2: Toward A Summary-Response Essay -- Rosie Banks

As we discussed in the Preface, our everyday lives matter, and everyday we are “reading” our world and responding. Thus, as we develop our innate observation, description, attention, and writing skills, it makes sense to begin with the summary-response essay. As indicated, this is that essay where we acknowledge what we have read or observed and we respond.

Examples of summary-response essays abound: Letters to the Editor summarize issues or articles and respond with their agreement or disagreement; Movie and book reviews summarize the text (the movie or the book) and evaluate (respond) to the text. Can you think of other everyday forms of summary-responses?

A good summary-response has two main functions: 1) The essay accurately summarizes the text, and 2) The essay gives you an opportunity to share your perspective or ideas deriving from the text. This perspective is usually based in your prior knowledge or personal experiences. A well-written response supports your readers in gaining new insights beyond the original text and/or taking action as a result of your response.

Relation to English 96 Student Learning Outcomes

Your work towards successfully completing the summary-response essay will demonstrate that you have met the following English 96 learning outcomes (Outcomes come verbatim from English 96 student learning outcomes.):

• Reading
  • Apply a variety of reading strategies to successfully decode texts, including:
    • Activating background knowledge;
    • Identifying stated and implied main ideas and supporting details.
    • Explaining the meaning of new words by using context clues, word parts, and dictionary skills;
    • Generating questions before, during, and after reading;
    • Annotating a text;
    • Outlining a text; and
    • Summarizing a text through the identification of main ideas and supporting details.
• Critical Thinking
  • Engage in practices of critical thinking while reading and writing, including:
    • Interpreting a text and supporting the interpretation with evidence; and
    • Analyzing and evaluating a text in connection with other areas of knowledge, including text to text, text to self, and text to world.
• Writing Through Reading
  • Respond to course readings by writing essays that
    • Use textual evidence from the readings;
    • Incorporate appropriate focus (including a thesis statement), organization and support;
    • Demonstrate unity, coherence, and clarity;
    • Support claims with examples, explanations, and details;
    • Integrate source material and utilize appropriate documentation practices;
    • Synthesize personal, social, and textual connections;
    • Apply a variety of invention strategies . . . to generate ideas for writing projects; and
    • Employ a recursive revision process through multiple drafts that integrates peer and instructor feedback into the finished writing and that includes self-editing strategies.