Katia Peltekian Name: _______________________________

UPEN 002
Critical Reading Fall 2020

Writing a Response Paragraph to an Article

Expressing your reaction to ideas

a. Expressing your own reactions to an idea or an opinion in the article.

b. Responding by clearly relating to an idea/opinion in the article.

How To Write The Personal Response

1. Read the article again and stop to reflect (how does it make you feel)– record your
thoughts; you can even use emoticons.
• Write your questions, your impressions and feelings in the margin
• Make note of ideas you agree or disagree with, or ideas that don’t make sense
• Underline words and phrases that interest you

2. Start the Response Paragraph with a sentence or two that should include:
• the author’s FULL name.
Note: the first time you mention the author, you need to write the full name; all
subsequent mentions use only the FAMILY name.
• the title of the article between quotation marks
• any publication information (for example: name of newspaper underlined + date of
publication
• the author’s point of view, idea or opinion, etc. that you are reacting to. This should
be paraphrased in your own words.  Do NOT copy word for word from the text.

3. Express your opinion by using such expressions as the following:

• I felt that • My favorite part was...because

• In my opinion • I was shocked that
• I believe that • The author was [was not] successful in
• The reader can conclude that making me feel
• The author seems to • I was especially moved by
• I did not like • I didn't get the connection between
• The images seemed to • It was clear that the artist was trying to

This will act as your “topic sentence”.

4. Provide enough examples from your own experience & knowledge to support your
reaction.  Do NOT use the same examples or experiences or details that the article uses.
5. Make sure you respond in ways clearly related to the ideas in the selection.

6. When you refer to author’s ideas, use the present tense. For example: John Smith states
that…

7. Revise as necessary.

8. Add a concluding sentence that ties it all together

9. Add a TITLE to your response.  Do not use the author’s title.