This planner walks you through the steps for planning and submitting a reading response paper or discussion post, assignments that require you to analyze and reflect on a reading relevant to your course topic. Unlike other kinds of academic writing, these responses invite you to explore your own ideas about a text rather than summarizing the opinions of others.
To assess your understanding of the course readings, you may be asked to analyze a class reading in light of the course goals. To demonstrate that you have read and understood the text, you should identify the purpose of the text and use textual evidence to illustrate your understanding of the work. Your response might not have a thesis statement, but it usually focuses on a particular theme or concept.
Step 1: Understand the assignment and choose an appropriate text
Read the instructions carefully, highlighting the major questions being asked and goals of the assignment. This resource provides a list of questions to consider about your assignment. If you have questions, ask your instructor or TA during their office hours, or make an appointment with a tutor from the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center.
If you’ve never done this type of writing assignment before or would like a refresher, review the common expectations and features, and/or look at samples.
Gather together any readings assigned for the reflection, your notes from class lectures and discussions, and any other sources you’ve already identified for the project.
(This step should take 5% of your project time.)
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Step 2: Read and annotate the relevant text
Reflective responses require close engagement with the text you’re reading. Certain types of responses, particularly those for literature courses, may require a method of reading known as close reading, which emphasizes attention to diction, imagery, and tone. Whatever the particulars of the assignment, your instructor will expect you to pay attention to major concepts in the text.
Read your sources carefully, thinking about reading as a preparation to write and reflect.
- As you read, annotate the source–take notes on key ideas, themes, and important passages.
- Tip: Annotation tools like PowerNotes help you keep track of your quotes and make notes on digital sources as you read them. (It also captures citation information!)
(This step should take 10% of your project time.)
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Step 3: Reflect and write
Once you have carefully read and annotated your chosen text, brainstorm a theme or focus for your reflection.
Your instructor may provide some guiding questions to structure your reflection, but you might also consider the following:
- What are the main points of this reading (focus on concepts, ideas, and theme, not on individual facts)?
- What is your immediate reaction when you read the text?
- What about the text resonates with your personal experiences?
- How does the text relate to the major themes of the course?
- What did you learn while reading this text?
- How did your ideas change as a result of reading the text?
You might also consider the following activities:
- Try freewriting, a brainstorming method in which you write your thoughts for several minutes without stopping, to help you understand where you stand on the subject.
- Try doing some brainstorming through the center-of-gravity technique, creating a concept map, or mind-mapping.
(This step should take 20% of your project time.)
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Step 4: Organize your ideas
Plan the structure of your reading response:
- This resource includes examples of different outline formats. Watch this demo about creating a traditional outline.
- While a reading response is not structured as formally as an essay, it should still include an introduction that provides context about the reading under discussion and states your interpretation.
- Your body paragraphs should respond to the text itself.
- There might not be a formal conclusion, but consider using your concluding sentences to challenge the ideas presented in the text or ask some more questions of your own.
This stage of the writing process is a great time to visit your instructor or TA during their office hours or make an appointment with a tutor from the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center to sort through and clarify your ideas and organization for the paper.
(This step should take 10% of your project time.)
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Step 5: Draft your reading response
Using your outline and notes, write a first draft of your response that includes an introduction, body section with the major supporting points of your textual evidence, and some form of concluding move, if not a formal conclusion. Note: these steps are listed in a suggested order, but feel free to approach them in whichever order will best help you with your project.
- For the introduction, consider the most important background information your readers will need to understand your perspective on the reading. This includes the author(s), title, and genre or rhetorical context.
- For each body paragraph, write a topic sentence that summarizes the point about the text that you’re making. To make your ideas within and between paragraphs connect, select appropriate transition words. How do your ideas connect with each other?
- Think about various strategies for including supporting textual evidence.
- Summarize and/or paraphrase to condense source material in your own words.
- If you quote directly, be sure it includes three parts, sometimes called making a “quote sandwich”: introduce the point you’re emphasizing, quote the relevant passage from your source, and then explain how the passage illustrates your current point and/or larger focus or thesis.
- Format the response according to your instructor’s instructions (margins, font size, line spacing, headings, etc).
- If the response asks you to refer to other readings, make sure you properly cite them. Create a references page depending on the citation style you’re using; e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago. Insert in-text citations consistent with the citation style that you’re using.
(This step should take 25% of your project time.)
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Step 6: Get feedback
First, review the assignment guidelines and/or rubric provided by your instructor.
One effective way to review a draft is to read it out loud. See these suggestions. Another is to use the reverse outlining technique to help you identify areas for revision.
Write down 2-3 major elements you need to revise. Rather than first addressing sentence-level concerns, think more about things like the focus of your response, the logic of the supporting points you make, and the quality and clarity of the evidence you provide. Will your reader clearly know what your perspective is about the reading?
Get feedback from your instructor or TA during their office hours, from the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center, or from a peer.
(This step should take 5% of your project time.)
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Step 7: Revise
Revise as needed, based on your own review and the feedback you received.
(This step should take 20% of your project time.)
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Step 8: Finalize the assignment
Check the assignment instructions to make sure you met all the requirements for the content and formatting of your response
Proofread your work carefully. Use the “read out loud” approach to reviewing your work–it can help you find things you might otherwise miss.
Double-check that you have cited quotes, paraphrases, ideas, and information correctly and that your reference/bibliography/works cited page is accurate. If you referred to other works, see this resource on how to avoid plagiarism.
(This step should take 5% of your project time.)
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Contact your instructor or make an appointment with the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center anytime during the process of working on your project! It’s always a good idea to seek out more information and feedback.
The main Assignment Planners page includes access to the planner tool and links to the steps for other types of writing projects.