HOW TO WRITE A REACTION ESSAY IN 2021

Writing a Reaction Essay: Table of Content

Response reaction essay is a popular type of writing assignment applied to evaluate the critical abilities of the assignee. This type of writing involves a deeply personal reaction to some information. Such essay is quite tricky and bewilders many students, as it demonstrates the individual understanding of the text and doesn’t give any chance to rely on someone else’s analysis. However, knowing the technique of writing simplifies that matter significantly.

Response essay is a paper that is mostly aimed to explain to the reader your perception and your reaction to some information. Usually, response paper summarizes some information and demonstrates the writer’s reaction to the text.

It is important to realize that response essay is different from the plain summary. The paper that doesn’t go beyond the given data itself will not bring you a good mark. Of course, you should give your reader the general understanding of the context and summarize the data, but keep in mind that your summary is only a background for your ideas.

Similarly, response essay differs significantly from review or evaluation paper. Unlike in these types of writing, in a response paper, you are not supposed to say whether the information involved is bad or good. Perhaps, it is important or insignificant. In a good response essay, the writer does not evaluate the data objectively but explains his or her subjective viewpoint.

Given that you know the purpose and the specific characteristics of the response reaction essay are ready to proceed with the workflow and structure of your final text. Let’s cast some light on the most efficient way of writing your response paper.

Tips for writing a good response reaction essay

It is not uncommon that student becomes completely overwhelmed with the supposed difficulty of the essay writing. As a result of the fear and frustration, the new writer can’t start doing anything. If that has ever happened to you, you already know that the only solution to this problem is to stop panicking and divide your work into doable parts. We will help you with this task, friend! Go ahead and get step-by-step guidance how to write your response reaction essay.

Steps for writing a reaction paper

Read the paper (or digest any other kind of information). Yes, you need to do that despite any efforts of your friends to prove the contrary.
Try to concentrate on text (video/audio) and your feelings. It is useful to think why the data makes you feel in some way or another.
Make notes while reading/watching/listening. It will help you grasp all the necessary thoughts at the spot and not spend time trying to remember them later.

Additionally, try to highlight all the passages that may be useful in your future paper. You can cite them or use as proofs.

Keep in mind, that this part of your response reaction essay may consume a lot of time, but the more time it takes, the easier your future work becomes.

React to what you have read. When the reading is over, go over the data and your notes again and formulate the general impression. How do you feel about it? Do you like it? What did you learn from it? Do you agree with it? Why does it make you feel one way or another? Answering these questions will help you understand your reaction better.

Some more steps

Create your thesis and outline your future essay. Some of the assignments pose a direct question to your future essay. In such case, your thesis statement should answer this question. Otherwise, you need to make your statement by yourself. The thesis statement that is good should cover your overall impression from the data or explain some idea of yours that aroused from it.

The outline for the response paper should include an introduction, three or more body paragraphs, and conclusion. Response essay is not subjective writing, and that allows for a more artistic approach to writing. That means that there are a lot of ways to arrange the information in your essay and make it sound like a self-sufficing piece of work. We’d like to share those at the end of the article.

Write it! Finally, you are free to commit all your thoughts to paper. Use your notes to enforce your response essay with citations and examples from the text. Additionally, use your outline to include all the necessary information in each of the sections of the paper.
Proofread as many times as you can. Then proofread it again. It is the second most important part of your work after reading. Check your spelling and grammar. Make sure that you covered all the main points which you were going to cover. Check the logical flow of your text. It is helpful to read your text aloud while proofreading. When you are sure that the reader will fully understand your response, go and take a good break.

Main parts response reaction essay

Enough of general advice! It’s time to define some strict directives for reaction paper.

How do you write an introduction to reaction paper?

Put your reader in the picture: give some general information about the work to which you are writing a response, including the name of author and title of the work, as well as the central issues.
Present a strong and catchy thesis statement or argument.
Your introduction should show your perception of the author’s ideas through the prism of your personal experience.

How do you write body paragraphs for reaction paper?

Dedicate one paragraph to each point you want to discuss. Of course, you can be restricted to the volume of our writing, but make sure that you explained your thoughts fully. It is better to narrow your response to the central points.
Use quotes and concrete examples from the original work you have read.
Don’t forget to talk about how you feel and why do you feel in such way. Show how your way of thinking is different from the author’s.
It is useful to dedicate one paragraph in the body to a summary of your text.

How do you write a conclusion for reaction paper?

Summarize your points
Bring your reader back to your introduction to wrap your work up.

Ideas to write an amazing reaction paper

Have you ever dreamt of the career of the writer? The academic paper is not a death sentence for your desire! The thing is that response paper is subjective. The personal writing which allows for the artistic device. The following ideas will help you make a masterpiece and get a good mark for it at the same time.

Start your introduction with a story and interrupt it with a central question (your thesis). Then finish the story in your conclusion.
Tell what did you expect from the article in the introduction. Tell whether your expectations were fulfilled in conclusion.
Pose a question or several questions in the introduction. Conclude text with the answers.
Start your essay with the fact that is little-known. Conclude your essay with how article helped you to understand it.
Start your essay as a descriptive essay, depicting the subject with sensory images. Conclude it with insights that you’ve found while reading/watching/listening.
Start your essay with some general knowledge about the topic. Conclude your essay with specified information which is not widely known.

Now you are ready to impress your readers with your thoughtful and frank response reaction essay.