Summary Response Assignment

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Writing for Change - Summary Response Essay

Write a summary of Mary Pipher’s article, ”Writing for Change”, and then write a response; your opinion about her ideas, and your ideas about what you would write about if writing for change in your community. Although the five paragraph essay is not generally used in college, for this transition assignment to the formal essay you will write a summary response essay that consists of four paragraphs (2-3 pages).

1. The Introduction will

• Present the title of the article and the author – spelled correctly
• Provide a very brief bit of information on the author to establish the author's credibility or authority on the topic
• Include the author's main point for the essay

1. The Summary portion will

• Present the main points of the article. It will be accurate and objective.
• Not include your opinion
• Have quotes or paraphrasing directly from the text, but do so sparingly. You do not want the entire summary to be only quotations. Do not provide the author's supporting evidence; it is not necessary in a summary.

1. The Response portion will

• Present your reaction to the reading. You can respond in one of three different ways:

1) You can agree or disagree with the author's main idea

2) You can offer an interpretation of the text; what you believe the author's text means

3) You can write an analysis of the text by discussing the quality of writing, the strength of the argument, and quality of evidence.

• Additionally for the response, remember to include your proof and evidence to support your reasons based on your life experience and knowledge. Remember the response is your reaction to the text; and while it is your opinion, you will provide proof to support your reaction
• You will use the article as a reference to frame your response, citing the source correctly in-text and on a Works Cited List

1. The conclusion will

• bring the essay to a satisfying end with a final statement about the value or worthiness of the text (or lack of)
• wrap up your response to the article
• leave the reader with your idea about writing for change.

Reminders: as you write the essay, be sure to include these items:

• Author tags to introduce author's quotations and to refer the author’s points as you both summarize and respond. (The first time you refer to an author, you use the full name – Mary Pipher – then just the last name.
• Use tags such as "Pipher writes" or "Pipher believes". Do avoid writing "says" or "said". Find good synonyms to replace these overused author tags. Read aloud the tags to be sure they aren’t awkward.
• In-text citations for either quoting or paraphrasing
• Correctly cited source on a Works Cited List (just one source)
• Provide adequate transitions to move from one point to the next: "Another point Pipher makes" or "the final point of the essay"

You will need to take the following steps in the writing process:

1. read and think about what Pipher’s ideas are and how she supports them

2. read the summary portion of your essay to make sure it does not include your own opinion or response, but does include all the points Pipher makes.

3. in the response portion, think about the issues that affect your community – if you were to “write to effect change”, what would you write about? To whom?

4. organize both the summary portion and response portion into paragraphs with effective and appropriate topic sentences

MLA formatting: Double-spaced in the upper left hand corner:

Your Name

Merritt 201

Instructor Ziff

Summary Response Essay

Date

Draft One (or Two or Three or Final)

Double-spaced throughout, 12 point font

Title is Capitalized Correctly in the Center of the Page