While watching a movie, or reading a book or article, you usually think about your attitude towards ideas which are presented. If a book, movie or anything of this nature has impressed you a lot, you would look for ways on how to express your feelings and thoughts. For example, you could write a post on your Facebook profile, talk to a friend, or complete a response paper. Obviously, you wouldn’t write an essay just for fun — you would write it only if it were assigned to you. In this article, we are going to provide you with crucial information which will help you to cope with this challenge!
Response Essay: Formal or Informal
“All academic papers are formal,” most students think. Is it always so? Actually, there are some types of papers which are something in between. A response essay is an academic type of paper in which you are allowed to express your opinion from the first person. Moreover, you should refer to your personal experience in such essays.
This type of paper is similar to a review. However, there is a difference between them. When you are completing a review for academic purposes, you should not speak from the first person. This doesn’t mean that you are restricted from expressing your thought. This means that you should be objective when evaluating a book, article, or any other piece of art. When you are working on a response paper, you should tell more about how you personally perceive information and how it has influenced you.
Full Guidance to Complete an A-Level Essay
Step 1: Make notes about your first impression.
Let’s suppose that you need to write a paper about a scholarly article. We chose this type of writing as an example because many teachers ask their students to write a response to scholarly articles which concern the topic that they are currently studying in educational affiliations. So, when you read an article for the first time, don’t make any notes.
You should write notes after you read the article so that you don’t forget your first impression. If you make notes while writing instead of doing it after, it won’t be the first impression because you will think on specific points more thoroughly. After you read an article, make notes about your feelings and emotions. You should write something of this nature:
- “I felt bored at the middle of the article.”
- “The article is too frustrating.”
- “Some facts that are presented in the article need to be checked because they sound unreliable.”
Step 2: Examine the article (movie, book) by parts.
At this step, your aim is to examine the article more thoroughly. We recommend that you explore it by parts. We have completed a short checklist so that it will be easier for you to analyze the article.
Introduction
- Does the introduction contain an adequate amount of words?
- Does the background information presented in the introduction concern the topic directly?
- Is there a clear thesis statement?
- Does the first sentence capture the reader?
- Is it clear what the article is about from the introduction?
- Body
- Are there at least three claims which support the thesis?
- Is each claim supported with appropriate amount of evidence?
- Does the author refer to reliable sources?
- Are all the claims connected to each other?
- Is it easy to read and understand the text?
Conclusion
- Is there a restatement of the thesis in the conclusion?
- Are there any predictions for the development of the issue?
- Does the author explain what problems scholars face when discussing the issue?
- Questions to the whole text
- Do you like the writing style of the author?
- Are there enough transitions in the text?
- Are all the parts of the text of adequate length?
- Is the text well-structured?
Answer all the questions from the list. These answers will be the first draft of your response essay.
Step 3: Complete the essay.
At this staging point, you can move to writing. The answers which you gave at the previous step do not make up all of the information that you need to mention in your work. Follow this structure while writing:
1. Introduction.
In the introduction you need to introduce the article which you are going to discuss. Mention the name and occupation of the author, the date of publishing, and evaluate the popularity of the article. Also, you need to present the main idea of your response paper.
2. Body.
a) Overview of the article. You need to summarize what the article is about, which ideas it reveals, and explain whether they are important and popular.
b) Your opinion about the sense. Here, you should give your subjective opinion on how specific concepts are discussed in the article. Do you find them original? Do you think that they are logical and well-proved?
c) Your attitude to the form. In this section or paragraph, you should evaluate the author’s style and approach towards presenting information.
d) Compare the article to other articles on the topic. If you ever read articles on the same topic, you should briefly compare this article to those you read before.
3. Conclusion.
As in every conclusion, you need to restate the thesis. Afterward, you should explain how the article can be improved if it needs it. Or, explain why it is not as great as it could be.
Now, you must be bewildered because we didn’t include the answers from the checklist to the structure. We did this on purpose. Answers from the previous step can be scattered all over your paper – it depends on your manner of approaching information.
Do You Need More Help?
If you like this post, check out also this – Be Bright: How to Make a College Essay Stand Out. Theoretical tips are useful but sometimes they can’t help students who feel that they are in a deadlock with their assignment. If this is the case, we want to encourage you to apply to WritingCheap.com. We have gathered a team of well-educated and experienced writers who can help you to cope with your response paper. They are able to find necessary information for your paper and edit it according to a specific format.
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