Reading Response Assignments
What is a Reading Response?
A Reading Response is not a summary of your reading. A Reading Response is a way of writing about your thinking about the reading, or your reaction(s) to a reading. A Reading Response is not a formal paper, but should be well thought-out, fully developed, and carefully written, nevertheless. It should demonstrate not only that you have carefully read the text (more than one time), but also that you have thought carefully about the text and engaged with it in some way.
An effective Reading Response will demonstrate that you have thoroughly read and understood the reading, including smaller sections of it, or that you ask questions that reveal careful reading. It might develop connections between the reading and the themes of the course or discussions we’ve had in class and demonstrate that you have considered the implications of the readings. It may suggest questions for class discussion.
A Reading Response must provide evidence that you have engaged with a reading on your own terms and related it to things outside the reading. This might include some of the following:
- Providing a detailed example of some element of the reading. This would need to relate the example to the reading in a specific way that provides some insight.
- Relating one reading to another. This would need to get into the specifics of the two readings and bring them together in a way that is not obvious.
- Relating the reading to your own experience. This would need to include a substantial connection between particular elements of the reading and specific elements of your experience.
- Challenging a reading or going beyond the author’s point of view to raise new questions or draw new insights.
Be specific about the work you’re discussing, provide details from the text to back up any assertions you may make by quoting directly from the text.
Finally, pay attention to
- the development of ideas (organization, clear reasoning, use of key vocabulary) and
- conventions of writing (clear presentation, grammar, mechanics,[2] avoiding usage errors[3]).
Some Questions to Consider in a Reading Response
Try to think about just a few of these questions; a successful Reading Response will consider a few issues in depth rather than attempt to answer each one of these questions.
- How does the reading relate to the content of the course and previous readings or class discussions?
- How does the reading relate to your own experience?
- How did you feel about what you read, and why do you think the text provoked this response in you?
- Did the reading reflect or challenge your own values and assumptions, and how so?
- What questions would you ask the author(s) or propose for class discussion? What are some possible answers that you can offer to these questions?
Format and Length
Please use the template provided in Canvas → Files → Reading Responses → “Reading Response Template.docx”. In the template file, replace the text in bold, italic font with the appropriate information.
Each response (not including the header) should be 500-1000 words long (a minimum of two, full, typewritten, double-spaced pages). Make sure not to go over the 1000 word maximum.
[1] This section is adapted from https://www.azwestern.edu/sites/default/files/ENG%20170%20Reading%20Response%20Assignment.pdf and https://bostoncollege.instructure.com/courses/1420983/pages/reading-response-grading-rubric
[2] Mechanics refers to rules of the written language, such as punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
[3] See some examples of common usage errors here: https://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/language/english-usage-errors.htm
