General Anatomy of a Response Assignment

General Anatomy of a Response Assignment

Instructions/Descriptions

General Anatomy of a Response Assignment

[Order Now]

Response 1 Assignment

Due: September 26

Length: 500-750 words (2-3 double spaced pages)

In this second formal writing assignment, you will write a reasoned and objective response to one of the essays we have worked with (NOT TANNEN). This does not mean saying, “This is not my experience, so it is not true.”

In fact, at no time should you reference your own life. Instead, your response should take one of two paths: exploring how the essay has transformed your understanding of the issue and using the ideas as a lens for understanding something OR complicating the argument by offering conflicting evidence, uncovering assumptions, or explaining the limitations of the article.

One is affirming, i.e., generally favorable to an argument or idea, and includes taking an idea/claim and using it to understand something else. If there is something in one of the essays that sparked an “ah-ha!” moment for you, work with that for a moment. For example, I noted that you could use Tannen’s idea of “marked” to think about other things people can’t control, but which mark them in some way – e.g. use of language or disability.

Is there some connection you can make between one of the essay’s claims or main ideas and the world outside the text? Similarly, and also a “lens” type response is to expand on the argument.

That does NOT mean just give more evidence for what he’s already proven. It is rather to take his ideas another step. So for instance, Carr claims tech is changing our thinking and we see this in our reading habits. Do we also see this in our communication habits or use of language?[Order Now]

The other path is more critical – i.e. generally not favorable to an argument or idea, and includes uncovering assumptions in a writer’s thinking or limitations to their argument.

When you brainstorm for your response, you should find weak points in the argument, a part that doesn’t make complete sense or seems wrong for some reason. Such places are the easiest to enter into a critical conversation with the author about the subject of his or her article.

Very few well-reasoned responses are of the simply “yes, this is true” or “no, this is completely false” type. Rather, your response should focus on pointing out things that the author might have missed, questioning an unstated assumption or bias, or developing a point the author makes but spends little time on.

For example, Tannen suggests that men have the option to be unmarked in their lives, and she gives a lot of good examples. However, not all men have the option to be unmarked – some men are black, or indigenous, or disabled, or fill in the blank. While it is true that men often do have the ability to be unmarked, Tannen’s argument doesn’t account for how gender intersects with race and other visible marking factors.

You will need to showcase the distinction between claims and evidence in order to write an analytical response; your response should focus on the claims of the argument. You can’t really argue with good evidence, but you can argue with assumptions and claims.

You will need to have a works cited page at the end of your paper. At this point in the semester, you don’t need to worry overmuch about the precise formatting of your works cited page although this would be an excellent time to practice MLA formatting. If you use internal quotes in your response, you will need to place the page number of the quotation or paraphrase in parenthesis, e.g. (140).[Order Now]

General Anatomy of a Response

Introduction: give larger context for the argument, introduce the text and authors and their main claim. Your thesis is your response. Try using a dependent clause construction to get a good structure.

Example: Although Tannen shows that all women are marked in some way, her suggestion that men always have a choice doesn’t consider other ways people are marked. OR Example: Tannen’s concept of being marked is not only useful for understanding gender norms, it is also really helpful to explain how people’s accents also mark them in public.

Body paragraph 1: a brief summary of the main points of the essay you are responding to

Body paragraph 2-??: Follow your thesis. What do you need to explain to make that an “explained statement’? Do that.

Conclusion: If you have been overly critical, don’t forget to acknowledge how the argument does work even as it has limitations. If you have done a lens, be sure to wrap yourself back around to Tannen’s main argument.

Take a moment to acknowledge the “so what?” question – why does anyone care about this? What is at stake in this discussion?

Criteria for Evaluation:[Order Now]

Identification of the author/title of essay, major point, and significance of topic

Ability to summarize/paraphrase the points/claims of the essay as needed

Ability to respond constructively to one or more points in the essay

Understanding of the difference between claim and evidence

Ability to respond to a claim and link the response to the larger argument (the so what question)

Proper paragraph structure

Use of proper mechanics (grammar, punctuation, syntax)[Order Now]

General Anatomy of a Response Assignment

PLACE THE ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET A PERFECT SCORE!!!