What does it do
summarizes what you read.
gives your reaction to the text.
Your reaction will be one (or more) of the following:
Agreement/disagreement with the ideas in the text.
Reaction to how the ideas in the text relate to your own experience.
Reaction to how ideas in the text relate to other things you've read.
Your analysis of the author and audience.
Your evaluation of how this text tries to convince the reader, and whether it is effective.
Do not use โyou, I, weโ
This is a formal, academic essay. The use of "you" is NOT allowed, nor are contractions. As a reader response is an opinion, you must avoid using "I" and โwe.โ The readers will automatically assume this is your opinion. An exception could be made when you refer to your own experience.
Do not | Do |
I agree with Johnson because I have observed many people driving dangerously while talking on cell phones | Mr. Johnson is rightโฆ |
I believe Johnson has come to her conclusions because of her own traumatic experiences while using a cell phone while drivingโฆ | Johnson has come to her conclusions, it would seem, becauseโฆ |
Set it up step by step
Introduction: For this essay, because you want to give both information about the subject and also briefly summarize the article you are responding to, you probably need at least two paragraphs. In all introductions, you want to:
Get the readerโs attention
Describe your subject
Give your thesis (thesis in French could be translated as problรจmatique)
For a Responsive Reading essay you also need to:
Mention the author and title of the article you are discussing
Give a brief summary of the article, or the part of the article, that you will be responding to.
1. Introduction Ideas for Reading Response Paper
Paragraph One: Get the readerโs attention and describe the subject in one of the following ways: use a startling statistic, an interesting fact, an appropriate quotation, an anecdote, a scenario, a conversation, a story, a question your essay will answer, an example, or general information about the topic.
One of my favorite techniques is to use a โframeโ story or conversation for the opening/conclusion. The way this works is that you tell half of a story or conversation in the introduction and then tell the rest of the story in the conclusion. Or you could open with a dilemma or problem and then close with the solution. A different version of that is to re-tell the same story in the conclusion with a different (usually better) ending. Examples:
1.
On an essay about cell phone use in cars, you could open with a scenario showing a person getting a call while driving and thinking about what to do. In the conclusion, you could have the end of the scenarioโmaybe the driver pulls over to take the call, or decides to let voicemail take it.
2.
On an essay about dealing with a family member with Alzheimerโs, you could open with a conversation between family members trying to figure out what to do. You can conclude with a conversation between the same people after they have decided to place that person in a nursing home.
3.
On an essay about oil drilling in the Gulf, you could open by describing vividly the oilsoaked coastline and the dying wildlife. You could conclude with what that coastline looks like now.
4.
On any topic in which you have personal experience, you can open with part of your story, and then conclude with the ending of your story
2. Reading Response Introduction and Conclusion Ideas
Type | Introduction | Conclusion |
frame story | start a story (personal or in reading) | Finish the story |
expectations fulfilled | tell what you expected or thought before reading the essay | tell how the reading met your expectations |
expectations unfulfilled | tell your expectations | tell how these were overturned or changed |
Questions | ask one or more questions about topic | answers to questions |
Startling statistic or fact | How reading helps us understand or interpret fact or statistics | |
vivid description of subject with sensory images | tell how reading helps us understand description | |
scenario | show a typical scene or conversation relating to topic (real or made up) | finish scene or conversation or repeat it with a different ending |
What we all know about topic (statements most people believe) | What is really true | |
Quote or famous saying | How quote explains your thesis |
3. Transition and Thesis
Paragraph Two: Transition by explaining what the author of the article you have read has to say about this topic. Briefly explain the main points of the article that you want to talk about. Then you will give your thesis.
4. Body of Paper
Here you will argue your thesis and give support for your ideas from your personal experience, and your own thinking and reading. You can also use evidence from the article you read but donโt just repeat the ideas in the article.
โข
The body of your paper should have 3 or more paragraphs.
โข
Each paragraph should have a topic sentence which tells one response idea you have about the paper such as, "Jones is right in that........" or "My personal experience makes me relate to_____ because_____".
โข
Then the rest of the paragraph should give details to back up that point.
โข
As details, you can use examples in the reading, from your own life, from something else you have read, or from common experiences we all have.
โข
You can also use reasoning to prove your points. Explain why you think that way.
โข
Don't forget to use "author tags" (see below) when you are talking about something in the story.
โข
The best essays do refer back to the story and explain why the response relates to the article.
Author Tags in Reading Response Essays
The first time you talk about the article, you should give the full name of the author and the title of the article in parenthesis. โJohn Jones in his article, <Taking Back Our Lives> states...โ This is called an author tag.
โข
After that, you must always indicate when you are paraphrasing something in the article, as opposed to giving your own view.
โข
You use author tags to show you are talking about something written by the author in the article, and not your own ideas.
