of the text into a few sentences because the length of the introduction is approximately 10% of the essay’s word count. Then, a summary provides the audience with adequate background information concerning an article, which forms a foundation for announcing the student’s primary idea. In this case, writers may include an additional sentence between a summary and a thesis statement to establish a smooth flow in the opening paragraph. However, learners should not quote thesis and purpose statements because it results in a fragmented introduction, which is unappealing to readers and ineffective.

All body paragraphs have in a critical response essay four main elements: the writer’s idea, meaningful evidence from a reading text, interpretation of the evidence, and a concluding statement.

A. Writer’s Idea

The writer’s idea for a paragraph appears in the first sentence of a paragraph, which is a topic sentence. For example, if students know how to write a topic sentence, they present readers with a complete and distinct idea that proves or supports a thesis statement. In this case, authors should carefully word their topic sentences to ensure that there is no unnecessary generalization or spillovers of ideas from other paragraphs. Notably, all the topic sentences in the body of a critical response essay share a logical relationship that allows the audience to easily follow the development of the central idea of a paper.

B. Evidence

Students should provide evidence that supports the idea that they propose in the topic sentence. Basically, the evidence for all body paragraphs is the product of critical reading of an article, which allows writers to identify meaningful portions of a text. During the presentation of evidence, learners should ascertain that the contextual meaning of paraphrases or quotations is not lost because such a strategy will harm interpretations that follow after it. In turn, critical response essays must not contain lengthy or numerous quotations unless the meaning or intended effect of a quotation is not replicable upon paraphrasing.

C. Interpretation

Interpretation segments of paragraphs allow authors to explain the significance of the evidence to the topic sentence. In a critical response essay, the interpretation is the equivalent of an author revealing the possible assumptions behind a text paraphrase and commenting on whether or not he or she finds them reasonable. Moreover, students make inferences concerning their meaning in the context of the entire narrative and its relation to the paragraph’s idea. In turn, learners should refrain from reading too much into a piece of evidence because it may result in false or unreasonable inferences.

D. Concluding Sentence

The concluding statement is the final sentence of any paragraph. In this case, the primary role of the concluding sentence is to emphasize the link between the topic sentence, evidence, interpretation, and the essay’s central idea. Also, the concluding statement should not contain an in-text citation because it does not introduce new evidence to support the topic sentence. Therefore, authors use concluding sentences to maintain the unity between body paragraphs and a critical response essay in its entirety.

3. Conclusion

The conclusion comprises three core elements: a restatement of a thesis statement, a summary of the main points that authors present in body paragraphs, and closing remarks. In particular, the first statement of the conclusion draws the attention of the audience to the central idea, which an author proposes in a thesis statement. Then, students review the main points of a critical response essay to demonstrate that written arguments in body paragraphs adequately support a thesis statement. Moreover, writers should summarize the main points of a paper in the same order that they appear in the main part to guarantee that logical patterns in the body are readily discernible in summary. Finally, learners make their closing remarks, which creates a sense of wholesomeness in a critical response essay or ties a paper to a larger relevant discourse.

Example of Writing a Critical Response Essay

Topic: American Capitalism: The New Face of Slavery

I. Sample Introduction of a Critical Response Essay

Capitalism is a dominant characteristic of the American economy. In this case, Matthew Desmond’s article “In Order to Understand the Brutality of American Capitalism, You Have to Start on the Plantation” discusses the role of slavery in shaping contemporary business practices. Specifically, the author attempts to convince the audience that the brutality of American capitalism originates from slavery. In turn, Desmond lays a strong but simple foundation for his argument, which ensures that the audience can conceptualize the link between plantation slavery and contemporary American capitalistic practices.

II. Example of a Body in a Critical Response Essay

A. example of the first body paragraph: american capitalism.

Early in the article, Desmond informs readers of the high variability in the manifestation of capitalism in societies, which creates the impression that American capitalism is a choice. For example, Desmond (2019) argues that the brutality of American capitalism is simply one of the possible outcomes of a society built on capitalistic principles because other societies implement the same principles in a manner that is liberating, protective, and democratic. Moreover, Desmond begins his argument by eliminating a popular presumption that exploitation and oppression are unavoidable outcomes of capitalism. In turn, this strategic move to establish this fact is in the introductory section of the article because it invites the audience to rethink the meaning of capitalism. Furthermore, its plants doubt regarding the ‘true’ meaning of capitalism outside the context of American society.

