English 1121 - Summary and Response Essay

English 1121: College Writing and Critical Reading

Spring 2004 / Section 13

Paper #1 -- A Summary-Response Essay

A summary-response essay, sometimes called a “response” or “reaction” paper, is a piece of writing in which you first summarize a particular reading selection and then take your personal experiences, ideas, and opinions and compare them to the ideas in a particular reading selection. This writing skill is often used in classes across the curriculum, from psychology to philosophy, from microbiology to literature; it is also seen in the work world—e.g. “summary-recommendation reports.”

Three related purposes are involved in writing a summary-response essay: (1) to demonstrate your understanding of the reading selection; (2) to express your informed opinions about the subject matter; and (3) to extend your understanding of a reading selection by allowing you to demonstrate its relationship and relevance to your life.

As you write your summary-response essay, you will draw on your own experience, knowledge, and observations, in addition to your chosen reading selection. Your personal knowledge includes not only things you have experienced directly but also things that you have read in books or magazines, viewed on film or television, listened to on radio or audio recording, or discovered in conversations with others. Library research, Internet research, and site visits are not required for this essay.

As you think about your chosen essay and relevant personal ideas and experiences, you can choose from one of three “basic” approaches: (1) how does your experience agree with the ideas in the reading selection? (2) How does your experience contradict the ideas in the reading selection? (3) How do the ideas in the reading selection help you “make sense of” or explain your experience? Of course, there are many other approaches, one of which is to "extend" the ideas found in the reading selection; another is to "add" new ideas of your own to those in the reading selection. (See our class notes, specific writing questions about the reading selections, and other applicable pages on our "Course Handouts" page.)

With all this background information in mind, write a summary-response essay in reaction to one of the following essays:

Luc Sante, “What Secrets Tell” – pp. 508-514
Stephen L. Carter, “The Insufficiency of Honesty” – pp. 321-326
Kathleen Norris, “The Holy Use of Gossip” – pp. 460-465
Harold Bloom, “In Praise of the Greats” – pp. 613-621

Think about your "summary" section being about one-fifth (1/5) of your essay, probably only a paragraph or two. Thus, your "response" section will probably be about four-fifths (4/5) of your essay. As you plan and write your essay, consider your audience to be the other college readers and writers in this class. Like you, they have read all the essays, but they might have chosen a different essay to work with. Hence, they might not remember very much—or they might not have thought very much—about the essay you have chosen. Thus, summary (and/or quotation) may be needed to clarify your chosen writer’s words and ideas (but try to summarize or paraphrase before you decide to quote). Of course, you will want to make your own ideas as clear as possible since your readers won’t know what is going on inside your head.

Reminders:

A general rule of thumb to follow is that your essay should be approximately 20% summary and 80% of your own ideas.
Even though you will summarize all of the main ideas in the essay you have chosen, you do not have to respond to all the ideas in the essay. Brainstorm any and all ideas first, then pick the ones that will present the strongest essay.
You will need a thesis of your own in your introduction.
You may organize your essay following one of the two basic structures outlined in class, or you might also find a structure of your own more suited for your essay.
Remember to consider this essay to be more "academic" -- i.e. you are writing primarily for your fellow writers in class and your professor.

Formatting Requirements:

Your essay should be at least three (3) pages but no longer than five (5) pages -- double-spaced and word-processed -- with 1.0-1.25” margins, and a 12-point “normal” font (Times New Roman or Arial). No title page is needed; put your name, the course, my name, and the date in the upper left-hand corner of the first page (see BNCH pp. 44-48 for a picture of what the format should look like).