Instructions for Summary / Response Essay

Summary/Response Essay

Assignment Description

For this essay, you should select an article from the “Readings” folder in this unit and summarize/respond to it in a formal essay. The summary/response essay asks you first to summarize the main points of the article and to respond to those points by agreeing, disagreeing, or agreeing with some but not all of the arguments made in the article. You should include evidence (from the article, from your own reasoning, from examples, from experiences, etc.) to support your response.

Due Dates

Please refer to the calendar due dates. Please remember the peer review is a separate grade and has separate due dates.

Purpose and Learning Objectives

The purpose of writing a response paper is to encourage you to read actively and to evaluate the selected articles critically. While it is possible to read an article just once and gain an understanding of the main idea, much of the depth and nuance of the article will only be discovered after multiple readings.  Moreover, your grasp of the ideas and concepts presented in the article will remain superficial until you apply those ideas and concepts in your own writing. As you write, you should practice making clear claims about the material you’re writing about and should practice supporting those claims with evidence from the text and from your own reasoning about the subject.

Minimum Requirements

• 600- 900 words  (approx. 2-3 pages)
• An interesting and informative title
• MLA format with in-text citations and works cited page
• An introductory paragraph that tells readers what article you are responding to and that includes a thesis statement
• One or more paragraphs that summarize the article
• One or more paragraphs that respond to the article
• A conclusion paragraph that wraps up the main ideas in the essay

You should not expect to earn a grade higher than a 60% if you do not meet the minimum requirements.

Process for Completion

1. The first step in writing a good response paper is to actively read the article assigned. Active reading means consciously identifying the thesis, purpose, audience, and tone.  It means determining what main points the author is trying to convey with his or her article.
2. Next, it might help to construct an outline or graphic organizer that will help you visualize the claims and the evidence supporting those claims. Once you have a firm understanding of the article, start formulating your response by asking questions:

   What do I really think about this topic? Why do I think that?
   Do I disagree with any points being made? Why?
   Do I agree with any points? Why?
   Can I think of additional examples or evidence that support or refute the author’s claims?
   Can I connect something in the article to my own personal experience?
   Can I apply the ideas presented in the article to some other subject?  

3. At this point, you should start to formulate your response. Once you have an idea of what you want to say, start drafting your essay.

   The introduction should clearly identify the author and article you’re summarizing. It may include a bit of brief summary to show what the main point of the article is. It should include a thesis statement that presents your response to the article.
   The body paragraphs should begin with a summary of the article that you’ve chosen (one or two paragraphs). Be sure to accurately represent the ideas and arguments from the source. Next, you should develop your response (between one and three paragraphs), usually with a statement of agreement or disagreement, followed by your reasons, examples, and evidence. Remember that the purpose of a response paper is to add your own voice to the mix, to join the conversation.  I want to read your reactions, your interpretations, and your opinions. Take this opportunity to develop your own voice.
   The conclusion paragraph should reinforce the ideas you stated in the essay.

4. Once you’ve drafted your paper, go back and review how you’ve organized your paragraphs (do they have topic sentences?) and integrated evidence (all quotes should be seamlessly incorporated into your own sentences).
5. When you’re happy with your draft, you should complete the peer review process to get feedback on your writing.
6. After you have read the feedback provided by your peers, continue revising and editing your draft.  You might find that some comments are more helpful than others. You are not obliged to take anyone’s advice, but you should at least consider every suggestion. When you are comfortable that the essay is in good shape, upload it to eCampus. The final draft will automatically be sent through “Safe Assign,” which is an originality checker used to help identify plagiarism.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas without giving credit and is a serious academic offense.  It can range from:

• Turning in a paper any part of which you did not write, 
• Cutting and pasting a paper together from various sources without attributing the sources correctly,
• Changing a few words but basically keeping most of the words and sentence structure of the original,
• Using the ideas of another without giving credit to the person who originally had the idea.
• Using the exact words of the source without using quotation marks even if you give the name of the source.

Refer to the syllabus for consequences of plagiarism in this class. For more information, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/

Grading and Rubric

To access the rubric, go to the essay submission and select “View Rubric.” Please remember that the grades for peer are listed in the syllabus as separate grades.

Instructions for Peer Review

Peer reviews are an essential part of the revision process, as it’s important to receive feedback on your writing. Even the best writers ask for others to read their work. All you need to do is turn to the acknowledgement section of many books to find praise for others who have read drafts of the book. All important writing should be read by someone else prior to submission.

