ENG 111 Summary/Response Essay: Home
Getting Started
A summary/response is a natural consequence of the reading and annotating process. In this type of essay, writers capture the controlling idea and the supporting details of a text and respond by agreeing or disagreeing and then explaining why.
- Summary: Write the main ideas of the article in your own words with occasional quotes from the original author(s).
- Response: Explain your thoughts about this article. Evaluate what you think on this issue and relate it to your own experiences or other things you have read.
Summary
The best way to write a summary is ask yourself the following questions:
- What issues are described, explained or resolved in this work?
- What is the controlling/main idea?
- What are the supporting details?
- What results or conclusions are made?
- What opinion does the author want readers to keep in mind about this topic?
- What information does the author use to convince readers?
To move from an outline to a draft of a summary, follow these guidelines:
-
State the author’s name and the title of the text you’re summarizing in the first 1-2 sentences of the summary.
-
Express the author’s main idea in your own words in the first 1-2 sentences of the summary (no more than three words in a row from the text you’re summarizing.)
-
Identify main points that support the main idea. Write the main points in your own words (no more than three words in a row from the text.)
-
Use minor details (e.g. examples, explanations and specific details) only when needed to support the main points.
-
Arrange the ideas so the organization and transition words in the summary paragraph reflect the original text.
-
Show that you are summarizing someone else’s ideas with expressions like “According to” + author’s name or author’s last name + a signal verb.
Response
A response is a critique or evaluation of the author's essay. Unlike the summary, it is composed of YOUR opinions in relation to the article being summarized. It examines ideas that you agree or disagree with and identifies the essay’s strengths and weaknesses in reasoning and logic, in quality of supporting examples, and in organization and style. A good response is persuasive; therefore, it should cite facts, examples, and personal experience that either refutes or supports the article you’re responding to, depending on your stance.
Summary Response Essay Outline Patterns
| Block Pattern | Point Pattern |
|
Introduce the article by providing the title of the article and the author's name, and perhaps a small amount of information about the author. State YOUR thesis. |
Introduce the article by providing the title of the article and the author's name, and perhaps a small amount of information about the author. State YOUR thesis. |
| Write the Summary point by point | Summarize and respond together either in the same paragraph or sequential paragraphs (see below) |
| Write the Response point by point | |
| End the essay by making a final statement about the essay and the author. | End the essay by making a final statement about the essay and the author. |
|
Introduction (1 paragraph) Summary: (1 paragraph) Remember you are only summarizing (you may have fewer or more than these 4 points)
Response Section (3-5 paragraphs)
Conclusion |
Introduction Main point 1
Main Point 2
Main Point 3
Conclusion |
Need more? Check out these links:
How to Write a Summary, Analysis and Response Essay (with examples)