โข
Author tags use the last name of the author and a verb. Try the variations in the list above.
said | concludes | defines |
explains | elucidates | repeats |
tells us | reports | argues |
deduces | analyzes | suggests |
warns | advises | investigates |
asks | points out | comments |
agrees | inimated | implies |
hints | proposes | informs |
quips | questions | denies |
reassures us | demands | declares |
remarks | relates | mentions |
cautions | reveals | objects |
insists | chides | pleads |
5. Conclusion
Contrary to what you may have learned in previous writing classes, you should not repeat or summarize your arguments in the conclusion. This is not appropriate for university writing. Instead, you need to conclude your arguments. You can often use the same type of techniques that you use in an introduction. You can also: call attention to larger issues, call for a change in action or attitude, conclude with a vivid image, appeal to the reader to agree with you, or link back with your introduction by finishing the story/scenario, revising it, or explaining how it proves your point...
Essay
index ideation
Rethinking When We Should Use Our Brains
In his book, <How to Take Smart Notes>, Sรถnke Ahrens introduced a man with an extraordinary ability to remember everything. Despite his unique skill, he struggled with understanding abstract concepts such as "love," "emotion," and "morals." His experiences provide insights into when we should remember and when we should use our brains to think more deeply.
Daniel T. Willingham, in his article <You Still Need Your Brain>, argued that we must still use our brains because search engines lack context and are slower than biological indexing. However, he not only overlooked how humans save information in the brain and develop civilization without memorizing but also underestimated how much time it takes to memorize something, leading to misconclusions.
Abstraction simplifies complexity, promoting human progress. It has been the foundation of human civilization, as it continuously changes what is important for humans. For example, abstraction is a common idea in engineering. We don't need to memorize the inner workings of electronic devices or the principles of smartphones, even though we use them daily. With technology that can abstract calculations and hide complex processes like solving 397,394 x 9, there's no reason to learn or memorize how to calculate 397,394 x 9. This allows human to focus on more relevant and creative tasks.
Although searching for information on the internet can be slow, the time required to memorize something is often underestimated. Willingham argued that any frequently needed information is worth memorizing. However, this solution falls short. Because Mr. Rochelle "couldn't answer" why his children should learn the quadratic equation as "it would appear frequently in your life!" This suggests that it is uncertain whether memorizing the quadratic equation wouldnโt be considered unnecessary material and a waste of time. Willingham's solution fails to explain why the child needed to memorize it. Time cannot be reclaimed, even if the memorization turns out to be useless.
Connecting abstract ideas through the Mental Grid Model theory can make retrieving information in one's mind much faster and more efficient. For instance, instead of memorizing individual historical events, one could learn the overarching themes and patterns that shaped those events. By understanding the relationships between key events and the context in which they occurred, a person can more effectively recall information and gain deeper insights. This approach emphasizes the importance of understanding relationships between concepts rather than focusing solely on memorization.
The human brain is designed to forget. Consequently, people cannot memorize everything, even if it's useful. Dunbar suggested that humans cannot recall meaningful memories of relationships with more than 150 people. Instead of memorization, humans possess the powerful skill of abstraction. With abstraction, it's possible to remember abstract concepts that can help to recover concrete concepts.
Remember the man who could recall everything. He had no room to create high-level images by connecting abstracted concepts, which are formed through understanding and forgetting, rather than memorizing. People don't know him because he didn't contribute to humanity, even though he was excellent at memorizing. Researchers have found that he was one of the most unsocialized and unhappy people in the world. This serves as a reminder that forgetting and connecting abstracted concepts is crucial for a fulfilling life.
parse me : ์ธ์ ๊ฐ ์ด ๊ธ์ ์ฐ์ด๋ฉด ์ข์ ๊ฒ ๊ฐ์ ์ฌ๋ฃ๋ค.
1.
None
from : ๊ณผ๊ฑฐ์ ์ด๋ค ์๊ฐ์ด ์ด ์๊ฐ์ ๋ง๋ค์๋๊ฐ?
1.
supplementary : ์ด๋ค ์๋ก์ด ์๊ฐ์ด ์ด ๋ฌธ์์ ์์ฑ๋ ์๊ฐ์ ๋ท๋ฐ์นจํ๋๊ฐ?
1.
None
opposite : ์ด๋ค ์๋ก์ด ์๊ฐ์ด ์ด ๋ฌธ์์ ์์ฑ๋ ์๊ฐ๊ณผ ๋์กฐ๋๋๊ฐ?
1.
None
to : ์ด ๋ฌธ์์ ์์ฑ๋ ์๊ฐ์ด ์ด๋ค ์๊ฐ์ผ๋ก ๋ฐ์ ๋๊ณ ์ด์ด์ง๋๊ฐ?
1.
None
์ฐธ๊ณ : ๋ ํผ๋ฐ์ค