To earn credit for peer review, you must submit a draft to the peer review discussion board by the due date and comment on one of your classmates’ drafts by the second due date (the schedule lists two due dates: the first is when you must submit your draft; the second is when you must submit your responses to others). You must submit a draft AND comment on someone else’s draft to earn any credit for peer review. Just submitting a draft OR just commenting on someone’s draft will not earn credit.

Posting Your Draft

Create a new thread and post your draft as an attachment.  Your attachment must be saved as a or x document. Please ensure that your draft uploads correctly.

Responding to Classmates

• Select a classmate’s thread and download his/her attached draft.
• Reply to his/her thread to indicate the draft is under review (i.e. John Dow is currently reviewing the document).  Do not select the paper if someone else is already reviewing.
• Read the draft carefully and respond to the questions listed below, either in a new document or at the top of your classmate’s document. At the very least, you must answer the questions, but you can also use the “Comment” function in Microsoft Word to write comments to your classmates within the essay (put your cursor where you want the comment, go to the “Review” tab in Microsoft Word, and select “New Comment”).
• Complete the review and save the document to your computer.
• Once you have completed the review, reply to your classmate’s thread and upload the review.

Questions for Peer Review

1. Read your peer’s essay from beginning to end just to let its ideas wash over you.  What are your initial thoughts? Did your peer satisfy the requirements of assignment?  Please explain in detail.

2. Does the essay have a heading and unique title?  In the introduction, does the essay clearly identify the author and title of the article being summarized?

3. Using what you have learned about summaries in this unit, does the summary of the article convey the main ideas in a clear and concise manner?  At any point is the summary confusing or hard to follow?

4. Does the essay include a response?  Is there a clear indication of whether or not your peer agrees or disagrees with the claims made in the source article?  Is that response supported with reasons and examples?

5. Focus on the individual paragraphs of the essay.  Does each paragraph have a topic sentence that previews the ideas of the paragraph? Observe the essay’s development of paragraphs.  Does each paragraph have a single main idea that relates to the thesis?  Are there any paragraphs that seem disconnected or out of place?

6. Consider the essay’s use of the English language.  Are sentence structures, grammar, spelling, punctuation and mechanics employed effectively, or do errors distract the reader from understanding and enjoying the writer’s analysis? Make note of strengths and weaknesses in this area.  Please explain in detail.

Remember: When in doubt about how to do the peer review, be honest, helpful, and constructive. Saying “Great job! Don’t change a word!” never helped anyone to be a better writer.

To complete the assignment, click on the Discussion Board link from the main menu and look for the peer review forum for the summary/response essay.

Student Name

Heather Jensen

ENGL 1301-8XXXX

Date

Black Lives Matter: A Menace or A Movement

Black lives matter, a movement born from the deaths of African Americans at the hands of police. Should middle and high schoolers be educated on the politics of Black Lives Matter? In the article Should students learn about Black Lives Matter in School? By Hayley Glatter published July 2016, the discussion is set around how to introduce the Black lives matter movement in to the curriculum with limited resources for students to utilize. Despite how impactful this movement is, the chances that anything regarding BLM will be published in textbooks, to use as a resource anytime soon, is highly unlikely.

Hayley goes into detail about how teachers are working hard to implement current events into modern day curriculum. This article explains not only the obstacles that teachers are facing but the measure at which these teachers are willing to go, to provide this information to students. With limited resources to aid in the discussions that are being held in class, teachers are being more innovative in their approach to get this information across. With the help of the internet and social media, teachers are taking full advantage of what they can find to give students a better understanding of the discussions at hand.

As a result of the measure that teachers are being forced to take, there has been a great deal of back-lash from parents and social media. While that may be enough to halt any teacher, to prevent any kind of disciplinary action, some teachers are pushing forward with objective to teach students about the real world. To add insult to in injury, textbooks being are published every 7 years, teachers have no choice but to create their own resources or take resources off-line. The lagging publication of textbooks along with the hesitation of major textbook publication companies refusing to publish information that may be too controversial, is just as big of an obstacle as the back-lash from parents.

I found some of the information from this article to be exceptionally valuable. To start, the fact the textbooks are published every 7 years is slightly surprising. I will admit, what was not so surprising, was the lack of participation from publication companies. I’ve always felt that the agenda of school, was to brain-wash and teach what “they” feel we should know. I fully disagree with the agenda that schools are using to teach students. Resources should be more readily available teachers to use. I disagree that publication companies are avoiding or omitting the truth. We are all entitled to the truth. What the publications companies have been doing is formulating opinions for the masses based on half-truths in my opinion.