B. Example of the Second Body Paragraph: American Capitalism: Slavery and American’s Economic Growth

After establishing that the perception of capitalism through the lens of American society has some bias, Desmond proceeds to provide detailed evidence to explain the attempt to camouflage the obvious link between slavery and America’s economic growth. For instance, Desmond (2019) notes the role of Alfred Chandler’s book, The Visible Hand, and Caitlin Rosenthal’s book, Accounting for Slavery, in breaking the link between management practices in plantations and modern corporations by suggesting that the current business practices are a consequence of the 19th-century railroad industry. In this case, Desmond uses this evidence to make a logical appeal to the audience, which makes his argument more convincing because he explains the reason behind the exclusion of slavery in the discourse on modern industry. As a result, Desmond dismisses one of the main counterarguments against his central argument, which increases his persuasive power.

C. Example of the Third Body Paragraph: Input vs. Output Dynamic

Desmond emphasizes the link between slavery and American capitalism to readers by using the simple input vs. output dynamic throughout the article. For example, Desmond (2019) compares the Plantation Record and Account Book to the heavy digital surveillance techniques in modern workplaces because they collect data, which the employers use to maximize productivity while minimizing inputs. In particular, the comparison reveals that employers did not stop the practice of reducing laborers into units of production with fixed productivity thresholds. Moreover, the constant repetition of the theme of low input and high output dominates the body paragraphs, which makes it nearly impossible for readers to lose sight of the link between slavery and business practices under American capitalism. In turn, the simplification of the underlying logic in Desmond’s argument ensures its clarity to the audience.

III. Sample Conclusion of a Critical Response Essay

Desmond carefully plans the presentation of his argument to the audience, which allows readers to follow the ideas easily. In particular, the author starts with a call for readers to set aside any presumptions concerning capitalism and its origin. Then, Desmond provides the audience with an alternative narrative with support from seminal texts in slavery and economics. On the whole, Desmond manages to convince the audience that the American capitalistic society is merely a replica rather than an aberration of slavery.

Citing Sources in a Critical Response Essay

A critical response essay contains specific thoughts of the article’s author and direct words of the text’s author. In this case, students must conduct proper documentation to ensure that readers of critical response essays can distinguish between these two types of ‘voices.’ Moreover, documentation prevents incidents of plagiarism. Usually, instructors mention a referencing technique that students should use in writing a critical response essay. However, if assignment instructions do not identify a specific documentation style, writers should use a referencing technique that is acceptable for scholarly writing in their disciplines.

In-text citation:

Parenthetical: (Desmond, 2019).
Narrative: Desmond (2019).
Desmond, M. (2019, August 12). In order to understand the brutality of American capitalism, you have to start on the plantation . New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html
Parenthetical: (Desmond par. 1).
Narrative: Desmond argues . . . (par. 1).

Works Cited:

Desmond, Matthew. “In Order to Understand the Brutality of American Capitalism, You Have to Start on the Plantation.” New York Times , 14 Aug. 2019, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html.

3. Harvard Referencing

Parenthetical: (Desmond 2019).

Reference List:

Desmond, M 2019, In order to understand the brutality of American capitalism, you have to start on the plantation . Available from: <https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html>. [27 August 2020].

4. Chicago/Turabian

In-text citation (footnote):

1. Matthew Desmond, “In Order to Understand the Brutality of American Capitalism, You Have to Start on the Plantation,” New York Times, August 14, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html.

Bibliography:

Desmond, Matthew. “In Order to Understand the Brutality of American Capitalism, You Have to Start on the Plantation.” New York Times. August 14, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html.

Final Provisions on a Critical Response Essay

Critical reading is a precursor for writing an effective critical response essay.
Students must conduct adequate research on a topic to develop a proper understanding of a theme, even if only one article appears on the reference list.
Notetaking or annotation is a good practice that aids students in extracting meaning from an article.
Writers should plan for all activities in the writing process to ascertain that they have adequate time to move through all the stages.
An outline is an organizational tool, which learners must use to establish the sequence of ideas in a critical response essay.
The purpose of a critical response essay has a significant impact on the selection of evidence and the arrangement of body paragraphs.
Students should prioritize revision and editing, which represent opportunities to refine the content of an essay and remove mechanical issues.
Collaborative and individual revision are equally important because they play different roles in the writing of a critical response essay.
Evidence selection is dependent on the purpose and thesis statement of a critical response essay.

