responding to a reading for final

7/28/2019 Responding to a Reading for Final

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Responding to a Reading


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Overview

When you respond to something you haveread, you want to start by making sure thatyou really understand it.

This means you want to read it verycarefully, looking up any words or termsyou are not familiar with.

Then, you want to decide what parts ofwhat the author argues you agree with andwhat parts you disagree with.


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Introduction Paragraph

Remember, as always, your introductionparagraph should introduce the topic tothe reader. In this case, you are introducingthe topic of ---------------------------.


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In your introduction you should introducethe title and author of the essay you willbe discussing.


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Practice doing that now:

______________________________


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You should alsobriefly summarizewhat the author argues in the essay.


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Practice doing that now:

______________________________


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Finally, your thesis statement shouldclearly state your viewpoint on the specificquestion or questions in the prompt.


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Your thesis statement should be a directresponse to the prompt, so you cant dothat yet.

You can even use some of the wording inthe prompt.


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Example Introduction

We see homeless people every day, butmost people dont think much about what canbe done about this issue. In the essay

Somewhere for Everyone, John Grishamargues that people try to pretend thehomeless dont exist, but in the end this is aproblem we cant ignore. I agree with

Grisham because the problem ofhomelessness is very real and something thatwe should all be interested in making better.


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Body Paragraphs

Once you have figured out what your positionis on the question/questions in the prompt,you need to come up with reasons WHY youfeel this way.


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Body Paragraphs

Each body paragraph should cover onereason why you for theviewpoint/viewpoints you take in your

thesis statement.


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Body Paragraphs

Each body paragraph should begin with atopic sentence that clearly states what youwill cover in that paragraph. Here is anexample: One reason why I feel we dont

do enough to help the homeless isbecause I have seen first hand howpeople ignore the homeless andpretend they dont exist.

Then, the rest of this body paragraph wouldgive details to explain and show how this istrue.


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The Supportin Your Body Paragraphs

Its not enough to just state your viewpoint;you have to EXPLAIN and SHOW why.


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Most of the time, the support you use toexplain your viewpoint will come in the

form of information from the reading andyour own observations.

You can build a body paragraph around:

a quote from the article or

around an example from yourexperiences/observations.


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You can and should use at least one quotefrom the reading to support your point of

view.


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Dont forget to always introduce quotes witha signal phrase or work the quote into yourown sentence.

Ex: According to Grisham, we

see the homeless every day but

try to pretend they arent there.

Ex: Grisham believes that wesee the homeless every day but

try to pretend they arent there.


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You should also use your own experiencesand/or the experiences of people you knowto explain why you agree or disagree with

the author.


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Conclusion Paragraph

As always, the point of your conclusion isto review what you went over.


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Conclusion Paragraph You should restate your viewpoint on the

question/questions asked in the prompt.

You can review the support you offered inyour body paragraphs.

Its a nice touch to end with an interestingthought about the subject.


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Last Semesters PromptLos Angeles Southwest College

Department of English and Foreign Language

English 28 Common Final Essay Exam

Assigned Readings:Firestorm Erupts Over Virginia's Education Goals (Claudio Sanchez)Making Schools Work (David Kirp)

Directions for Writing the Essay:

You have 85 minutes to plan and write a composition of 300-500 words. Before you begin to write, consider the issue carefully and plan whatyou write. Your essay should be well developed, well-organized, and carefully written. In addition, it should contain textualinformationdetails, paraphrase, and quotationfrom both essays and may include examples from your own experiences andobservations.

Write in ink on only one side of the paper, and skip lines so that you will have room to make corrections. Remember to proofread yourcomposition before submitting it.

The Writing Assignment:

Of course desegregation was not a cure-all. While the achievement gap and the income gap narrowed during the peak era of desegregation,white children continued to do noticeably better. Thats to be expected, for schools cant hope to overcome the burdens of poverty or thelack of early education, which puts poor children far behind their middle-class peers before they enter kindergarten. (Kirp)

"Rest assured, all of us hold all students to the same academic standards, but when it comes to measuring progress, we have to consider thatstudents start at different points," Wright said. (Sanchez)

Respond to the following question in a developed essay:Given the data on the achievement gap, do you think that Virginia is correct in using different standards for evaluating student progress based

on race? Why or why not?

State your opinion and support your answer using information from the articles, appropriate quotes and evidence.


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Last Semesters Prompt

Assigned Readings:Firestorm Erupts Over Virginia's Education Goals (Claudio Sanchez)Making Schools Work (David Kirp)

Directions for Writing the Essay:

You have 85 minutes to plan and write a composition of 300-500words. Before you begin to write, consider the issue carefully andplan what you write. Your essay should be well developed, well-organized, and carefully written. In addition, it should containtextual informationdetails, paraphrase, and quotationfrom both

essays and may include examples from your own experiences andobservations.

Write in ink on only one side of the paper, and skip lines so that youwill have room to make corrections. Remember to proofread yourcomposition before submitting it.


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Last Semesters PromptThe Writing Assignment:

Of course desegregation was not a cure-all. While the achievement gapand the income gap narrowed during the peak era of desegregation,white children continued to do noticeably better. Thats to be expected,for schools cant hope to overcome the burdens of poverty or the lack ofearly education, which puts poor children far behind their middle-class

peers before they enter kindergarten. (Kirp)

"Rest assured, all of us hold all students to the same academic standards,but when it comes to measuring progress, we have to consider thatstudents start at different points," Wright said. (Sanchez)

Respond to the following question in a developed essay:Given the data on the achievement gap, do you think that Virginia is

correct in using different standards for evaluating student progressbased on race? Why or why not?

State your opinion and support your answer using information from the

articles, appropriate quotes and evidence.

responding to a reading for final

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