Reader Response Guidelines

 Reader response assignments require you to respond to assigned readings throughout the course of the semester. Because you bring your own experiences and viewpoints to an essay, your understanding of that essay will be unique. Reading challenges our beliefs, deepens our awareness, and stimulates our imagination. Learning to respond critically to text stimulates critical thinking skills and becomes a valuable asset over the course of a college career. For this class, you will engage in a process called "active reading," a process which requires you to examine the material in an objective manner and assess its validity based upon your observations. Each reader response will be produced according to the following guidelines, reflecting the process of active, critical reading. Each should be word-processed, 2-3 pages in length with one-inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right), double-spaced, and 10-12 CPI. When composing your reader responses, edit your final draft for correct grammar and punctuation, and submit on the designated due date.

Stage One: Get an Overview of the Selection (Paragraph One)

 • Start by reading the biographical information about the author. Providing background information about the author helps you evaluate the writer’s credibility as well as his or her perspective and possible bias on the subject. Summarize in a sentence or two the author’s background information.

 • Consider the selection’s title (and subtitles). A good title often expresses the essay’s main idea, giving you insight into the selection before you even read it. Does the title (or subtitles, if any) suggest anything to you? The main idea? The tone? The mood of the selection?

 • Read the selection straight through the first time purely for pleasure. Allow yourself to be drawn into the world the author has created. Observe any preliminary, subjective feelings you may have about the selection.

 • After your first reading, decide whether you agree or disagree with the author’s major premise. Compose a lengthy response describing your reaction. Does the presentation of material (evidence for the main idea) make sense? Discuss in detail your response to the selection

Stage Two: Deepen Your Sense of the Selection (Paragraph Two)

 • Identify the selection’s main idea, or thesis, the main message the author intends to convey. Usually, the thesis of the selection can be found at the beginning of the selection. Write down, in your own words, your version of the author’s main idea.

 • Locate the supporting evidence used to develop the main idea. Evidence can be in the form of examples, explanations, details, anecdotes, facts, reasons, personal experiences, and/or expert opinions. Identify as many of these as you can and indicate which of the author’s supporting facts, arguments, and examples seem convincing.

• Oftentimes, an author will make points we disagree with or will use evidence that doesn’t seem to convincingly support the main idea. As you read the selection the second time, notice the evidence used to support the main point. Do you agree/disagree strongly with any of these supporting details? Do you find the evidence in support of the main idea confusing?

• Return to unclear passages you encountered during the first reading. Were there instances in which the author could have been more concise? Did your second reading help you clarify the confusion of your first reading?

 • Use a dictionary to check the meaning of unfamiliar words

. • Has your initial impression has been changed by the second reading? If your feelings have changed, discuss your new response. If your feelings haven’t changed, explain why they have remained the same.

Stage Three: Evaluate the Selection for Effectiveness (Paragraph Three)

 • Assess whether the author has primarily used logos, ethos, or pathos to support ideas. Which of these seemed most convincing? Where does support for the selection’s thesis seem sufficient? Where does support seem weak?

 • A unified essay is one in which the author “stays on track;” in other words, in an essay describing an author’s educational experiences, the author should not discuss irrelevant material such as baby experiences or toddler tantrums. In this selection, does the material seem relevant? Is the selection unified with no digressions or tangents to distract the reader?

 • Part of a writer’s job is to ensure a smooth reading from beginning to end. Does the writer create an easy flow between ideas? Are transitions used effectively to get from one point to the next? Are any points of the essay abrupt and jarring? Which ones? What would be your suggestions for improvement?

 • Critical reading requires us to “decode, visualize, and interpret what’s on the page.” Once we do so, we are exposed to “language that will move us, images that will enlarge our understanding of other people, and ideas that will transform our views on complex issues.” Does the selection offer new ideas or a new perspective to prompt further thought?

 . . . and the following three essays from the textbook:  “Between Worlds: A reader, rhetoric and handbook.  ISBN 9780205251261

The author is Susan Bachmann and Melinda Barth

Staples, Brent. "Black Men and Public Spaces." Between Worlds: A Reader, Rhetoric, and Handbook. Ed. Susan Bachman and Melinda Barth. 7^th ed. Boston: Longman, 2013. 164-168. Print.

Steinberg, Neil. "O.K. So I'm Fat." Between Worlds: A Reader, Rhetoric, and Handbook. Ed. Susan Bachman and Melinda Barth. 7^th ed. Boston: Longman, 2013. 179-180. Print.

Tavris, Carol. "In Groups We Shrink." Between Worlds: A Reader, Rhetoric, and Handbook. Susan Bachman and Melinda Barth. 7^th ed. Boston: Longman, 2013. 151- 153. Print.

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