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Sample response paper "Spread Feminism, Not Germs" in PDF with margin notes
Sample response paper "Spread Feminism, Not Germs" accessible version with notes in parentheses
Sample response paper "Typography and Identity" in PDF with margin notes
Sample response paper "Typography and Identity" accessible version with notes in parentheses

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How To Write A Response Essay
How to write a text response essay structure How to Write a Response
How to write a response paper
How to Write a Reader Response (with Examples)
Reading Response Forms and Graphic Organizers
Response essay outline. How to Write a Strong Response Essay. 2022-10-27

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Reader Response Essay Part I, II and III
LITERARY ESSAYS
Reader Response Presentation ENGL 1302
How to Use Reverse Outlining for Literature Reviews: An AI-Based Tool
Reader Response ENGL 1302
Reader Response Criticism

COMMENTS

PDF How to write a reader response paper Prof. Margaret O'Mara
A critical essay that tells the reader what a historical monograph (book) means to you. It reflects a close reading of the work, contains specific examples drawn from the work (documented parenthetically with page numbers), and provides your well-considered opinion of the work's strengths and/or shortcomings. The essay demonstrates that you ...
How to Write a Reader Response (with Examples)
Christina Tubb. To write a reader response, develop a clear thesis statement and choose example passages from the text that support your thesis. Next, write an introduction paragraph that specifies the name of the text, the author, the subject matter, and your thesis. Then, include 3-4 paragraphs that discuss and analyze the text.
How to Write a Reading Response Essay With Sample Papers
Get the reader's attention by describing the subject in one of the following ways: Use a startling statistic. Cite an interesting fact. Pose an appropriate quotation. Tell an anecdote. Describe a scenario. Write a conversation. Tell a story. Put forth a question your essay will answer.
How to Write a Reading Response
Make an Outline. If you have been given a word limit or a page count, you may have to be especially careful about the structure of your essay. The reader response generally takes the format of an essay, Format / Structure of Reader Response. Introduction; Start your introduction with the name of the author and the full title of the work.
Guide to Writing an Effective Response Essay
When developing your thesis statement, consider the following tips: 1. Identify the main topic or issue you will be responding to. 2. State your position or stance on the topic clearly and concisely. 3. Provide a brief preview of the key points or arguments you will present in your essay to support your thesis.
How to Write a Response Essay With Magazine Article Example
Outline. Introduction (1-2 paragraphs): grab the reader's attention and state your subject and purpose. Body (3 or more paragraphs): Summarize the article you read in 1-2 paragraphs. Give three or more responses to the article with evidence to back them up. Responses include answering the following: What do you think about the ideas in the ...
PDF The Reading Response
A reading response is a specific kind of essay that asks you as a reader to engage critically with an assigned text. It is not asking you to state whether you like or dislike the text in question—instead, a reading response should: Although the length of a reading response may vary based on the assignment or on the text to which you are ...
Writing a Reading Response
A reading response asks the reader [you] to examine, explain and defend your personal reaction to a reading. You will be asked to explore: why you like or dislike the reading, explain whether you agree or disagree with the author, identify the reading's purpose, and. critique the text. There is no right or wrong answer to a reading response.
24 How do I Write a Response Essay?
A response essay consists of 5-7 paragraphs: an introduction- a summary paragraph of the article; a response- 3 or more body paragraphs responding to the author; a conclusion- a concluding paragraph summing up your thoughts. Outline the essay your want to write. Use the structure of the response essay to determine the order of each paragraph.
6.4: Reader Response: A Process Approach
6.4: Reader Response: A Process Approach. Reader response is a powerful literary method that is refreshing since it allows you to concentrate on yourself as a reader specifically or on readers generally. Carefully read the work you will analyze. Formulate a general question after your initial reading that identifies a problem—a tension—that ...
10.1: Reader-Response Criticism
Key Takeaways. In reader-response, the reader is essential to the meaning of a text for they bring the text to life. The purpose of a reading response is examining, explaining, and defending your personal reaction to a text. When writing a reader-response, write as an educated adult addressing other adults or fellow scholars.
How to Write a Response Paper
Record your thoughts. Develop a thesis. Write an outline. Construct your essay. It may be helpful to imagine yourself watching a movie review as you're preparing your outline. You will use the same framework for your response paper: a summary of the work with several of your own thoughts and assessments mixed in. 02.
How to Write a Response Paper: Guide With Essay Examples
You are encouraged to adopt the standard response essay outline provided in the sample above. By splitting your paper into introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs, you will be able to effectively introduce your readers to ideas that will be discussed and separate your thoughts from authors' messages. 4.
How to Write an Essay Outline
Revised on July 23, 2023. An essay outline is a way of planning the structure of your essay before you start writing. It involves writing quick summary sentences or phrases for every point you will cover in each paragraph, giving you a picture of how your argument will unfold. You'll sometimes be asked to submit an essay outline as a separate ...
Reader Response: What It Is and How It Works
Schools increasingly use reader response as a strategy for students to interact more actively with the text. A reader's response can be an essay, a critique, an analysis, or a paper about a certain piece of writing. This might be a novel, a poem, a short story, or a nonfiction work. One form of reading response is during-reading response ...
What Is Reader Response?
An Excerpt from Reader Response Scholarship. Read the following excerpt from Louise Rosenblatt's 1978 book, The Reader, the Text, and the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work. before proceeding with this chapter. (The entire book can be read at the Internet Archive). Critics and literary theorists, who have traditionally lavished attention on authors and texts, have only ...
6.2: Reader-Response Theory: An Overview
List the literary works that you were told were great or important but that you actually disliked. Your instructor should also share his or her dislikes. This should lead to a lively discussion. You will see that "likes" and "dislikes" are important markers in reader-response theory. Here's an example: in Letters to Alice on First ...
How to Write a Reader Response
Critical reading: [from the ENGL 0310 Syllabus] "A reader response asks the reader [you] to examine, explain and defend her/his personal reaction to a reading.You will be asked to explore why you like or dislike the reading, explain whether you agree or disagree with the author, identify the reading's purpose, and critique the text.
PDF How to Write a Critical Response
Sample: Effective Response #1. The article could have been much more convincing if the author didn't begin most of his back-up arguments with "I", it gave the article a complaining and ranting tone, when an argument is explained like "a real course creates intellectual joy, at least in some.
Writing Effective Summary and Response Essays
Writing Effective Summary and Response Essays. The Summary: A summary is a concise paraphrase of all the main ideas in an essay. It cites the author and the title (usually in the first sentence); it contains the essay's thesis and supporting ideas; it may use direct quotation of forceful or concise statements of the author's ideas; it will NOT usually cite the author's examples or supporting ...
How to Write a Strong Response Essay
Get an outline of the process for how to write a response essay from the prewriting to the final piece. See all the different steps in action to make writing a response essay a breeze.
How to Write a Critical Response Essay With Examples and Tips
Expanding an Outline Format Into a Critical Response Essay 1. Introduction. The introductory paragraph in a critical response essay consists of two primary sections: a summary of an article and a thesis statement. Firstly, a summary of an article consists of the text's central argument and the purpose of the presentation of the argument.
5.7: Sample Response Essays
Sample response paper "Typography and Identity" in PDF with margin notes. Sample response paper "Typography and Identity" accessible version with notes in parentheses. This page titled 5.7: Sample Response Essays is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Anna Mills ( ASCCC Open Educational Resources ...
Remote Sensing
Accurate modeling of the ocean response to tropical cyclones (TCs) requires high-quality wind fields to force ocean models. In this study, blended wind fields are generated using multi-source satellite data and the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) wind data. We utilize the hybrid wind fields to drive the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) for simulating oceanic dynamic and ...

