English 501
Response Paper Guidelines



For your response papers, you will need to begin thinking about offering analyses and formulating arguments in response to active reading.
Each response paper will focus on an essay I've assigned or a topic we've discussed. I will identify the text on which you will write during class-time.

Response papers need to be two- to three-page essays in which you introduce the article you will be discussing, offer a brief summary of the main points of that essay, and offer your own insights into the text.
You can question points the author makes, agree with his or her theories, or discuss other issues related to the main theme.

A successful response paper will:
• Contain few to no instances of the “Eight Grammar No-no’s.” Successful papers will also avoid definite and indefinite article problems.
• Follow the format guidelines listed in your syllabus and mentioned by me in class.
• Present a clear position, a response to a particular article. (You can use “I.”)
• Mention the author’s name, the article’s title, the publication date, and context in the first paragraph.
• Follow a multi-paragraph structure.

Remember, you are responding to an author’s writing, as well as to his/her subject of focus. Feel free to comment on how the author creates his or her argument, in regard to the strucuture, style, and strategies he or she uses.