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This assignment begins from the idea that reading, like writing, is an act of composing. When we read, we are doing more than receiving information from a writer; we are also interacting with a text, bringing our own associations, values, and assumptions to it as we come to an understanding of its meanings. In effect, we understand the text through our interaction with it. Writing about a text is the surest way to bring this interaction to light. Different readers might pay attention to different passages, emphasizing different sets of meanings made available through that same text. While summary is not dependent on a reader’s interests and knowledge and experiences, response is. In response, we get to talk back to a text.
3-4 pages
15% of final grade
Write an essay that summarizes briefly the main ideas in a text and offers a response that engages the content of the text using experience or knowledge about the topic. Your response should be supported by details in the text as well as your own experience and/or knowledge.
Outcomes for Response Essay:
Keeping this view of reading as composing in mind, your task in this assignment is to summarize a selected text and then respond to it. In the summary you must distinguish between an author’s major and minor points.
As you read, annotate the text,, “talk back” to it by identifying passages that surprise or trouble you, that do or do not resonate with your own experience. These are called “hot spots.” These hot spots may later serve as the major points of your strong response.
Because we rarely agree or disagree entirely with a text, your thesis need not reflect an absolute stance. You may agree with an author’s points, but find her rhetoric alienating. You might appreciate an author’s rhetorical strategies or overall argument, but find some of his ideas invalid in terms of your own experience. Perhaps you agree with an author’s premise and you want to offer an additional perspective. A thesis with “tension” will help you focus your response and set clear rhetorical goals for your own essay. See the argument templates provided in class.
You know from your own experience that abstract statements aren't clear or convincing.
If someone says, "You missed a great game on Saturday!" You will probably ask why? What was so great about it? What did I miss? The statement that the game was great doesn't tell you anything about it or what made it special. Unless you really don't care and just want the person to stop talking, you're likely to ask for more information.
You will need to be as specific as possible about your experiences, including concrete details and descriptions in order to help readers understand your ideas and in order to clarify how your experience connects with the reading.
For one thing, I had to leave campus, where I had gotten used to having the freedom to sleep when I wanted and eat when I wanted and where I had made new friends who were as passionate about interior design as I was and didn't find it strange at all that I rearranged my room at least once a week. I had to move back home with my parents, who treated me as if I were back in high school, making me go to bed by midnight and insisting I help out around the house like I used to. My worst frenemy was also home from college right down the street and we kept running into each other when we walked our dogs. She tried to make small talk and pretend like she cared, when I knew she was just trying to find more lies to spread about me on social media like she did in high school.
Because of the quarantine we had to move all of our classes online. I wasn't very good at using Canvas before; I relied on my in-class interactions to keep me up to date on assignment requirements and due dates, and when I wasn't in class every day I just couldn't stay on track and remember to get everything done on time. I also struggled to focus on video lectures and daily assignments that we'd usually complete in class. When I was in class I was forced to put my phone away and pay attention. But at home I kept getting distracted and wanting to check texts and emails. I also had to deal with my two younger brothers fighting like wild animals in the room next door.
When you incorporate research into your writing, you want to provide your reader with a smooth transition into and out of the quote or paraphrase. In order for quotes/paraphrases to be effective, you need to reduce the chance that they will be misinterpreted or will confuse your reader by seeming random or irrelevant; poorly used research will hurt your paper as much as well-used research will strengthen it.
Original:
“Twelve hour work days plus unpaid family labor is common among Korean immigrants. Many have college degrees that won’t even get them decent jobs because of discrimination” (Hu 314-315). Whites have the advantage over minorities.
Revised:
According to Arthur Hu, a writer for Asian Week, “Twelve hour work days plus unpaid family labor is common among Koreans” (314). Hu argues that discrimination causes even Koreans with college degrees to have difficulty securing living-wage jobs (315). In other words, discrimination makes it difficult for many minorities, regardless of their educational level or how hard they work, to live well in our nation.