How to Write a Reader Response

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How to Write a Reading Response

Read the Text Carefully

Think Carefully

Ask yourself the following questions:

Make a Draft

Make an Outline

Format / Structure of Reader Response

About the Author: Hasa

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Key Elements of a Response Essay

Understanding the Assignment

Analyzing the Prompt

Developing a Thesis Statement

Structuring Your Response

Main Body Paragraphs

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Writing a Reading Response

Write as an Educated Adult

24 How do I Write a Response Essay?

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How to Write a Response Paper

Read and Respond

The First Paragraph

Stating Your Opinion

Sample Statements

How to Write a Response Paper: Outline, Steps & Examples

What Is a Response Paper?

Purpose of a Response Essay

Response Essay Outline

Response Paper Introduction

Response Essay Thesis Statement

Response Paper Body Paragraph

Response Paper Conclusion

How to Write a Response Paper?

1. Pick a Topic for Your Response Essay

2. Plan Your Thoughts and Reactions

3. Write a Detailed Response Paper Outline

4. Write a Material Summary

Example of a Response Summary

5. Share Your Reaction

Reaction in Response Body Paragraph Example

6. Conclude Your Response Essay

Example of Response Paper Conclusion

Proofread Your Response Paper

Response Essay Examples

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FAQ About Response Paper

2. How to start a response body paragraph?

3. Is reaction paper similar to a response paper?

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12 What Is Reader Response?

Learning Objectives

An Excerpt from Reader Response Scholarship

Subjective Reader Response: A Tool to Use with Many Types of Analysis

Receptive Reader Response: The Implied Reader

Applying Subjective and Receptive Reader Response Techniques to Literature

What an Indian Thought When He Saw a Comet

Limitations of Reader Response Criticism

Reader Response Scholars

Further Reading

Share This Book

Writing Effective Summary and Response Essays

How to Write a Critical Response Essay With Examples and Tips

Definition of a Critical Response Essay

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