18 Writing a Response
Learning Outcome
- Draft a response using your topic sentence and support.
- Demonstrate the stylistic qualities of response writing.
- Use MLA format for citing sources.
Now that you have drafted a topic sentence and generated ideas for support, you may draft the response. Below is guidance for writing the response, followed by an example for the article “Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives” by Sirui Wan. The example builds on the ideas presented in the previous two chapters.
How should you organize the response?
- Begin the paragraph with your topic sentence.
- Then, follow it with support for the response. You will need to revisit your brainstorming and choose which pieces of support to include and in what order. These questions may help you decide:
- Which ideas would most engaging to the reader?
- Which ideas are related to each other and could be connected within the paragraph?
- Which ideas are most convincing (if you are writing about your point of view)?
- Add a concluding sentence. The concluding sentence should be general rather than introducing a specific detail. The concluding sentence might reword your topic sentence, make an observation, or give a recommendation.
What writing style should be used?
When writing the response, use the following guidelines.
- Use present tense when referring to what the author writes (not the past tense wrote).
- Use third person (e.g. The author reports…) when quoting from the article or paraphrasing information. This makes it clear which ideas belong to the author. Refer to the author by name, as “the author,” as “the writer,” or by the appropriate pronoun (he/she/they) if known.
- Use first person (I/me/my/we/our/us) only when writing about your own experience (e.g. When I was in high school, I considered myself a math person.).
Is it necessary to cite?
You must cite any ideas from the article. Use MLA format for Works Cited and in-text citations. Follow these guidelines:
- No paragraph citation is needed for general statements about the main point or thesis of the article. You should refer to the author, however.
- Include paragraph numbers for specific paraphrased ideas and quoted material. (If you had page numbers, you would use them instead, but we do not.) Include the paragraph reference in parentheses with the abbreviation “par.” for paragraph like this: (par. 3).
- If a point covers multiple paragraphs, include the range of paragraphs like this: (par. 7-8).
You do not need to cite your experiences, opinions, and comments about the article.
Examples of Response Paragraphs
- The topic sentence of the response includes the title, author, and thesis of the article and is blue.
- References to the author are marked in burgundy.
- Present tense verbs that indicate what the author is saying or writing are green.
Additionally, note that the majority of support within each paragraph is focused on the student writer’s opinions, reasoning, and/or connections, rather than repeating information from the article. Quotes and information from the article are used only as the basis for points in the response.
Example 1
Although Wan reports that many students view themselves as skilled in either math or reading but not both subjects, my experience has been the opposite and demonstrates that there are exceptions. As Wan states, “In high school, students who reported high confidence and interest in language arts reported lower confidence and interest, on average, in math, and vice versa” (par. 6). Wan never mentions exceptions to this pattern, but surely they exist. For example, in my experience, I did well in math in high school and then struggled in math classes when I started college. I enjoyed English classes more in college than in high school and decided to major in English. Despite my choice to major in English, I still enjoy math and view myself as skilled in math. Wan and his colleagues need to continue their research on students who view themselves as math people and reading people. However, they should also examine the alternate experiences of students like me who do not fit the pattern they identified. Focusing on this alternate group of students may provide insights into ways to help students see themselves as skilled in multiple areas.
Work Cited
Wan, Sirui. “Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives.” Becoming a Confident Reader: Developing Interactive Reading, Writing, and Thinking Practices for College, by Susannah M. Givens, 2022, Pressbooks, pressbooks.nvcc.edu/ede10/.
Example 2
Based on Wan’s research, school leaders need to address the potentially harmful impact of tracking on students’ perceptions of their skills. Wan indicates that tracking could cause students to falsely perceive themselves as weak in either reading or math. When students are placed in a lower level course for one subject, they may view themselves as less capable in that area. Wan warns, “This misconception can have a dark side,” leading students to be less engaged and ignore possible educational and career paths (par. 9). If students misconstrue reading or writing as a weakness, they could make decisions that impact them long term, causing them to change their entire academic or career path and diminishing their future opportunities. They may unnecessarily abandon certain courses, goals, dreams, or profitable career paths based on their misperceptions. School leaders need to be aware of this potentially harmful side effect of tracking so that they can find ways to help students maintain a growth mindset and continue to develop their skills in all areas of learning.
Work Cited
Wan, Sirui. “Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives.” Becoming a Confident Reader: Developing Interactive Reading, Writing, and Thinking Practices for College, by Susannah M. Givens, 2022, Pressbooks, pressbooks.nvcc.edu/ede10/.
A note about MLA in-text citations
Paragraph references (e.g. par. 9) are used in the response because the version of the article in this text has numbered paragraphs. If this were a print book or a PDF formatted book with page numbers, then page numbers would be used instead of paragraph numbers. If you used the original article as published on the site The Conversation, where there are neither page numbers nor paragraphs numbers, the parenthetical citations would be omitted in the summary. In all cases, you should refer to the author when referencing the ideas from the article, making the source of the information clearly identifiable.
A note about the MLA work cited format
The above work cited format refers to the version of the article published in this OER textbook. If you used the original article as published on the site The Conversation, the format would be as follows:
Wan, Sirui. “Students Perceive Themselves As a ‘Math Person’ or a ‘Reading Person’ Early on – and This Can Impact the Choices They Make throughout Their Lives.” The Conversation, 29 Aug. 2022, theconversation.com/students-perceive-themselves-as-a-math-person-or-a-reading-person-early-on-and-this-can-impact-the-choices-they-make-throughout-their-lives-187827.
Practice: Draft a Response
Now that you have studied the example responses, practice writing your own response to the same article.
In the next chapter, you will review guidelines for evaluating your response.