Assignment Sheet - Essay 1 - Reader Response PDF

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this will help you in your class to pass, it was my first essay, and it was difficult...

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English 1301 Composition & Rhetoric I Fall Semester, 2021 – Peter Feldman

Essay #1: Reader Summary & Response THE POINT OF THIS ASSIGNMENT The purpose of the assignment is to get you used to thinking through a text, determining its main idea(s), forming your own opinion about the idea(s), and expressing them clearly. You will also become familiar with the basics of paraphrasing and quoting and of using MLA format for citations (giving credit). It’s one step in preparing you for the biggie – the research paper you’ll be writing this semester. DESCRIPTION • Length: 2-3 pages or 500 to 750 words plus Works Cited page • MLA page format • MLA in-text parenthetical citations • Choose one of the following education-themed readings in Everyone’s an Author: Even Roy, “The Right to Free Speech on campus” – Pages 324-327 Mike Rose, “Blue Collar Brilliance” – Pages 1015 - 1024 Brent Staples, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s – Pages 1039 - 1042 Review the three readings above, and choose one that intrigues you or for which you have a strong response either agreeing or disagreeing with the author. Then you must read the one you select carefully and probably more than once. While you’re at it, think about the “Thinking About” questions at the end. The Summary First draft a summary/response first summarizes what you’ve read and then gives your reaction to the text. Keep in mind the directions from Everyone’s an Author for summarizing: “Summarizing calls for boiling down information and presenting it in your own words and sentence structure” (Lunsford et al 87). The summary will help you decide which main idea or ideas to which you plan to respond. Keep in mind also that in a summary you should “use signal phrases such as “she concludes” or “the report states” to indicate that you’re summarizing someone else’s ideas and claims, not your own” (Lunsford et al. 87). Leave out your opinions when summarizing and use neutral verbs in your signal phrases, such as “states,” “asserts,” or “concludes.” You should include the name of the work and the author, but you always summarize the work in your own words. The summary should be how your essay begins and should probably be no more than 100 to 200 words. Your Response Your response, then should be at least three-fourths of the essay. Your response should be focused and have a thesis (a central argument), topic sentences in paragraphs, and points that refer back to the reading itself, using quotations and paraphrases (author’s idea in your own words) that you cite in MLA parenthetical citation format and include in a “Works Cited” page at the end (a separate page). Your response may or may not include one or more of the following – just ideas: A response to what a text says, in which case you might consider these questions: • What does the writer claim? • What reasons or evidence does he or she provide to support the claim? • What parts of the text do you agree with? Is there anything you disagree with —and if so, why?

2 • Does the writer represent any views other than his or her own? If not, what other perspectives should be considered? • Are there any aspects of the topic that the writer overlooks or ignores? A response to the way a text is written, in which case you might consider these questions: • What is the writer’s message? Is there an explicit statement of that message? • How well has the writer communicated the message? • How does the writer support what he or she says: by citing facts or statistics? By quoting experts? By noting person experiences? Are you persuaded? • Are there any words, phrases, or sentences that you find notable, and that contribute to the text’s overall effect? • How does the text’s design affect your response to it? A reflection on your own reaction to the text, in which case you might consider these questions: • How did the text affect you personally? • Is there anything in the text that really got your attention? If so, what? • Do any parts of the text provoke an emotional reaction —make you laugh or cry, make you uneasy? What prompted that response? • Does the text bring to mind any memories or past experiences? Can you see anything related to you and your life in the text? • Does the text remind you of any other texts? • Does the text support (or challenge) any of your beliefs? How? • Has the reading of this text given you any new ideas or insights? A Few Important Points • You should have a works cited page for the article to which you are responding. • You do not need to consult other sources, but if you do reference other sources in your response, you need to cite those sources on your works cited page also. RESOURCES To assist you in writing Essay 1 review the following pages in Everyone’s An Author: • Pages 80-83 on “Annotating” • Pages 86-88, “Summarizing” • Pages 88-92, “Responding” • Chapter 26 on “Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing” • Chapter 27 on “Giving Credit and Avoiding Plagiarism” • Chapter 28 on “MLA Style”—citing your specific reference or references accurately • These suggestions on how to write a reader response essay: https://owlcation.com/academia/Howto-Write-a-Reading-Response-Essay • Any links and documents posted in D2L in the folder for this assignment. GRADING CRITERIA The essay comprises 10% of your final grade in the course. • How well the summary portion of the essay summarizes the article: 20 points • A clear thesis statement (your main idea) clearly expressed after the summary: 20 points • Use of evidence from the article to support your opinions (quotations and paraphrases): 20 points • Paragraphs that have topic sentences that stick to the paragraph’s topic: 20 points • Mostly correct grammar and punctuation: 20 points SCHEDULE • Tues. Sept 21: 1St draft uploaded to D2L and printed draft due in class for peer editing. • Thurs. Sept. 23: Printed final draft submitted in class. • Sun. Sept. 26: Final draft due in the dropbox – just for the record.

3 NOTE: You will see five points off the final draft if you don’t bring a printed first draft to class for peer editing on the assigned day or if the first draft is completely inadequate....