Summary-Response Essay
The goal of this assignment is to demonstrate that you can read and respond critically to outside sources of information. To start the essay, you will summarize an article or similar piece of writing. Then, in the second portion of your essay, you will discuss your response to the text you read, such as by expressing your views on the article/text, agreeing or disagreeing with the author’s points, adding additional thoughts supporting or disproving the author’s points, or through other forms of response. This essay will challenge your critical thinking skills, asking you to break down a piece of writing to fully grasp the author’s argument and evidence, as well as examine alternative perspectives on the topic. Review the assignment instructions below to begin.
Essay Prompt
For this assignment, you will write a 750-800 word summary-response essay based on a selected article using the following guidelines:
Find a recent article or essay (within the last five years) about the career you hope to have one day or a hobby you are very passionate about. (Yes, even playing video games and watching TV shows can be a hobby if you are very passionate about it.)
The best articles for this assignment will be those that express a strong opinion on your future career or hobby. Articles describing somewhat controversial ideas or opinions about the career/hobby may make great texts for this assignment. You do not have to agree with the opinions in the article–finding an article you disagree with can also create a great essay.
Newspapers and reputable online news organizations will be great places to search for articles for this essay. You may also search for articles in the TSC Library Database,Links to an external site. Google Scholar, or on educational websites. Avoid using general, non-news-related websites for this assignment. Preferably, the article you find will be written by a credible journalist or an expert in the career/hobby.
Examples of some articles that would work for this assignment (you cannot select these specific articles; please locate your own!):
“The New Chatbots Could Change the World. But Can You Trust Them?” by Cade MetzLinks to an external site.
“To End the Nurse Shortage, Start with Nursing Schools” by The Bloomberg EditorsLinks to an external site.
“40% of All Video Game Developers Have Faced Player Harassment” by Leah WilliamsLinks to an external site.
“Border Patrol Applicants Say” by Hannah LambertLinks to an external site.
Write your summary-response essay draft. The body of your summary-response essay should have two key sections:
A brief but complete summary of the article you selected. What is the article about, what is its argument or opinion, what evidence or examples does it use to prove its main points? Explain the content of the article in a short summary section.
Your summary section should no more than approximately 1-2 paragraphs (roughly 150-250 words of the essay total).
Keep the summary short–the main goal of the essay is your response, not the summary itself.
Your response to the article you selected. This is the most important section of your essay and should be your main focus.
Your response should be at least two body paragraphs long (roughly 500-600 words of the essay total).
You may take multiple stances when responding to the article:
You may discuss how and why you believe the article’s argument is correct or incorrect
You may provide an alternate perspective on the author’s points
You may respond as if you were debating against the article or defending it against those who disagree
You may add additional points to the author’s original argument, etc.
The key to responding is to keep your focus on the article and your thoughts about the article itself, rather than just the general topic overall.
For example, if you pick an article about why engineering is not a great career field for women, remember that you are responding to (and your whole essay should focus on) that specific article itself, not to the entire field of engineering or being a woman in STEM.
Additional Essay Guidelines
Even though you are providing your personal response and opinion on the article you choose, please do not use the words “I,” “me,” or “my” in your essay.
There is no need to say things like “I believe” or “In my opinion”–readers already know that this is your essay, and therefore everything that isn’t cited to an outside source is obviously your opinion or belief.
Your essay should include a complete introduction with thesis statement, clear topic sentences and organized body paragraphs including evidence from your chosen article, a well-developed conclusion, and an accurate work cited page.
Your essay should be double-spaced, in 12pt Times New Roman font, with 1-inch margins, and follow all other general MLA format guidelines.Links to an external site.
You must cite the article that you choose to summarize and respond to. Use the Purdue OWL Writing Lab guide linked above and the MLA files in our course to assist you with both in-text citations and your work cited page.
MLA Microsoft Word Template Download MLA Microsoft Word Template
MLA Template in Google DocsLinks to an external site.
Plagiarism and AI-generated essays will not be accepted. All essays will be assessed in TurnItIn and TurnItIn’s AI check. Plagiarized or AI-generated essays will be graded according to the plagiarism policy outlined on the course syllabus.
Your essay’s rough draft should be complete when submitted to the rough draft assignment, including meeting the minimum word count.
This is the article I would like to use:
