Reader response essay: examples, format, outline, sample

Response essays are written to help you reflect on a specific piece of writing. Such essays are ideal for testing your ability to express yourself coherently. What is a response essay? Organize your workflow by defining major points and providing logical reasoning to entice the reader. Of course, you should end with a strong summary.

Your teacher might ask you to express your feelings about a text. You might be asked to describe the author’s intention, research topics, or story. A good response paper, in any case, necessitates considerable effort. So let’s get started and figure out where to begin, how to focus on schoolwork and our ultimate goal.

What is a reader response essay?

A reading response is a task in which you must examine, explain, and defend your reaction to a piece of literature. Many students struggle with writing reading responses because it is the writer’s responsibility to assign meaning to a text. Although reading response tasks may appear vague or open-ended, you can write a successful response by adhering to a standard essay format. Here are some pointers on how to write a good reading response.

How to write reader response essays

1. Take your time reading the text

Before writing a reading response, it is critical to read the text thoroughly. Take some time to consider how the text makes you feel; make notes, so you don’t forget your reaction later. Important passages should be highlighted or bookmarked, and page numbers should be noted.

2. Consider your options carefully

Don’t begin writing a reading response right after you finish reading. Take some time to reflect on the entire text and how it made you feel. Take careful notes.

Consider the following questions:

Do you agree or disagree with the text?
Do you agree with the author or disagree?
Does the text contradict your personal beliefs?
How does the text apply to you as an individual?
How much did the text task or start changing your beliefs or opinions?
Did the text teach you anything? If so, what did you discover?
How do you feel about the text in general?

3. Create a draft

A good essay will always have a clear main point or thesis statement. If your teacher has assigned a specific central question, your thesis statement should address that question; otherwise, your main argument should focus on the overall impact of the text.

4. Create a reader response essay outline

If you have a word limit or a site count, you may need to be extra cautious about the framework of your essay. The reader response is typically written in the form of an essay.

Reader response essay format

· Introduction

Begin your introduction with the author’s name and the work’s full title. Give a summary of the message and explain its significance. Do not attempt to summarize the story. Then explain your main point.

· Body

Divide your material into points and identify each point in a separate paragraph. The content of one reader’s response may determine the number of body paragraphs in your essay. You can use the earlier questions to detach these paragraphs.

When writing about your reading, don’t just explain how you felt about the text; investigate why you felt that way. Give examples drawn from the text as well as from your own experience. You can also use text quotes to make your responses more relevant.

· Conclusion

In this section, summarize your previous arguments and connect them to your thesis or central theme. The conclusion can be as short as one paragraph.

Making a thesis statement

After your introduction, make a transition by trying to explain what the author of the article you wrote has to say about this topic. Explain briefly the key points of the article you want to discuss. Then you’ll present your thesis.

For example, Mary Johnson writes in “Cell Phones are Dangerous” that we should not use our phones when driving and should start educating others not to do so. According to Johnson, talking on a cell phone is as dangerous as driving drunk. Furthermore, she emphasizes the growing number of cell phone-related injuries. She concludes that we must make the personal decision not to use our cell phones while driving and educate our family and friends to do the same.

Then include a thesis statement, such as one of the following:

(Agree) I agree with Johnson because I’ve seen many people driving dangerously while on their mobile phones and have even been in an accident while on the phone myself. (Disagree) I’m afraid I have to disagree with Robinson because I believe using a cell phone is no different from eating in a car or conversing with other passengers.

Then consider and expand:

(Think about the author’s experience.) I believe Johnson reached her conclusions due to her traumatic events while driving using a cell phone. (Optional: include an explanatory phrase such as “but individual anecdotes are not a great foundation for public policy.”)

(Explain a claim made in the essay) I agree with Johnson that cell phones are risky, but I’d go further because I believe we can’t control the problem by simply educating the public. Cell phone use while driving should be prohibited by law.

Responding in writing

Here are six approaches to responding to an essay:

You can disagree with the article and give three or more reasons why.
You can express your disagreement with the essay and provide three or more reasons.
You can agree with some aspects of the article while disagreeing with others and explaining why.
You can analyze this essay’s context (occasion, intent, audience, and context) and explain why the author wrote it based on personal experience.
You can expand on one idea in the essay, agree or disagree with it, and give reasons for your viewer to agree.
Explain your reaction to an article and afterward analyze how the author’s style, tone, choice of words, and examples influenced your feelings.

Remember that all essays are divided into three sections: introduction, body, and conclusion. There are numerous approaches to writing a good article, but I will provide you with a general framework to help you organize your thoughts.

How to write a body paragraph

Here, you will argue your thesis and provide evidence for your ideas based on personal experience, thinking, and reading. You may also use evidence from the article you read, but do not simply repeat its ideas.

Each paragraph should have a topic that communicates one response idea you have about the paper, such as “I agree with Jones that _________” or “My personal experience will make me relate to ____ because. “
The remainder of the paragraph should provide details to support that point. You can use instances from the having read, your own life, something else you’ve read, or something we’ve all experienced. You can also use logic to back up your claims. Explain why you believe this.
When discussing something in the story, don’t forget to use “author tags.”
The best essays refer to the text and describe why and how the reader’s reaction relates to the article.

Author tags: how to cite your resources

When discussing the article for the first time, including the author’s full name and title in parenthesis: According to John Jones’ article “Taking Back Our Lives.”

After that, you must always indicate when you are rephrasing the article rather than providing your opinion.
Use “author tags” to demonstrate that you are discussing an aspect of the article rather than your ideas.
Author tags consist of the author’s last name and a verb. Try these alternatives.

How to write a successful conclusion

In conclusion, you should not rehash or summarize your arguments, contrary to what you may have learned in previous writing classes. That is acceptable for in-class essays when you are unsure if you have clearly stated your main points, but it is not acceptable for college writing.

Instead, you must bring your arguments to a close. You can frequently use the same technique that you used in the introduction. You could also:

Draw attention to larger issues;
Demand a change in action or attitude;
End with a vivid image,
Persuade the reader to agree with you, or
Return to your introduction by completing the tale, revising it, or explaining how something proves your point.

Reader response essay sample: cell phones are dangerous

This is a reader response essay example to Mary Johnson’s article “Cell Phones are Dangerous.” She agrees with the article and expands on one of the ideas.

Intro:

Paragraph 1: A dramatic retelling of a personal story in which I pick up my cell phone only to realize that I am about to collide with another car. Stop the story immediately before the crash.

Paragraph 2: I thought I was a good enough driver, like most people, to handle using a cell phone while driving. I discovered I was mistaken. It turns out that I’m not that unusual. Mary Johnson argues in her article “Cell Phones are Dangerous” that as cell phone use while driving statistics rise, so do accidents. Johnson believes that we shouldn’t use our phones while driving and should educate others not to do so. According to Johnson, talking on a mobile phone is as hazardous as driving drunk.

Furthermore, she emphasizes the growing number of accidents triggered by cell phone use. Her conclusion is that we must make the personal decision not to use a phone while driving and educate our family and friends to do the same. I agree with Jones that mobile phones are risky and that we should avoid using them while driving; however, I’d go a step further and say that we need laws prohibiting the use of cell phones in cars. If you need more samples, visit Nursing Papers Market for professional help.

Body:

These declarations would be the thesis statement for a different body paragraph. I also give examples of the arguments and support I would employ to write that section and prove my point in the first.

Laws make people aware that texting and driving are dangerous. (Below is an example of some assistance I could employ to back up this idea—you may use ideas from the article but not the article itself.)

Support with an anecdote of a friend or family member who believes a phone call is more important than driving
Use statistics from the article
Argue that some people will be convinced by education, but not all
Use an example of seat belts saving lives
Argue that using a mobile phone endangers others, not just yourself

New technology necessitates policy changes.
People in my creation feel obligated to make a call, but if calling while driving is illegal, they will not feel that pressure.
Using hands-free headsets will not work because the call, not holding the phone, is distracting.
This will save many lives.

Conclusion:

I would return to my personal story and resume where I had left off. I crash, and my car sustains significant damage, but no one is injured. I can explain my relief that my mobile phone use did not end tragically, as well as my personal decision to keep my phone out of reach while driving. End with an appeal to the viewer to do the same and to assist legislation that would make cell phone use while driving illegal.

Essays on reader response vs. essays on evaluation

When you respond to the question, “What did you think of that book (article, movie, class, or news report)?” you form an opinion. Responding personally to the article is usually the first step in any writing analysis, so it is a good first print type to write. In contrast to a review or evaluation paper, the goal of a document known is not to tell someone else how much they should read this article.

Instead, your goal is to explain your reaction and provide reasons (in the body of your paper) for why you reacted the way you did. An evaluation paper would expand on the reading response and is likely one of the documents you will complete next in your course.

Final thoughts

A good reader response essay will include a review of the author’s work based on your critical evaluations of its concept. Make certain that your writing reflects the ideas with which you disagree or agree. Check that it categorizes strong and weak points logically. A good reply essay must be persuasive. Relevant examples and solid evidence must support it. Of course, it should reflect your attitude.

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