What moved me the most was the thought that teachers are facing back-lash, for in my opinion should be taught and discussed at home as well as in school. I must admit that I am stuck thinking, why wouldn’t you want your children to know and understand the way of the world? My thoughts lead me to believe that those who are apart of the problem will condemn teachers for discussing such politics with young minds. In my opinion, I can understand why parents would want to guard their children from toxic situations, but with social media being such a big a part of this generations life, that’s extremely hard to do. Personally, I disagree that teachers should be receiving any type of back lash for using their platform to do more than program the minds of the upcoming generations, but to teach the reality that they stand to face as adults.

Research from the article states the benefits that students will have from discussing current events can be life altering for students. Not only will they have an adult figure other than their parents to explain the battles of life, they will also have a platform to discuss their feelings about these topics. Discussing topics such as Black Lives Matter, racism and homosexuality, in a public setting can help students to see and understand the perspectives of others. I agree these conversations are important to have in school, simply because you have no idea what’s being taught at home. With the upcoming generation, it appears that the hate for other races are being taught by older figures. Having these discussions in school like settings could teach students to form opinions of their own.

To conclude my thoughts on this article, I will say that I am pleased to have read this article. With the Black Live Matter movement being such a sensitive topic, it is great to know that there is a conversation circulating in academic circles to implement this movement along with others into modern day curriculum. Though some teachers are facing obstacles, with the back- lash from parents and social media, it’s refreshing to know that there are some trendsetters willing to sacrifice their career for the greater good.

Works Cited

Hayley Glatter. “Should students learn about Black Lives Matter in school”. The Atlantic, July 21, 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/black-lives-matter-in-school/492275/

Last name 1

Your name

Professor’s name

English 1301

September 3, 2014

An MLA Formatting Guide

When you submit essays in college, you should format them correctly according to MLA formatting standards. You may use this document for instructions while formatting your own Microsoft Word document, or you can use this as a template to draft your own essays.

You should format the entire document in Times New Roman 12 point font. Everything should be double-spaced. Do not add superfluous spaces between paragraphs. In some versions of Microsoft Word, you should turn off the function that automatically adds a space between paragraphs (to turn off this function, highlight all of the text in the document and then open the Paragraph box from the Home ribbon by clicking on the arrow at the bottom of the box. Then, select the checkbox next to “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style”). Include a heading (such as the one at the top of this page) that lists your name, your instructor’s name, your class, and the date. Format the heading exactly like the rest of the document (double-spaced), but do not indent the heading as you would indent the first line of a paragraph.

You should also include a title. The title should be centered. Do not add extra lines between the heading and the title or between the title and the first paragraph. You should capitalize the first letter of the title and all of the other words except articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), and prepositions (with, to, about, etc.). Be sure the title is interesting and relevant to the topic. If writing about a work of literature or an article, do not use the same title as the work. In other words, if you’re writing about the article called “Beyonce: Sex Terrorist,” you must name your paper something besides “Beyonce: Sex Terrorist.”

You should set all of your margins to one inch. You should indent the first line of each paragraph by .5 (one tab), except in the works cited page, where you should use a hanging indent for each entry (to format a hanging indent, highlight the entries in the works cited page. Then, open the Paragraph box by clicking on the arrow in the bottom corner. Then, click on the “Special” dropdown menu and select “hanging”). You should include a page number at the top right corner of the page (Microsoft Word formats it at .5, which is correct). You should include your last name with the page number. Be sure to use the page number function in Microsoft Word so that it updates for you automatically (double-click the very top of the page where the page number should go. When the header opens, select “Page Number” in the Design ribbon and then select the correct page number).

Student Name

Professor Name
Course
Date

Is English Really that Crazy?

“Sometimes you have to believe that all English speakers should be committed to an

asylum for the verbally insane.” This is a quote from the book Crazy English, written by Richard

Lederer in 1989. In the essay “English is Crazy Language”, which is a excerpt from the opening

chapter of his book Crazy English, Lederer takes a witty and rather genius approach of proving

how English is, indeed, a very crazy language.

Lederer starts the book off with facts about the English language, emphasizing about how

it is “the most widely spoken language in the history of our planet.” I find that this is a very

clever way to prove to the readers that he is knowledgeable in this matter. Lederer then states

“nonetheless, it is now time to face the fact that English is a crazy language.” From here on, we

are faced with a whirlwind of Lederer’s ridiculously brilliant examples and play on words of the

English language in an almost poetic-like stance.