Original: The stories on Hill Street Blues are kept realistic. "These scripts don't spin inner-city fairy tales -- the characters can't walk away easily, not out of their lives or their work, not into the next episode" (Freeman 12). This demonstrates the show's real-life focus.
Revised:
The stories on Hill Street Blues are kept realistic. TV critic Denise Jones explains that the characters are stuck, show after show, in demanding jobs and difficult personal lives (Freeman 12). This refusal to “spin inner-city fairy tales” (Freeman 12) demonstrates the show's real-life focus.
(The full citation, listed by the author's last name, will appear in my works cited page at the end of my essay. That way readers can look it up if they're interested.)
Works Cited
Kendry, Ibram X. "Patience Is a Dirty Word." The Atlantic, 23
July 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/john-lewis-and-danger-gradualism/614512/. Accessed 25 Aug 2020.
Silver, Marc. "Dear World, You're Not Going to Have the Year
You Thought You'd Have." NPR.org, 9 Aug 2020. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/08/09/896649673/dear-world-youre-not-going-to-have-the-year-you-thought-you-d-have. Accessed 25 Aug 2020.
RULES OF THUMB:
What do body paragraphs need? What rules have you been taught about writing paragraphs?
TO SHOW ADDITION: and, also, besides, further, furthermore, in addition, moreover, next, too, first, second
TO GIVE EXAMPLES: for example, for instance, to illustrate, in fact, specifically
TO COMPARE: also, in the same manner, similarly, likewise
TO CONTRAST: but, however, on the other hand, in contrast, nevertheless, still, even though, on the contrary, yet, although
TO INDICATE LOGICAL RELATIONSHIP: if, so, therefore, consequently, thus, as a result, for this reason, because, since
TO SUMMARIZE OR CONCLUDE: In short, in summary, in conclusion, to sum up, therefore
TO SHOW PLACE OR DIRECTION: above, below, beyond, nearby, opposite, close, to the left
TO SHOW TIME: After, as, before, next, during, later, finally, meanwhile, then, when, while, immediately
THESIS: The historical references in Kendry's article "Patience is a Dirty Word" establish both the ethos and logos of his article, but even more importantly, they help make an imaginative connection that inspires readers to identify with anti-racist activists in American history who argued against patience.
The historical references in "Patience Is a Dirty Word" also work to create an imaginative and emotional connection with readers. Lewis, whose death inspired the article, is a well-known and beloved figure in American politics and American Civil Rights, and his phrase "good trouble" has become popular on social media and elsewhere. The emotional connection many people feel with him allows us to more easily accept the idea that patience is not always appropriate or effective. Hearing how his 1963 speech during the civil rights movement was changed at the behest of figures like US Attorney General Robert Kennedy and NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins helps us to imagine how much of a problem the continual call for gradual change has been over the course of our history. In addition, it gives us a new perspective on our present moment. No one would say that the civil rights protestors in 1963 were asking for too much too soon; they wanted an end to discrimination in the workplace and an end to segregation in public spaces, rights that very few Americans today would disagree with. Lynchings (like the murder of Emmett Till) and violent acts like the Birmingham Church Bombing might also be associated in our minds with this time period and might help to bring a strong emotional response that what Lewis was advocating for was morally right--and by association (according to the article) what anti-racists are advocating for now is also morally right. Finally, by putting us back in this time period through the words and struggles of Lewis, Kendry helps us feel emotions like pride and hope in our success as a nation in passing the Civil Rights Bill and moving past some forms of segregation and discrimination. Such success could be ours again, the article implies.
The article uses other moments in history to make an emotional connection with the audience, too.
Make your paragraphs proportional to your paper. Since paragraphs do less work in short papers, have short paragraphs for short papers and longer paragraphs for longer papers. In a 4-5 page essay, you should have around 1.5-3 paragraphs per typed (double-spaced) page.
If you have a few very short paragraphs, think about whether they are really parts of a larger paragraph—and can be combined—or whether you can add details to support each point and thus make each into a more fully developed paragraph.