How to Write a Response Paper to an Article

Tips on Writing Five Paragraph Critical Essays

Mar 4, 2009 Daria Przybyla

Response paper is a critical evaluation or, more specifically, an intellectual response to a piece of writing, movie or work of art.

Response papers are particularly difficult to write because students are unsure about the exact proportion between ‘personal’ and ‘critical’ inputs. The basic rule about writing response essays is to balance these approaches according to their relevance. Response to an article, focusing on source facts and conclusions, is far more critical than responses to movies and books which are more subjective and personal.

Response Essay to an Article – Introduction

The introduction of a response essay starts from a clear topic sentence which announces what constitutes the subject of the following critique. The author and title of the article in question should be named. It’s also important to give some details about its content such as important quotes and any mentioned authorities. Next, thesis of the paper ought to clarify which aspect of the source information will be considered and briefly explain why. Writers may choose to either challenge the whole idea of the article or some aspects of it, only.

Article Response Essay Paragraphs

It should be composed of, preferably, three distinct paragraphs – each of them discussing unique arguments or premises assembled in the original work. Learn How to Write Paragraphs, to see how to properly organize argumentation within the body essay.

In order to account for distinct aspects of the discussed problems, paragraphs can be written in various styles which will enrich all statements and make the essay a genuinely reflective piece of writing. Read about Seven Types of Paragraphs, to see which might work best for your response paper.

Article Response Paper Argumentation

Argumentation which is presented in a response paper to an article should be organized in accordance with paragraphs. Definition, exposition, and process analysis paragraphs all seem very useful in this kind of critical writing.

  • Situate author’s opinions in the scientific or critical context from which they are derived. Readers need some background in order to develop a critical attitude towards the discussed subject. Relate his or her opinions to that context. Readers must know in what ways the source addresses its subject context.
  • Relate your own views to the context in which the source information is depicted. You need to provide good background in order to make your evaluation credible and authoritative.
  • Pay attention to detail – verification of data provided by the original author might be needed as well as getting acquainted with any references he or she made. It may be also necessary to look up the meaning of some words, their origin, or definitions of crucial terms.
  • Agree and disagree by always providing explanations, arguments and examples. Even though response essays are based on opinion-making all arguments should be elaborate and somehow justified.
  • Refer to so-called ‘common knowledge’ to prove both deep expertise with respect to the subject-matter and logic of your statements.

Response Paper to an Article – Conclusion

Response essay to an article requires a very strong conclusion. It should contain a short summary as well as restatement of all points with which you agree and/or disagree. You should then proceed to general statements on the subject of your analysis in juxtaposition to contents of the original source. Terminate your paragraph is a witty manner so as to express confidence about your views.

Response papers are, generally, a mixture of personal and critical writing. In order to succeed in writing response essays, you should get acquainted with different response essay styles. There are many other Types of Response Essays – you can learn all about them from my blog post containing links to relevant articles as well as further reading tips.

The copyright of the article How to Write a Response Paper to an Article in Academic Writing is owned by Daria Przybyla. Permission to republish How to Write a Response Paper to an Article in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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