Description: Write a reaction essay (response paper) in
a formal way: respond to the author’s voice, feelings, ideas, and/or critical
views, or respond to the information the author provides. A reaction
essay should reflect your point of view on the narrative essay you chose.
In other words, to write a good reaction essay, you must read the piece
critically and understand its main point as well as key supporting
points. Demonstrate how deeply and clearly you understood that narrative piece.
Draft and complete your reaction essay (2~3 pages: 500~750 words).
・ Investigate the author’s voice and style.
・ Analyze the narrative essay’s theme, main point, and
sub-points.
・ Convey the narrative essay’s content, important messages,
and/or style to the reader precisely, using paraphrases and quotations
appropriately.
- Read the narrative essay you chose carefully.
Underline parts that seem important and significant. You might quote or
paraphrase them in your paper. - Read the sample paper in the Unit 1 file.
Grasp the idea of how to create an introduction with a thesis statement, body
paragraph with topic sentences, and a conclusion. - Make a tentative thesis. What does the author
want to say? How do you analyze or critique the author’s point of view? The
tentative thesis should work as a backbone to write the rest of your paper. You
are writing the paper to explain and support the thesis. It should be a
statement, not a question. - Choose two or three topics/points that you
need to mention to support your thesis. Develop the topics into topic
sentences. - Write body paragraphs. Organize each body
paragraph under the same topic and topic sentence. Find examples from the text
that support the topic sentence. Quote or paraphrase them. Make sure to
organize each paragraph logically: Topic Sentence → Evidence (examples) from
the text→ Closing sentence. - Write an introduction and a conclusion. Some
writers follow this order: a tentative thesis, tentative introduction → body
paragraphs→ conclusion→ edit the tentative thesis statement and introduction
→edit the whole paper
Detailed Tips and Instructions for the Reaction Essay
- A reaction essay (response paper) should be
based on your response to the narrative essay you selected from the Unit 1
readings. It should include both summaries/paraphrases from the text (“The
author says” part) and your own opinion (“I say” part). Avoid simply
retelling the story. Instead, analyze and critique the narrative essay. - Make sure to provide effective facts
(quotations) from the text to support your thesis. You are not
just talking about the narrative essay. You are writing for your reader,
presenting your thesis on the narrative piece, and explaining it using evidence
from the text. - You are responding to a particular essay,
not a general topic. If the narrative essay deals with marriage, focus on what
kind of ideas the author presents about the topic and how you respond to it.
Avoid writing about marriage in general or your marriage story that seems very
personal. - You may include your own experience, but
always be aware that you are using the episode as a tool to support your
thesis. Throughout the paper (especially in the introduction and conclusion),
the focus should be on the message of the text, not your personal experience. - Always use facts from the text effectively.
Use an appropriate quotation/paraphrase at an appropriate location. - When you quote or paraphrase, add in-text
citation for each. Write the author’s last name and the page number of the
quoted/paraphrased part, without adding a “p” in front of the page number: (Brooks 65). You don’t
have to add a works-cited page for this reaction paper. - In the introduction, describe the title of the text you are responding to and the
author’s full name:
In “Amy Chua is a Wimp,” David Brooks reveals the critical issue that most readers have
missed, which…
Make sure to describe the essay’s title and
the author’s full name in the introduction. When you mention the author’s name
in body paragraphs, use his / her last name.
Sample Solution