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 eac