Reading Response Requirements

Writing a reading response, which is frequently given as homework or during class, involves analyzing, justifying, and defending one's response to a reading which I had to utilize throughout the semester. 

Reading Responses

Purpose

In our class, we loosely define summary as shortening of a longer text, in the (new) writer’s own words. Summaries are used to shorten and quickly encapsulate an idea. We use them when we tell a friend what a movie is about, for instance. In the university and in the broad public discussion, we often use summaries to represent another’s point of view. When we talk or write about another writer’s argument, we often follow that summary with our comments. The reasons for the comments vary; therefore, responses vary. In college and in the broad public discussion, we are often responding to the voices of others, in writing and in speech. We must carefully navigate the tricky divide between our ideas and theirs. Learning how and when one should summarize and ways to respond is valuable. You will be summarizing the ideas of others often in college and in the workplace. This series of exercises will give you repeated practice with the skill in a variety of writings.

Here are the benefits to these exercises. When you write each reading response, you will

·         Develop skills with summary, by accurately explaining what others have said

·         Consider the use of tone and style in writing

·         Integrate your ideas with the ideas of others

·         Analyze writing

·         Read multiple genres and see how conventions of format, structure, tone, voice and level of formality vary

·         Practice control over lower order sentence-level errors