ENGL 1301
Instructions for Summary/Response Essay
Assignment Descriiption
For this essay, you will both summarize and respond to an article you have read—either one provided to you by your instructor or one that you select for a list of options. (See eCampus for details and a list of readings). In a summary/response essay, you first summarize the central claim of an article and then respond to those by agreeing, disagreeing, or modifying the claim (i.e., agreeing with some but not all of the claim or supporting ideas).
Steps to take:
1. Actively read the selected or provided article.
Suggestions for active reading:
• Take note of the author, the title, the date, and the place of publication.
• Note words you don’t know and look up their definitions.
• Annotate the text and/or take notes on key points, main ideas, and supporting claims.
• Take note of important supporting evident, facts, stats, data, etc.
• Pose questions about the reading to reflect on for better understanding.
2. Write Your Summary/Response Essay
As you draft your essay, but sure it contains all of these elements:
1. An introduction. This first paragraph should clearly identify the author and article you’re summarizing, provide some context, and give a general overview of what topic or issue the source is addressing. The introduction must include the following:
a. a statement conveying what you believe to be the author’s thesis—i.e., the central claim or main point of the article.
b. your own thesis statement, which presents your response to the article, and which you will support in detail in the essay.
2. A summary of the source (one or two paragraphs). Be sure to accurately represent the main ideas, supporting claims, and evidence from the source. Also be sure that you remain objective here, conveying only the key information from the article that helps support the author’s claim. Your summary should have a similar balance of information as the original article and be a fair representation of it.
3. Your response to the source (one or two paragraphs). Be sure to include a clear statement of agreement, disagreement, or modification. You should also include evidence from the article, relevant examples, your own reasoning, and your own experiences to support your ideas. Remember that the purpose of a response paper is to add your own voice to the mix, to join the conversation. Take this opportunity to develop your own voice.
4. A conclusion. This paragraph should reinforce the ideas you stated in the essay.
Minimum Requirements
• 1000-1250 words (approx. 3-4 pages)
• An interesting and informative title
• The four elements listed above
• MLA format with in-text citations and a works cited entry.
Readings for Essay #2 Readings for Essay #2
Below is a list of readings that you will use for the next Discussion Board Assignment and for Essay #2, the Summary and Response Essay. Take the time to read each essay, annotate and take notes, and formulate responses to the ideas they contain.
Please note that these articles are listed here in proper MLA citation format, so you can easily make use of them later in the Works Cited for Essay #2.
Milman, Oliver. “How SUVs Conquered the World—and Ruined the Environment.” Mother Jones, 8 Sept. 2020, https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/09/how-suvs-conquered-the-world-and-ruined-the-environment/
Sandel, Michael. “Are We All in This Together?” The New York Times, 13 April, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/opinion/covid-workers-healthcare-fairness.html
Perry, Andre M. “School Dress and Grooming Codes are the New ‘Whites Only’ Signs.” The Brookings Institution, 14 Feb., 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/02/14/school-dress-and-grooming-codes-are-the-new-whites-only-signs/
Hanauer, Nick. “Better Schools Won’t Fix America.” The Atlantic, July, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/education-isnt-enough/590611/
Cobb, Jelani. “Voter-Suppression Tactics in the Age of Trump.” The New Yorker, 21 Oct., 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/29/voter-suppression-tactics-in-the-age-of-trump