He begins with “the blackbird hen is brown, blackboards can be blue or green… if

blackberries were really black and blueberries really blue, what are strawberries, cranberries,

elderberries, huckleberries, raspberries… supposed to look like?” This clearly already shows the

readers how absurd the English language really can be. If a blackboard is green, why is it called a

blackboard and not a greenboard? Why aren’t strawberries called pinkberries and raspberries

redberries? Lederer also includes other examples like “hot dogs can be cold, darkrooms can be

lit, homework can be done in school, nightmares can take place in broad daylight…” These

professor� 4/26/15 8:18 AM
Comment [1]: The
 first
 paragraph

introduces
 the
 text
 that
 the
 student
 will
 
respond
 to.
 
 Both
 the
 title
 and
 author
 are
 
identified
 as
 well
 as
 the
 general
 topic
 of
 the
 
text.
 

professor� 4/26/15 8:19 AM
Comment [2]: In
 this
 paragraph
 the
 
student
 gives
 a
 little
 more
 detail
 by
 identifying
 
the
 thesis
 of
 the
 original
 text.
 
 

  2
 
examples particularly stood out to me because I feel like they have completely contrasting

meanings. In a way, they can be similar to a juxtaposition of sorts.

Lederer then begins to question what other languages use the same ironic and, shall I

say, confusing phrases used in English. “In what other language do people drive in a parkway

and park in a driveway? In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?”

These examples made me really wonder, is English really the only language that does this? After

giving it much thought, I’ve come to this conclusion: English may be crazy, but it’s not any

crazier than most other languages.

Although they might not have as many ironic phrases and words as English does, I do

believe that there are many other languages that do. One, for example, comes from Spanish:

huevos rancheros is an omelet served along with vegetables for breakfast. When translated, the

meaning of huevos rancheros is eggs from a ranch or farm. Ironically enough, though, the eggs

used in this meal do not particularly come from a ranch, nor is it eaten at a ranch. Another

language comes from my roots, Vietnamese: alligators are called cá sấu which, when translated,

means “ugly fish”. Sharks are called cá mập which means “fat fish” when translated and

dolphins are called cá heo which is translated to “pig fish”. Also, whales are called cá voi which

translates to “elephant fish” and, of course, sounds absolutely ridiculous to me. Another great

example is thương which means “to love”, whereas bị thương means “to be wounded”.

With all this being said, I must commend Lederer on his views and points. Before I

read his excerpt, I thought to myself, there’s no way English is really this crazy. I thought I

wouldn’t agree with what Lederer says but I found that I’ve really appreciated reading this

chapter. It’s really opened my eyes to a broader spectrum. I’ve come to realize that English is, in

fact, absolutely crazy, but so are most other languages. And in the words of the brilliant Richard

Lederer himself, “when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I shall end

it.”

professor� 4/26/15 8:20 AM
Comment [3]: In
 this
 paragraph
 the
 
student
 has
 summarized
 the
 supporting
 
examples
 for
 the
 original
 text.
 

professor� 4/26/15 8:28 AM
Comment [4]: Here
 we
 begin
 the
 student’s
 
response
 and
 we
 have
 the
 student’s
 thesis
 
statement.
 
 
 

professor� 4/26/15 8:25 AM
Comment [5]: This
 paragraph
 includes
 the
 
students
 support
 of
 his/her
 thesis.
 
 He/She
 
claimed
 that
 English
 is
 no
 more
 crazy
 than
 any
 
other
 language
 and
 in
 this
 paragraph
 he/she
 
proves
 that
 by
 giving
 several
 specific
 examples
 
from
 another
 language.
 
 

professor� 4/26/15 8:29 AM
Comment [6]: In
 the
 conclusion,
 the
 
student
 restates
 his/he
 thesis
 and
 concludes
 
the
 essay
 with
 a
 quotation.
 

  3
 

Works Cited

Lederer, Richard. “English is a Crazy Language.” from Crazy English: The Ultimate

Joy Ride Through Our Language. Atria Books, A Division of Simon and Schuster,

Inc. 1989. Print.

professor� 4/26/15 8:31 AM
Comment [7]: Here
 we
 have
 a
 Works
 Cited
 
page
 that
 includes
 the
 text
 referenced
 in
 the
 
essay.